- today
On the latest episode of “Takes Us Out,” Billboard cover stars Addison Rae, Elvira Anderfjärd, Luka Kloser sit down with Billboard’s Kristin Robinson to discuss creating their experimental pop success ‘Addison.’ Plus, Addison gets honest about the public opinions of her music career, how “High Fashion” was almost a ballad and the one “Diet Pepsi” lyric she refused to include.
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MusicTranscript
00:00It was a crazy lyric that I had thrown out randomly.
00:03I looked at Luca like, ha ha, imagine if we said this,
00:05and Luca was like, I love it.
00:07And I was like, we cannot say that.
00:15Can I start with something green for you guys?
00:17Yeah.
00:18An iced tea?
00:19Iced tea?
00:19Perfect.
00:21How for you, miss?
00:21Just water.
00:22Just water?
00:23Like a green iced tea?
00:24I see.
00:25I'll get that for you.
00:26Okay.
00:26Just water for me.
00:27Just water?
00:27Have you guys ever been here before to Casa Vega?
00:29Yes.
00:30I haven't.
00:31This is my first time here, and I know that they filmed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood here.
00:35I'm a Studio City kid.
00:37Oh.
00:38It's a staple.
00:38From the Valley girl.
00:40From Valley kid.
00:40Love it.
00:41Yes.
00:42I'm sure you came here all the time growing up.
00:44I mean, all the time is maybe an exaggeration, but many of times for sure.
00:48Yeah, yeah.
00:49Oh my gosh.
00:50I'll try to get some chip and salsa for you guys, okay?
00:52Quick.
00:54Wasn't Diet Pepsi the first song y'all did together?
00:56Mm-hmm.
00:56Okay.
00:57I imagine that going into a session with new people that you haven't written with
01:01before feels kind of awkward and like a blind date.
01:03Can you tell me about meeting each other for the first time and getting into the flow?
01:07We met on New Year's.
01:09We did.
01:09It's so funny thinking back to that.
01:11I know.
01:11Like sitting there as complete like strangers.
01:14And we like maybe exchanged a few words, but we didn't really talk that much, I don't think.
01:18I mean, we've known each other for a while now.
01:20Besties in real life.
01:22Yeah.
01:23I met Elvira for the first time in the studio though.
01:25And that was really the first time we like really connected and talked.
01:28Definitely.
01:28Do you have a vivid memory?
01:30Mine is that Addison walked in with like...
01:33Leather pants and heels.
01:35Was it leather pants?
01:35Yes.
01:36Yes.
01:36It was those leather tights.
01:37Why was I like featuring a skirt for some reason?
01:38Wait.
01:38Yes, I do remember that.
01:39No, it was the leather tights and I had on like my striped bra and like a black tank top.
01:43Oh my God.
01:44Yes.
01:44And like six inch baby pink stilettos.
01:47Baby pink stilettos.
01:48Yeah.
01:48The shoes was like, and also they were like, because you forgot them in Sweden one time.
01:52Yeah.
01:53Or something.
01:53Mm-hmm.
01:54And they were like standing on my shelf like so I saw them from my bed every day.
01:56No.
01:57No.
01:57You know what it was?
01:58Every day.
01:58Remember we were in the hotel?
02:00True.
02:00Yes.
02:01Yeah.
02:01In New York.
02:02And then I left them.
02:02I remember you were going to ditch them and then we were like, what?
02:05You called us later and you were like, wait.
02:07Like we wrote Diet Pepsi.
02:08We wrote Diet Pepsi and then I was like, take them.
02:10I needed that right now.
02:11Take them.
02:18So when y'all first got together in the studio to start writing together for the first time,
02:22how did Diet Pepsi start to form?
02:24Did it start with like a one-liner or?
02:26No, not this one.
02:27That one started with Melody.
02:28Such a blur for me that like day.
02:30It really is.
02:31I remember you were just on the piano and we had tried to write a few other ideas
02:36that just started pretty basic, you know, like as you normally do.
02:39And I think we all were kind of nearing the end of the session.
02:42I think it was like seven.
02:43And we were like, okay, well, nothing happened and like nothing was inspiring.
02:48So I guess this was fun, you know, whatever.
