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Speaker 1: Pushkin. Layvey's fast rise to fame is a pandemic success story.

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Speaker 1: During Lockdown, the twenty four year old multi instrumentalist built

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Speaker 1: a substantial following on social media, where she was known

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Speaker 1: as Jazz Girl. Since then, the Icelandic Chinese singer songwriter

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Speaker 1: has released two studio albums that blend classical pop and

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Speaker 1: jazz perfectly, and while working in the style of artists

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Speaker 1: like Elia Fitzgerald and Chet Baker may seem unlikely for

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Speaker 1: a Gen Z artist, her music has proved to resonate

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Speaker 1: deeply with young audiences. The first single from her most

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Speaker 1: recent release, Bewitched, has been streamed over twenty million times

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Speaker 1: globally since it's released a couple months back, and the

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Speaker 1: album itself was the largest jazz debut on Spotify ever.

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Speaker 1: Layvay's online performances first went viral in twenty twenty while

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Speaker 1: she's attending Boston's prestigious Berkeley College of Music. Raised in Iceland,

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Speaker 1: Layve started playing cello and classical piano when she was

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Speaker 1: just four years old. By fifteen, she was performing with

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Speaker 1: the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra as a cello soloist. The Chinese

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Speaker 1: side of her family has been studying classical music for generations.

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Speaker 1: LaVey's mom as a professional violinist and a maternal grandfather

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Speaker 1: taught violin at China's Central Conservatory of Music, and while

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Speaker 1: Lave's classical training runs deep, perhaps the most surprising thing

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Speaker 1: about her sent to stardom is the fact that she's

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Speaker 1: now known as a singer songwriter as much as a musician.

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Speaker 1: On today's episode, I talked to Leave about how she

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Speaker 1: started singing jazz standards online and what inspired her to

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Speaker 1: write her own songs as well. She also talks about

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Speaker 1: the great sacrifices her Chinese family made during the Cultural

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Speaker 1: Revolution when there was a strict band on playing classical

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Speaker 1: Western music, and she sings two original songs for us,

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Speaker 1: including her single from the Start. This is broken record.

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Speaker 1: I don't know it's for the digital age. I'm justin Mitchell.

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Speaker 1: Before we jump into my interview with Levey, let's hear

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Speaker 1: her sing an acoustic condition of her song from the

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Speaker 1: Start live.

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Speaker 2: Don't you knows how I get quiet when there's no

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Speaker 2: one else surround me and you and awkward silence.

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Speaker 3: Don't shut look at me that way?

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Speaker 1: I don't need to.

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Speaker 2: Remind herself how you don't feel the same. Oh the

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Speaker 2: burdening pain listening to your heart bumbous news song made,

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Speaker 2: She's so perfect, blah blah blah. How I wish you

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Speaker 2: wake up one day?

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Speaker 3: Fun to me confess your little bell yst Just let

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Speaker 3: me say that when I talk to you, Oh cute

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Speaker 3: b walks right through and shoots on the or through.

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Speaker 4: My herd and I sound like aloon.

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Speaker 3: But don't you feel to confess I've learned from the start.

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Speaker 1: I love that I sound like a loon line such

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Speaker 1: a great play on word. Yeah, in such a little time,

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Speaker 1: you've gotten so successful, I feel I can confidently say

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Speaker 1: that I should mention you. I mean, your album was

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Speaker 1: like the highest debuting jazz album, dare I say on Spotify?

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Speaker 1: You know, if you admit it to jazz, it is.

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Speaker 5: So so so wild. It was very I you know,

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Speaker 5: I I would have never expected that that could be

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Speaker 5: the outcome for the kind of music that I make.

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Speaker 5: You know, I really set out to just make the

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Speaker 5: music that I loved and hope that people would listen.

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Speaker 5: And the fact that they have is is very very special.

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Speaker 5: I kind of can't believe it.

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Speaker 1: I might go all over the places because you're a

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Speaker 1: relatively new artist. I don't know a ton about you

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Speaker 1: in your route to where is this place now? It's

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Speaker 1: a cuitous. It's like you it's confusing, like where you

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Speaker 1: came from before LA and where you you know, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of many stops stops. So how long have

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Speaker 1: you been in LA now?

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Speaker 5: A little over two years.

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Speaker 1: And you came to LA from.

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Speaker 5: It's kind of confusing. But d C kind of because

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Speaker 5: my parents lived in DC while I went to Berkeley,

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Speaker 5: and then because.

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Speaker 1: Great parents, so they moved to the States.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it just was coincidental actually, but because

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Speaker 5: my dad worked in DC, like between Iceland and d C,

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Speaker 5: so when.

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Speaker 1: My kids go to college, I'll also accidentally have some

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Speaker 1: work to do.

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Speaker 5: But it was so nice. It was so nice because

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Speaker 5: then what happened is COVID struck, right, instead of going

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Speaker 5: back to Iceland, where I would have, you know, otherwise gone,

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Speaker 5: I went to d C. So I stayed in the

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Speaker 5: States and you know, had employment authorization and stuff like that.

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Speaker 5: So it was like actually quite integral to me being

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Speaker 5: able to start this career during that time.

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Speaker 1: I think, So how much Berkeley did you do remote?

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Speaker 5: Like from d I mean after I did one and

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Speaker 5: a half year in person and then and then the

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Speaker 5: rest online. Wow, but I did graduate.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations.

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Speaker 5: That's it's no, it's just it's a rare one. It's

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Speaker 5: not considered very cool to graduate.

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Speaker 1: But wow, No, I know some cool people though that

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Speaker 1: have graduated from.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, some of us make it all.

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Speaker 1: Look at you, you're setting a new tone for Yeah.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 5: The standard is that if you dropped out, you made it.

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Speaker 5: If you if you if you graduated, you won't make it.

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Speaker 1: I'm always curious about Berkeley experience because it's such a

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Speaker 1: unique school with such unique, very driven students. For one,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean, I feel like students who

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Speaker 1: very much want to they want it, they want it,

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Speaker 1: and they want it like not. You know. I feel

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Speaker 1: like if you go to a traditional four year institution

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Speaker 1: where it's it's much more, where it's focused on academics,

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Speaker 1: there's a sense of like, you know, it might take

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Speaker 1: a while to get into your profession, you might take

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Speaker 1: a detour through graduate school or whatever. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I know, like with Berkeley kids, it's like, to your point,

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Speaker 1: they want to make it before they even graduate. So

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Speaker 1: that's a drive amount of pressure.

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Speaker 5: It is and I think strangely I didn't put that

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Speaker 5: pressure on myself because I came from such an academic

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Speaker 5: background and my twin sister went to like a four

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Speaker 5: year university in Scotland that was very much not like

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Speaker 5: a music school, so I was almost on that path.

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Speaker 5: I think I was different from a lot of kids

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Speaker 5: at Berkeley in that I came there quite open minded

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Speaker 5: and curious about what it was that I was able

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Speaker 5: to do within the walls of Berkeley. Because I came

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Speaker 5: in as a cellist, right like, I was on a

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Speaker 5: scholarship to play cello. I didn't go as a singer

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Speaker 5: or a writer or anything like that, and I kind

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Speaker 5: of was like, Okay, I want to do a little

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Speaker 5: bit of everything and see what I can do. And

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Speaker 5: part of me just felt like it was so unrealistic

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Speaker 5: to become a singer that I just didn't even you know,

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Speaker 5: dip too much into it.

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Speaker 1: So sit your track with cello, but you also want

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Speaker 1: to pursue sing and a writing or you're curious about that?

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Speaker 5: Absolutely?

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean I you know, I wanted to be a

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Speaker 5: singer the most, but it just felt very unrealistic, which is.

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Speaker 1: Funny because it wasn't well, yeah, I mean growing.

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Speaker 5: Up in Iceland, it's not something you see that often,

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Speaker 5: you know, you're not immersed in that, and like, yeah,

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Speaker 5: I don't know. I think I also like to play

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Speaker 5: it safe as a kid, right, And I didn't want to.

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Speaker 5: I was a little bit scared of dreaming outside of

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Speaker 5: the box, if you will. And I was like, who

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Speaker 5: am I to think that I can do that? You know?

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Speaker 5: I was also taught to like I've come from my

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Speaker 5: mother's Chinese and you know, the Chinese kind of my

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Speaker 5: Chinese culture, sure, and background has definitely taught me like

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Speaker 5: you have to manage expectations, stay humble, work very hard.

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Speaker 5: Like those are the three kind of pillars.

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Speaker 1: Manage expectations, they work.

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Speaker 5: Really hard, Yeah, exactly, Like obviously like dream strive for

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Speaker 5: big things, but like in a very realistic way, in

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Speaker 5: a way that you work your way up to it,

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Speaker 5: you know, whereas like I think the American dream is

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Speaker 5: like a little bit more delusional, but in a really

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Speaker 5: good way, do you know what I mean? And now

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Speaker 5: I've t but I've tapped into that delusion now, But

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Speaker 5: I think you know that's that's you know, I mean,

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Speaker 5: in many in many ways, whether it be a good

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Speaker 5: thing or a bad thing. I think that's why a

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Speaker 5: lot of Americans succeed in really fantastic ways again, whether

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Speaker 5: it be good or bad, because.

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Speaker 1: Also why we like fail spectacularly even after having succeeded.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you know, big, big wins and big

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Speaker 5: losses come from big risks, and Americans and American kids

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Speaker 5: are taught to take big risks. I think a lot

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Speaker 5: of my not even my parents. I think I was

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Speaker 5: just a very safe and calculated child, so I didn't

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Speaker 5: dare to take big risks. But now I take really

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Speaker 5: big risks.

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Speaker 1: That's great, even doubt. What was your first encounter with

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Speaker 1: American culture as a delusional As.

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Speaker 5: A delusional I mean I went to elementary school in

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Speaker 5: the States from age of six to nine. That was

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Speaker 5: like the first time I remember encountering American culture.

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Speaker 1: Do you remember how you felt before you got here,

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Speaker 1: like being told you're going to come here and just sort.

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Speaker 5: Of your feel Yeah, I mean I think, you know,

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Speaker 5: I was five years old, so I wasn't thinking too

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Speaker 5: much about it. I think I was excited to get

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Speaker 5: to move to a new country. I mean I didn't

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Speaker 5: speak English very well or at all, so I remember

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Speaker 5: Icelandic and Chinese Chinese. I remember just how encouraged we

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Speaker 5: were to speak up, like public speaking. There was an

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Speaker 5: emphasis on that, even from you know, age six. In

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Speaker 5: my you know, public school in DC, it was a

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Speaker 5: lot of like show and tell, sharing, you know, reading

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Speaker 5: out loud, stuff like that. From a very early age

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Speaker 5: that I didn't feel like there was as much of

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Speaker 5: an emphasis on. And I think what resulted was like

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Speaker 5: kids were quite open and they were which was great

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Speaker 5: for me coming from a different country especially. I mean

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Speaker 5: I lived in Washington, d C. And though it was

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Speaker 5: like a public school, it was very international just because

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Speaker 5: the nature of the neighborhood I lived in. There were

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Speaker 5: a lot of like children who had parents who worked

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Speaker 5: in you know, international service. So because these kids were

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Speaker 5: very international and because they were very outspoken, I think

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Speaker 5: they accepted kids quite easily. So that was actually really good.

