WEBVTT - Laufey 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:23.796 Pushkin. Layvey's fast rise to fame is a pandemic success story. 0:00:24.676 --> 0:00:27.676 During Lockdown, the twenty four year old multi instrumentalist built 0:00:27.716 --> 0:00:30.756 a substantial following on social media, where she was known 0:00:30.796 --> 0:00:35.396 as Jazz Girl. Since then, the Icelandic Chinese singer songwriter 0:00:35.556 --> 0:00:39.276 has released two studio albums that blend classical pop and 0:00:39.396 --> 0:00:43.236 jazz perfectly, and while working in the style of artists 0:00:43.236 --> 0:00:46.036 like Elia Fitzgerald and Chet Baker may seem unlikely for 0:00:46.076 --> 0:00:49.116 a Gen Z artist, her music has proved to resonate 0:00:49.196 --> 0:00:52.676 deeply with young audiences. The first single from her most 0:00:52.716 --> 0:00:56.356 recent release, Bewitched, has been streamed over twenty million times 0:00:56.396 --> 0:00:59.676 globally since it's released a couple months back, and the 0:00:59.716 --> 0:01:03.636 album itself was the largest jazz debut on Spotify ever. 0:01:04.236 --> 0:01:07.596 Layvay's online performances first went viral in twenty twenty while 0:01:07.636 --> 0:01:12.036 she's attending Boston's prestigious Berkeley College of Music. Raised in Iceland, 0:01:12.116 --> 0:01:14.636 Layve started playing cello and classical piano when she was 0:01:14.716 --> 0:01:17.636 just four years old. By fifteen, she was performing with 0:01:17.676 --> 0:01:21.836 the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra as a cello soloist. The Chinese 0:01:21.876 --> 0:01:25.276 side of her family has been studying classical music for generations. 0:01:25.596 --> 0:01:29.316 LaVey's mom as a professional violinist and a maternal grandfather 0:01:29.476 --> 0:01:33.636 taught violin at China's Central Conservatory of Music, and while 0:01:33.676 --> 0:01:36.996 Lave's classical training runs deep, perhaps the most surprising thing 0:01:36.996 --> 0:01:39.156 about her sent to stardom is the fact that she's 0:01:39.196 --> 0:01:42.316 now known as a singer songwriter as much as a musician. 0:01:43.476 --> 0:01:45.836 On today's episode, I talked to Leave about how she 0:01:45.876 --> 0:01:49.316 started singing jazz standards online and what inspired her to 0:01:49.316 --> 0:01:52.636 write her own songs as well. She also talks about 0:01:52.676 --> 0:01:55.716 the great sacrifices her Chinese family made during the Cultural 0:01:55.756 --> 0:01:58.876 Revolution when there was a strict band on playing classical 0:01:58.916 --> 0:02:02.876 Western music, and she sings two original songs for us, 0:02:02.956 --> 0:02:09.116 including her single from the Start. This is broken record. 0:02:09.516 --> 0:02:12.156 I don't know it's for the digital age. I'm justin Mitchell. 0:02:12.876 --> 0:02:15.116 Before we jump into my interview with Levey, let's hear 0:02:15.156 --> 0:02:17.316 her sing an acoustic condition of her song from the 0:02:17.356 --> 0:02:18.356 Start live. 0:02:25.156 --> 0:02:31.396 Don't you knows how I get quiet when there's no 0:02:31.476 --> 0:02:38.036 one else surround me and you and awkward silence. 0:02:38.396 --> 0:02:42.916 Don't shut look at me that way? 0:02:44.476 --> 0:02:45.516 I don't need to. 0:02:45.676 --> 0:02:50.756 Remind herself how you don't feel the same. Oh the 0:02:51.036 --> 0:02:59.396 burdening pain listening to your heart bumbous news song made, 0:02:59.996 --> 0:03:05.636 She's so perfect, blah blah blah. How I wish you 0:03:05.956 --> 0:03:08.236 wake up one day? 0:03:09.196 --> 0:03:13.276 Fun to me confess your little bell yst Just let 0:03:13.356 --> 0:03:18.836 me say that when I talk to you, Oh cute 0:03:19.076 --> 0:03:24.356 b walks right through and shoots on the or through. 0:03:24.516 --> 0:03:29.996 My herd and I sound like aloon. 0:03:30.156 --> 0:03:36.996 But don't you feel to confess I've learned from the start. 0:03:40.436 --> 0:03:43.636 I love that I sound like a loon line such 0:03:43.636 --> 0:03:49.276 a great play on word. Yeah, in such a little time, 0:03:49.276 --> 0:03:53.876 you've gotten so successful, I feel I can confidently say 0:03:53.916 --> 0:03:56.236 that I should mention you. I mean, your album was 0:03:56.356 --> 0:04:02.316 like the highest debuting jazz album, dare I say on Spotify? 0:04:02.556 --> 0:04:04.756 You know, if you admit it to jazz, it is. 0:04:04.836 --> 0:04:08.596 So so so wild. It was very I you know, 0:04:08.676 --> 0:04:11.796 I I would have never expected that that could be 0:04:11.836 --> 0:04:14.076 the outcome for the kind of music that I make. 0:04:14.196 --> 0:04:17.156 You know, I really set out to just make the 0:04:17.236 --> 0:04:19.556 music that I loved and hope that people would listen. 0:04:19.596 --> 0:04:23.956 And the fact that they have is is very very special. 0:04:24.036 --> 0:04:25.316 I kind of can't believe it. 0:04:26.036 --> 0:04:27.996 I might go all over the places because you're a 0:04:28.036 --> 0:04:29.956 relatively new artist. I don't know a ton about you 0:04:29.996 --> 0:04:33.356 in your route to where is this place now? It's 0:04:33.356 --> 0:04:36.076 a cuitous. It's like you it's confusing, like where you 0:04:36.156 --> 0:04:38.996 came from before LA and where you you know, there's 0:04:39.156 --> 0:04:42.396 a lot of many stops stops. So how long have 0:04:42.396 --> 0:04:43.316 you been in LA now? 0:04:43.556 --> 0:04:45.196 A little over two years. 