Photographer: Maegan Grendell November 1, 2022 | The Complex in Salt Lake City, Utah

Interview by: Lauren Sanchez | Photo by: Sonny McCartney | October 29, 2022 Maisie Peters, the English singer-songwriter behind the album “You Signed Up For This”, sat down with HAZZE MEDIA journalist Lauren Sanchez to talk about the release of her new song “Not Another Rockstar” and the gear up towards her sold-out North American tour this November. After coming back from a 54-date European stadium tour support Ed Sheeran’s “+ - = ÷ x” tour and the release of new singles such as “Blonde”, “Good Enough” and “Cate’s Brother”, Maisie ushers herself into a new era of sound and songwriting. L: Oh my God, how are you? Maisie: I'm good. How are you? L: I'm doing well. Oh my God, it's so cool to talk to you today. I'm such a huge fan. So like, this is so crazy! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I know you're incredibly busy, so this means a lot. Maisie: That's all good. I'm really happy to be here and to be chatting. L: Cool! Okay so I have a couple of questions, so let's just get into it. I know you recently released your new single, "Not Another Rockstar". Congratulations on the release and I'm absolutely obsessed with it! I think it's so freaking cool. What was your inspiration for writing it? What was the creative process like? Maisie: It was so fun. I mean, it's a whirlwind of a story, so I wrote it with two of my best friends, a guy called Joe Rubel who made all my first album with, and then my best friend who's called Ines and we are like actually best friends. We go on holiday together. She basically lives in my house. She's an amazing songwriter. And so we were in the studio and I think it was the end of a chaotic summer. I think it was late September/ October. And we were just like playing around with an idea and I sort of sang the lyric, " Not another rockstar," and I looked at the guys and I was like, "Is that a bit on the nerve there?" and they're like, " No, I think it's cool." So we sort of wrote that chorus essentially just about being like not another one, not another. Like when you think they're different and then you were like, "No, no, no, they're the same." And then we wrote the chorus and then long story short, suddenly Ines had to go to the hospital, cause we thought she had appendicitis, so then she left. Then the next day, turned out she didn't have appendicitis when she came back and finished the whole song. But yeah, it was like so much fun to write and the song is really just about my terrible taste in men. L: Relatable! You know, I get you! I know that you love to read books and especially because you have your book club, do you have any book recommendations for lovers of this song in particular? Maisie: What a good question. Oh, okay. This is a really potentially BookTok answer because I think a lot of people that love books have read this book. But the Patti Smith book, "Just Kids"-- "Just Kids" is one of them. And then "M Train" is another one. And that's about her and Robert Mapplethorpe in like the Chelsea Hotel and in New York in like the sixties, late sixties, seventies. And if you're a girl who loves a rockstar, you'll love those books. L: No, for sure. I've totally seen that book and I definitely get the references, and how they relate. Talking about your songwriting talents, is there a specific lyric or lyrics that you have written that have been your absolute favorite to write? Maisie: I mean, so many. I write a lot of songs. I mean new ones all the time and new ones come. "You Signed Up For This", "scared of everything, but I'm making it punk," I think that's lived a long life. Um, " Love Him I Don't" is one of my favorite songs I've done and I love the main hook of that which is, "Love him I don't, Love him I won't, Love him I did for a minute, but I'm finished," and I love what that stands for and it feels always relevant, so I love that too. L: So I know that you've recently put three other singles in the past few months. You put out "Blonde", "Good Enough", and "Cate's Brother", and all are very different from each other. I know that you said one time that "Blonde" and "Good Enough" are like sister songs and in general, I'm not lying when I say that these songs are literally for the hopeless romantic girlies. You are our voice entirely when it comes to speaking about how we feel and everything. Has it been fun to play with and write about the multifacetedness of love and heartbreak when it comes to writing songs about love? Do you find yourself drawn to one end of the love spectrum more? Maisie: Definitely. I've always loved exploring things in their fullness and getting to write about every part of love and of life. It's always been something I love doing and I make all the songs, so that's useful. I guess I've found myself drawn to the sadder end of that probably. I'm always so annoyed that when I am in love, I don't write nearly enough songs about it. I feel like I write way more when I'm like sad or, but not even sad. Just like when I'm not so much in the moment. I find it really hard to write when I'm like really in a moment. I think I write better when I'm like outside of the moment-- when I'm able to sort of draw a lot from it. When I'm in it, I don't make a lot of music, so unfortunately that's why there's not a lot of Maisie Peters love songs. L: Out of all the four songs that you just released, do you have a specific favorite that was more fun to write or a song you are most excited to perform in your upcoming tour? Maisie: I love them all for different reasons. I kind of love "Cate's Brother" because it was the start of a whole new era for me. I wrote it on my first sort of proper trip to Sweden and that's become like a really important place for me and really important people for me live there. It just was the beginning of like a lot of this year and it feels like it was like the sort of the rocket that we start off on. So I'll always love "Cate's Brother", but I love all of them. I mean "Rockstar", we're preparing "Rockstar" for the tour right now, and I think it's gonna be pretty cool. L: I know you've been super busy with like releasing new music and going on all these tours, and it's absolutely insane where your career is at. But has there ever been a moment so far in your career that has reaffirmed music is the right place for you and that this is something you want to do for the rest of your life? Maisie: That's a big question. I would say I feel that a lot when I'm in the studio. I mean, that's where I am right now, and I feel like when I'm making new music, it's always when I sort of feel like, "Oh yeah, this is what I'm meant to be doing. Like this is what I'm good at, and this is what I work hard at and this is what I love," like I love music. I love other people's music and I love my music, and I love the making of it and I love listening to it and watching it and creating it and judging it. I just, everything about it, I love it and it's so much part of my life. So I feel like maybe that's the answer I found. L: That's a totally valid answer. I know that you just got off the European tour for Ed Sheeran and then you're going on for the North American tour in early spring. What's it like to have Ed Sheeran be your mentor and friend? What was it like opening up for him for his recent tour and how excited are you to go on tour with him again? Maisie: It's amazing. I love him, obviously. He's like sort of a brother to me and such a close friend, and I've learned so much