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Speaker 5: But I remember just always thinking, you know, Americans and

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Speaker 5: American culture was quite extroverted compared to a more introverted

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Speaker 5: Icelandic culture, and I knew that from a very young age.

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Speaker 1: It seems like was it uncomfortable to start.

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Speaker 5: No, not at all. And I think, you know, six

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Speaker 5: to nine, which is the time that I lived in

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Speaker 5: America as a kid, there's such formative years and they

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Speaker 5: taught me to become very expressive. And I think when

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Speaker 5: I took that expression, like that expressive nature back to

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Speaker 5: Iceland when I was like nine, eight or nine, in

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Speaker 5: the middle of the recession in two thousand and eight,

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Speaker 5: I felt quite loud. I quite felt really larger than life,

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Speaker 5: like really big, and that was kind of something that

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Speaker 5: I dealt with for a while in Iceland.

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Speaker 1: What about at home? Was it encouraged at home to

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Speaker 1: be sort of living out loud? Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Absolutely. My parents were super, super encouraging of me being

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Speaker 5: an artist as well, like they from a very young age.

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Speaker 5: But it was I had a very disciplined childhood, not

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Speaker 5: in a bad way, but in that you know, I

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Speaker 5: knew I came home from school and I practiced. I was,

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Speaker 5: you know, treading a pre professional classical music path.

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Speaker 1: And that's because your mom, my mom is.

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Speaker 5: A classical violinist. Yeah, So from age four I started

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Speaker 5: playing classical piano and cello and it just kind of

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Speaker 5: became a part of life, just as going to elementary

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Speaker 5: school becomes a part of your life. You know, you

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Speaker 5: go to math, you go to English, you go to science,

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Speaker 5: it come home you have an hour piano, hour of cello, an.

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Speaker 1: Hour of piano, hour of cello before even an hour

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Speaker 1: of homework.

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Speaker 5: Yes, before homework. Yeah, but in Iceland there isn't much homework.

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Speaker 5: That's nice, very nice. Yeah, yeah, you know, I I

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Speaker 5: would say that the nature of schooling in Iceland is

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Speaker 5: a lot more relaxed. And you know, there's no private school.

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Speaker 5: Everyone goes to the public schools. There's no you know,

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Speaker 5: the kind of hierarchy of schools that has been set

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Speaker 5: up in the States that you know follows you all

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Speaker 5: the way down to college. You know, like people thinking

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Speaker 5: about how they can set themselves up to get to

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Speaker 5: a good university from the age of like six or seven.

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Speaker 5: That mentality just doesn't really exist in Iceland.

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Speaker 1: There a big class dichotomy.

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Speaker 5: They're like no, no, no, I would say, I mean,

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Speaker 5: of course, like like everywhere, you know, there's but the

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Speaker 5: wealth gap in Iceland is generally compared to other countries

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Speaker 5: quite small.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 5: And it's a social democratic country, and it's you know,

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Speaker 5: follows kind of Scandinavian principles and you know, you have

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Speaker 5: free free health care and education or very very low

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Speaker 5: low cost, which is you know nice, It's.

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Speaker 1: Great that you got to bounce between.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I definitely experienced both. And you know, I spent

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Speaker 5: every summer in China as while growing up, so so

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Speaker 5: I have extreme Yeah, I was Actually I was in

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Speaker 5: China just a couple of days ago. I was there

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Speaker 5: for ten days, playing a bit. But it was my

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Speaker 5: first time back since COVID, and it was nice to

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Speaker 5: revisit that as the adult that I've become since.

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Speaker 1: How was it? What was that? And do you saw

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Speaker 1: family there?

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Speaker 5: Yes, my grandmother lives there. She she's a professor, was

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Speaker 5: a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing,

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Speaker 5: and my grandfather was as well, who's who's now passed.

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Speaker 5: So the classical music routs run run quite deep. But yeah,

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Speaker 5: she was there, and I played with a China Philharmonic

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Speaker 5: in Beijing, and I think it was very special for

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Speaker 5: her to see that. Actually, my grandfather was a violin

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Speaker 5: professor and a lot of his students were in the workstrane.

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Speaker 5: It was, it was it was a fun full circle moment.

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Speaker 1: When did your grandfather pass?

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Speaker 5: Two thousand and nine?

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Speaker 1: So you were young quite a while ago. They were

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Speaker 1: quite young. He should get to talk to his former

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Speaker 1: students about him at all.

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Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely, and I remember him very vividly. He was

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Speaker 5: like a larger than life person. I've actually been told

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Speaker 5: that that I resemble him in many ways, which is,

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Speaker 5: you know, such an honor. And you know, he really

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Speaker 5: loved music so much, and he loved jazz music as well,

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Speaker 5: and loved like musical theaters, so I kind of, you know,

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Speaker 5: his idea of music was it was just such a

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Speaker 5: musical thing, right, you know, I feel like you can

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Speaker 5: split music into two kind of things. In my head

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Speaker 5: at least, it's like you have the technique and you

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Speaker 5: have the musicality. If you have both your stellar I

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Speaker 5: definitely lean musical like I I mean I've I've definitely

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Speaker 5: you know, worked up a foundation of technic, but I

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Speaker 5: was never that good at practicing. And I definitely leaned

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Speaker 5: in onto the fact that I onto.

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Speaker 1: The musicality that you had like an ear.

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Speaker 5: And yeah that and feel for things exactly kind of

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Speaker 5: the stuff that you don't need to practice as much

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Speaker 5: to a metron to a literal metronome.

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Speaker 1: But I was always my failing. I could never I

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Speaker 1: never practice. I hated practicing to a metronome as I

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Speaker 1: was always told my time.

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Speaker 5: Oh my god. To this day, the sound of a

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Speaker 5: metronome like triggers me, Like I get like a physical

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Speaker 5: reaction to a metronome, which is great now because you know,

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Speaker 5: I sing to click sometimes, which I didn't even know

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Speaker 5: was a thing until two years ago. Maybe when I

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Speaker 5: started working in music. It like bewildered me so much

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Speaker 5: that like on stage there would be like a constant

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Speaker 5: metronome in my ear. It's funny.

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Speaker 1: Do you do it in studio two when you're recording?

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Speaker 5: Rarely? Sometimes, but I try. I always try without click

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Speaker 5: before I do it with click.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I would imagine if it triggers you that much.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I think you know, I've earned it that

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Speaker 5: I can. I can kind of just let the music live.

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Speaker 5: But yeah, of course sometimes I need to be, you know,

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Speaker 5: pushed into place by a click.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, sure enough. We have to take a quick break

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Speaker 1: and then we'll come back with more of my interview

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Speaker 1: with Lave. We're back with more from lay. May you know,

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Speaker 1: certainly mid century Russia for instance, would have and you know,

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Speaker 1: Cuba rock and roll would have been outlawed. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if jazz was the same, but it certainly would

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Speaker 1: have been hard to get a hold of jazz records

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Speaker 1: and things. I'd imagine, right.

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Speaker 5: Like h yeah, I mean, well in the sixties and

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Speaker 5: seventies and in China, you know, there was a cultural revolution,

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Speaker 5: so Mao and the and the Communist Party, they basically,

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Speaker 5: you know, outlawed any type of foreign influence and Western influence,

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Speaker 5: and there was just kind of like a grand scale

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Speaker 5: focus on all things just Chinese like looking within. So

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Speaker 5: my grandparents, who who were professors at the Central Conservatory

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Speaker 5: of Western Classical Music that was considered you know, the bourgeoisies.

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Speaker 5: So they actually went to re education camp and lived

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Speaker 5: in the countryside for a while and were like rice

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Speaker 5: farmers and whatnot. And my mom grew up in a

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Speaker 5: boarding school because of that, and they couldn't play any

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Speaker 5: Western classical music, no Western music at all, and it

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Speaker 5: like it goes so far. I've heard the craziest stories

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Speaker 5: from that time. But yeah, my mother kind of grew

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Speaker 5: up in that world, and my grandparents also went through that.

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Speaker 5: I mean, my mother even like down to the clothes

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Speaker 5: that you wore, you like couldn't wear any you couldn't

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Speaker 5: wear bell bottom jeans or anything, which was you know,

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Speaker 5: in style at that time in the Western world. My

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Speaker 5: grandmother naturally has curly hair, which is very very rare

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Speaker 5: in China, and the Communists thought that she had permed

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Speaker 5: her hair, which was you know, Western influence, so she

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Speaker 5: had to put her hair up in a silk scarf

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Speaker 5: every day for years. Really well, and none of them

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Speaker 5: played music for the longest time, or at least the

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Speaker 5: you know, the classical music that they were trained in.

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Speaker 1: How does your mom end up back playing.

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Speaker 5: Well, I mean she always she played violin. She just

350
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Speaker 5: couldn't play you know, it had to be Chinese music,

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Speaker 5: got it. I think, you know, my mother was just

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Speaker 5: so in that world that she, you know, that that

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Speaker 5: was the only path she could tread. And I think

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Speaker 5: that's why my mother so emphasized kind of me and

355
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Speaker 5: my sister's freedom to do whatever we wanted and become

356
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Speaker 5: whatever kind of artists we wanted.

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Speaker 1: And because it was sort of so because it was.

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Speaker 5: So strict as she was growing up and she didn't

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Speaker 5: really have that freedom of choice, and so she she

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Speaker 5: just kind of let us do whatever we want.

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Speaker 1: And like that an hour of practice immediately after school

362
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Speaker 1: is it's much more lenient than.

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Speaker 5: Whatever Oh, my god, definitely. I mean the way that

364
00:19:04,836 --> 00:19:07,836
Speaker 5: my I'm so thankful for that because I'm still running

365
00:19:07,836 --> 00:19:08,836
Speaker 5: off of that technique.

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Speaker 1: Do you still try to day?

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00:19:10,756 --> 00:19:12,836
Speaker 5: No, not nearly as much as I did as a kid,

368
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Speaker 5: But you know, the hard work that I put in

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Speaker 5: as a kid is still paying off today because when

370
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Speaker 5: I'm like on strenuous touring schedules or recording for hours

371
00:19:20,836 --> 00:19:23,916
Speaker 5: on end, you know, the stamina that I've gotten from

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Speaker 5: all of those years of practicing and kind of the

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Speaker 5: focus that I've gotten, those skills still are lasting me

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Speaker 5: at this age, which is which is really really great.

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Speaker 5: But you know, I think that's another reason I really

376
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Speaker 5: love the fact that I live in a time where

377
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Speaker 5: I can mix so many genres together. You know, like

378
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Speaker 5: they couldn't do anything of the sort, and I'm just like, oh,

379
00:19:45,596 --> 00:19:48,356
Speaker 5: I'm going to mix jazz and pop and classical together

380
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Speaker 5: and present it however I want. And the fact that

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Speaker 5: we have that freedom now is wild. I mean, it

382
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Speaker 5: wasn't so long ago that my grandparents and my mother

383
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Speaker 5: couldn't play even classical music.

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Speaker 1: I am so glad that you're doing it too. You know.

385
00:20:02,716 --> 00:20:06,836
Speaker 1: It feels like we go back to an American culture.