0:04:44.956 --> 0:04:47.356 And you came to LA from. 0:04:47.596 --> 0:04:52.156 It's kind of confusing. But d C kind of because 0:04:52.196 --> 0:04:54.556 my parents lived in DC while I went to Berkeley, 0:04:55.436 --> 0:04:56.356 and then because. 0:04:56.116 --> 0:04:57.916 Great parents, so they moved to the States. 0:04:58.556 --> 0:05:02.076 Yeah, you know, it just was coincidental actually, but because 0:05:02.116 --> 0:05:05.596 my dad worked in DC, like between Iceland and d C, 0:05:05.876 --> 0:05:06.916 so when. 0:05:06.716 --> 0:05:09.916 My kids go to college, I'll also accidentally have some 0:05:09.996 --> 0:05:10.516 work to do. 0:05:10.996 --> 0:05:13.396 But it was so nice. It was so nice because 0:05:13.396 --> 0:05:17.636 then what happened is COVID struck, right, instead of going 0:05:17.876 --> 0:05:20.676 back to Iceland, where I would have, you know, otherwise gone, 0:05:20.956 --> 0:05:22.596 I went to d C. So I stayed in the 0:05:22.596 --> 0:05:26.436 States and you know, had employment authorization and stuff like that. 0:05:26.516 --> 0:05:29.436 So it was like actually quite integral to me being 0:05:29.476 --> 0:05:31.196 able to start this career during that time. 0:05:31.236 --> 0:05:35.476 I think, So how much Berkeley did you do remote? 0:05:35.596 --> 0:05:38.276 Like from d I mean after I did one and 0:05:38.276 --> 0:05:41.076 a half year in person and then and then the 0:05:41.116 --> 0:05:43.316 rest online. Wow, but I did graduate. 0:05:43.556 --> 0:05:44.396 Congratulations. 0:05:45.196 --> 0:05:48.796 That's it's no, it's just it's a rare one. It's 0:05:48.836 --> 0:05:51.036 not considered very cool to graduate. 0:05:51.476 --> 0:05:54.276 But wow, No, I know some cool people though that 0:05:54.316 --> 0:05:55.436 have graduated from. 0:05:56.076 --> 0:05:57.516 Yeah, some of us make it all. 0:05:57.596 --> 0:06:01.996 Look at you, you're setting a new tone for Yeah. 0:06:02.036 --> 0:06:02.196 You know. 0:06:02.236 --> 0:06:04.996 The standard is that if you dropped out, you made it. 0:06:05.036 --> 0:06:07.556 If you if you if you graduated, you won't make it. 0:06:07.996 --> 0:06:10.836 I'm always curious about Berkeley experience because it's such a 0:06:10.956 --> 0:06:15.596 unique school with such unique, very driven students. For one, 0:06:15.836 --> 0:06:17.676 you know what I mean, I feel like students who 0:06:17.836 --> 0:06:20.156 very much want to they want it, they want it, 0:06:20.196 --> 0:06:22.076 and they want it like not. You know. I feel 0:06:22.116 --> 0:06:25.396 like if you go to a traditional four year institution 0:06:25.556 --> 0:06:28.396 where it's it's much more, where it's focused on academics, 0:06:28.796 --> 0:06:30.276 there's a sense of like, you know, it might take 0:06:30.316 --> 0:06:33.756 a while to get into your profession, you might take 0:06:33.756 --> 0:06:37.956 a detour through graduate school or whatever. And you know, 0:06:38.196 --> 0:06:40.396 I know, like with Berkeley kids, it's like, to your point, 0:06:40.676 --> 0:06:43.116 they want to make it before they even graduate. So 0:06:43.116 --> 0:06:44.876 that's a drive amount of pressure. 0:06:45.276 --> 0:06:48.716 It is and I think strangely I didn't put that 0:06:48.756 --> 0:06:52.316 pressure on myself because I came from such an academic 0:06:52.436 --> 0:06:56.196 background and my twin sister went to like a four 0:06:56.276 --> 0:06:59.036 year university in Scotland that was very much not like 0:06:59.076 --> 0:07:01.276 a music school, so I was almost on that path. 0:07:01.316 --> 0:07:04.196 I think I was different from a lot of kids 0:07:04.276 --> 0:07:07.996 at Berkeley in that I came there quite open minded 0:07:08.036 --> 0:07:10.596 and curious about what it was that I was able 0:07:10.636 --> 0:07:12.996 to do within the walls of Berkeley. Because I came 0:07:12.996 --> 0:07:15.156 in as a cellist, right like, I was on a 0:07:15.196 --> 0:07:17.956 scholarship to play cello. I didn't go as a singer 0:07:18.076 --> 0:07:19.956 or a writer or anything like that, and I kind 0:07:19.996 --> 0:07:21.596 of was like, Okay, I want to do a little 0:07:21.596 --> 0:07:23.396 bit of everything and see what I can do. And 0:07:23.756 --> 0:07:25.676 part of me just felt like it was so unrealistic 0:07:25.676 --> 0:07:27.876 to become a singer that I just didn't even you know, 0:07:27.996 --> 0:07:29.036 dip too much into it. 0:07:29.676 --> 0:07:31.876 So sit your track with cello, but you also want 0:07:31.876 --> 0:07:33.676 to pursue sing and a writing or you're curious about that? 0:07:33.836 --> 0:07:34.436 Absolutely? 0:07:34.596 --> 0:07:34.796 Yeah. 0:07:34.836 --> 0:07:36.956 I mean I you know, I wanted to be a 0:07:36.956 --> 0:07:41.516 singer the most, but it just felt very unrealistic, which is. 0:07:41.436 --> 0:07:44.876 Funny because it wasn't well, yeah, I mean growing. 0:07:44.716 --> 0:07:47.476 Up in Iceland, it's not something you see that often, 0:07:47.556 --> 0:07:50.356 you know, you're not immersed in that, and like, yeah, 0:07:50.396 --> 0:07:51.956 I don't know. I think I also like to play 0:07:51.956 --> 0:07:54.156 it safe as a kid, right, And I didn't want to. 0:07:54.596 --> 0:07:57.036 I was a little bit scared of dreaming outside of 0:07:57.076 --> 0:07:59.156 the box, if you will. And I was like, who 0:07:59.196 --> 0:08:01.916 am I to think that I can do that? You know? 0:08:01.956 --> 0:08:04.876 I was also taught to like I've come from my 0:08:04.916 --> 0:08:08.236 mother's Chinese and you know, the Chinese kind of my 0:08:08.396 --> 0:08:10.956 Chinese culture, sure, and background has definitely taught me like 0:08:11.076 --> 0:08:14.796 you have to manage expectations, stay humble, work very hard. 0:08:14.916 --> 0:08:16.716 Like those are the three kind of pillars. 