from things he's told me, but also more from just watching him and watching the way he conducts himself and the way he plays and the way he rehearses and the way he works. He works the hardest out of everyone I know. The tour was like the dream come true. You're just with your best friends all the time, making music and playing for like thousands of people. And I love all of the crew and all of our crew, all of his crew, and it just became like one massive family. So I'm so excited to go back next year and be with everyone again and in America as well. It's gonna be crazy. It's gonna be so much fun. L: Oh my God, that's so sweet. I'm so excited for you. I know that we talked about it briefly, but I know that you created your own book club on Instagram and it's literally been doing so incredibly well, and I know that each month you have a book that you're going to read. What's been your favorite book you've read so far in 2022 and why? Maisie: Oh, that's such a hard question. Okay, I can answer this though-- I'm gonna say two. There's a book, I think it's by someone called Maggie Nelson, but I'm worried it's not, but it's called "Bluets". It's really hard to explain. I just suggest you read it. But, I love "Bluets" by Maggie Nelson. Like it really impacted me and I feel like I came away from it very differently. I also really love, I think it's by Jonathan Franzen and it's called "The Corrections". I read that at the beginning of the year or maybe the end of last year and I loved that too. I loved Johnathan Franzen and I love everything he writes. L: So, I've been like watching your YouTube channel and you made like tour diary videos that documented what life was like on the road and what it was like to perform at the most insane stadiums around the world. I saw that you performed at Wembley Stadium five times at 22 years old, which is like freaking insane. What was it like to perform at Wembley? Maisie: Yeah, it was really crazy. It was definitely something like a whirlwind at the time and it's still something that's kind of hard to absorb. But I got to do it with my best friends and my band, and with Ed and with my parents and my friends, everybody came and so I think I'm so lucky. It was like the most insane experience. It sort of feels like something that didn't happen, even in my memories of it is sort of cloudy. It feels like this dream. L: I couldn't even imagine. Oh my God. That's so insane. Not a lot of artists can say that they performed at Wembley five times. So that's just like, a huge career milestone for you. Going back to the tour documentaries, what's been the best part about documenting these tour diaries? Not a lot of artists do that, and I think it's really cool that we get to see an inside look into what you are like on tour with your friends and everything. Maisie: It's so fun. I love the tour diaries! It was my best friend, Dominique did those before she moved to New York and now she goes to Julliard. We had the best time making those, and we watched them back. Like when we were on tour in Europe, we all watched the American ones back and we all just were just absolutely dead at how much it made us all so nostalgic and they're like the craziest thing to watch back. I'm so lucky. It's like watching a film of your life. It's so cool. L: No, and it's so cute because they're all kind of like filmed very nostalgically with film. It's very personal, it's not as editorial with the big cameras and everything. I think it's really intimate and I thought it was really great. Do you plan on continuing those during your upcoming shows across America and the UK? Maisie: I would love to. I don't know for these American shows because we're not bringing anybody to do that. It might be hard to sort of make continuous tour diaries, but maybe I'll start cooking something up, who knows? I would love to and I'm always big on documenting and trying to make sure everything is there for the world to see. L: Yay, I can't wait! I know that you're gearing up to perform your sold-out headlining tour in North America and the UK, plus you're going back with Ed in the spring of 2023. What's been your absolute favorite thing about performing? What have you learned as an artist through performing? Maisie: I guess I love connecting with people. That's a really boring answer, but I love getting to bring the music that I make so alone to so many people, and seeing how other people have brought it into their lives as well is really cool because you don't really think about that when you make it but it's amazing to see how important it is to other people. L: What's been the best piece of advice you've ever received for your music career? Maisie: People always ask me this and I can never think of anything, which is funny because I've received a lot. L: Or maybe just something that sticks with you. It doesn't necessarily have to be the best thing, but it's just something you kind of remind yourself why you're here and why you're doing this. Maisie: No one's necessarily said it to me, but I feel like maybe me and Ed have spoken about this. There's definitely something to be said for just taking the highs with the lows and making it into a middle. Like, you're gonna reach such highs and have times of your life and feel absolutely unstoppable and like you're the shit. But, you are also gonna have times where you don't feel like that, and you feel like you're behind your peers and you feel you've lost it or you are out of your moment and it's over. I think it's important to just remember that neither of those are true and that it's just important to find a middle between them and walk that path. I think it's important to remember that it's just music. It's not life or death. No one's dying. L: You know, just taking inspiration and advice from everything and putting it in your artistry, who have been your biggest inspirations in music? I know like you're a hardcore Swiftie, but are there any others that you find inspiration drawn from today? Maisie: Yeah, definitely. I mean, so many people. I don't know if people know this about me but I'm a huge Sara Bareilles fan, I always have been. Her albums are so important to me and I listen to them all the time, and I think she's just like a hero and exactly has the career that I would like to have one day. L: I think she's really underrated. She's a really good songwriter and everything and I think she definitely needs to be more appreciated, more! My last question, I gotta know, will your fans get any new music before the year ends? And what can we expect from your second album if you're in the process of making it? Maisie: They will. There is one more thing you're gonna get this year, but it's not what you're expecting. In terms of the second album, Yes! I'm making it, I'm finishing it. I'm very much on that right now, which is really exciting and I'm having the best time. I can't wait for you to hear it, but I think you won't hear that until the beginning of next year. L: Will the four singles that you just released, plan to be on the new album? Maisie: I think they'll end up not being on the album because I just have a lot of music and I wanna put the most new music out as possible. And I love those songs and I think they're definitely part of the journey. And if you wanna see the MP1 to MP2 pipeline, you should look at those songs. But I don't think they'll make the album just because I want to have more new stuff. L: Oh my God, I'm so, so excited. Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me today!