386
00:20:06,996 --> 00:20:09,276
Speaker 1: In Western culture, we do go back a lot, but

387
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Speaker 1: I feel like an era we haven't revisited in a

388
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Speaker 1: long time is sort of that mid century jazz, right,

389
00:20:17,676 --> 00:20:20,996
Speaker 1: that musical world that existed then, and it's so ripe

390
00:20:21,036 --> 00:20:25,436
Speaker 1: for reimagining because it's so expressive, so emotional, and so

391
00:20:25,636 --> 00:20:29,316
Speaker 1: musically sound, and even the opening of your record that

392
00:20:29,436 --> 00:20:33,996
Speaker 1: sounds both like modern production and like old production simultaneously.

393
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Speaker 1: And I think that's kind of like the brilliance of

394
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Speaker 1: certain people your age, some of your cohorts. I guess

395
00:20:39,716 --> 00:20:41,556
Speaker 1: we would say, who are sort of doing that, you know,

396
00:20:41,636 --> 00:20:42,556
Speaker 1: mixing these things up?

397
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Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you so much. I mean, that's kind of

398
00:20:45,676 --> 00:20:47,676
Speaker 5: that's definitely the goal to kind of hark back to

399
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Speaker 5: that time. And I think that's the music I've just

400
00:20:50,556 --> 00:20:53,116
Speaker 5: always loved so much. And when I started singing, I

401
00:20:53,116 --> 00:20:58,316
Speaker 5: immediately started singing jazz standards and like Ella Fitzgerald and

402
00:20:58,316 --> 00:21:01,436
Speaker 5: Billie Holiday and Chat Baker where And then also on

403
00:21:01,476 --> 00:21:04,996
Speaker 5: top of that, like the songs from Golden Age films

404
00:21:05,396 --> 00:21:08,396
Speaker 5: were the only music I really listened to, Like there's

405
00:21:08,396 --> 00:21:10,556
Speaker 5: no other music I could make, Like that's the music

406
00:21:10,596 --> 00:21:13,236
Speaker 5: I wanted to make so much that you know, whether

407
00:21:13,276 --> 00:21:15,196
Speaker 5: it worked out or not, I was going to continue

408
00:21:15,316 --> 00:21:18,436
Speaker 5: doing it, you know. But I also did find there

409
00:21:18,556 --> 00:21:20,636
Speaker 5: was especially when I started out and I was just

410
00:21:20,676 --> 00:21:23,916
Speaker 5: posting like little videos of me singing jazz standards online,

411
00:21:24,556 --> 00:21:27,276
Speaker 5: I found that there was such a gap for this generation.

412
00:21:27,436 --> 00:21:30,476
Speaker 5: No one was really doing it, but nobody seemed to

413
00:21:30,516 --> 00:21:34,116
Speaker 5: really dislike the music that much. Like it's the bones

414
00:21:34,156 --> 00:21:37,076
Speaker 5: of the music is so good, right, these jazz standards.

415
00:21:37,076 --> 00:21:40,316
Speaker 5: There's just good songs that have lasted for so long

416
00:21:40,396 --> 00:21:43,716
Speaker 5: and have been honestly like have been sampled so many times.

417
00:21:43,796 --> 00:21:45,556
Speaker 5: And jazz is kind of like the root of all

418
00:21:45,596 --> 00:21:49,316
Speaker 5: modern music, right. It's something that is so prevalent in

419
00:21:49,396 --> 00:21:52,316
Speaker 5: pop music and hip hop and R and B. So

420
00:21:52,596 --> 00:21:53,276
Speaker 5: actually like.

421
00:21:53,236 --> 00:21:55,516
Speaker 1: Down to and to your point of it being the backbone,

422
00:21:55,516 --> 00:21:57,916
Speaker 1: because I think most of them, like the blues is

423
00:21:57,916 --> 00:22:00,476
Speaker 1: being the back but really coming out of the big

424
00:22:00,516 --> 00:22:04,156
Speaker 1: band era, like bebop groups taking it down to like

425
00:22:04,196 --> 00:22:05,996
Speaker 1: the bare essentials of it. Might be a trio or

426
00:22:06,036 --> 00:22:08,316
Speaker 1: might be a quartete. I mean that's rock and roll.

427
00:22:08,356 --> 00:22:08,996
Speaker 1: It's like three or.

428
00:22:08,956 --> 00:22:13,716
Speaker 5: Four hund's all. It's all connected. And so I think,

429
00:22:13,836 --> 00:22:15,756
Speaker 5: you know, I tend to think the gen z ear

430
00:22:15,836 --> 00:22:19,276
Speaker 5: is actually really trained well for jazz music and we've

431
00:22:19,276 --> 00:22:22,876
Speaker 5: been like subconsciously fed it for many, many years. So

432
00:22:23,316 --> 00:22:26,116
Speaker 5: I also think that the timing of music now is

433
00:22:26,156 --> 00:22:30,116
Speaker 5: like this new audience of music listeners. They don't really

434
00:22:30,116 --> 00:22:34,196
Speaker 5: care what the music, you know, what era resembles, if anything,

435
00:22:34,236 --> 00:22:37,316
Speaker 5: if it resembles another era, Like you're hearing these huge

436
00:22:37,356 --> 00:22:42,076
Speaker 5: resurgences in like nineties rock sound, punk rock. Honestly like

437
00:22:42,156 --> 00:22:45,396
Speaker 5: every seventies music like Fleetwood Mac had a big moment

438
00:22:45,476 --> 00:22:48,956
Speaker 5: and talk recently during the exactly it's like all music

439
00:22:49,036 --> 00:22:51,956
Speaker 5: is coming back. I think what gen Z cares about

440
00:22:52,036 --> 00:22:54,876
Speaker 5: is connecting to the artists, connecting to the lyrics, connecting

441
00:22:54,916 --> 00:22:58,476
Speaker 5: to the story. And jazz is really good storytelling, I think,

442
00:22:58,996 --> 00:23:01,876
Speaker 5: really so Yeah, it's fun that we live in a

443
00:23:01,876 --> 00:23:03,996
Speaker 5: time where we can mix so many genres together and

444
00:23:04,076 --> 00:23:04,956
Speaker 5: kind of make it our own.

445
00:23:05,356 --> 00:23:07,476
Speaker 1: How did it come to be that standards ended up

446
00:23:07,476 --> 00:23:08,996
Speaker 1: being the first thing that you were singing, like, did

447
00:23:09,036 --> 00:23:12,596
Speaker 1: you and counted them through film or through radio?

448
00:23:14,356 --> 00:23:16,556
Speaker 5: No, Well, my father loved jazz music, so we played

449
00:23:16,596 --> 00:23:18,436
Speaker 5: a lot of jazz music in the house. And you know,

450
00:23:18,516 --> 00:23:20,916
Speaker 5: as a kid, I listened to pretty much only classical music,

451
00:23:21,556 --> 00:23:24,156
Speaker 5: and then I really liked, you know, obviously, like the

452
00:23:24,196 --> 00:23:26,316
Speaker 5: other kids of that time when I was like seven

453
00:23:26,396 --> 00:23:28,996
Speaker 5: or eight, I loved like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus

454
00:23:28,996 --> 00:23:31,516
Speaker 5: and whatever, but I couldn't hear any of myself in

455
00:23:31,836 --> 00:23:34,836
Speaker 5: those singers. I've always had quite a deep voice, and

456
00:23:34,916 --> 00:23:37,716
Speaker 5: when I started singing, I just immediately started. I think

457
00:23:37,756 --> 00:23:41,316
Speaker 5: the first song I remember like learning and like performing

458
00:23:41,356 --> 00:23:44,636
Speaker 5: at a like a singing show was Singing in the Rain,

459
00:23:45,596 --> 00:23:48,396
Speaker 5: So and then I just naturally, you know, I just

460
00:23:48,476 --> 00:23:50,796
Speaker 5: listened to so much Ella Fitzgerald that I just kind

461
00:23:50,836 --> 00:23:53,596
Speaker 5: of like, you know, started singing all the songs that

462
00:23:53,596 --> 00:23:55,716
Speaker 5: she had in our repertoire, which kind of ended up

463
00:23:55,756 --> 00:23:57,876
Speaker 5: being just the Great American songbook.

464
00:23:59,036 --> 00:24:02,876
Speaker 1: Ella talk about the sort of the spectrum of technique

465
00:24:02,916 --> 00:24:07,676
Speaker 1: and feel, Yeah, I mean she has it all.

466
00:24:08,276 --> 00:24:11,876
Speaker 5: When you both stellar and she is the epitome of that.

467
00:24:12,076 --> 00:24:14,116
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's like a few people like her. Stevie Wonder's

468
00:24:14,156 --> 00:24:16,556
Speaker 1: another who exactly you hear it less, but with Ell

469
00:24:16,596 --> 00:24:19,076
Speaker 1: it's more obviously she has the technique exactly.

470
00:24:19,356 --> 00:24:22,516
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's true musicianship, and I think coming from a

471
00:24:22,556 --> 00:24:28,196
Speaker 5: classical music background, I recognize that within her performing and

472
00:24:28,196 --> 00:24:31,196
Speaker 5: and also just growing up a cellist. Like she sounds

473
00:24:31,196 --> 00:24:35,236
Speaker 5: like a cello. She sings like a cello in her voice,

474
00:24:35,356 --> 00:24:38,116
Speaker 5: like the tombre of it and the vibrato, the approach,

475
00:24:38,276 --> 00:24:40,676
Speaker 5: the legato. It's very cellistic.

476
00:24:41,636 --> 00:24:43,236
Speaker 1: Interesting. I have to listen for that.

477
00:24:43,596 --> 00:24:47,036
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's like so obvious once you think about it.

478
00:24:47,276 --> 00:24:50,036
Speaker 1: I've been on an Ella kick recently and you're just trying. Yeah,

479
00:24:50,156 --> 00:24:52,916
Speaker 1: just because just because she's so good. I haven't listened

480
00:24:52,956 --> 00:24:55,596
Speaker 1: in a while. And honestly, we named my youngest daughter,

481
00:24:55,636 --> 00:24:59,316
Speaker 1: we named her after Ella Fitzgerald, Peter Ella, and she's

482
00:24:59,636 --> 00:25:01,756
Speaker 1: just starting to get into music, so I think good.

483
00:25:01,996 --> 00:25:04,116
Speaker 1: I say it just randomly, but it's probably because I'm

484
00:25:04,116 --> 00:25:07,916
Speaker 1: trying to like subconsciously get her and stuff, you know,

485
00:25:08,276 --> 00:25:10,796
Speaker 1: because she around the piano and sing and stuff. So

486
00:25:10,876 --> 00:25:12,996
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm hoping she goes that direction. But yeah,

487
00:25:13,116 --> 00:25:15,556
Speaker 1: just you know, I'm not a great pians by any measure,

488
00:25:15,596 --> 00:25:16,716
Speaker 1: but I love just messing around.

489
00:25:16,756 --> 00:25:18,716
Speaker 5: And it's like you can learn a lot just mess

490
00:25:18,756 --> 00:25:21,396
Speaker 5: around so much. You can learn so much by messing around.