02:50And then we were like, let's just keep playing.
02:53Like let's just, I don't know if something happens, then it'll happen.
02:56And Luca went on the piano, I remember.
02:58It's so weird to think that like it really like those moments can be so substantial in your life.
03:05Had we been like, you know what, let's go get dinner or something.
03:07Like there's a chance like we might have remained like friendly,
03:11but would have never entered this world of like everything that now has happened.
03:16Are you guys ready to order?
03:17Yes.
03:17Do you have any questions?
03:18I think we're good.
03:19I would like to start for you.
03:20What would you like to order?
03:21Steak fajitas, please.
03:22Perfect.
03:22You like flour or corn tortillas?
03:26I actually don't need any tortillas.
03:27No tortillas, perfect.
03:30Can I get a quesadilla, please, with chicken?
03:32Chicken quesadilla?
03:32Yeah.
03:33For you, Miss.
03:34Did you have some veggie quesadillas?
03:37Love?
03:37She'll make it for you.
03:38I guess.
03:40May I do the same as Add Simples with corn tortillas?
03:43Steak fajitas with corn tortillas?
03:44Thank you so much.
03:45Perfect, ladies.
03:46Would you like to get more water for you, Miss?
03:48Yes, please.
03:49A hand for you.
03:50Oh my god.
03:51Can't work hands, you're drinking out of like a jug.
03:57I drink water fast.
03:58I know you all write together a lot, just generally, or work together.
04:02Have you guys ever gotten to work on such a long project together at the same time?
04:08No.
04:08I think it's also very rare to just like stay in like this exact same circle for a whole album overall.
04:14Yeah.
04:15It's very lucky.
04:16It's a gift.
04:17Yeah.
04:18This whole process has felt so like special in all aspects.
04:22I mean to like, first of all, have someone trust us like this is really special.
04:26And then also to want to like stay in the same room that intensely.
04:30Yeah.
04:30So rare, you know?
04:31When did you guys decide that you were going to lock in for a full album?
04:34Was that something that you knew as soon as Diet Pepsi was written?
04:37Or did you decide that later?
04:39No, it kind of happened later on.
04:41I think once Diet Pepsi happened, we all knew it was really special.
04:45We were for sure planning to write again.
04:47And the next time we ended up writing was in Sweden.
04:51I guess a different song.
04:52We had worked on Diet Pepsi over like two days and we finished it.
04:55It was like two or three days we just finished the song.
04:58And we had the hook done on the first day.
05:00I remember really struggling with like figuring out melodically where we were going to go after the hook.
05:05Because we felt so strong about it and we had a bounce that day.
05:08So I was just like listening to it over and over and over.
05:10And then we ended up finishing the song the next day, writing it.
05:13The next time we worked was in Sweden, which we had done.
05:17Money is Everything was the second song that we made.
05:19And then Aquamarine was the third song we made.
05:29Diet Pepsi came out August 2024.
05:32And Addison the album did not come out until almost a year later.
05:35Why was there such a large gap?
05:37Well, the label didn't approve the album yet.
05:43There wasn't like a date that was, you know, there's so much that goes into that process.
05:48As much as I would have loved to have a confirmed album date before I started putting music out,
05:54it just didn't happen that way.
05:56And so when Diet Pepsi came out, it, there was only, I think we only had three songs done.
06:02I think that was Diet Pepsi, I think it was Aquamarine.
06:05Yeah, I think it was Diet Pepsi, Aquamarine, Money is Everything.
06:07And so, you know, there was a lot to be said and done.
06:10I hear a sizzle.
06:11Yay!
06:12Okay.
06:13The fajitas.
06:14Wow.
06:15Oh my goodness.
06:19Thank you so much.
06:20I appreciate it.
06:21You can have my tortillas.
06:22I have my own tortillas.
06:24You can have double the tortillas.
06:27Oh my gosh, this is like not good because now I'm just going to want to eat.
06:31It smells so good.
06:32I need to dive in.
06:33Thank you so much.
06:34It's probably scorching hot.
06:36I don't even care.
06:37I'm so hungry.
06:37You're just going to burn your tongue?
06:39I'm so hungry too.
06:42You want something spicy with how we are on?
06:44Mmm.