Austin, TX Photos by: Jewel Fiorillo, Annie Schutz, & Ezzah Rafique NEIL FRANCES | Photos by: Jewel Fiorillo SZA: Photos by Annie Schutz SZA: Photos by Ezzah Rafique Paramore: Photos by Annie Schutz Dro Kenji: Photos by Jewel Fiorillo Wallows: Photos by Annie Schutz Omar Apollo: Photos by Jewel Fiorillo Lil Nas X: Photos by Ezzah Rafique Lil Nas X: Photos by Annie Schutz Conan Gray: Photos by Annie Schutz Princess Nokia: Photos by Jewel Fiorillo Sarah Kinsley: Photos by Jewel Fiorillo Glove: Photos by Jewel Fiorillo Noah Cyrus: Photos by Annie Schutz Spill Tab: Photos by Annie Schutz | Aftershow Photos by: Jewel Fiorillo BENNE Aftershow: Photos by: Jewel Fiorillo YUNGBLUD: Photos by Annie Schutz PHOTOS BY: Ezzah Rafique and Jewel Fiorillo

Photographer: Caitlin Woods October 11, 2022 | Vinyl Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia

Interview and Photos by: Donae Allen | October 30, 2022 | West Palm Beach, Florida Ethan Bortnick chats with Hazze Media before his show on West Palm Beach, Florida on October 16. Full set photos and show highlight video below. I know this is your first show with your music, how did this come to be? Ethan: Essentially yeah, this is my first show with sort of my new career path, if that makes sense. Prior to this, I think I've done about 1100 headline shows. but a lot of it was my previous career path, which was, you know, I was doing a lot of stuff on, PBS, NPR and that kind of stuff. It was not my own music for sure. So after quarantine, I switched the type of music that I'm making and started releasing stuff on Spotify. And so this is sort of my first show of all of that stuff. So how, how does it feel to be playing your first show? Are you nervous? Ethan: I'm just very interested to see a crowd that isn't filled with people who are 60 plus, because that's what I've been used to, playing Mozart and Frank Sinatra so, it's going to be very interesting. I don't really know what to expect, and especially because in quarantine, you know, we built this fan base and people who listen to my music, which is nuts on its own, and now I get to see who those people are and meet them so I'm really looking forward to it. What's your biggest influence right now with your music? Ethan: I don't know. I mean, when it comes to really writing, producing stuff, I feel like I pull from a lot of different things. My roots, which is classical music, I feel like you can hear that in almost every song. But one of my favorite artists is Kendrick Lamar. As an artist I'm not a rapper, I can't rap, but just visually, sonically, as an artist, I love what he does. I’m pulling a lot of singer songwriter shit. A lot of different bands that I love, that Dylan loves as well. Dylan and I actually write and produce everything together. All of it's us two in my bedroom Which we turned into a studio, so I don't know. I just pull from everywhere. I love jazz music and I love experimental shit and electronic stuff. Maybe I’ll have a certain vibe that day, but really I'm pulling from just anything and everything that has excited me about music. You have a new single out called “arsonists” what was the inspiration behind that song? Ethan: My entire romantic life has been people, putting me off as a second choice up until now. And, I feel like I was just trying to figure out why that happened or why it keeps happening. like why there's such a big cycle with that. And,I figured, I think it's because I am a people pleaser and I give too much and that gives people an opening, to either take advantage of me or hurt me or something along those lines. So Arsonist was a song we wrote, because the person that it's inspired by sent me a meme that said couples who commit Arson together stay together. And I just thought it was a perfect way to sort of take the song in this direction where it's like, I wish I could just burn shit down and burn bridges with people and just show no remorse, essentially. What was your biggest challenge working up to the show? Ethan: I feel like Dylan could probably speak more on that cause, Dylan's sort of been helping. Actually, helping is the wrong word. Literally building the entire show. Dylan: Yeah. I was handling the technical side, you know playback, all that shit. It just took a long time to get right. And we also rehearsed in his room. Or his, foyer, whatever you call it, and setting that up was a bit of a nightmare. But it was fun. Ethan: Yeah It was a lot of fun. We rehearsed in my house but I don't know, I feel because I've had this nice head start with all these live shows, even though it's not the same thing, I feel like it's taught us a lot. Being able to have that knowledge I feel like it was very beneficial. I'm very grateful for that. Any upcoming album ideas or upcoming album ideas? Ethan: Yeah I feel like whenever I make an album, I want to make sure that I can lock myself in a room and just make something conceptual and really fanatic. Because, like I said, one of my favorite artists, Kendrick Lamar, has that sort of intricate detail in every part of his music. The lyrics, the cinematic quality of those albums and those records. I want to make sure I get that in line. So I don't have any album ideas yet. I feel like that's probably a far future thing. Dylan: Except for that one idea. Ethan: Oh yeah, I want to make an album based on a Mafia Movie. Like a Godfather themed album maybe one day. I don't know. We'll see. You know, with lots of mandolins. What song are you most excited to play tonight? Ethan: I'm probably most excited to play an unreleased song called Sleep Paralysis Demon. I don't know when that's gonna come out, but I feel like that's the thing I'm most excited for. There's a little classical interlude right before it and it's just, the energy is all the way up here, so I'm very excited! Well, thank you for taking your time to answer these questions and good luck with your show tonight! Ethan: Of course, thank you!

Interview by: Ezzah Rafique | October 30, 2022 Hi! Thanks for your time, tell us a bit about who you are! Wow! What an opening question. There are so many parts to this onel! If I had to sum it up, my name is Frankie Zulferino. I am a pop recording artist. I've had the chance to tour the world with some of the biggest artists, performing and getting the chance to live my dreams which has truly been the ride of a lifetime and I'm so grateful. You just released a new single, "Dripping in Love", which topped the R&B charts, what is the backstory behind the song? I wouldn't say there is much of a backstory to the song. The main goal when I went into the studio was really to create something uplifting and positive that can bring joy to people. What did the creative process look like for this single? The song was actually recorded twice. After I finished the original version I wanted it to be a little more authentic to the Motown Era so I decided to go back in with a 20 piece live orchestra to bring the song to the next level. What would you want fans to take away from "Dripping in Love"? For me, I would hope my fans could feel hope and love when they listen to the song. I just want them to feel happy when they hear it. If you were to describe Dripping in Love to someone who has never heard your music before, how would you describe it? I would definitely describe it as more of an old school throwback type of record. To me it feels timeless and is the kind of song I can hear playing at a wedding 20 years from now. You've also been named '#1 TikTok emerging artist' very recently, what was your reaction to that and what did it mean to you especially since your goal is to create uplifting content? It was very exciting especially since the app is very influential in pushing music so to have my song up there was super cool. You have gone from opening for major artists like Selena Gomez to now walking in NYFW. Describe your journey in music so far and your goals. I think my journey in music has been filled with a lot of ups and downs. I definitely believe that the way I envisioned it to be is very different from what it is but I also feel like that is because the world has changed as well. I feel like now I have to open my horizons to different opportunities and ideas that can continue to push my music and get seen by people in different ways. My goal really is to be able to go back on tour and perform my songs live for people. Speaking about NYFW, how did you find out you were going to walk in the MAURICIO ALPIZAR show? I got a call from my PR company the day before I was flying into NY to attend some of the shows, never expecting to walk in one. It was super last minute but a really fun and exciting moment. I haven't walked in a show since 2016 so it was fun to do it again and I really loved working with Mauricio and his team. With your upcoming EP release, how do you balance music, business, and creating content? It's definitely challenging at times to balance everything and it does get overwhelming. I sometimes wish music was the way it was 10-15 years ago where the artist could really just focus on the music. Now you really have to act as your own label. So I really just try and do my best and keep everything moving as best as I can without burning myself out. Is there anything you can tell us about the upcoming EP you have coming out? Well currently, I'm focusing on just putting out singles. I could release an EP because I have more than enough music to do it. However, sometimes it's more affordable to put out a single and really push that so that each record gets the attention it deserves. Wishing you the best with your project & thank you again for your time!