491
00:25:21,436 --> 00:25:24,436
Speaker 5: I mean nothing I do within the jazz world aside

492
00:25:24,476 --> 00:25:27,276
Speaker 5: from the singing portion. But I came from a classical

493
00:25:27,316 --> 00:25:30,836
Speaker 5: piano background, right, so I was very I was conditioned

494
00:25:30,876 --> 00:25:33,116
Speaker 5: to do what the page told me to do, what

495
00:25:33,196 --> 00:25:35,196
Speaker 5: the music told me to do. And then when I

496
00:25:35,236 --> 00:25:38,156
Speaker 5: started singing jazz and I wanted to accompany myself, I

497
00:25:38,196 --> 00:25:41,076
Speaker 5: started just like slowly learning the chords. And I'm by

498
00:25:41,076 --> 00:25:43,476
Speaker 5: no means a jazz pianist, so like what I do

499
00:25:43,636 --> 00:25:46,596
Speaker 5: is not maybe based in the most of technique, it's

500
00:25:47,036 --> 00:25:50,076
Speaker 5: more based on feel, which took me a really long

501
00:25:50,116 --> 00:25:52,876
Speaker 5: time to kind of allow myself to do. Like in

502
00:25:52,916 --> 00:25:55,156
Speaker 5: my I think in my first recordings, I was like

503
00:25:55,156 --> 00:25:57,156
Speaker 5: a little bit embarrassed to play because I was like,

504
00:25:57,196 --> 00:26:01,036
Speaker 5: I'm not a jazz pianist. Like, but when the first

505
00:26:01,116 --> 00:26:03,836
Speaker 5: jazz pianists came about, they weren't jazz pianists either. They

506
00:26:03,836 --> 00:26:05,676
Speaker 5: were just messing around as well they were.

507
00:26:05,716 --> 00:26:08,716
Speaker 1: And so many, so many of the greats who even

508
00:26:08,756 --> 00:26:11,076
Speaker 1: became like great in terms of technique and a revered

509
00:26:11,116 --> 00:26:15,116
Speaker 1: for technique, they came from playing other styles, you know exactly,

510
00:26:15,236 --> 00:26:18,516
Speaker 1: and just by circumstances they had to record in jazz

511
00:26:18,596 --> 00:26:20,156
Speaker 1: or play with the jazz group or something, and then

512
00:26:20,156 --> 00:26:21,676
Speaker 1: they picked it up and learned it over.

513
00:26:21,876 --> 00:26:24,396
Speaker 5: Well that's how yeah, I was reading a Bill Evans

514
00:26:24,636 --> 00:26:28,396
Speaker 5: biography the other day actually, and like he started out

515
00:26:28,396 --> 00:26:30,596
Speaker 5: as a classical pianist and then just like kind of

516
00:26:30,636 --> 00:26:33,396
Speaker 5: started newdling his way in and learning about it. And

517
00:26:33,756 --> 00:26:35,836
Speaker 5: I was very inspired. I was like, I should do that.

518
00:26:36,236 --> 00:26:38,716
Speaker 5: But I'm a huge Bill Evans found and it made

519
00:26:38,756 --> 00:26:40,276
Speaker 5: a lot of sense because I can hear a lot

520
00:26:40,316 --> 00:26:43,916
Speaker 5: of like classical technique and ideas. You know, it's very

521
00:26:43,956 --> 00:26:46,916
Speaker 5: based and technique. But yeah, it's so cool. I mean,

522
00:26:46,956 --> 00:26:49,876
Speaker 5: my life as a musician and my musicianship got a

523
00:26:49,916 --> 00:26:52,116
Speaker 5: whole lot better when I allowed myself to mess around

524
00:26:52,116 --> 00:26:52,916
Speaker 5: and make mistakes.

525
00:26:53,276 --> 00:26:56,436
Speaker 1: It's pretty obvious how like the Bill Evans and the

526
00:26:56,436 --> 00:27:00,036
Speaker 1: Al FitzGeralds of the world like influence your your sound

527
00:27:00,076 --> 00:27:04,036
Speaker 1: and your music and your feel for things. Less obvious is,

528
00:27:04,116 --> 00:27:06,916
Speaker 1: I guess, like the Taylor Swift side of things, which

529
00:27:06,916 --> 00:27:09,636
Speaker 1: I guess you grew up listening to as well. Absolute,

530
00:27:09,876 --> 00:27:12,276
Speaker 1: But I'm wonder if that's more in the approach to

531
00:27:12,556 --> 00:27:14,956
Speaker 1: yourself as an artist. I think so, yeah.

532
00:27:14,996 --> 00:27:17,916
Speaker 5: I think you know the way that her artist's trajectory,

533
00:27:18,036 --> 00:27:19,956
Speaker 5: just the way that she's kind of been able to

534
00:27:20,556 --> 00:27:24,876
Speaker 5: stay true to herself whilst climbing over different genres and

535
00:27:25,476 --> 00:27:28,036
Speaker 5: every time she moves and changes a bit, you know,

536
00:27:28,116 --> 00:27:31,356
Speaker 5: she retains her fans and gains new ones, and people

537
00:27:31,436 --> 00:27:34,356
Speaker 5: respect her as an artist as a person, so they

538
00:27:34,396 --> 00:27:37,396
Speaker 5: follow the music that she puts out. And I also

539
00:27:37,516 --> 00:27:41,796
Speaker 5: think for Taylor, for me, it's the storytelling aspect as well,

540
00:27:41,876 --> 00:27:44,836
Speaker 5: Like she had me believing in these stories when I

541
00:27:44,876 --> 00:27:46,996
Speaker 5: was like nine years old and I had never even

542
00:27:47,076 --> 00:27:50,276
Speaker 5: talked to a boy before. And there's such there's such

543
00:27:50,356 --> 00:27:53,396
Speaker 5: power in that being able to convince someone of a

544
00:27:53,476 --> 00:27:57,476
Speaker 5: story because they've just told it so well and so beautifully.

545
00:27:57,836 --> 00:28:00,036
Speaker 1: So so yeah, I think's been someone of the dynamics

546
00:28:00,076 --> 00:28:02,516
Speaker 1: of something. You know, it's like exactly of how it

547
00:28:02,556 --> 00:28:04,156
Speaker 1: will be when you finally Yeah.

548
00:28:04,196 --> 00:28:07,076
Speaker 5: Well, there's so many songwriters that, like my music doesn't

549
00:28:07,116 --> 00:28:09,556
Speaker 5: really you know, come close to resemble, but I'm just

550
00:28:09,636 --> 00:28:13,116
Speaker 5: so inspired by like their lyricism and their approach. You know.

551
00:28:13,196 --> 00:28:16,316
Speaker 5: It's like I love Carol King as well, and like

552
00:28:16,676 --> 00:28:20,436
Speaker 5: the Carpenters and down to like Sarah Brellas. Like, my

553
00:28:20,476 --> 00:28:22,796
Speaker 5: inspirations are kind of all over the place, but they're

554
00:28:22,836 --> 00:28:24,596
Speaker 5: all like very potent songwriters.

555
00:28:24,836 --> 00:28:27,156
Speaker 1: Yeah, have you gotten into Jonny Mitchell yet?

556
00:28:27,276 --> 00:28:30,476
Speaker 5: I was gonna mention Joni Mitchell as well. Yeah, but yeah,

557
00:28:30,516 --> 00:28:32,236
Speaker 5: I mean, and some of her stuff, She's done some

558
00:28:32,276 --> 00:28:35,396
Speaker 5: really cool string stuff as well, like orchestral sounding stuff,

559
00:28:35,436 --> 00:28:37,236
Speaker 5: which I obviously really admire.

560
00:28:37,316 --> 00:28:40,476
Speaker 1: I imagine you probably want to start doing something like that, Yeah, yeah,

561
00:28:40,556 --> 00:28:43,916
Speaker 1: or dabbling with that. I loved, speaking of the orchestral

562
00:28:43,996 --> 00:28:47,556
Speaker 1: side of things. I loved your song California and me, oh,

563
00:28:47,596 --> 00:28:50,596
Speaker 1: thank you my favorite song on the I mean show,

564
00:28:50,636 --> 00:28:52,716
Speaker 1: ittle change, But over the last week and a half

565
00:28:52,876 --> 00:28:55,396
Speaker 1: or so, that's been like dialed in is my favorite.

566
00:28:55,596 --> 00:28:57,116
Speaker 1: Thank you so beautiful.

567
00:28:57,356 --> 00:28:58,196
Speaker 5: I love that one.

568
00:28:58,316 --> 00:28:58,596
Speaker 1: Yeah.

569
00:28:58,676 --> 00:29:01,996
Speaker 5: I obviously having a classical music background, I always wanted

570
00:29:01,996 --> 00:29:06,156
Speaker 5: to find ways of bringing that into a new audience

571
00:29:06,156 --> 00:29:09,276
Speaker 5: of listeners who maybe have never gotten to experience and

572
00:29:09,436 --> 00:29:12,956
Speaker 5: listening to a symphony orchestra or the sound world that

573
00:29:13,516 --> 00:29:17,116
Speaker 5: a symphony orchestra lives in. And I'm so aware of

574
00:29:17,196 --> 00:29:20,436
Speaker 5: how that world is, you know, kind of unapproachable and

575
00:29:20,516 --> 00:29:24,116
Speaker 5: unaccessible for a pop music audience, for a young audience,

576
00:29:24,836 --> 00:29:27,156
Speaker 5: for people that didn't grow up within the world like me,

577
00:29:28,116 --> 00:29:30,276
Speaker 5: and I just kind of want to find a way

578
00:29:30,436 --> 00:29:33,756
Speaker 5: always to bring it down, to bring it down to

579
00:29:33,836 --> 00:29:37,156
Speaker 5: earth a little bit, and bring it to bring it

580
00:29:37,196 --> 00:29:40,996
Speaker 5: to the people again, like this classical music, jazz music

581
00:29:41,076 --> 00:29:43,876
Speaker 5: was meant for people. The fact that it's seems like

582
00:29:43,916 --> 00:29:47,436
Speaker 5: something that's only for the educated now exactly, it's really

583
00:29:48,276 --> 00:29:53,116
Speaker 5: how highbrow exactly is so disappointing to me because because

584
00:29:53,116 --> 00:29:55,316
Speaker 5: I understand those worlds so well, Like I went to

585
00:29:55,356 --> 00:29:58,156
Speaker 5: classical conservatory and then I went to jazz conservatory. I

586
00:29:58,236 --> 00:30:01,876
Speaker 5: know how those worlds are, and I've made an angled

587
00:30:01,916 --> 00:30:05,556
Speaker 5: approach to not kind of end up in those worlds,

588
00:30:05,596 --> 00:30:09,476
Speaker 5: like taking those worlds and bring it to people who

589
00:30:09,516 --> 00:30:12,516
Speaker 5: like don't typically listen to jazz or typically listen to

590
00:30:12,556 --> 00:30:15,596
Speaker 5: classical music. Like My hope, of course is that you know,

591
00:30:15,636 --> 00:30:18,036
Speaker 5: the people within those educated worlds are okay with what

592
00:30:18,076 --> 00:30:22,116
Speaker 5: I'm doing, but at the end of the day, at

593
00:30:22,116 --> 00:30:23,796
Speaker 5: the end of the day, I'm making it for the

594
00:30:23,876 --> 00:30:26,516
Speaker 5: people who don't have access to that music.