06:44Oh wow.
06:45Wow.
06:46You want a spicy sauce?
06:48Hand me that.
06:48Yeah.
06:49Yeah.
06:50The quesadillas look really good.
06:52Yeah, they do look really good.
06:53Are you jealous?
06:54Yes, I actually am.
06:55I'm jealous of that one.
06:56That's on top.
06:57There's no way that I'm going to finish all of this, so you can just have it.
07:00Diet Pepsi comes out.
07:01It's August 2024 and you only have three songs at that point for the album.
07:05Did you kind of see Diet Pepsi at first as just a standalone
07:08single that eventually worked its way into a larger project?
07:12I knew I wanted to make an album.
07:14I think there was never a question on that.
07:16I knew that an album would happen.
07:19I just didn't know how fast it would happen.
07:21And I think there was no pressure on it.
07:23I think once we started, you know, making the album and we had three songs,
07:28I knew that we had really great chemistry and there was kind of just no decision
07:32that was made necessarily that early.
07:34I think I was just like, well, let's keep writing and keep going.
07:36I know you were part of the Brat remix album.
07:39That was just such an exciting, huge rollout last year.
07:44Did you learn anything by being around Charlie during that time and seeing how she was kind of
07:49rolling out that album?
07:50And did you apply any of what you learned to the rollout of Addison?
07:54I think what was so special about what she did was that it was so true to her.
08:00And there was just kind of no other way to categorize it.
08:02And so I think for me, I just tried to be as intentional and free flowing as possible,
08:11which is kind of a hard combination.
08:13You know, you want to have as much freedom as possible and still feel like you're very
08:17in control of it all.
08:18And that was something that I think was done so gracefully by her.
08:23Charlie really gave me the confidence as a writer, honestly.
08:26And that's why I felt so sure going into our sessions because I was kind of like, okay.
08:30Most of the sessions I had done before I did the Von Dutch remix session with Charlie,
08:33I had a lot of writers in the room and I was feeling like I was leaning on writers a lot,
08:38like multiple writers and just having like a room full of people.
08:41And I think when I went into our sessions,
08:43I felt like secure with the fact that it was just us three.
08:46Everyone loves the, you know, the scream that you do during the remix.
08:50I feel like that's such a signature part of the part of the song.
08:54Did you just kind of decide to scream?
08:56Like, how did this come about?
08:58Yeah, I just screamed.
09:01And she actually posted a video of it on TikTok when I recorded that.
09:04And it was just totally not planned.
09:13To be honest, I just didn't have any other ad-libs.
09:18And there was a big space.
09:19So I was like, what do I do to fill this time up?
09:21And so I screamed and then they kept it in.
09:23I was really surprised though,
09:24whenever they sent me the balance after I did that.
09:27I did not think they were going to put that in the song.
09:29The ad-libs are terrifying.
09:30I mean, it worked, it worked.
09:32From a production standpoint,
09:33what are some of y'all's favorite moments from Addison?
09:36What are some little moments that you hope that listeners find?
09:40Take it away, Elvira.
09:43I really love the production of Aqua Marine.
09:50That one has a lot of fun synth moments that you maybe wouldn't notice, really.
09:55But it's like, what are you listening?
09:56You're like, what is that weird little melody?
09:59So that one I really love.
10:00That bass line is great.
10:02I love it.
10:02I love it.
10:06Thanks.
10:08No, that one I really love.
10:10Luca, do you have a favorite part?
10:12I'm just the only one eating.
10:13A favorite part of that song?
10:15I feel like I'm the only one eating.
10:17Oh, sorry.
10:17By eating.
10:18Let me talk about my favorite production as I chow.
10:21Yes.
10:21Over steak.
10:22Over steak.
10:23I love them all.
10:24I know that's such a cliche answer,
10:26but the really fun part about obviously co-producing with Elvira
10:32and Addison being so open to like, yeah, try that.
10:36Let's see if it works.
10:37It allowed us to have so much fun on the production side of things and like our taste,
10:41all three of us when it comes to what the tracks should sound like are so aligned.
10:46But I think those moments also bring out the best in those situations.
10:50From the very beginning, were you guys primarily trying to make a name for yourselves as producers
10:56or did you start mostly as songwriters or mostly as artists?