Interview by: Ezzah Rafique | October 29, 2022 Photographer: Ryan West Stylist: Veronica Graye Groomer: Colleen Dominique Hi! Thanks for your time, tell us a bit about who you are! Hi, thank you for having me here. My name is Kieran Tamondong, I am twenty years old and I was born on the twenty-third of July in 2002. I grew up in a family of five with my loving parents and sisters. My life story typically begins at one pivotal moment in my performing career, the day I started taking up karate as my childhood sport and soon as my athletic identity. I competed for 12 years before I decided to pursue my goals of acting and college life. I am studying kinesiology and I have set my academic sights on getting a degree in physical therapy. I portray Konerak in the Dahmer series that came out this fall and I’m super proud of how far I have come. Your most recent role stars you in Netflix’s new hit series, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” What was your experience like filming this show? The show came to me with great surprise as I did not know what I had gotten myself into getting to work on a serial killer series depicting Jeffrey Dahmer and the path of destruction he caused for families. I was filming for about two months out of the entire production and it was my highlight of last year for me as I literally stuck at home during peak pandemic. I knew I had a responsible role to enact and someone’s name to uphold so I took everything I could find about Konerak into consideration. How did you prep for filming for such an intense show? Well, once I discovered this would follow the trail left behind by Dahmer, I went to work studying scholarly articles dated back to the 1990s and early 2000s. Later on, I took on a public speaking class and chose to do my research and speech on Jeffrey Dahmer’s psychoanalysis of his upbringing and even the aftermath. Even if something appeared straight-up irrelevant to Dahmer and Konerak, I would jot it down in case it would come up again. By the time I got to the set on the first day of shooting, I was so nervous and worried that my preparation would not be up to the standards of what people were expecting of me. After all, I only had a couple of other roles I had done in the past. Even with the experience I already had, I never got to portray a real person who lived before, yet, everything washed away when it was me, Evan Peters, and the camera. Something just seemed to dissolve, either my state of anxiety or thoughts bouncing around in my head. I just took everything one moment at a time. While filming the show, did you have a moment that really stuck with you whether it was during a scene or before filming? I remember one moment where I witnessed the method acting of Evan Peters go to an extent that I’ve never seen in another actor. At this point in my preparation, there were still grey areas about Dahmer that I did not know. One thing I tell people who want to know what Evan was really like is how he is a polite and kind person but keeps everything professional including his method acting. He would say things, hit objects, and interact with me in ways that activated my sense of absolute terror for this man. Everything you saw on screen was a real reaction between us. The most terrifying experiences I had were from those couple of moments. What's the best piece of advice you have been given by a fellow actor or director? Resilience and acknowledgment that there will be setbacks and failures in my life or career. Those bumps along the path should not discourage me as they are a part of the path. He said they “are all just stutter steps on the way to your next success.” The director for Warrior, Brad Kane told me this when I asked him for advice regarding the longevity of my career and looking at the bigger picture. I keep that inspiration with me wherever I go now and so far I’ve been doing all right, I’m leaving no regrets. What drove you into acting? And how do you balance it while pursuing to be a physical therapist? Well it was sort of a slow progression from martial arts and wanting to do that in if front of the camera. Early on we were considering stunts, but I eventually I thought that working in front of the camera doing lines was more fitting for me than being a stuntman.Don’t get me wrong, I will gladly do my own stunts while I still have the skill to perform them, but martial arts definitely translated to being an actor more for me. Balancing acting with studies is another hurdle I had to learn to overcome. Managing my time and schedule is crucial, otherwise, I can burn out while working or lose sight of what goals I have set for myself. I love doing both and so I have to work on each one individually, intensely, for a specified period of time. I am an actor first, and a student second one day, but vice versa on midterm and finals week. Out of all of the projects you have been a part of, which one had the most impact on you? I love all the projects I’ve worked on because there are qualities that make each one memorable. Warrior was one of the first major productions that flew me out internationally to South Africa where I met a lot of amazing people like Andrew Koji and Brad Kane.The Paper Tigers is where I built and strengthened a lot of my connections with other martial artists on a well-developed and inspirational film with Yuji Okumoto and Bao Tran. Of course, Dahmer gave me the most exposure I have ever received as an actor but I learned so much that I thought I already knew about acting from witnessing Niecy Nash and Evan Peters do their part. You're pretty extensively trained in martial arts, how did you get started in it? When I was four years old, my parents wanted me to get into some type of physically active sport that I would always enjoy. We tried out soccer and swimming but they did not last for very long. As my parents were wondering what I was going to pursue outside of school, I was busy watching the original Ninja Turtles films from the nineties and the Power Rangers movies my dad bought me. It did not take long for them to notice how interested I was in the martial arts films that appealed to me so they enrolled me at a local dojo across the street from where I went to school. From the moment I had my first GI wrapped around my body, I (allegedly) could not stop smiling. Rising Sun Karate was like a second home to me. Randy Word (my sensei) and my dad worked together to give me the opportunities to do something great with my talent. When you sent a tape of your martial arts skills, did you ever expect that you would land the role of 'Karate Kid' on NBC’s “Little Big Shots?” I treated it like any other audition I had done before. I think that is the beauty of wanting to be a performer when you’re at that young age, I didn’t anticipate something as huge as NBC or someone as renowned as Steve Harvey as anything more than a new chance to do something fun and show my what I was capable of. Surprise, surprise when my parents get off the phone with one of the exectutives from the show saying they want to showcase my talent on national television.

Photos by: Kayla Saliman | October 20, 2022 | Township Auditorium Columbia, South Carolina

Interview by: Ezzah Rafique | Photo by: Alex Don | October 29, 2022 Ryan Green (vocals/guitar) & Walker Atkinson (bass) chats with HAZZE MEDIA about the HARBOUR band. Hi! Thanks for your time, tell us a bit about who y'all are! Ryan: We’re a 5 piece indie rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. We formed in 2014 as old friends from high school, though we’ve undergone a few member changes as things started to become more serious. Today we’ve managed to put together our own cute little fan base all over the world, and we spend most of our time touring the country trying to play for everybody we can! Y'all are releasing a new single, Swimming In My Head, on November 4th correct? What did the creative process look like for this single? Ryan: This song came together over the course of a couple weeks. It stemmed from an old idea, and once I wrote this chorus, I scrapped the old idea and built the song around this new chorus. I found that the melody was an earworm, which makes it a good candidate for a single in my eyes. Is there a backstory behind the song? Ryan: Honestly? There’s really not. The chorus basically makes no sense, but I thought it was fun and I liked it, so I kept it. The verses came to me one night when I was struggling to fall asleep and my mind was racing, so I wrote about that. What would you want fans to take away from Swimming In My Head? Ryan: I just want fans to enjoy blasting it aloud and singing along to it - and I definitely want them to come to shows and scream the chorus with me at the top of their lungs. It’s got this anthemic quality that I think will transfer over to being a great time at the live shows with the fans. If you were to describe Swimming In My Head to someone who has never heard your music before, how would you describe it? Ryan: It’s a catchy, fun song with an energetic chorus that’s easy to sing along to. Definitely the kind of song you listen to loudly! Walker: The song has a lot of the elements of indie rock but with a louder and fuller ensemble that sets it apart from the sound a typical indie rock band goes for. There's a lot of ear candy sprinkled in - from crowd vocals to interweaving guitar, vocal, and bass melodies. Y'all have two tours underway for this year, how has it been going so far? Ryan: We’re through 3 of our 4 tours this year so far and they’ve gone better than we could have imagined. It was a bit daunting to think about going on a headlining tour at our size, and the fans really showed up and made us feel like we’re not just this little baby band from Ohio. It’s been really great, and we can’t wait to keep the van rolling and hit other cities to play for more people. Walker: As far as touring goes, we're actually about to embark on our 4th tour this year - which is very, very exciting! It feels like every city has fans who are happy to see us and know most of the words our songs. There's not really a way to describe that feeling of seeing a total stranger sing your music back to you (or even alongside you). What inspired y'all to pursue music and come together to form HARBOUR? Ryan: Nothing else in my life has ever brought me as much joy as making music and touring the country, getting to play those songs every night with my best friends. If there’s even a chance we can make this a long lasting career, then I’m putting all my eggs in that basket. Walker: Most of us had been playing in other bands that were in the same scene as Harbour, and Ryan Green basically just slowly stole all of us when he needed a solid group to take on the road. We all ended up sticking around long term because we believed heavily in the music and momentum the band has behind it. Anything you can tell us about the upcoming album or any projects on your radar? Ryan: As the only original member going all the way back to 2014, I can say without a doubt that I believe this album is our best work yet. We’re continuing to mature as songwriters, but doing so without losing some of the elements that give us that HARBOUR sound. So I’m very excited to share this album with everybody, and I hope y’all enjoy it! Walker: The upcoming album, in my opinion, is our most exciting leap into making music thus far. It has the greatest amount of direct contributions from each member of the current band, whereas with previous records there was a lot of creative overlap with former members. This one feels like WE put it together, and also happens to contain some of our best work yet. I think when we're all in the same room playing it, there's a unique energy for these songs in particular that brings them to life.