0:08:17.276 --> 0:08:19.356 Manage expectations, they work. 0:08:19.076 --> 0:08:22.436 Really hard, Yeah, exactly, Like obviously like dream strive for 0:08:22.476 --> 0:08:25.556 big things, but like in a very realistic way, in 0:08:25.596 --> 0:08:27.396 a way that you work your way up to it, 0:08:27.476 --> 0:08:31.636 you know, whereas like I think the American dream is 0:08:31.716 --> 0:08:35.316 like a little bit more delusional, but in a really 0:08:35.356 --> 0:08:37.636 good way, do you know what I mean? And now 0:08:37.716 --> 0:08:43.356 I've t but I've tapped into that delusion now, But 0:08:43.476 --> 0:08:46.276 I think you know that's that's you know, I mean, 0:08:46.316 --> 0:08:48.356 in many in many ways, whether it be a good 0:08:48.356 --> 0:08:49.676 thing or a bad thing. I think that's why a 0:08:49.676 --> 0:08:53.236 lot of Americans succeed in really fantastic ways again, whether 0:08:53.276 --> 0:08:54.916 it be good or bad, because. 0:08:54.596 --> 0:08:58.196 Also why we like fail spectacularly even after having succeeded. 0:08:59.036 --> 0:09:01.676 Yeah, I mean, you know, big, big wins and big 0:09:01.716 --> 0:09:06.356 losses come from big risks, and Americans and American kids 0:09:06.396 --> 0:09:09.276 are taught to take big risks. I think a lot 0:09:09.276 --> 0:09:11.756 of my not even my parents. I think I was 0:09:11.796 --> 0:09:13.916 just a very safe and calculated child, so I didn't 0:09:13.956 --> 0:09:16.236 dare to take big risks. But now I take really 0:09:16.276 --> 0:09:16.876 big risks. 0:09:16.956 --> 0:09:19.516 That's great, even doubt. What was your first encounter with 0:09:19.676 --> 0:09:22.476 American culture as a delusional As. 0:09:22.356 --> 0:09:26.196 A delusional I mean I went to elementary school in 0:09:26.276 --> 0:09:28.476 the States from age of six to nine. That was 0:09:28.516 --> 0:09:32.596 like the first time I remember encountering American culture. 0:09:32.676 --> 0:09:34.916 Do you remember how you felt before you got here, 0:09:35.116 --> 0:09:37.236 like being told you're going to come here and just sort. 0:09:37.116 --> 0:09:39.076 Of your feel Yeah, I mean I think, you know, 0:09:39.116 --> 0:09:41.556 I was five years old, so I wasn't thinking too 0:09:41.636 --> 0:09:43.436 much about it. I think I was excited to get 0:09:43.476 --> 0:09:45.876 to move to a new country. I mean I didn't 0:09:45.916 --> 0:09:50.676 speak English very well or at all, so I remember 0:09:51.316 --> 0:09:56.676 Icelandic and Chinese Chinese. I remember just how encouraged we 0:09:56.676 --> 0:10:00.036 were to speak up, like public speaking. There was an 0:10:00.076 --> 0:10:03.116 emphasis on that, even from you know, age six. In 0:10:03.196 --> 0:10:06.476 my you know, public school in DC, it was a 0:10:06.516 --> 0:10:10.636 lot of like show and tell, sharing, you know, reading 0:10:10.636 --> 0:10:13.196 out loud, stuff like that. From a very early age 0:10:13.196 --> 0:10:16.676 that I didn't feel like there was as much of 0:10:16.716 --> 0:10:19.956 an emphasis on. And I think what resulted was like 0:10:20.076 --> 0:10:23.236 kids were quite open and they were which was great 0:10:23.236 --> 0:10:26.196 for me coming from a different country especially. I mean 0:10:26.236 --> 0:10:28.956 I lived in Washington, d C. And though it was 0:10:29.036 --> 0:10:31.956 like a public school, it was very international just because 0:10:31.956 --> 0:10:34.116 the nature of the neighborhood I lived in. There were 0:10:34.116 --> 0:10:36.396 a lot of like children who had parents who worked 0:10:36.396 --> 0:10:40.636 in you know, international service. So because these kids were 0:10:40.716 --> 0:10:43.236 very international and because they were very outspoken, I think 0:10:43.316 --> 0:10:46.516 they accepted kids quite easily. So that was actually really good. 0:10:47.116 --> 0:10:51.036 But I remember just always thinking, you know, Americans and 0:10:51.236 --> 0:10:55.716 American culture was quite extroverted compared to a more introverted 0:10:55.756 --> 0:10:58.116 Icelandic culture, and I knew that from a very young age. 0:10:58.156 --> 0:11:00.596 It seems like was it uncomfortable to start. 0:11:01.076 --> 0:11:02.796 No, not at all. And I think, you know, six 0:11:02.876 --> 0:11:04.836 to nine, which is the time that I lived in 0:11:04.876 --> 0:11:08.836 America as a kid, there's such formative years and they 0:11:08.876 --> 0:11:13.916 taught me to become very expressive. And I think when 0:11:13.916 --> 0:11:17.596 I took that expression, like that expressive nature back to 0:11:17.916 --> 0:11:21.036 Iceland when I was like nine, eight or nine, in 0:11:21.076 --> 0:11:23.316 the middle of the recession in two thousand and eight, 0:11:24.116 --> 0:11:27.356 I felt quite loud. I quite felt really larger than life, 0:11:27.396 --> 0:11:30.596 like really big, and that was kind of something that 0:11:31.036 --> 0:11:32.836 I dealt with for a while in Iceland. 