595
00:30:26,796 --> 00:30:30,796
Speaker 1: So well, Okay, to that point, overall, what was your

596
00:30:31,116 --> 00:30:33,316
Speaker 1: Berkeley College of Music experience?

597
00:30:33,516 --> 00:30:38,316
Speaker 5: My Berkeley College and Music experience, it was It was good.

598
00:30:38,596 --> 00:30:42,756
Speaker 5: I mean, the school invested a lot in me, and

599
00:30:43,756 --> 00:30:46,716
Speaker 5: they gave me one of their presidential scholarships, so it

600
00:30:46,876 --> 00:30:50,196
Speaker 5: covered everything, and so I you know, I didn't have

601
00:30:50,236 --> 00:30:52,476
Speaker 5: to worry about that component of it while I was

602
00:30:52,516 --> 00:30:55,076
Speaker 5: at Berkeley, which I know is you know, it's it's

603
00:30:55,076 --> 00:30:57,716
Speaker 5: not an inexpensive school by any means, and I think

604
00:30:57,756 --> 00:31:02,116
Speaker 5: having that looming over you can definitely change the experience.

605
00:31:02,116 --> 00:31:04,156
Speaker 5: So I was very lucky to have kind of like

606
00:31:04,196 --> 00:31:06,956
Speaker 5: a stress pre experience in that sense. So I got

607
00:31:06,956 --> 00:31:08,956
Speaker 5: to kind of go in with a very clear mind.

608
00:31:09,476 --> 00:31:11,236
Speaker 5: I was very privileged to get to go in with

609
00:31:11,236 --> 00:31:14,396
Speaker 5: a clear mind and think, just Okay, what can I

610
00:31:14,436 --> 00:31:17,796
Speaker 5: do here? How can I make music? And make music

611
00:31:18,356 --> 00:31:19,156
Speaker 5: twenty four to seven.

612
00:31:19,476 --> 00:31:21,956
Speaker 1: Are there as many people there as open to what

613
00:31:22,076 --> 00:31:24,276
Speaker 1: music can be as you because my sense of things

614
00:31:24,316 --> 00:31:28,836
Speaker 1: is that people can be very narrow about what jazz

615
00:31:28,916 --> 00:31:32,876
Speaker 1: is defined as and narrow about what they do instrumentalist,

616
00:31:32,876 --> 00:31:33,076
Speaker 1: And this.

617
00:31:33,116 --> 00:31:37,916
Speaker 5: Is absolutely I mean I remember even at Berkeley, like

618
00:31:38,756 --> 00:31:40,636
Speaker 5: I would make a point out of telling people I

619
00:31:40,676 --> 00:31:43,076
Speaker 5: was a cello player and not a singer and not

620
00:31:43,156 --> 00:31:46,356
Speaker 5: a jazz singer, because you know, the people who took

621
00:31:46,436 --> 00:31:50,636
Speaker 5: jazz very seriously didn't think that jazz singing was a

622
00:31:50,676 --> 00:31:53,556
Speaker 5: real thing, you know, or like that didn't wasn't considered

623
00:31:53,596 --> 00:31:56,796
Speaker 5: real jazz, And so yeah, I definitely got in touch

624
00:31:56,836 --> 00:32:00,076
Speaker 5: with that world and saw how that can be, and

625
00:32:00,116 --> 00:32:02,476
Speaker 5: I had experienced a lot of that within classical music

626
00:32:02,516 --> 00:32:05,116
Speaker 5: as well, and the classical educated world, I know, even

627
00:32:05,156 --> 00:32:08,036
Speaker 5: better than the kind of jazz educated world.

628
00:32:07,916 --> 00:32:09,036
Speaker 1: Much more time spent there.

629
00:32:09,476 --> 00:32:13,676
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, I would say ninety eight percent of Berkeley,

630
00:32:13,836 --> 00:32:16,596
Speaker 5: like ninety five to ninety eight percent of Berkeley was

631
00:32:16,636 --> 00:32:20,036
Speaker 5: super open, and you know, all kinds of genres and

632
00:32:20,076 --> 00:32:22,316
Speaker 5: people from all over the world, and everyone kind of

633
00:32:22,316 --> 00:32:24,916
Speaker 5: with a shared passion of wanting to do something within music.

634
00:32:25,556 --> 00:32:28,076
Speaker 5: Of course, you know, wherever you go, there's going to

635
00:32:28,116 --> 00:32:31,236
Speaker 5: be that group of people that are very focused on,

636
00:32:31,436 --> 00:32:34,676
Speaker 5: you know, the purity of jazz music and the purity

637
00:32:34,716 --> 00:32:36,556
Speaker 5: of the art, just as you have that in the

638
00:32:36,556 --> 00:32:40,516
Speaker 5: classical world or you know, any other discipline. I respect

639
00:32:40,916 --> 00:32:44,716
Speaker 5: those musicians so much because, honestly, those were the most

640
00:32:44,756 --> 00:32:48,516
Speaker 5: talented musicians in school. I would say, But I've you know,

641
00:32:48,556 --> 00:32:50,716
Speaker 5: I never wanted to become a musician like that. I

642
00:32:50,756 --> 00:32:53,356
Speaker 5: wanted to create my own world of music that was

643
00:32:53,396 --> 00:32:56,956
Speaker 5: a mix of a couple of different disciplines. So I've

644
00:32:56,956 --> 00:32:59,836
Speaker 5: been thinking a lot about it recently because you know,

645
00:32:59,996 --> 00:33:03,276
Speaker 5: I always want to really respect and honor the roots

646
00:33:03,276 --> 00:33:05,796
Speaker 5: that I'm coming from. You know, I'm highly aware that

647
00:33:06,116 --> 00:33:08,796
Speaker 5: jazz music, for example, is black music. You know, I

648
00:33:08,836 --> 00:33:11,996
Speaker 5: know that comes from and I know, like I studied

649
00:33:12,036 --> 00:33:14,396
Speaker 5: the history of it at Berkeley, I know where classical

650
00:33:14,476 --> 00:33:17,116
Speaker 5: music comes from as well. I always want to honor

651
00:33:17,316 --> 00:33:19,796
Speaker 5: my roots. Same with Bosonova music. I have a lot

652
00:33:19,876 --> 00:33:23,836
Speaker 5: of Bosonova references. That's Brazilian music. You know, I'm not Brazilian.

653
00:33:24,156 --> 00:33:26,756
Speaker 5: I'm also not black, so you know, I think it's

654
00:33:26,876 --> 00:33:29,516
Speaker 5: really important that I learn a lot about where these

655
00:33:29,516 --> 00:33:32,156
Speaker 5: influences are coming from, what the history behind it is,

656
00:33:32,596 --> 00:33:34,596
Speaker 5: and make sure I honor it in my music. So

657
00:33:34,876 --> 00:33:37,436
Speaker 5: that's definitely something I've been thinking a lot about recently.

658
00:33:38,036 --> 00:33:41,396
Speaker 5: I think mixing up styles of music, mixing and matching

659
00:33:41,516 --> 00:33:44,316
Speaker 5: is is totally fine. I think that's how music evolves.

660
00:33:44,916 --> 00:33:47,476
Speaker 5: I think it's just important to know where it's coming from.

661
00:33:47,556 --> 00:33:51,476
Speaker 1: Yeah, And just like you can't ignore that jazz music

662
00:33:51,596 --> 00:33:55,436
Speaker 1: is black music from the America's or whatever, that, you

663
00:33:55,476 --> 00:33:58,756
Speaker 1: can't ignore your own innate sort of history, right, which

664
00:33:58,796 --> 00:34:01,556
Speaker 1: is that you're not that and exactly whatever new you

665
00:34:01,636 --> 00:34:05,076
Speaker 1: can bring to that I think is probably really cool.

666
00:34:05,156 --> 00:34:07,316
Speaker 1: I mean, and that is how things might hope.

667
00:34:07,396 --> 00:34:09,756
Speaker 5: My hope is that I just my hope is that

668
00:34:09,876 --> 00:34:15,756
Speaker 5: people in those educated communities know that I'm not, like,

669
00:34:16,036 --> 00:34:18,796
Speaker 5: you know, painting over or slandering the history. And I've

670
00:34:18,836 --> 00:34:22,316
Speaker 5: I've done my duty learning about it, but I still

671
00:34:22,356 --> 00:34:25,076
Speaker 5: think those worlds are a little bit gay kept now.

672
00:34:25,236 --> 00:34:27,076
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you could come in and follow it to

673
00:34:27,156 --> 00:34:29,516
Speaker 1: a tea, and there's people that do that, like there's

674
00:34:29,556 --> 00:34:31,716
Speaker 1: actually I got turned on recently. I was reading a

675
00:34:31,716 --> 00:34:33,956
Speaker 1: biography of I want to say Erl Garner, but that's

676
00:34:33,956 --> 00:34:36,876
Speaker 1: just because I've been listening to Misty I love your record.

677
00:34:36,916 --> 00:34:39,156
Speaker 1: It's not Errol Garner. It's Hampton Hawes, who is like

678
00:34:39,196 --> 00:34:41,876
Speaker 1: a pianist from here in La. In his book, he's

679
00:34:41,876 --> 00:34:45,276
Speaker 1: writing about this Japanese woman whose name escapes me now.

680
00:34:45,316 --> 00:34:47,876
Speaker 1: And she played like bebop like a mother.

681
00:34:49,356 --> 00:34:50,196
Speaker 5: Was it, Hiromi?

682
00:34:50,436 --> 00:34:51,436
Speaker 1: Thank you? Yeah, that's it.

683
00:34:51,796 --> 00:34:53,276
Speaker 5: You went to Berkeley, did she?

684
00:34:53,516 --> 00:34:53,716
Speaker 1: Yeah?

685
00:34:53,756 --> 00:34:58,436
Speaker 5: Oh my god. Those Japanese musicians rip, and they're so talented.

686
00:34:58,116 --> 00:35:00,436
Speaker 1: And they do it like they do bebop, like bebo

687
00:35:00,796 --> 00:35:03,116
Speaker 1: be done and not. I don't want to take away

688
00:35:03,116 --> 00:35:05,716
Speaker 1: from that, but if that's not what you want to

689
00:35:05,756 --> 00:35:07,556
Speaker 1: do when you're doing it, there's an element of you

690
00:35:07,596 --> 00:35:09,556
Speaker 1: also just not being like, if that's what she wants

691
00:35:09,596 --> 00:35:11,956
Speaker 1: to do her, that's great, she's being true to herself.

692
00:35:11,996 --> 00:35:14,836
Speaker 1: But if you also, in the process of wanting to

693
00:35:14,876 --> 00:35:16,716
Speaker 1: participate in this music, want to bring your own history

694
00:35:16,756 --> 00:35:19,076
Speaker 1: to it, and that's what feels the most comfortable, Like

695
00:35:19,276 --> 00:35:20,516
Speaker 1: you'd be a fraud if you didn't.

696
00:35:20,676 --> 00:35:23,996
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I'm having so much fun that you

697
00:35:24,036 --> 00:35:25,516
Speaker 5: know that we live in a day and age where

698
00:35:25,516 --> 00:35:27,916
Speaker 5: you can mix all these styles of music together and

699
00:35:28,716 --> 00:35:30,996
Speaker 5: you can kind of be whoever you want to be

700
00:35:31,076 --> 00:35:33,196
Speaker 5: and kind of create your own genre as well.