Interview by: Maegan Grendell | October 29, 2022 MAEGAN: Do you want to introduce yourself? BER: My name is Ber. It's short for Berit. I live in Minnesota and I grew up here. I actually grew up in rural Minnesota, but I currently live in the Twin Cities. I just grew up with music. I was really lucky to be put in music lessons by my parents when I was super young. I just basically took guitar lessons every week throughout elementary school and middle school, and then started doing a lot of musical theater. And I think that kind of got me into this world of performing, and I wanted to focus on that in college. But I also really wanted to get out of Minnesota, so I took a gap year and went to Norway where I started writing music and playing guitar and doing things more from a songwriter perspective as opposed to playing Peter Pan on a stage. I ended up in England after that year to kind of pursue the whole vocal performance and like songwriter thing. But I didn't think I wanted to be an artist until I moved back home during the pandemic. And I finally had some songs where I was like, "these are for me. This is cool". But during college I spent like three years just learning and studying how to write songs and write them for other people. And I just really wanted to be a songwriter for other people. I have a K-pop cut and a couple other cuts with people and that was really fun. And I thought that that could be a really cool avenue. And then all of a sudden I was putting out music for myself and it was really weird. But I've loved it so far. It's been very spontaneous. We're taking everything day by day and just winging it. And it's been great just seeing what happened. MAEGAN: Where'd you go to college? BER: I went to Leeds College of Music in the UK, which is now called Leeds Conservatory. MAEGAN: How was your time in the UK? BER: I really liked it only after about halfway through my degree. I hated it for the first year and a half. Not because the school or anything was wrong, I just hadn't met the right people yet. I think as soon as everything kind of clicked into place, I just fell in love with it and I miss it so much. I feel like I'm at home when I'm in the UK. I definitely became a person there. I think people do that in college and so it was definitely very formative for me. MAEGAN: Do you get to go back there often? BER: I do. Which is the best part of all of this. I can afford to be there and here. My management is there, lots of my friends are there. I look forward to every time I get to go back. It feels like a big social gathering. I was there for the month of July. Doing festivals and a headline and lots of writing and stuff. It felt like a mental health month. MAEGAN: Is it very different from where you're living now? BER: So different. In every way. It's a big hub. It's a big city. Minneapolis is that to an extent. I mean, getting out of the Midwestern culture thing as well is always very fun and very refreshing. It is just a big melting pot in London, I would say. And everything's very cluttered and busy and rainy and I love it. Things move a little slower here, which I do like to be able to sit back into something. I could see myself living in London again. MAEGAN: What have you been working at or working on lately? BER: I just put out 'Superspreader' and the music video for it as well. It's been very fun. A long process. 'Superspreader' is the first single off my upcoming EP. I've been really excited about that. We're still working on the final touches, but it's fun to start to get some of these newer things out and sort of welcome people into like the next version of this, whatever it is. I have a lot of songs that I've just been sitting on for a little bit that I'm really excited to show some people and play live on this next tour that I'm going on. I think they'll be really fun to trial 'em out a little bit. It feels like an elevated version of the first EP. I did that whole EP on Zoom. This next one I've just been doing in person with my friends here in Minneapolis. We're trying a lot of new things which has been cool. I think I got in a habit for sure of the writing process and how things sound. It's fun to pull myself out of that box and work with people who do that with me. It's been really fun. We have a banjo in every song and it's great. MAEGAN: Do you wanna tell us what 'Superspreader' is about? BER: It's a funny one for me to talk about. I was in a very low place when I wrote it. I think the best way to describe it is like, it's a little time capsule for a lot of really complex emotions that I had at that time. But at that time I was living in my uncle's basement working two part-time jobs, and I had just been kicked out of England, back into Minnesota. I'd just been ghosted by someone that I lived with and was so head over heels in love with. it sucked ass and it was fuel for sure for a lot of things, including that whole first EP. But 'Superspreader' kind of came in that same timeframe, it's just that it felt a little bit more Angry and misunderstood. Equally just me trying to figure out my own thoughts and distract myself. So the verses are really just about trying to distract myself from thinking about that whole situation and how horrible it felt to be in it. That lyric in the chorus, " you still ruin my life even though we don't talk anymore"... that's something that sat in my notes for a year. It's an interesting one too because that's a song that I came back to and I haven't done a lot of that. But I ended up writing the bridge about six months after we wrote the rest of the song. It's been a journey with 'Superspreader' , so it's fun to have that out. But it definitely is about me just trying. I felt very desperate to move on from something that I just could not. I was very stuck in it. Then the super spreader line just had to be the title because it's kind of relevant to the time. I think it confuses everybody on social media, but it's fine. MAEGAN: How does it feel to release your own music and songs that are so personal to you versus writing for other people? BER: It's a double edged sword. I love it because it's very cathartic, but then I have to talk about it and relive it and constantly be in that. So it's fun when fun songs come out, it feels so easy. I've released a lot of happy stuff. But then when it comes to my sadder things like 'Same Effect' or 'Meant To Be' or 'Superspreader'. I feel so validated when people say that they can relate and they've been there. Those songs just hit you differently when you're the person that they're coming from too. I mean, it's like reliving your old memories. It's a really weird thing. I won't lie, but I have found it to be really therapeutic. It's given me a lot of confidence, putting music out. Which I think is not an experience that a lot of new artists have. It's a really scary thing to put yourself out there like that. So to have had the warm welcome that I have is priceless. I feel really lucky. I never thought I was gonna do it. It's been a really wild year, that's for sure. We started putting stuff out in June last year, so to see this like happen in that small amount of time. MAEGAN: What are some of your goals? BER: I try to avoid long term goals just because I think I'm really good at setting myself up for failure. Not on purpose. Expectations are something that are hard. . I'm really happy to have short term goals. Those include touring. I love it. Touring is my favorite part of this and I'm really excited to be going on this tour in the fall. I think that'll be really fun. If I'm being completely honest with myself, do I want to play Red Rocks someday? Yes, absolutely. And would I kill to do a Madison Square Garden gig? Yeah, that'd be amazing. I have no idea how and when or why that will ever happen, but it would be very cool. MAEGAN: What's something you've learned from playing live shows or touring? BER: That's a really good question actually. I love telling the stories behind songs when I'm playing live. I think that's been something really fun to explore and I try to make them quite funny anecdotes because I usually write about really dramatic stuff. It's nice to have it sort of feel like a comedy act. I've learned