10:58Because I know y'all do all three.
11:00The boring answer is that I view myself very 50-50.
11:04Okay.
11:04I just like am equally passionate about the two parts and like,
11:10I just love it.
11:12And that's that.
11:13But like songwriting and production.
11:16Yeah, I think that like, I would say the same.
11:18I would say that the production thing came later for me in life and was more of a way of like,
11:23okay, well, I want to record this song that I'm writing.
11:28How do I do that?
11:29Yeah.
11:30I'm falling into, you know, just like, okay, probably with this software.
11:34And then that like opened a world of, oh my God, like there's so much you can do in this computer.
11:40Yeah, I love them equally.
11:42I think it's a different kind of love.
11:45Production makes me want to rip my hair out sometimes.
11:48It feels very tedious.
11:49Yeah, for sure.
11:50Yeah, it's definitely tedious.
11:51It is pretty rare to see an album that only has three people in the liner notes or for Tove being
11:59on one of the songs as well.
12:00How do you think that that affected the results of the album, especially since all of you are
12:04around the same age, all women, you just like never see that.
12:08I think we were all willing to be very open and try everything that felt right.
12:13We all have very similar tastes and feelings as far as what makes us moved by music.
12:22They allowed me to be so open and honest and vulnerable and experimental in my own ways.
12:29And the perspective of having a room of only females was just a really different energy
12:35than what really we're all used to.
12:37It doesn't really happen very often.
12:39Every song that we wrote is on the album essentially minus maybe a couple.
12:46I think there's maybe three songs that didn't make it or we didn't finish and didn't make the album.
12:52But we were very adamant on just following our gut feelings and intuition on what felt right.
12:57And then when it did feel right, we ran with it and finished it and got it to the finish line.
13:02And then everything kind of just fell into place.
13:04It was just a really nice cohesion and relationship that we built over the album.
13:09Oh, thank you so much.
13:10Are you guys ready for some dessert?
13:12No, thank you so much.
13:18Do you want churros?
13:19Do you want some churros?
13:20Wait, actually though, have you had like an LA churro?
13:24No.
13:24Oh, I think she needs a churro.
13:25I think we need one churro.
13:26Just one.
13:27I think she needs a churro.
13:29Okay, have a churro.
13:30Have you ever had an LA churro?
13:31I don't think so.
13:32I feel like oftentimes when you hear of a breakthrough artist,
13:35they get pushed into working with like one of three people who has made every number one song.
13:40Did you feel like you had control over who your writing partners would be?
13:45Yeah, I mean, I definitely had full control.
13:47I don't think that I would have gotten to where I am without that simply because
13:55I really love control.
13:56I really like being in control of myself and the things that I'm doing.
14:00And before I started making the album or went in with
14:06I guess anybody that I was thinking I was going to do the album with,
14:09I printed out a bunch of photos and put them in a binder and I had colors and I had
14:16live performances that I love and I actually still have it.
14:20Everybody on my team still has it, which is nice.
14:22Cool.
14:23Nobody's really seen it actually.
14:24I think y'all might have seen it.
14:26Maybe.
14:26I remember we saw like a digital version of it.
14:28Yeah, yeah.
14:29And I went into the label with it and I was like, well, this is what
14:33this is the album I want to make.
14:34And this is before Diet Pepsi even, but I was like,
14:37this is what I want the album to be. And so much of it came to fruition in its own way.
14:43There's always somebody telling you what it should sound like or what it should be.
14:46And even when I had Diet Pepsi, you know, there were people that I played it to that were like,
14:51I don't know if this is what people want from you.
14:52And I was like, well, I don't think people know what they want from me.
14:55You know, and I think that's something that
14:58if I had to give any advice to anybody, it would probably just be to do what you want
15:02and don't do what people think they want from you.
15:04Yeah.
15:05Because you're, that's already so many steps behind, you know,
15:08once you give somebody what they think they want, it's kind of old news already.
15:12I'm wondering in your earliest, earliest part of your music career,
15:15when you're first releasing music, did you feel like you were trying to please anyone with it?
15:18Not necessarily. I had a very imagined world of what my music career would look like.