0:11:33.316 --> 0:11:36.116 What about at home? Was it encouraged at home to 0:11:36.156 --> 0:11:38.716 be sort of living out loud? Yeah? 0:11:38.756 --> 0:11:43.516 Absolutely. My parents were super, super encouraging of me being 0:11:43.596 --> 0:11:46.476 an artist as well, like they from a very young age. 0:11:46.556 --> 0:11:50.756 But it was I had a very disciplined childhood, not 0:11:50.796 --> 0:11:52.356 in a bad way, but in that you know, I 0:11:52.436 --> 0:11:54.676 knew I came home from school and I practiced. I was, 0:11:54.796 --> 0:11:58.076 you know, treading a pre professional classical music path. 0:11:58.316 --> 0:12:00.276 And that's because your mom, my mom is. 0:12:00.236 --> 0:12:04.076 A classical violinist. Yeah, So from age four I started 0:12:04.076 --> 0:12:07.156 playing classical piano and cello and it just kind of 0:12:07.196 --> 0:12:10.756 became a part of life, just as going to elementary 0:12:10.756 --> 0:12:13.356 school becomes a part of your life. You know, you 0:12:13.396 --> 0:12:15.356 go to math, you go to English, you go to science, 0:12:15.356 --> 0:12:17.796 it come home you have an hour piano, hour of cello, an. 0:12:17.636 --> 0:12:19.876 Hour of piano, hour of cello before even an hour 0:12:19.916 --> 0:12:20.996 of homework. 0:12:20.916 --> 0:12:25.036 Yes, before homework. Yeah, but in Iceland there isn't much homework. 0:12:25.396 --> 0:12:30.516 That's nice, very nice. Yeah, yeah, you know, I I 0:12:30.556 --> 0:12:33.756 would say that the nature of schooling in Iceland is 0:12:33.996 --> 0:12:36.996 a lot more relaxed. And you know, there's no private school. 0:12:37.116 --> 0:12:40.196 Everyone goes to the public schools. There's no you know, 0:12:40.236 --> 0:12:42.556 the kind of hierarchy of schools that has been set 0:12:42.636 --> 0:12:45.356 up in the States that you know follows you all 0:12:45.396 --> 0:12:48.276 the way down to college. You know, like people thinking 0:12:48.276 --> 0:12:50.956 about how they can set themselves up to get to 0:12:50.996 --> 0:12:53.596 a good university from the age of like six or seven. 0:12:53.676 --> 0:12:56.196 That mentality just doesn't really exist in Iceland. 0:12:57.196 --> 0:12:58.516 There a big class dichotomy. 0:12:58.556 --> 0:13:01.556 They're like no, no, no, I would say, I mean, 0:13:01.596 --> 0:13:04.436 of course, like like everywhere, you know, there's but the 0:13:04.836 --> 0:13:08.636 wealth gap in Iceland is generally compared to other countries 0:13:08.676 --> 0:13:09.276 quite small. 0:13:09.476 --> 0:13:09.836 Wow. 0:13:10.356 --> 0:13:14.156 And it's a social democratic country, and it's you know, 0:13:14.236 --> 0:13:17.796 follows kind of Scandinavian principles and you know, you have 0:13:17.876 --> 0:13:20.756 free free health care and education or very very low 0:13:20.876 --> 0:13:24.716 low cost, which is you know nice, It's. 0:13:24.556 --> 0:13:26.836 Great that you got to bounce between. 0:13:27.196 --> 0:13:30.316 Yeah, I definitely experienced both. And you know, I spent 0:13:30.356 --> 0:13:33.236 every summer in China as while growing up, so so 0:13:33.276 --> 0:13:36.036 I have extreme Yeah, I was Actually I was in 0:13:36.116 --> 0:13:38.356 China just a couple of days ago. I was there 0:13:38.436 --> 0:13:41.676 for ten days, playing a bit. But it was my 0:13:41.716 --> 0:13:44.036 first time back since COVID, and it was nice to 0:13:44.396 --> 0:13:46.996 revisit that as the adult that I've become since. 0:13:47.316 --> 0:13:48.836 How was it? What was that? And do you saw 0:13:48.956 --> 0:13:49.476 family there? 0:13:49.596 --> 0:13:52.876 Yes, my grandmother lives there. She she's a professor, was 0:13:52.876 --> 0:13:55.356 a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, 0:13:56.076 --> 0:13:58.716 and my grandfather was as well, who's who's now passed. 0:13:58.996 --> 0:14:02.436 So the classical music routs run run quite deep. But yeah, 0:14:02.476 --> 0:14:04.716 she was there, and I played with a China Philharmonic 0:14:04.756 --> 0:14:07.196 in Beijing, and I think it was very special for 0:14:07.236 --> 0:14:10.996 her to see that. Actually, my grandfather was a violin 0:14:11.036 --> 0:14:13.636 professor and a lot of his students were in the workstrane. 0:14:13.716 --> 0:14:17.636 It was, it was it was a fun full circle moment. 0:14:17.796 --> 0:14:19.436 When did your grandfather pass? 0:14:19.676 --> 0:14:20.676 Two thousand and nine? 0:14:20.796 --> 0:14:22.836 So you were young quite a while ago. They were 0:14:22.916 --> 0:14:24.916 quite young. He should get to talk to his former 0:14:24.916 --> 0:14:25.996 students about him at all. 0:14:26.236 --> 0:14:29.156 Yes, absolutely, and I remember him very vividly. He was 0:14:29.196 --> 0:14:31.756 like a larger than life person. I've actually been told 0:14:31.796 --> 0:14:34.636 that that I resemble him in many ways, which is, 0:14:35.196 --> 0:14:37.676 you know, such an honor. And you know, he really 0:14:38.116 --> 0:14:42.276 loved music so much, and he loved jazz music as well, 0:14:42.316 --> 0:14:45.636 and loved like musical theaters, so I kind of, you know, 0:14:46.636 --> 0:14:49.596 his idea of music was it was just such a 0:14:49.676 --> 0:14:51.996 musical thing, right, you know, I feel like you can 0:14:51.996 --> 0:14:56.196 split music into two kind of things. In my head 0:14:56.236 --> 0:14:58.196 at least, it's like you have the technique and you 0:14:58.236 --> 0:15:02.476 have the musicality. If you have both your stellar I 0:15:02.516 --> 0:15:06.356 definitely lean musical like I I mean I've I've definitely 0:15:06.436 --> 0:15:09.636 you know, worked up a foundation of technic, but I 0:15:09.676 --> 0:15:12.876 was never that good at practicing. And I definitely leaned 0:15:12.916 --> 0:15:15.676 in onto the fact that I onto. 0:15:15.236 --> 0:15:17.476 The musicality that you had like an ear. 0:15:17.396 --> 0:15:21.596 And yeah that and feel for things exactly kind of 0:15:21.636 --> 0:15:24.476 the stuff that you don't need to practice as much 0:15:24.916 --> 0:15:26.916 to a metron to a literal metronome. 