that if something goes wrong, it's fine because it's just something that's gone wrong and then Just Start over. Anytime I've ever had a tech difficulty or something, audiences don't care. They're amazing. We expect it to be the end of the world when a guitar's unplugged or the battery dies or something like that happens. But usually there's a quick solution and I think I try not to put too much pressure on myself when I go out on stage because I really want to enjoy it. And when I enjoy it, it's very obvious to me that everyone else does. MAEGAN: Who are your musical inspirations? Who do you listen to? BER: Right now I'm listening to a lot of Lennon Stella, Jeremy Zucker. Sigrid is someone I've always sort of labeled as an inspiration or someone that I take influence from. Julia Michaels and JP Saxe and that world of like really conversational pop music I adore. I think Holly Humberstone is a genius. I really love the new Sabrina Carpenter album. I think for a long time I detested pop music because I thought it was cool to be like, "Yeah, I don't listen to the radio". But I think I got over myself a little bit and I totally get it. I buy into it now. I think I've learned a lot from releasing music and being in these playlists with people and meeting people who are writing so much too. You get to a point where if you like something, you like it. I grew up on like Twenty One pilots and Maggie Rogers and lots of seventies music. Like Earth, Wind and Fire, and the Spandau Ballet and the Beatles. Those were the only three things that were happening in my household. So when I got to college, I was like, "cool... Taylor Swift". It's been fun to fall in love with pop music as an adult. I think that's been really great. MAEGAN: How would you describe your music to new listeners? BER: It's internalized indie pop, is what I tell people. I had to think about that one once. I write really autobiographical songs. It's all about me or boys I've been on hinge dates with, or this person that ghosted me. It's very internalized and it's me explaining those situations to myself. That's what my songs do for me. So it's always funny when people can relate and. I'm always shocked every single time. I recently found out that I'm labeled as indie pop, so I like that. I'll go with it. I'm here for it, and I think it's just very wordy and internalized and hopefully relatable.

Photographer: Maegan Grendell October 10, 2022 | The Complex in Salt Lake City, Utah

Photographer: Stephanie Siau October 18, 2022 | Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Tennessee Opener: Arden & Ayokay with special guest Jonathan Capeci from Nightly On Tuesday evening, Chelsea Cutler took over the Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Tennessee. Chelsea’s authentic character and presence shown through in the way she communicated with her fans – loving and engaging. Starting off with chants and affirmations to get the crowd excited, the fans continued to engage back with her, and paid close attention to what Chelsea had up her sleeve during her set. To everyone’s surprise, she invited Spencer Stewart from The Band Camino to sing “Crying Over You”. Lastly, the multi-talented artist had incredible visuals throughout her set. From gorgeous visuals of her past music videos, to lyrics to her new song “Men On The Moon", and graphics to go along with the meaning of her songs, Chelsea’s heart behind her music was evident.

Interview by: Maegan Grendell | Photos by: Ira Mapho MAEGAN: Introduce yourself! Where are you from? How'd you get into music? SOPHIE: Well, hi, I'm Sophie. Sophie Holohan. It's like hologram. A lot of people say hoo-la-han. I'm like, “Oh, that's fine”. I'm from San Jose, California. But I was born in the suburbs of Chicago. I got into music because my family was really musical growing up. They wanted to do musical careers, but decided to take more conventional paths. So there was always music growing up. So I started writing songs when I was five. It's just been in my life since then. So it was a natural progression. MAEGAN: Do you think you would've found your way to music if your family hadn't been so musical? SOPHIE: That's a really good question. I think so. It's just something that I like. I don't know if I necessarily would've found it as early. I love to write songs and I think I would've found my way to it eventually. I think it probably would've taken a while, but I probably would've found it in school or something like that along the way. MAEGAN: Is music always something you wanted to do career wise? SOPHIE: Yes and no. That was always the end goal. That was always what I expected I was gonna do in my life. I didn't think it was going to happen this early in my life necessarily. It's weird cuz I simultaneously thought it was gonna happen a lot earlier and a lot later. I thought I was gonna be on American Idol when I was 15, but I also thought that I was gonna go to Yale and then go to law school and then do music eventually. It was a weird push pull, but I always wanted to do it as a career. I just didn't think it would necessarily happen so soon. Yeah, that makes sense MAEGAN: What have you been working on recently? SOPHIE: I have finally finished my first EP which is really exciting. It's called 'The Space Between'. It comes out October 14th. I've been working on that for a year and it's finally done. It feels like my little baby. I put my heart into it. I didn't really understand when artists used to say that. But it is my child. I think making a body of work versus making individual songs is a very different experience because it's telling a story together. And getting to do the visuals and things for it has been really awesome. But now that that's finally done, I'm starting to work on my next music! MAEGAN: Do the songs on ‘The Space Between’ have a common theme in them? SOPHIE: Yes. I called it the ‘Space Between' because that's a line in one of the songs, but also each song is a space between something and something else. The first song that came out from the EP is called 'Cognitive Dissonance'. It's about the space between self sabotage and action. It's that weird space of like, you wanna do something so bad, but you can't get yourself to do it. And then there's another song called 'Olive Branch', which is a song about forgiveness versus resentment. And then there's another song called 'Megan's Song', which is about my best friend, and it's about the space between friendship and platonic love. It's all telling the story of growing up through these weird in between places. MAEGAN: Did you write more than six songs for the album? How do you pick just six? SOPHIE: Yes. That is such a good question. I think it just made sense. The story came together and the sound came together. I write all the time. I probably write at least four, five songs a week. And so narrowing it down to six from a year's worth of songs was hard. One day, I was driving home from LA to the Bay Area to see my family. I was with my sister and I was just driving and then I had this eureka moment and I was like, "These are the six”, and then I arranged it in the order and it just worked. MAEGAN: That's a lot of songs to just have in your back pocket. Do you think you'll ever do anything with them or are they just gonna stay unreleased, just for you? SOPHIE: I think that's a good question. I think some of them will probably eventually make it onto an album in the future. They just didn't work in terms of the motifs and sound of this EP. But some of them will just stay in my phone with my voice memos or notes forever. Which is kind of cool. MAEGAN: What was the very first song you released and when was it? SOPHIE: I released a song called ' Orange' when I was 17. My dad helped me produce it in my house. And my dad is not a professional producer. It was just a passion thing because he had always loved to do music, but had never done it professionally. So he literally spent a year working on the song when normally producing a song takes maybe two weeks or something like that. But he spent a year working on it. We released it, it was like all DIY, very exciting. It was almost a self love, empowerment song. Pretty cheesy. I love it. It's still