15:24Since I was little, maybe even, you know, subconsciously, I had this idea
15:28of what kind of artist I would be in my life and what kind of music I would make
15:32and what would I dance to and what would make me move, especially for my EP.
15:36When I was writing those songs and making that music, I was in a space where I thought
15:42there was a world for me in that, in that type of music or type of energy.
15:48And I leaned on it a lot in as far as my influences and things that really inspired me.
15:53And, and I think I completely veered away from that, those guardrails in a way,
15:59when I was making this album. When I went in with Luca and Elvira, I think
16:04I had so much more knowledge on music and, and why I felt a certain way when I listened to certain
16:09songs. I think we all really surprised ourselves actually with what direction the album went in
16:14and what the music sounded like, especially as we did it. I obviously love a certain genre
16:23and have always loved genres that I grew up on and were very influenced by just naturally in my life.
16:28So I always loved, you know, like these extravagant pop stars. I think as a little girl, you look at pop
16:35stars and you're just like, this is what it's like to be a woman, like to be a pop star. And, you know,
16:40growing up with like Hannah Montana and the Cheetah Girls, it's like this pop star lifestyle was so
16:44ingrained in everybody's eyes. And I think the album totally made a life of its own. And it,
16:50it became something that only we could have done by leaning on our instincts and our feelings. And
16:57yeah, I think that's why it feels so rare and, you know, singular in what it, what it means.
17:03There's this quote I heard once where, uh, I forget who, who said it, but they said it takes a really
17:08long time to sound like yourself. Miles Davis. Is that Miles Davis? Yes. It's a Miles Davis quote.
17:14Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I love that quote. And I totally agree with that. I actually,
17:18my vocal coach, he has that printed out over in his bathroom. And I remember taking a picture of it
17:25when I saw it for the first time. And I was just like, that is just the realest thing ever.
17:28Cause not only does that apply as far as like vocal warmups, you know, like you could sound one
17:33way at the beginning of your lesson and one way at the end of your lesson just by exercising your
17:37voice, but also finding who you are takes a really long time. And there's so many influences that you
17:43have growing up. There's so many people telling you what they think you should be. There's what you
17:48think you should be. There's what you think, you know, your path might be or who you are as far as who
17:55you're surrounded with. And I think over time you experiment and you experience things and you
18:00grow into yourself and everything becomes, you know, a reflection of the life that you live.
18:06And I think that's exactly what this album is. It sounds like with the binder that you made,
18:11that that was like a way of being like, this is what I want to sound like, but it's a visual
18:15representation of that. Did you feel like at that time you were also trying to learn how to give notes
18:20sonically? Yeah, I think I actually got way better at that after we started working together.
18:26I feel like you've always had such a distinct vision for what you gravitate towards sonically.
18:33I definitely know what I want sonically. And they're so incredible at translating that,
18:39even when I don't know exactly what I'm saying. Now I know much better.
18:42Oh my gosh. Wow. That's beautiful. Thank you. You guys guide me.
18:53This is the best two girls on the ballet. It was definitely a progression though, to get there.
18:57Yeah. I feel like initially I would, you know, have, whether that's, you know, artists that I really
19:05love and the way that they make things feel. I think always though, I was a synth girl. Like,
19:08I've always loved synths. Even when I started making music in 2020, I led with that. I was
19:14always like, I love synths and I love the way synths make me feel. Like that was such a prominent
19:18thing for me. And so they got very experimental with synths. And you know, that's why high fashion
19:23is so special. Yeah, luckily. Thank God, because if they didn't have enough, it would have worked,
19:27honestly. What are some of the synths that you guys worked with a lot on this record? It's a lot.
19:32Yeah, it's a lot. I think, I think it was very fun this run, because I feel like,
19:36wait, did you dip it in this? I didn't. It's important. Can't talk about synths,
19:42but it did it. Now you're fueled to talk about synths. Thoughts, first of all. Amazing.
19:50What's like in the middle? I don't know. Now tell me about that synth. Oh, sorry. Back to synths.
19:55We'll talk about what's in the middle later. That's a space in between. No, I think like,
20:02at least for me, I was very much like in the computer before. And like, sorry, I was almost
20:08like an outward hater. Oh, interesting. Okay. So like only plugins, essentially. Okay. We used
20:14a lot of M1. Love that synth. That's like all the like beautiful watery soundscape on the album.