0:15:26.996 --> 0:15:29.156 But I was always my failing. I could never I 0:15:29.236 --> 0:15:31.556 never practice. I hated practicing to a metronome as I 0:15:31.596 --> 0:15:32.596 was always told my time. 0:15:32.916 --> 0:15:34.996 Oh my god. To this day, the sound of a 0:15:34.996 --> 0:15:37.796 metronome like triggers me, Like I get like a physical 0:15:37.836 --> 0:15:41.636 reaction to a metronome, which is great now because you know, 0:15:41.836 --> 0:15:44.596 I sing to click sometimes, which I didn't even know 0:15:44.756 --> 0:15:47.836 was a thing until two years ago. Maybe when I 0:15:47.876 --> 0:15:52.156 started working in music. It like bewildered me so much 0:15:52.236 --> 0:15:54.996 that like on stage there would be like a constant 0:15:55.076 --> 0:15:57.156 metronome in my ear. It's funny. 0:15:57.196 --> 0:15:59.356 Do you do it in studio two when you're recording? 0:15:59.516 --> 0:16:03.396 Rarely? Sometimes, but I try. I always try without click 0:16:03.476 --> 0:16:04.556 before I do it with click. 0:16:04.836 --> 0:16:07.636 Yeah, I would imagine if it triggers you that much. 0:16:07.796 --> 0:16:11.836 Yeah, well, I think you know, I've earned it that 0:16:11.876 --> 0:16:14.116 I can. I can kind of just let the music live. 0:16:14.156 --> 0:16:16.956 But yeah, of course sometimes I need to be, you know, 0:16:16.996 --> 0:16:18.236 pushed into place by a click. 0:16:18.516 --> 0:16:21.636 Yeah, sure enough. We have to take a quick break 0:16:21.676 --> 0:16:23.596 and then we'll come back with more of my interview 0:16:23.716 --> 0:16:31.236 with Lave. We're back with more from lay. May you know, 0:16:31.436 --> 0:16:37.476 certainly mid century Russia for instance, would have and you know, 0:16:37.836 --> 0:16:40.756 Cuba rock and roll would have been outlawed. I don't 0:16:40.796 --> 0:16:43.276 know if jazz was the same, but it certainly would 0:16:43.276 --> 0:16:46.156 have been hard to get a hold of jazz records 0:16:46.156 --> 0:16:47.556 and things. I'd imagine, right. 0:16:47.436 --> 0:16:51.556 Like h yeah, I mean, well in the sixties and 0:16:51.956 --> 0:16:55.956 seventies and in China, you know, there was a cultural revolution, 0:16:56.916 --> 0:17:02.116 so Mao and the and the Communist Party, they basically, 0:17:03.116 --> 0:17:07.836 you know, outlawed any type of foreign influence and Western influence, 0:17:08.316 --> 0:17:10.196 and there was just kind of like a grand scale 0:17:10.276 --> 0:17:15.076 focus on all things just Chinese like looking within. So 0:17:15.196 --> 0:17:20.156 my grandparents, who who were professors at the Central Conservatory 0:17:20.276 --> 0:17:24.836 of Western Classical Music that was considered you know, the bourgeoisies. 0:17:24.956 --> 0:17:28.796 So they actually went to re education camp and lived 0:17:28.836 --> 0:17:31.076 in the countryside for a while and were like rice 0:17:31.116 --> 0:17:33.796 farmers and whatnot. And my mom grew up in a 0:17:33.836 --> 0:17:36.996 boarding school because of that, and they couldn't play any 0:17:37.036 --> 0:17:40.716 Western classical music, no Western music at all, and it 0:17:40.836 --> 0:17:43.196 like it goes so far. I've heard the craziest stories 0:17:43.196 --> 0:17:46.436 from that time. But yeah, my mother kind of grew 0:17:46.516 --> 0:17:50.756 up in that world, and my grandparents also went through that. 0:17:50.836 --> 0:17:53.996 I mean, my mother even like down to the clothes 0:17:54.036 --> 0:17:55.716 that you wore, you like couldn't wear any you couldn't 0:17:55.716 --> 0:17:57.996 wear bell bottom jeans or anything, which was you know, 0:17:58.196 --> 0:18:00.356 in style at that time in the Western world. My 0:18:00.716 --> 0:18:03.996 grandmother naturally has curly hair, which is very very rare 0:18:04.476 --> 0:18:08.796 in China, and the Communists thought that she had permed 0:18:08.796 --> 0:18:11.196 her hair, which was you know, Western influence, so she 0:18:11.316 --> 0:18:13.556 had to put her hair up in a silk scarf 0:18:13.596 --> 0:18:17.236 every day for years. Really well, and none of them 0:18:17.236 --> 0:18:20.116 played music for the longest time, or at least the 0:18:20.396 --> 0:18:22.556 you know, the classical music that they were trained in. 0:18:22.796 --> 0:18:25.156 How does your mom end up back playing. 0:18:25.316 --> 0:18:27.996 Well, I mean she always she played violin. She just 0:18:27.996 --> 0:18:30.356 couldn't play you know, it had to be Chinese music, 0:18:30.476 --> 0:18:32.676 got it. I think, you know, my mother was just 0:18:32.716 --> 0:18:34.996 so in that world that she, you know, that that 0:18:35.156 --> 0:18:37.476 was the only path she could tread. And I think 0:18:37.516 --> 0:18:40.796 that's why my mother so emphasized kind of me and 0:18:40.836 --> 0:18:44.156 my sister's freedom to do whatever we wanted and become 0:18:44.196 --> 0:18:45.676 whatever kind of artists we wanted. 