701
00:35:33,396 --> 00:35:35,916
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you would have penalized, I think in the

702
00:35:36,036 --> 00:35:38,476
Speaker 1: day for that, because it wouldn't have been easily marketable.

703
00:35:39,316 --> 00:35:40,156
Speaker 1: Oh definitely.

704
00:35:40,916 --> 00:35:43,716
Speaker 5: I mean even two three years ago, I think I

705
00:35:43,756 --> 00:35:48,396
Speaker 5: was just you know, people artists and people make fun

706
00:35:48,436 --> 00:35:51,836
Speaker 5: of the Internet and TikTok and Instagram or whatever, but

707
00:35:52,636 --> 00:35:54,676
Speaker 5: I have a hard time doing that because I think

708
00:35:54,716 --> 00:35:56,676
Speaker 5: the reason I get to make the music I make

709
00:35:56,756 --> 00:36:00,076
Speaker 5: today is because I had the freedom to do that

710
00:36:00,156 --> 00:36:01,436
Speaker 5: and you got the Internet.

711
00:36:01,196 --> 00:36:03,916
Speaker 1: Miss, Yeah, you could bypass the traditional.

712
00:36:04,116 --> 00:36:07,436
Speaker 5: I passed the traditional by proving myself and with my

713
00:36:07,916 --> 00:36:10,636
Speaker 5: fan base that I could do whatever music I want.

714
00:36:10,676 --> 00:36:12,316
Speaker 5: And now I kind of gotten to the point where

715
00:36:12,316 --> 00:36:15,196
Speaker 5: I think people in the industry trust me to make

716
00:36:15,716 --> 00:36:18,476
Speaker 5: my own decisions about the music. But yeah, I mean

717
00:36:18,516 --> 00:36:20,756
Speaker 5: back in the day you were either a pop singer

718
00:36:20,876 --> 00:36:23,476
Speaker 5: or a jazz singer or a classical singer. It was

719
00:36:23,636 --> 00:36:24,676
Speaker 5: very boxed up.

720
00:36:24,676 --> 00:36:27,036
Speaker 1: And the people who got past it by the grace

721
00:36:27,076 --> 00:36:29,916
Speaker 1: of God, like a Stevie Wonder exactly whatever. But there

722
00:36:29,916 --> 00:36:32,556
Speaker 1: are very few and even Joan Mitchell is celebrated as

723
00:36:32,556 --> 00:36:35,196
Speaker 1: she is. Yes, I would argue she's I don't want

724
00:36:35,196 --> 00:36:37,756
Speaker 1: to say underrated, but in terms of the general public

725
00:36:38,236 --> 00:36:41,116
Speaker 1: consumption and understanding of her music right, probably because it

726
00:36:41,156 --> 00:36:43,836
Speaker 1: wasn't It was because it was too it was too confusing.

727
00:36:43,876 --> 00:36:44,996
Speaker 5: What it was confusing?

728
00:36:45,116 --> 00:36:47,556
Speaker 1: Yeah, it should be as heralded as you know, the

729
00:36:47,596 --> 00:36:50,556
Speaker 1: Beatles and all that stuff. It's not. It's just crazy.

730
00:36:50,716 --> 00:36:55,316
Speaker 5: I think now being unique is actually quite quite celebrated.

731
00:36:55,836 --> 00:36:58,676
Speaker 5: And you know, when I was younger, all these things

732
00:36:58,716 --> 00:37:02,236
Speaker 5: that made me so confused, like being a like a

733
00:37:02,476 --> 00:37:06,676
Speaker 5: cellist or or you know, being you know, mixed race

734
00:37:06,796 --> 00:37:11,156
Speaker 5: and being loud. These things I used to that I

735
00:37:11,276 --> 00:37:14,596
Speaker 5: used to feel like were my limits are actually the

736
00:37:14,596 --> 00:37:18,076
Speaker 5: things that have made me who I am and given

737
00:37:18,116 --> 00:37:22,436
Speaker 5: me a career so cool, very very Obviously, we.

738
00:37:22,436 --> 00:37:24,316
Speaker 1: Have to pause for another quick break and then we'll

739
00:37:24,316 --> 00:37:26,476
Speaker 1: come back with the rest of my interview with Lave.

740
00:37:30,996 --> 00:37:33,596
Speaker 1: We're back with the rest of my conversation with Lave.

741
00:37:34,396 --> 00:37:36,516
Speaker 1: What was the social media trajectory in terms of putting

742
00:37:36,516 --> 00:37:39,556
Speaker 1: your music on? I mean, were you ever using YouTube

743
00:37:39,636 --> 00:37:43,036
Speaker 1: early on, like to put music out even as a kid,

744
00:37:43,076 --> 00:37:44,716
Speaker 1: like where you docu my? Oh?

745
00:37:44,756 --> 00:37:47,516
Speaker 5: Of course I posted some covers on YouTube when I

746
00:37:47,556 --> 00:37:50,236
Speaker 5: was twelve, just like everyone else know. They aren't up,

747
00:37:50,316 --> 00:37:52,916
Speaker 5: but them, I have them. They're privated, they're quite cute.

748
00:37:53,356 --> 00:37:58,636
Speaker 5: But yeah, the story starts twenty twenty. The pandemic had

749
00:37:58,716 --> 00:38:01,596
Speaker 5: just started and I came back home and I was like, okay,

750
00:38:01,636 --> 00:38:04,676
Speaker 5: I have this empty space of time now. I'd recorded

751
00:38:04,676 --> 00:38:06,356
Speaker 5: one song, which ended up being the first song I

752
00:38:06,356 --> 00:38:08,756
Speaker 5: ever put out. It just so happened that that was

753
00:38:08,796 --> 00:38:12,316
Speaker 5: like the first semester that I was working on writing

754
00:38:12,396 --> 00:38:16,236
Speaker 5: and recording, and that was a song called Street by Street.

755
00:38:16,956 --> 00:38:19,116
Speaker 5: But anyways, I got back home, the song wasn't out yet,

756
00:38:19,156 --> 00:38:21,236
Speaker 5: and I thought it was a two week break. I

757
00:38:21,276 --> 00:38:24,476
Speaker 5: was like, you know, I'm gonna write as much as

758
00:38:24,516 --> 00:38:27,356
Speaker 5: I possibly can, and I'm going to post videos of

759
00:38:27,396 --> 00:38:30,516
Speaker 5: myself playing jazz standards on the internet just as a

760
00:38:30,556 --> 00:38:35,316
Speaker 5: form of practice, and we'll just see what happens. Never

761
00:38:35,356 --> 00:38:38,836
Speaker 5: in a million years would I've thought that what happened

762
00:38:38,876 --> 00:38:41,676
Speaker 5: would happen, which was, you know, the videos got some

763
00:38:41,756 --> 00:38:43,836
Speaker 5: attention on the internet. I guess there were a lot

764
00:38:43,836 --> 00:38:46,276
Speaker 5: of people board at home on their phones right right,

765
00:38:46,516 --> 00:38:49,636
Speaker 5: and they just started getting shared and my following started

766
00:38:49,676 --> 00:38:51,996
Speaker 5: to grow really fast, and we're doing more.

767
00:38:52,036 --> 00:38:53,956
Speaker 1: And even in those early videos, it was kind of,

768
00:38:54,276 --> 00:38:56,556
Speaker 1: to be honest, with more just straight up straight jazz,

769
00:38:56,676 --> 00:38:59,436
Speaker 1: like straight jazz, yeah, like covers of Louis and Ella

770
00:38:59,676 --> 00:39:02,356
Speaker 1: or whatever. It wasn't even like your own material, at

771
00:39:02,436 --> 00:39:03,556
Speaker 1: least that I've seen, right.

772
00:39:03,636 --> 00:39:06,516
Speaker 5: Yeah, there were a couple like maybe once a week

773
00:39:06,636 --> 00:39:09,716
Speaker 5: or once every two weeks, I'd post a song that

774
00:39:09,876 --> 00:39:11,996
Speaker 5: you know, resembled a jazz standard, which is kind of

775
00:39:11,996 --> 00:39:14,316
Speaker 5: how I started writing also in that style. I didn't

776
00:39:14,356 --> 00:39:17,436
Speaker 5: really realize that you could do that, that you could

777
00:39:17,476 --> 00:39:21,316
Speaker 5: write like a jazz standard sounding song in twenty twenty.

778
00:39:21,756 --> 00:39:25,636
Speaker 1: So it sounds intimidating, I'm going to write a standard, right.

779
00:39:25,916 --> 00:39:28,996
Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, it's basically proclaiming that you want to

780
00:39:29,036 --> 00:39:33,756
Speaker 5: write a song that lasts forever exactly, that's exactly, that's

781
00:39:33,836 --> 00:39:37,956
Speaker 5: the idea. But yeah, I wrote one song called like

782
00:39:38,036 --> 00:39:40,676
Speaker 5: the Movies, just like on my guitar, and it was

783
00:39:40,796 --> 00:39:42,796
Speaker 5: it was very cute. See like now I look back

784
00:39:42,836 --> 00:39:44,556
Speaker 5: and I'm like, that was a very innocent song, but

785
00:39:45,316 --> 00:39:47,476
Speaker 5: it was in kind of like an old style, and

786
00:39:47,516 --> 00:39:49,876
Speaker 5: I posted it on TikTok. It was my first TikTok,

787
00:39:50,636 --> 00:39:53,476
Speaker 5: and it kind of like went viral, and there were

788
00:39:53,516 --> 00:39:56,716
Speaker 5: all these comments were coming in being like, oh, this

789
00:39:56,796 --> 00:39:58,956
Speaker 5: sounds like something I've heard in a movie or something

790
00:39:59,116 --> 00:40:02,036
Speaker 5: like my Grandma loves and and I slowly started to

791
00:40:02,076 --> 00:40:04,836
Speaker 5: realize that, you know, there's kind of like a space

792
00:40:04,916 --> 00:40:08,116
Speaker 5: missing for gen Z to indulge in this kind of music.

793
00:40:09,156 --> 00:40:12,676
Speaker 5: So I kind of just continued doing that, writing songs

794
00:40:12,716 --> 00:40:16,836
Speaker 5: in that style, posting them online, and also posting videos

795
00:40:16,876 --> 00:40:21,836
Speaker 5: of myself singing and playing cello and guitar and piano

796
00:40:22,036 --> 00:40:25,716
Speaker 5: to singing these jazz standards that had you know, to me,

797
00:40:25,876 --> 00:40:28,676
Speaker 5: they're old songs, but to gen Z. So when seeing

798
00:40:28,716 --> 00:40:31,076
Speaker 5: it on their TikTok, you know, for the first time,

799
00:40:31,116 --> 00:40:35,196
Speaker 5: that's a new song, that's a new sound, And I

800
00:40:35,236 --> 00:40:37,756
Speaker 5: thought that was really, really cool, and so it kind

801
00:40:37,756 --> 00:40:41,436
Speaker 5: of just snowballed from there. Yeah, it became jazz girl

802
00:40:41,596 --> 00:40:44,396
Speaker 5: on Instagram and TikTok.

803
00:40:45,076 --> 00:40:47,516
Speaker 1: I did it feel overwhelming? Did you necessarily know where

804
00:40:47,556 --> 00:40:48,276
Speaker 1: to go from there?