20:21I think we leaned on that for our water world. I think the M1 is probably a lot of the through line
20:27on the album. And then just your classic like profits. Or like all the the darker,
20:36the darker world of the album, I think, leaned more on, you know, Junos and stuff like that. But
20:42yeah, you know, yeah. A lot of like 90s wrecks and like just tried a bunch of things where we like,
20:48like we we just like had the luxury of like being in a studio where like a lot of things laid around.
20:53They were like, let's just plug this in and see like what happens. Yeah. Yeah.
20:58We kind of just fell in love with it. For the three of you, it feels like
21:02this album marked kind of a moment of arrival for each of you. Does it feel like your careers have
21:10changed since the release of the album? I'm very proud of what we did. Knowing something you're
21:15a part of feels so you is the biggest reward. It's just a very like nice feeling. Also because
21:22it's such a like body of work. It's like a full album. I feel like it was a huge
21:30boost of confidence in a lot of ways, especially with Diet Pepsi coming out. I think I initially
21:36struggled with the idea of not having the album done before Diet Pepsi came out. There was so much
21:42unknown before Diet Pepsi came out because we didn't really know what people would think,
21:46nor did we really care, which I thought was so nice in the beginning, was that there was no
21:51thoughts about what people would possibly like or dislike about it. And then, you know, people really
21:56loved it, which was really nice and so gratifying. But I think it definitely added a layer of pressure
22:02initially. Then Aquamarine came out, which was the song that was teased first. Right before Aqua came
22:07out, I definitely was like in my head. I was like, is this the right choice? And then I think I had to
22:12just remind myself that the way that I wanted it to be initially was the only way that it was going to
22:18feel the most true and honest. And then I really tried to just let go of that idea of a standard or idea
22:24of people listening and having judgment on it for the remainder of the rollout. And I just stayed
22:29really true to what I wanted, which I think was the most payoff. But it was such an arrival to
22:34freedom and confidence and question marks in a lot of ways. And I think that was so necessary
22:41as we moved forward in making the album and finishing it was like, yes, we can feel the pressure
22:47and we can use that to continue trusting ourselves. Yeah. And I think we talked about that a lot also
22:53around that time. Because I mean, all of us felt that. And then like, I feel like when we all were like,
23:00let's just like not feel the pressure of like making another Diet Pepsi. Right. Because like,
23:05why would we do that when that exists? Right. I think once we like, like settle in that thought,
23:12we just like, thrived. Yeah. No, for sure. I love that high fashion was our like, let's make another Diet Pepsi. Yeah. Totally.
23:23And just like, made it so experimental. It's so different.
23:32Yes, it's so experimental. But when we were making it, I didn't even feel that way, truly. I didn't feel that at all.
23:39I was like, I was and still am surprised that so many people didn't understand it or get it or feel
23:43like it was the way that it was to me. But I don't know. I would, that's like my passion song. Yeah.
23:49High fashion. I love that. Y'all know that. I like, well, I don't ever shut up about it. I think it's,
23:52yeah, I think it's something that I'm the most proud of in so many ways. I love high fashion so much.
23:57And we experimented in a lot of ways. Yeah. And I actually, there's the one idea of it that I really
24:02love still. Like we made versions of high fashion that sound nothing like the finished product.
24:08Yeah, there was like a ballad. There was like a completely different type of experimental song,
24:15like, and the lyric was adjusted in each version and changed and played with. But then it ended up
24:21the way that it was, which I wouldn't change a thing about it. I love it so much. But I just,
24:25there was no way I was allowing them to let me move on from that idea. Like, I was like, this is going
24:30to be a song on the album. It has to be. I mean, we all were obsessed with that concept. Yeah. I feel like that
24:35sounds like it was a really safe room to throw out those ideas. Totally. For sure. I imagine that
24:39like, when you first start writing with other people, it's really uncomfortable to kind of put
24:44yourself out there knowing that it could be something where everyone's like, I don't know about
24:48that. Right. I actually feel like we got that out of the way really fast. Yeah. Would I have
24:52seen the one lyric? Remember the one lyric? Oh, wait. I was like, yeah, we can't talk about that.