0:18:45.796 --> 0:18:47.836 And because it was sort of so because it was. 0:18:47.796 --> 0:18:49.796 So strict as she was growing up and she didn't 0:18:49.836 --> 0:18:53.476 really have that freedom of choice, and so she she 0:18:53.676 --> 0:18:55.676 just kind of let us do whatever we want. 0:18:55.676 --> 0:18:58.476 And like that an hour of practice immediately after school 0:18:58.516 --> 0:19:00.836 is it's much more lenient than. 0:19:00.716 --> 0:19:04.756 Whatever Oh, my god, definitely. I mean the way that 0:19:04.836 --> 0:19:07.836 my I'm so thankful for that because I'm still running 0:19:07.836 --> 0:19:08.836 off of that technique. 0:19:09.116 --> 0:19:10.116 Do you still try to day? 0:19:10.756 --> 0:19:12.836 No, not nearly as much as I did as a kid, 0:19:12.916 --> 0:19:14.516 But you know, the hard work that I put in 0:19:14.556 --> 0:19:17.316 as a kid is still paying off today because when 0:19:17.316 --> 0:19:20.836 I'm like on strenuous touring schedules or recording for hours 0:19:20.836 --> 0:19:23.916 on end, you know, the stamina that I've gotten from 0:19:23.996 --> 0:19:26.716 all of those years of practicing and kind of the 0:19:26.716 --> 0:19:30.076 focus that I've gotten, those skills still are lasting me 0:19:30.636 --> 0:19:33.156 at this age, which is which is really really great. 0:19:33.676 --> 0:19:36.396 But you know, I think that's another reason I really 0:19:36.956 --> 0:19:38.916 love the fact that I live in a time where 0:19:38.916 --> 0:19:42.116 I can mix so many genres together. You know, like 0:19:42.276 --> 0:19:45.596 they couldn't do anything of the sort, and I'm just like, oh, 0:19:45.596 --> 0:19:48.356 I'm going to mix jazz and pop and classical together 0:19:48.516 --> 0:19:51.956 and present it however I want. And the fact that 0:19:51.996 --> 0:19:54.436 we have that freedom now is wild. I mean, it 0:19:54.476 --> 0:19:57.676 wasn't so long ago that my grandparents and my mother 0:19:57.716 --> 0:20:00.236 couldn't play even classical music. 0:20:00.556 --> 0:20:02.676 I am so glad that you're doing it too. You know. 0:20:02.716 --> 0:20:06.836 It feels like we go back to an American culture. 0:20:06.996 --> 0:20:09.276 In Western culture, we do go back a lot, but 0:20:09.876 --> 0:20:12.436 I feel like an era we haven't revisited in a 0:20:12.476 --> 0:20:17.316 long time is sort of that mid century jazz, right, 0:20:17.676 --> 0:20:20.996 that musical world that existed then, and it's so ripe 0:20:21.036 --> 0:20:25.436 for reimagining because it's so expressive, so emotional, and so 0:20:25.636 --> 0:20:29.316 musically sound, and even the opening of your record that 0:20:29.436 --> 0:20:33.996 sounds both like modern production and like old production simultaneously. 0:20:34.036 --> 0:20:35.996 And I think that's kind of like the brilliance of 0:20:36.636 --> 0:20:39.716 certain people your age, some of your cohorts. I guess 0:20:39.716 --> 0:20:41.556 we would say, who are sort of doing that, you know, 0:20:41.636 --> 0:20:42.556 mixing these things up? 0:20:42.636 --> 0:20:45.556 Yeah, thank you so much. I mean, that's kind of 0:20:45.676 --> 0:20:47.676 that's definitely the goal to kind of hark back to 0:20:47.756 --> 0:20:50.476 that time. And I think that's the music I've just 0:20:50.556 --> 0:20:53.116 always loved so much. And when I started singing, I 0:20:53.116 --> 0:20:58.316 immediately started singing jazz standards and like Ella Fitzgerald and 0:20:58.316 --> 0:21:01.436 Billie Holiday and Chat Baker where And then also on 0:21:01.476 --> 0:21:04.996 top of that, like the songs from Golden Age films 0:21:05.396 --> 0:21:08.396 were the only music I really listened to, Like there's 0:21:08.396 --> 0:21:10.556 no other music I could make, Like that's the music 0:21:10.596 --> 0:21:13.236 I wanted to make so much that you know, whether 0:21:13.276 --> 0:21:15.196 it worked out or not, I was going to continue 0:21:15.316 --> 0:21:18.436 doing it, you know. But I also did find there 0:21:18.556 --> 0:21:20.636 was especially when I started out and I was just 0:21:20.676 --> 0:21:23.916 posting like little videos of me singing jazz standards online, 0:21:24.556 --> 0:21:27.276 I found that there was such a gap for this generation. 0:21:27.436 --> 0:21:30.476 No one was really doing it, but nobody seemed to 0:21:30.516 --> 0:21:34.116 really dislike the music that much. Like it's the bones 0:21:34.156 --> 0:21:37.076 of the music is so good, right, these jazz standards. 0:21:37.076 --> 0:21:40.316 There's just good songs that have lasted for so long 0:21:40.396 --> 0:21:43.716 and have been honestly like have been sampled so many times. 0:21:43.796 --> 0:21:45.556 And jazz is kind of like the root of all 0:21:45.596 --> 0:21:49.316 modern music, right. It's something that is so prevalent in 0:21:49.396 --> 0:21:52.316 pop music and hip hop and R and B. So 0:21:52.596 --> 0:21:53.276 actually like. 0:21:53.236 --> 0:21:55.516 Down to and to your point of it being the backbone, 0:21:55.516 --> 0:21:57.916 because I think most of them, like the blues is 0:21:57.916 --> 0:22:00.476 being the back but really coming out of the big 0:22:00.516 --> 0:22:04.156 band era, like bebop groups taking it down to like 0:22:04.196 --> 0:22:05.996 the bare essentials of it. Might be a trio or 0:22:06.036 --> 0:22:08.316 might be a quartete. I mean that's rock and roll. 0:22:08.356 --> 0:22:08.996 It's like three or. 0:22:08.956 --> 0:22:13.716 Four hund's all. It's all connected. And so I think, 0:22:13.836 --> 0:22:15.756 