in my SoundCloud. Sometimes people still ask for it. They're like, "Where did Orange go?". And I'm like, “It's gone. It's gone”. But I really loved it. It taught me a lot about making music and recording, but it just doesn't necessarily feel like me anymore. But it was a really cool experience to release it. I was the only music-y person at my school who was making their own music. People in my school were hyping it up. It was a cool experience. MAEGAN: Was it intimidating when you first started releasing music? SOPHIE: For sure. It's weird because it's always something that I've done. I've been writing songs since I was literally five. And so going from having them be, not to be like cliche, kind of like a mental escape, a way to like dump everything out... from going from it being an outlet to a career is weird because then you start thinking "Oh, will other people like this?". Instead of, "Do I like this?". I think that is a weird thing to weigh whether it feels like you. I think now I'm in a place where I'm just excited for people to hear it cuz I'm so proud of what I created. MAEGAN: What song are you most excited for? SOPHIE: Probably 'Olive Branch' because I produced it 90% myself, which is a new thing for me. It's just a very weird song. It has like 21 tempo changes, it has the bridge in the middle of the song. It's really weird and I really love it and I'm very proud of it. And that is like the baby of all babies, you know? MAEGAN: What song have you already released that you are most proud of? SOPHIE: I think it's probably a tie between 'Codependent' and 'Cognitive Dissonance', because 'Codependent' was the first song that I released with my label and it was the one that went viral on TikTok. It was super exciting and it was the first song that I got to work with a real producer on. It was pretty amazing to feel as though my dreams were coming true. And I also just love the song and I'm proud of it. I also am really proud of 'Cognitive Dissonance' because it was definitely a step outside of my comfort zone in terms of sound. I also got to work with some really cool people on the song. I just really enjoyed the process of it. MAEGAN: Who are your musical inspirations? SOPHIE: Oh my gosh, I have so many. I love Taylor Swift. I am a diehard swiftie. I was listening to her on the way here. MAEGAN: Really? What were you listening to? SOPHIE: I was listening to my songs on shuffle but 'Begin Again' popped up and that song always makes me feel some type of something. I love Phoebe Bridgers. My mom is a Brandy Carlisle stan, so that has rubbed off on me. I love this guy Matt Maeson. He's a huge inspiration to me. I like different genres. I feel like a lot of times individual songs also inspire me too. Adele... I love her... Daniel Caesar. Those are some of the big ones MAEGAN: Outside of music, what inspires you? SOPHIE: Honestly, I love just having conversations with people, unnecessarily deep conversations. I'm a Gemini, so I love to chat. I love to dive deeper into things and just getting to connect, that really inspires me. I also like to make really bad paintings and that inspires me. I feel like it really does heal my inner child because I like to make bad little cartoons, and finger paint and things like that. Because music is my job now, I feel like sometimes there's a lot of pressure in that regard in my life. So it's nice to have other creative outlets that I can mess up and do badly at. MAEGAN: What's your dream collaboration? Who do you really want to work with? SOPHIE: I mean, if I got to do anything with Taylor Swift, I think I would actually vomit and throw up and die. I just adore her. I think Matt Mason too. I would love to work with him because he just inspires me so much and I think he has inspired my writing a lot. So getting to do anything with either of them, I think I would die. I don't even know what I would say. MAEGAN: What are some of your long-term and short-term goals right now? SOPHIE:Long-term goals... I really want to make an album that's paired with a movie. I want to do that so badly. I wouldn't necessarily be in the movie because I'm not a good actor, but I just would love to fully write a story through music and have that be shown visually. Short term... I really want to go on tour so badly and at least open for someone. I think that would be so exciting. Performing is my favorite. I like to sing, but I love to write songs and I love to do the performance aspect of it. MAEGAN: Do you get to perform a lot? SOPHIE: A decent amount, once every month or maybe twice every month? I've been doing more performances the past couple of months. But I would love to do it every night for a month or two. MAEGAN: Does it scare you at all? SOPHIE: It used to. I have really bad anxiety just in general. Before I had meds I would not be able to do anything the entire day. I would just be so stressed out. But now I feel like I've done it enough that I believe in myself enough to be like, “it's gonna be okay. You love to do this" and just get on stage and do it. And as soon as I get on stage, a little switch flips in my brain and I'm Performance Sophie. But I think right up until that moment, sometimes I can get a little scared for sure. MAEGAN: Let's talk about TikTok a little bit. How did you get into that? Did you think that it would really feed into your career as much as it has? SOPHIE: No, I did not think it was gonna be successful at all because I had been posting music on the internet since I was like 10 on YouTube and Instagram. I was like, "Oh, great, another platform. I'm gonna fail". I just started posting and I seriously started posting in August of 2020 maybe. Then I just kept posting like nothing was happening. October of 2020 is when I had my first semi-viral video. It was the first video that I ever had that got to a thousand likes. But then it eventually hit 350,000 views and I was like, "this could be an actual thing, I didn't realize". I started posting relatively consistently and then things started taking off really around March of 2021. MAEGAN: What's been the biggest moment of your career so far? What milestone are you so proud of? SOPHIE: I don't know if it's necessarily the biggest, but…I love this guy Del Water Gap. He's so good. I saw him play at the Troubadour in November, and that was the first time I've been to the Troubadour. I was with someone from my label and they were like, “you're gonna play here within the year”. And I was like, "that'll never happen". Then in April I got to open there and that was like the craziest thing because that was my Dream LA venue, and it happened within five months. It was such a magical night knowing that someone I loved and respected so much played there. When Harry Styles came to the US for the first time, like on his solo stuff, he performed there first. It was very validating to be able to perform at a place where so many people that I look up to have performed. MAEGAN: How do you spend your time? What do you love to do? SOPHIE: Like I said, I make little paintings. I love doing that. I think it's a really good way to pass the time. I love hanging out with my friends. I feel like I finally have a good little community here. It's really convenient because three of my best friends live together so I just go to their house and it's basically like my house at this point. I have a key and I just go there and we just all hang out. I feel like I'm having my college experience now, just enjoying other people's company and getting to know people.And I like to go to the flea market. The Los Feliz one is the best one in LA. MAEGAN: How would you describe your music to new listeners? SOPHIE: I'd probably say my music is introspective, sad girl pop. That's what I would probably say. I like to try to describe emotions and experiences that aren't described in music very often. So a lot of the time they're very niche experiences that somehow most people can relate to. It's so hard to put it into words, to describe a whole part of your life. It's indie-pop-folk-sad-introspective-young twenties music. That's what it is. MAEGAN: Is there anything else you wanna touch on? Anything you wanna talk about with your EP? SOPHIE: I'm just really excited.