24:57I was down. We were all down. Guys, I have to know. There was this crazy lyric that I had thrown out
25:05randomly and I looked at Luca like, haha, imagine if we said this. And Luca was like, I love it. And I
25:12was like, we can not say that. And then you were in the bathroom whenever we had said it. And then you
25:16came back in and we were like, we have the lyric. Here it is. And it's a really crazy lyric, but it never
25:21happened. Addison, one of the most interesting things about your career to me as a musician is
25:26that you had to do it all so publicly from the very beginning, which most artists don't have to deal
25:31with, where you can kind of go through all different sorts of versions of yourself. And most of the time
25:36when you're starting out in a music career, no one's really watching. It's fine. How did the pressure
25:41of public opinion affect you as a musician as you were trying to grow? Um, I think initially I was pretty
25:51let down by myself in a lot of ways because I had such high expectations. And then over time,
25:57I kind of just completely let that go and released it. I know the way that music makes me feel and I
26:03know that I trust my taste and my instincts. And so it was something that definitely got tainted initially
26:11because I feel like I can do anything that I work hard at and put my mind to. And I think that a lot
26:17of people didn't feel that way about music from me initially. Yeah, it was definitely hard at first
26:23to not give up on it, but I love it so much and it's ingrained in my life. It kind of didn't make
26:28sense for me to ever stop making music. And even though I took a kind of break over time of figuring
26:34out what that meant to me, I think it was so necessary and that led me to exactly where I needed to be,
26:39which is right here with Luca Nulli. I love it. I love it. I feel like in a few of your past interviews
26:45that I looked over, you speak about, in one of them, you talk about how you don't like feeling sad
26:51or you like being happy or you don't really love writing a ton of ballads. Is that kind of tied to
26:58the dance, you think? Just kind of wanting to have that? We've never written a ballad other than when
27:03we tried with High Fashion, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I feel like obviously if production
27:08leaned differently on some of the songs, it could be interpreted as one. Right, right. I guess,
27:12but never really. But never with the intention to write a ballad, perhaps. Yeah. I feel like
27:17structurally we always keep it just like moving, which is nice. And we don't really go super slow
27:24or like piano ballad style ever. Yeah. I guess aside from the one version of High Fashion, which we tried
27:30making through a ballad. It's so awful. By the way, I say that and then, you know,
27:34Times Like These is a really emotional song and so is In The Rain in a way. And I don't know,
27:39they take on different headphones. It's, yeah, very emotional too. I think, I think it's all about
27:44the overcoming of it for me. I don't like feeling down and not, and not through something. Actually,
27:50this happened a lot in the album writing process too. I would feel like I was going through something
27:54really intense and was talking to them about it, but I couldn't necessarily write about it until I was
27:58through it. That felt like a very common thing for me. It's like, I, you know, if I'm going through
28:02something, I need to get over it and get through it before I can write about it so that I know that
28:06there's another side to it, you know? What was the moment when you guys felt like the album was
28:10actually done? What was the last song we made? Times Like These? Yeah, well, Lost and Found, technically.
28:16Okay. Technically, Lost and Found, but song, full song, yeah. Oh, yeah. I remember when we did
28:23times like this, it was like a, oh, yeah. We're done. Like, this is like the one we've been like searching for.
28:35We knew it was done at that moment. Yeah. Yeah. And like, I mean, it's hard being like,
28:41it's done now. So like, you're always going to be like, Issa? Right. But like, I think that was a
28:47moment. We were nearing a point where maybe anything more would have felt like fluff conceptually.
28:54Yeah. Yeah. I feel like you really like covered everything you wanted to say. Yeah. I think.
29:01Yeah. I think it was like times like these was like a nice little bow. Like, here it is. Yeah. Yeah.
29:07Are you guys making any new music together right now? This is the last time we're ever singing.
29:12Yeah. We're going to stop working. We're divorcing at Casa Vega. Um, we have, I don't know.
29:22I don't know. All right. Well, I guess that'll be where we end it. Thank you guys for taking us out
29:30to Casa Vega. Thank you so much. And thanks for hanging out with us. Thank you. Thank you.
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