you know, I tend to think the gen z ear 0:22:15.836 --> 0:22:19.276 is actually really trained well for jazz music and we've 0:22:19.276 --> 0:22:22.876 been like subconsciously fed it for many, many years. So 0:22:23.316 --> 0:22:26.116 I also think that the timing of music now is 0:22:26.156 --> 0:22:30.116 like this new audience of music listeners. They don't really 0:22:30.116 --> 0:22:34.196 care what the music, you know, what era resembles, if anything, 0:22:34.236 --> 0:22:37.316 if it resembles another era, Like you're hearing these huge 0:22:37.356 --> 0:22:42.076 resurgences in like nineties rock sound, punk rock. Honestly like 0:22:42.156 --> 0:22:45.396 every seventies music like Fleetwood Mac had a big moment 0:22:45.476 --> 0:22:48.956 and talk recently during the exactly it's like all music 0:22:49.036 --> 0:22:51.956 is coming back. I think what gen Z cares about 0:22:52.036 --> 0:22:54.876 is connecting to the artists, connecting to the lyrics, connecting 0:22:54.916 --> 0:22:58.476 to the story. And jazz is really good storytelling, I think, 0:22:58.996 --> 0:23:01.876 really so Yeah, it's fun that we live in a 0:23:01.876 --> 0:23:03.996 time where we can mix so many genres together and 0:23:04.076 --> 0:23:04.956 kind of make it our own. 0:23:05.356 --> 0:23:07.476 How did it come to be that standards ended up 0:23:07.476 --> 0:23:08.996 being the first thing that you were singing, like, did 0:23:09.036 --> 0:23:12.596 you and counted them through film or through radio? 0:23:14.356 --> 0:23:16.556 No, Well, my father loved jazz music, so we played 0:23:16.596 --> 0:23:18.436 a lot of jazz music in the house. And you know, 0:23:18.516 --> 0:23:20.916 as a kid, I listened to pretty much only classical music, 0:23:21.556 --> 0:23:24.156 and then I really liked, you know, obviously, like the 0:23:24.196 --> 0:23:26.316 other kids of that time when I was like seven 0:23:26.396 --> 0:23:28.996 or eight, I loved like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus 0:23:28.996 --> 0:23:31.516 and whatever, but I couldn't hear any of myself in 0:23:31.836 --> 0:23:34.836 those singers. I've always had quite a deep voice, and 0:23:34.916 --> 0:23:37.716 when I started singing, I just immediately started. I think 0:23:37.756 --> 0:23:41.316 the first song I remember like learning and like performing 0:23:41.356 --> 0:23:44.636 at a like a singing show was Singing in the Rain, 0:23:45.596 --> 0:23:48.396 So and then I just naturally, you know, I just 0:23:48.476 --> 0:23:50.796 listened to so much Ella Fitzgerald that I just kind 0:23:50.836 --> 0:23:53.596 of like, you know, started singing all the songs that 0:23:53.596 --> 0:23:55.716 she had in our repertoire, which kind of ended up 0:23:55.756 --> 0:23:57.876 being just the Great American songbook. 0:23:59.036 --> 0:24:02.876 Ella talk about the sort of the spectrum of technique 0:24:02.916 --> 0:24:07.676 and feel, Yeah, I mean she has it all. 0:24:08.276 --> 0:24:11.876 When you both stellar and she is the epitome of that. 0:24:12.076 --> 0:24:14.116 Yeah, It's like a few people like her. Stevie Wonder's 0:24:14.156 --> 0:24:16.556 another who exactly you hear it less, but with Ell 0:24:16.596 --> 0:24:19.076 it's more obviously she has the technique exactly. 0:24:19.356 --> 0:24:22.516 Yeah, it's true musicianship, and I think coming from a 0:24:22.556 --> 0:24:28.196 classical music background, I recognize that within her performing and 0:24:28.196 --> 0:24:31.196 and also just growing up a cellist. Like she sounds 0:24:31.196 --> 0:24:35.236 like a cello. She sings like a cello in her voice, 0:24:35.356 --> 0:24:38.116 like the tombre of it and the vibrato, the approach, 0:24:38.276 --> 0:24:40.676 the legato. It's very cellistic. 0:24:41.636 --> 0:24:43.236 Interesting. I have to listen for that. 0:24:43.596 --> 0:24:47.036 Yeah, it's like so obvious once you think about it. 0:24:47.276 --> 0:24:50.036 I've been on an Ella kick recently and you're just trying. Yeah, 0:24:50.156 --> 0:24:52.916 just because just because she's so good. I haven't listened 0:24:52.956 --> 0:24:55.596 in a while. And honestly, we named my youngest daughter, 0:24:55.636 --> 0:24:59.316 we named her after Ella Fitzgerald, Peter Ella, and she's 0:24:59.636 --> 0:25:01.756 just starting to get into music, so I think good. 0:25:01.996 --> 0:25:04.116 I say it just randomly, but it's probably because I'm 0:25:04.116 --> 0:25:07.916 trying to like subconsciously get her and stuff, you know, 0:25:08.276 --> 0:25:10.796 because she around the piano and sing and stuff. So 0:25:10.876 --> 0:25:12.996 I'm like, I'm hoping she goes that direction. But yeah, 0:25:13.116 --> 0:25:15.556 just you know, I'm not a great pians by any measure, 0:25:15.596 --> 0:25:16.716 but I love just messing around. 0:25:16.756 --> 0:25:18.716 And it's like you can learn a lot just mess 0:25:18.756 --> 0:25:21.396 around so much. You can learn so much by messing around. 