805
00:40:49,156 --> 00:40:51,956
Speaker 5: I had one song that's Street by Street that I

806
00:40:51,996 --> 00:40:54,396
Speaker 5: put out like three weeks into the pandemic, just like

807
00:40:54,516 --> 00:40:56,956
Speaker 5: on Destroy Kage, I just like threw it out there

808
00:40:56,996 --> 00:41:01,556
Speaker 5: and no clue what I was doing, and it just luckily, somehow,

809
00:41:02,476 --> 00:41:04,356
Speaker 5: I think I grew. I was growing an audience at

810
00:41:04,356 --> 00:41:07,476
Speaker 5: the same time, and it just got thrown into you know,

811
00:41:07,716 --> 00:41:09,676
Speaker 5: the algorithm, if you will. I don't even know if

812
00:41:09,676 --> 00:41:12,516
Speaker 5: that's the right word, but it was just really good,

813
00:41:12,756 --> 00:41:13,836
Speaker 5: good timing.

814
00:41:13,556 --> 00:41:16,676
Speaker 1: And on Spotify got tip like it hit.

815
00:41:16,636 --> 00:41:19,396
Speaker 5: Some Discover week lease or something like that, so people

816
00:41:19,436 --> 00:41:22,796
Speaker 5: started listening and the music was like almost like a

817
00:41:22,796 --> 00:41:24,756
Speaker 5: derivative of jazz and that it had a lot of

818
00:41:24,796 --> 00:41:28,156
Speaker 5: jazz principles, but was you know, a modern story and

819
00:41:28,596 --> 00:41:32,316
Speaker 5: something new and didn't seem too different from what I was,

820
00:41:32,476 --> 00:41:35,556
Speaker 5: you know, posting online. So it kind of, yeah, it

821
00:41:35,756 --> 00:41:39,276
Speaker 5: just grew and it became almost like I kind of

822
00:41:39,356 --> 00:41:43,516
Speaker 5: harnessed social media, like I knew I'd built a community

823
00:41:43,556 --> 00:41:45,796
Speaker 5: on there, that was so great for me and my

824
00:41:46,036 --> 00:41:49,716
Speaker 5: creative process. Like that first year of COVID, I really

825
00:41:49,756 --> 00:41:52,356
Speaker 5: spent figuring out who I was as an artist. And

826
00:41:52,836 --> 00:41:54,716
Speaker 5: you know, I could turn on a live stream at

827
00:41:54,756 --> 00:41:57,316
Speaker 5: the flip of a switch and sing a song that

828
00:41:57,316 --> 00:42:00,116
Speaker 5: I'd written that day and get immediate feedback. And then

829
00:42:00,156 --> 00:42:02,036
Speaker 5: I got to know my fans and they got to

830
00:42:02,076 --> 00:42:04,396
Speaker 5: know me, and they were from all over the world,

831
00:42:04,476 --> 00:42:07,316
Speaker 5: and we'd talk about the state of COVID and we'd

832
00:42:07,316 --> 00:42:11,716
Speaker 5: be like, Oh, what's happening, and like, you know Peru, Yeah, exactly,

833
00:42:11,796 --> 00:42:14,516
Speaker 5: and it was it was so special. And I'd have

834
00:42:14,636 --> 00:42:18,676
Speaker 5: these like Sunday lullaby live streams, So every Sunday I

835
00:42:18,756 --> 00:42:20,996
Speaker 5: turn on a lullaby live stream and I'd just sing

836
00:42:21,036 --> 00:42:21,596
Speaker 5: and we'd talk.

837
00:42:21,676 --> 00:42:24,596
Speaker 1: It's great. I wish I had found that somehow.

838
00:42:25,036 --> 00:42:28,836
Speaker 5: It definitely saved me from a very bleak time in history,

839
00:42:28,836 --> 00:42:31,396
Speaker 5: I would say, yea. And I think that's another part

840
00:42:31,516 --> 00:42:35,636
Speaker 5: of why the timing of the project worked, because I

841
00:42:35,636 --> 00:42:38,756
Speaker 5: think nobody wanted to be reminded of the bleak times,

842
00:42:38,836 --> 00:42:41,596
Speaker 5: and the music I was offering up sounded like it

843
00:42:41,676 --> 00:42:45,636
Speaker 5: was of a different time. Everything was so online and

844
00:42:46,876 --> 00:42:50,076
Speaker 5: getting something that felt less online, like jazz music or z.

845
00:42:50,556 --> 00:42:52,396
Speaker 1: I also went back to like some of those like

846
00:42:52,476 --> 00:42:57,436
Speaker 1: old musicals, Oklahoma or whatever. I just love Oklahoma very cool,

847
00:42:57,516 --> 00:42:58,436
Speaker 1: It's very cool.

848
00:42:59,356 --> 00:43:02,916
Speaker 5: I'm a huge Rogers in Hammerstein fan. So the songs

849
00:43:02,916 --> 00:43:04,476
Speaker 5: from those films are like my favorite.

850
00:43:04,516 --> 00:43:06,396
Speaker 1: Sorry with the fringe on top, like are you kidding me?

851
00:43:07,236 --> 00:43:10,636
Speaker 5: Chicks and ducks and geese, they will scurry. That's wrapping

852
00:43:10,756 --> 00:43:11,316
Speaker 5: right there.

853
00:43:11,676 --> 00:43:14,756
Speaker 1: It is, and with that beautiful melody. Dude, I don't

854
00:43:14,796 --> 00:43:17,196
Speaker 1: know how they came up with that. Stuff's incredible.

855
00:43:17,356 --> 00:43:19,316
Speaker 5: No, I know it's it's it's wild.

856
00:43:19,956 --> 00:43:22,516
Speaker 1: Would you mind there's a guitar right there? Would you

857
00:43:22,596 --> 00:43:26,396
Speaker 1: mind sort of playing that the first song? Sure? Yeah?

858
00:43:27,076 --> 00:43:29,076
Speaker 1: Street by Street just a bit of it.

859
00:43:29,196 --> 00:43:34,876
Speaker 5: Yeah. So I was almost in like more of a

860
00:43:35,076 --> 00:43:37,836
Speaker 5: R and B kind of swing of jazz back then,

861
00:43:37,996 --> 00:43:42,796
Speaker 5: like lo fi cool. So yeah, it's interesting how it's evolved.

862
00:43:42,836 --> 00:43:53,716
Speaker 5: But anyways, it's Street by Street. This food a small

863
00:43:54,036 --> 00:44:11,996
Speaker 5: to my face lally, it's some nothing bad. Remind me.

864
00:44:11,436 --> 00:44:13,316
Speaker 3: The way the jeused to.

865
00:44:16,196 --> 00:44:16,676
Speaker 5: Give me.

866
00:44:17,276 --> 00:44:25,116
Speaker 3: Butterfly took me twenty one days.

867
00:44:24,476 --> 00:44:27,396
Speaker 1: To carf.

868
00:44:28,596 --> 00:44:36,156
Speaker 3: Paradise Paradise.

869
00:44:38,156 --> 00:44:50,836
Speaker 6: By stop by stop, break by break. I'm reclaim me

870
00:44:51,436 --> 00:44:52,756
Speaker 6: wor smart.

871
00:44:54,996 --> 00:45:02,396
Speaker 3: The cities ware you too small to give way to just.

872
00:45:02,796 --> 00:45:12,356
Speaker 4: One god, Street by street, breath by breath, from the

873
00:45:12,516 --> 00:45:13,316
Speaker 4: back bit.

874
00:45:13,516 --> 00:45:22,396
Speaker 3: To the sky. I'm taking back my shity.

875
00:45:23,556 --> 00:45:31,196
Speaker 1: I'm taking back my Your voice is so incredible, it's

876
00:45:31,236 --> 00:45:33,876
Speaker 1: like live. Hearing it in this room is insane.

877
00:45:33,956 --> 00:45:34,836
Speaker 5: Oh thank you.

878
00:45:35,636 --> 00:45:36,916
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I got a great voice. But that

879
00:45:37,036 --> 00:45:39,956
Speaker 1: was it was, honestly in the rooms incredible.

880
00:45:40,476 --> 00:45:41,596
Speaker 5: Thank you very much.

881
00:45:41,876 --> 00:45:42,716
Speaker 1: That's a cool song.

882
00:45:42,956 --> 00:45:45,236
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a cute one. It was like the one

883
00:45:45,236 --> 00:45:47,876
Speaker 5: of the first songs I ever wrote, and it really

884
00:45:48,516 --> 00:45:51,596
Speaker 5: it really healed me. It really. I remember I had

885
00:45:51,596 --> 00:45:54,116
Speaker 5: my light bulb moment after writing that song. I was like,

886
00:45:54,756 --> 00:45:56,876
Speaker 5: oh my god. I was like, in the middle of

887
00:45:56,916 --> 00:45:58,956
Speaker 5: writing it, my heart was racing. I was like, I

888
00:45:58,956 --> 00:46:00,556
Speaker 5: think I have it. I think I got something.

889
00:46:01,676 --> 00:46:04,436
Speaker 1: Was there was there any music that particularly inspired you

890
00:46:04,476 --> 00:46:06,796
Speaker 1: while writing that, anything you were referencing in your mind

891
00:46:06,956 --> 00:46:08,436
Speaker 1: or I don't know.

892
00:46:08,516 --> 00:46:10,396
Speaker 5: There's like, you know, there's a lot of Sam Cook

893
00:46:10,436 --> 00:46:12,316
Speaker 5: that I was listening to, so it was like a

894
00:46:12,356 --> 00:46:14,796
Speaker 5: Sam Cook lick kind of that I threw in there.

895
00:46:15,436 --> 00:46:17,476
Speaker 5: You know, there was jazz music. I was also listening to,

896
00:46:17,556 --> 00:46:20,036
Speaker 5: like a lot of Bruno major at the time, Who's

897
00:46:20,516 --> 00:46:21,996
Speaker 5: I went to a concert with him and it was

898
00:46:22,036 --> 00:46:25,676
Speaker 5: the first time I really saw jazz and and like

899
00:46:25,956 --> 00:46:28,956
Speaker 5: kind of songwriting being presented alongside each other, and it

900
00:46:29,036 --> 00:46:30,396
Speaker 5: really inspired me.

901
00:46:30,716 --> 00:46:33,396
Speaker 1: So yeah, as you were playing that, it occurred to

902
00:46:33,396 --> 00:46:35,956
Speaker 1: me that, I mean, in a way, you're a jazz

903
00:46:35,996 --> 00:46:40,276
Speaker 1: singer or just a singer with some jazz influence and

904
00:46:40,316 --> 00:46:42,836
Speaker 1: a player, but also like a singer songwriter. I mean,

905
00:46:42,876 --> 00:46:45,876
Speaker 1: it's not many people did that in jazz. I guess

906
00:46:45,916 --> 00:46:48,196
Speaker 1: you know a couple of times.

907
00:46:47,956 --> 00:46:50,276
Speaker 5: Right right, No, it's a very rare thing to be

908
00:46:50,476 --> 00:46:54,436
Speaker 5: a songwriter of a singer and a songwriter of jazz

909
00:46:54,636 --> 00:46:58,636
Speaker 5: and jazz. Historically, jazz singers sing.