Written by: Holly Arend | October 15th, 2022 From Tik Toker to now musical sensation, Nessa Barett's debut album "Young Forever" is a pivotal album that scratches the itch for groundbreaking pop addressing mental health issues and feeling accepted in today's society. Barrett took to Instagram to express her love for her debut album while also noting her best friend was by her side the entire time and the album is dedicated to the late Cooper Noriega. Young Forever features 13 songs including singles like "Die First" and "Tired of California". Barretts singles have made it into Spotify playlists including New Music Friday, New Noise, and Pop Rising. Though stand-out songs included on the album are: "Gaslight", "Lovebomb", "Decay", and "Talk to Myself". Nessa's debut album is a story from start to finish and one that will make you realize just how much society and mental health have an impact on someone so young. Listen to Young Forever here and may you be young forever.

Interview by: Maegan Grendell | October 13, 2022 MAEGAN: Hi! Would you like to introduce yourself? RYANN: My name's Ryann, I'm from New York. I grew up there and I moved to LA eight years ago to go to school for music, but I've been doing music since I was a kid. My mom and my sister were always singing around the house and my mom really loves musical theater. So that was more the vibe of music around my house. But I think when I was in eighth grade, around there, I started writing and that kind of shed light on the fact that maybe I wasn't a musical theater kid and liked pop music and wanted to pursue writing and, and releasing my own music. I moved out here and I went to school and met my manager and started writing for other artists for a little while. And then a few years ago I decided I wanted to start releasing music and l released the ‘Emotions on Roller Skates’ EP, and then ‘Trick Candle’ MAEGAN: New York and LA... do you think they're different or do you see a lot of similarities? RYANN: I definitely think they're different. I mean, I love New York so much and I definitely wanna live there again one day, but I feel like the pace is really different. Like in New York you can do 10 things in an hour and like, go get a bagel and then go run your errands and go see your friends, and then you still have a whole day ahead of you. But in LA it's like, if we wanna go get a bagel in the morning, it's like a two hour experience. It's all moving a little slower and it's just a different pace, but I've actually really learned to like the pace of LA. And when I go to New York now I'm a little overwhelmed by how quickly everything moves. MAEGAN: Has living in LA versus living in New York affected your songwriting? RYANN: When I was living in New York, I was just a kid. And I was just writing by myself and writing in my room. When I moved to LA, I got to meet a bunch of people and meet a bunch of other writers that were in pop and then many other genres that I wasn't really writing in before. And I think I learned a lot about writing and coming out here and getting to work with people that have been doing it for so much longer than I had. The pop music scene obviously in LA is huge. So I got to meet a lot of people. MAEGAN: How would you describe your music to new listeners? RYANN: I have so much trouble answering this question for some reason. I would say it's sad stories over happy instrumentation. MAEGAN: What are some of your long term, and then also short term goals that you have right now? RYANN: I would say maybe an album, which I have never done. And eventually doing a whole tour and headlining a tour would be cool one day. Outside of music, maybe becoming a potter. I'm kidding. Not really. I love pottery. And doing music for so long, I really wanted to find something creative that I loved that was outside of music. And I started doing that. It's really fun, but it's very new. MAEGAN: It seems very difficult. So that's an impressive one to pick up. RYANN: Oh my gosh. When you watch all the videos of people doing it on TikTok or YouTube, it feels so easy, but it's so hard. I think maybe short term would just be performing more and releasing the EP and continuing to make more music and build the world of my project a little bit more. MAEGAN: Who are some people you wanna work with in the future? RYANN: I’'ve always been a really huge fan of ____. Her writing really inspires me. So if I ever got to write with her, that would be crazy. And I think Brandon Flowers. I love his writing. And then maybe we'll throw in Harry Styles. Cause who doesn't wanna write with Harry Styles ? MAEGAN: Who are some of your musical influences and inspirations? RYANN: For a while I would listen to a lot of Hilary Duff and Lily Allen, Aly and AJ. And that's what I listened to up until high school. I was obsessed with all that music, but when I really think about my influences I think of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell. MAEGAN: Was it always your goal to be a singer and a songwriter or is it just something that kind of happened as you grew up? How'd you get into that? RYANN: As I said, the music was around the house growing up and I was always singing. When I was in eighth grade, that was the first time I started songwriting. I was bullied in eighth grade and my outlet became writing songs at home. Once I started writing, when I knew that I really wanted to be in music. I was pretty certain about that from that point on. MAEGAN: Do you want to talk a little bit about your recent single Nineties, and what it's about? And also your collaboration with Charlie Hickey? RYANN: Charlie and I had been friends for a little while before we worked on this song, but we had never written together. Toward the beginning of the pandemic we had just been talking about trying to write on FaceTime. So, we got on FaceTime and just started talking about how we have been both going through a pretty similar experience with a long distance pandemic relationship, and just started writing about that. And ‘Nineties’ was born on FaceTime. It was definitely influenced by what we were talking about. The song is really about losing yourself in the idea of someone and being in a long distance really that's like just at the beginning. It's very easy to get lost in the idea of what the relationship could be. MAEGAN: What song are you most looking forward to people hearing from your EP, Trick Candle? RYANN: I think that the one I'm most excited about is 'Trick Candle'. The story that I wrote about in that song is one that I really wanted to tell for a while, and didn't know how to say it. And I'm just really happy with how it all came together. It was the first song Andy Seltzer, John DeBold and I had all done together. I work on all my music with them, but usually separately. I've done a bunch of songs with Andy, a bunch of songs with John. But we all came together to make this one. I think it also really helped shape the EP and started to help me see what I wanted everything to sound like. MAEGAN: Do you see any similar themes throughout the EP or do you find that the songs are pretty different? RYANN: I would say the songs are all telling definitely different stories. But I think there is like some sort of a through line. What I said ‘Nineties” is about, is getting lost in the idea of a relationship instead of seeing it for what it actually is. I think all of the songs are kind of coming to the realization that maybe the relationship wasn't what I thought it was. MAEGAN: How does your last EP differ from this one? RYANN: With 'Emotions on Roller Skates', the songs on that project were the first songs that I ever thought to release. I think there was a lot of trial and error because I just didn't really know what I wanted the project to sound like. But going into the second EP, I think I had a much clearer vision and was able to take what I learned from the first EP and continue building out this world. So I feel like it was much more intentional.