910
00:46:58,756 --> 00:47:00,996
Speaker 1: Songs by sing songs by people.

911
00:47:00,756 --> 00:47:04,236
Speaker 5: Who don't sing, and then you know, aside from obviously

912
00:47:04,276 --> 00:47:07,276
Speaker 5: like Ella and a couple of examples like didn't didn't

913
00:47:07,476 --> 00:47:10,476
Speaker 5: improvise either, so they weren't of course they had their

914
00:47:10,516 --> 00:47:14,556
Speaker 5: own takes on songs, but it wasn't creating in that sense.

915
00:47:15,236 --> 00:47:17,716
Speaker 5: So yeah, wear many hats. Well.

916
00:47:17,756 --> 00:47:22,436
Speaker 1: I presume much of your songwriting is about your own experiences.

917
00:47:21,996 --> 00:47:24,796
Speaker 5: Is it? Yeah, most of them are personal personal stories.

918
00:47:24,956 --> 00:47:27,596
Speaker 1: Is it weird? Then to follow like the people like

919
00:47:28,396 --> 00:47:30,596
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift down to Carol King that you mentioned and

920
00:47:30,676 --> 00:47:34,116
Speaker 1: kind of putting your life out for your fans and

921
00:47:34,156 --> 00:47:34,596
Speaker 1: that sort of.

922
00:47:35,356 --> 00:47:37,636
Speaker 5: You know, I don't think too much about it. People

923
00:47:37,676 --> 00:47:39,796
Speaker 5: ask me a lot like, oh, aren't you embarrassed to

924
00:47:39,796 --> 00:47:42,236
Speaker 5: put it out? Or isn't it exposing? And I think

925
00:47:42,956 --> 00:47:46,436
Speaker 5: in a way like when I bottle up an experience

926
00:47:46,556 --> 00:47:48,396
Speaker 5: or an emotion in a song and let it free,

927
00:47:48,436 --> 00:47:52,156
Speaker 5: it's no longer completely mine, and then it doesn't feel

928
00:47:52,156 --> 00:47:55,676
Speaker 5: as daunting. That being said, the thought of someone listening

929
00:47:55,676 --> 00:47:58,756
Speaker 5: to a song I wrote about them is terrifying. But

930
00:47:59,036 --> 00:48:00,796
Speaker 5: I just don't think about that. I think, in my

931
00:48:00,836 --> 00:48:02,876
Speaker 5: delusional mind, I'm like, yeah, they're not listening.

932
00:48:03,076 --> 00:48:05,756
Speaker 1: That's the American in the delusion. Yeah exactly.

933
00:48:05,836 --> 00:48:07,716
Speaker 5: And I'm like, if they listen, I just hope they

934
00:48:07,716 --> 00:48:10,596
Speaker 5: don't tell me. Unless it's like a really really nice thing,

935
00:48:10,596 --> 00:48:15,956
Speaker 5: then maybe they can tell you. But it's also worth

936
00:48:15,996 --> 00:48:18,716
Speaker 5: it when someone's like, oh, I've experienced that before, I

937
00:48:18,756 --> 00:48:19,316
Speaker 5: can relate.

938
00:48:20,036 --> 00:48:23,196
Speaker 1: So the album cover too, I should say it's very cool,

939
00:48:23,396 --> 00:48:24,276
Speaker 1: Oh thank you.

940
00:48:25,436 --> 00:48:25,636
Speaker 3: Yeah.

941
00:48:25,636 --> 00:48:28,076
Speaker 5: It was me and my twin sister, who's my creative director.

942
00:48:28,436 --> 00:48:30,956
Speaker 5: She kind of, you know, the whole visual world behind

943
00:48:31,036 --> 00:48:33,356
Speaker 5: leve is her kind of thought creation.

944
00:48:33,556 --> 00:48:35,036
Speaker 1: Is that what she studied in college?

945
00:48:35,236 --> 00:48:38,876
Speaker 5: No? No, she studied international relations and music. She's a

946
00:48:38,956 --> 00:48:43,076
Speaker 5: smart cookie. But the idea kind of came from the

947
00:48:43,196 --> 00:48:48,596
Speaker 5: music itself on this album is more mature and my

948
00:48:48,676 --> 00:48:52,396
Speaker 5: last record, Yeah, and and I kind of wanted to

949
00:48:53,116 --> 00:48:55,796
Speaker 5: shock my audience a little bit. I think my first

950
00:48:55,876 --> 00:48:58,836
Speaker 5: album was so innocent that I wanted this second one

951
00:48:58,876 --> 00:49:02,996
Speaker 5: to be a little bit more like otherworldly. So yeah,

952
00:49:03,036 --> 00:49:06,316
Speaker 5: it's very kind of like glossy silvery. I almost wanted

953
00:49:06,356 --> 00:49:10,876
Speaker 5: to appear more other worldly somehow it is.

954
00:49:10,916 --> 00:49:14,796
Speaker 1: And it's such a striking cover strike, Thank You, Thank You.

955
00:49:15,436 --> 00:49:18,636
Speaker 1: Is there anything you want to try in the future

956
00:49:18,716 --> 00:49:21,716
Speaker 1: in terms of, like you've had some strings on this,

957
00:49:21,956 --> 00:49:25,556
Speaker 1: you know, orchestra. I definitely want to do.

958
00:49:25,556 --> 00:49:28,836
Speaker 5: More orchestra stuff. I want to write film music. I

959
00:49:28,876 --> 00:49:29,756
Speaker 5: really want to write something.

960
00:49:29,836 --> 00:49:32,596
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear you do a soundtracks. A couple

961
00:49:32,596 --> 00:49:34,596
Speaker 1: of songs on here that I feel I could be, yeah,

962
00:49:35,236 --> 00:49:36,316
Speaker 1: theme for a movie.

963
00:49:36,636 --> 00:49:39,516
Speaker 5: I definitely. Every song to me is like a little movie,

964
00:49:39,556 --> 00:49:41,956
Speaker 5: like every story from start to finish, and then the

965
00:49:41,956 --> 00:49:45,676
Speaker 5: way that it's painted musically is very I I like

966
00:49:45,716 --> 00:49:48,756
Speaker 5: to think everyone is like a little movie. But yeah,

967
00:49:48,796 --> 00:49:51,836
Speaker 5: I'd love to do more orchestra stuff as well. On

968
00:49:52,236 --> 00:49:54,596
Speaker 5: the other side of things, I'd love to like just

969
00:49:54,636 --> 00:49:57,116
Speaker 5: like show up with like a random folk album or

970
00:49:57,156 --> 00:50:01,236
Speaker 5: like country album, like lean really into the storytelling. And

971
00:50:01,236 --> 00:50:04,316
Speaker 5: and then of course, like I want to do like

972
00:50:04,476 --> 00:50:07,716
Speaker 5: some like a standards album at some point and something

973
00:50:07,796 --> 00:50:11,276
Speaker 5: more you know, straight forward jazz in that sense. But

974
00:50:11,436 --> 00:50:14,676
Speaker 5: I think for now, I'm my work isn't completely done

975
00:50:14,836 --> 00:50:16,716
Speaker 5: in doing it the way that I am right now.

976
00:50:16,796 --> 00:50:19,356
Speaker 1: Would you ever get a group, like a band together,

977
00:50:19,516 --> 00:50:21,756
Speaker 1: like oh, absolutely, yeah, that you kind of just do

978
00:50:21,796 --> 00:50:23,716
Speaker 1: all like tour with and make records with.

979
00:50:23,836 --> 00:50:27,076
Speaker 5: And sure, yeah I have. I have a band that

980
00:50:27,116 --> 00:50:29,276
Speaker 5: I tour with right now who are really great, and

981
00:50:30,116 --> 00:50:33,436
Speaker 5: the records so far have just been made. Besides an

982
00:50:33,556 --> 00:50:36,796
Speaker 5: orchestra and a couple of musicians here and there, it's

983
00:50:36,836 --> 00:50:39,916
Speaker 5: been mostly just me and my producer Spencer, playing all

984
00:50:39,916 --> 00:50:42,716
Speaker 5: the instruments and I having quite a lot of fun

985
00:50:42,796 --> 00:50:43,436
Speaker 5: doing that.

986
00:50:43,436 --> 00:50:45,716
Speaker 1: That's cool. How did you meet Spencer?

987
00:50:46,316 --> 00:50:49,596
Speaker 5: I was just doing my session rounds and you know,

988
00:50:49,676 --> 00:50:52,396
Speaker 5: going to different producers and kind of hoping and praying

989
00:50:52,476 --> 00:50:56,756
Speaker 5: that i'd find somebody who understood my vision and understood

990
00:50:56,756 --> 00:50:59,876
Speaker 5: the jazz part and the classical part and the part

991
00:51:00,716 --> 00:51:03,876
Speaker 5: and like the songwriting part. And I happened upon Spencer

992
00:51:03,956 --> 00:51:07,196
Speaker 5: and he just immediately understood it. I remember I was

993
00:51:07,276 --> 00:51:09,276
Speaker 5: so worried that it would be hard to find, and

994
00:51:09,396 --> 00:51:11,836
Speaker 5: it was quite hard to find. But when I found Spencer,

995
00:51:11,876 --> 00:51:13,916
Speaker 5: I was like, oh my god, like, this is it.

996
00:51:13,996 --> 00:51:15,516
Speaker 5: Like I found my musical soulmate.

997
00:51:15,836 --> 00:51:19,396
Speaker 1: That's great. Well, hey, thank you so much for oh,

998
00:51:19,436 --> 00:51:23,396
Speaker 1: thank you making the drive up of course, yeah, my pleasure.

999
00:51:26,116 --> 00:51:28,756
Speaker 1: Thanks to Leave for singing some of her gorgeous songs

1000
00:51:28,756 --> 00:51:30,756
Speaker 1: for us. Speakin Hear a collection of all of our

1001
00:51:30,756 --> 00:51:33,716
Speaker 1: favorite Leave songs on the playlist at broken record podcast

1002
00:51:33,836 --> 00:51:37,196
Speaker 1: dot com. Subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot

1003
00:51:37,236 --> 00:51:40,036
Speaker 1: com slash broken record Podcast, where you can find all

1004
00:51:40,076 --> 00:51:43,036
Speaker 1: of our new episodes. You can follow us on Twitter

1005
00:51:43,276 --> 00:51:46,716
Speaker 1: at broken Record. Broken Record is produced with help from

1006
00:51:46,796 --> 00:51:49,836
Speaker 1: Lea Rose and Eric Sandler. Our show is engineered by

1007
00:51:49,996 --> 00:51:54,036
Speaker 1: Echo Mountain. Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries.

1008
00:51:54,116 --> 00:51:56,396
Speaker 1: If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider

1009
00:51:56,436 --> 00:52:00,676
Speaker 1: subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription

1010
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Speaker 1: that offers bonus content and ad free listening for four

1011
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Speaker 1: ninety nine a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple

1012
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Speaker 1: podcast subscriptions. If you like the show, please remember to share, rate,

1013
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Speaker 1: and review us on your podcast app. Of the music's

1014
00:52:14,716 --> 00:52:17,036
Speaker 1: by Kenny Beats, I'm Justin Richmith.