0:25:21.436 --> 0:25:24.436 I mean nothing I do within the jazz world aside 0:25:24.476 --> 0:25:27.276 from the singing portion. But I came from a classical 0:25:27.316 --> 0:25:30.836 piano background, right, so I was very I was conditioned 0:25:30.876 --> 0:25:33.116 to do what the page told me to do, what 0:25:33.196 --> 0:25:35.196 the music told me to do. And then when I 0:25:35.236 --> 0:25:38.156 started singing jazz and I wanted to accompany myself, I 0:25:38.196 --> 0:25:41.076 started just like slowly learning the chords. And I'm by 0:25:41.076 --> 0:25:43.476 no means a jazz pianist, so like what I do 0:25:43.636 --> 0:25:46.596 is not maybe based in the most of technique, it's 0:25:47.036 --> 0:25:50.076 more based on feel, which took me a really long 0:25:50.116 --> 0:25:52.876 time to kind of allow myself to do. Like in 0:25:52.916 --> 0:25:55.156 my I think in my first recordings, I was like 0:25:55.156 --> 0:25:57.156 a little bit embarrassed to play because I was like, 0:25:57.196 --> 0:26:01.036 I'm not a jazz pianist. Like, but when the first 0:26:01.116 --> 0:26:03.836 jazz pianists came about, they weren't jazz pianists either. They 0:26:03.836 --> 0:26:05.676 were just messing around as well they were. 0:26:05.716 --> 0:26:08.716 And so many, so many of the greats who even 0:26:08.756 --> 0:26:11.076 became like great in terms of technique and a revered 0:26:11.116 --> 0:26:15.116 for technique, they came from playing other styles, you know exactly, 0:26:15.236 --> 0:26:18.516 and just by circumstances they had to record in jazz 0:26:18.596 --> 0:26:20.156 or play with the jazz group or something, and then 0:26:20.156 --> 0:26:21.676 they picked it up and learned it over. 0:26:21.876 --> 0:26:24.396 Well that's how yeah, I was reading a Bill Evans 0:26:24.636 --> 0:26:28.396 biography the other day actually, and like he started out 0:26:28.396 --> 0:26:30.596 as a classical pianist and then just like kind of 0:26:30.636 --> 0:26:33.396 started newdling his way in and learning about it. And 0:26:33.756 --> 0:26:35.836 I was very inspired. I was like, I should do that. 0:26:36.236 --> 0:26:38.716 But I'm a huge Bill Evans found and it made 0:26:38.756 --> 0:26:40.276 a lot of sense because I can hear a lot 0:26:40.316 --> 0:26:43.916 of like classical technique and ideas. You know, it's very 0:26:43.956 --> 0:26:46.916 based and technique. But yeah, it's so cool. I mean, 0:26:46.956 --> 0:26:49.876 my life as a musician and my musicianship got a 0:26:49.916 --> 0:26:52.116 whole lot better when I allowed myself to mess around 0:26:52.116 --> 0:26:52.916 and make mistakes. 0:26:53.276 --> 0:26:56.436 It's pretty obvious how like the Bill Evans and the 0:26:56.436 --> 0:27:00.036 Al FitzGeralds of the world like influence your your sound 0:27:00.076 --> 0:27:04.036 and your music and your feel for things. Less obvious is, 0:27:04.116 --> 0:27:06.916 I guess, like the Taylor Swift side of things, which 0:27:06.916 --> 0:27:09.636 I guess you grew up listening to as well. Absolute, 0:27:09.876 --> 0:27:12.276 But I'm wonder if that's more in the approach to 0:27:12.556 --> 0:27:14.956 yourself as an artist. I think so, yeah. 0:27:14.996 --> 0:27:17.916 I think you know the way that her artist's trajectory, 0:27:18.036 --> 0:27:19.956 just the way that she's kind of been able to 0:27:20.556 --> 0:27:24.876 stay true to herself whilst climbing over different genres and 0:27:25.476 --> 0:27:28.036 every time she moves and changes a bit, you know, 0:27:28.116 --> 0:27:31.356 she retains her fans and gains new ones, and people 0:27:31.436 --> 0:27:34.356 respect her as an artist as a person, so they 0:27:34.396 --> 0:27:37.396 follow the music that she puts out. And I also 0:27:37.516 --> 0:27:41.796 think for Taylor, for me, it's the storytelling aspect as well, 0:27:41.876 --> 0:27:44.836 Like she had me believing in these stories when I 0:27:44.876 --> 0:27:46.996 was like nine years old and I had never even 0:27:47.076 --> 0:27:50.276 talked to a boy before. And there's such there's such 0:27:50.356 --> 0:27:53.396 power in that being able to convince someone of a 0:27:53.476 --> 0:27:57.476 story because they've just told it so well and so beautifully. 0:27:57.836 --> 0:28:00.036 So so yeah, I think's been someone of the dynamics 0:28:00.076 --> 0:28:02.516 of something. You know, it's like exactly of how it 0:28:02.556 --> 0:28:04.156 will be when you finally Yeah. 0:28:04.196 --> 0:28:07.076 Well, there's so many songwriters that, like my music doesn't 0:28:07.116 --> 0:28:09.556 really you know, come close to resemble, but I'm just 0:28:09.636 --> 0:28:13.116 so inspired by like their lyricism and their approach. You know. 0:28:13.196 --> 0:28:16.316 It's like I love Carol King as well, and like 0:28:16.676 --> 0:28:20.436 the Carpenters and down to like Sarah Brellas. Like, my 0:28:20.476 --> 0:28:22.796 inspirations are kind of all over the place, but they're 0:28:22.836 --> 0:28:24.596 all like very potent songwriters. 0:28:24.836 --> 0:28:27.156 Yeah, have you gotten into Jonny Mitchell yet? 0:28:27.276 --> 0:28:30.476 I was gonna mention Joni Mitchell as well. Yeah, but yeah, 0:28:30.516 --> 0:28:32.236 I mean, and some of her stuff, She's done some 0:28:32.276 --> 0:28:35.396 really cool string stuff as well, like orchestral sounding stuff, 0:28:35.436 --> 0:28:37.236 which I obviously really admire. 0:28:37.316 --> 0:28:40.476 I imagine you probably want to start doing something like that, Yeah, yeah, 0:28:40.556 --> 0:28:43.916 or dabbling with that. I loved, speaking of the orchestral 0:28:43.996 --> 0:28:47.556 side of things. I loved your song California and me, oh, 0:28:47.596 --> 0:28:50.596 thank you my favorite song on the I mean show, 0:28:50.636 --> 0:28:52.716 ittle change, But over the last week and a half 0:28:52.876 --> 0:28:55.396 or so, that's been like dialed in is my favorite. 0:28:55.596 --> 0:28:57.116 Thank you so beautiful. 0:28:57.356 --> 0:28:58.196 I love that one. 0:28:58.316 --> 0:28:58.596 Yeah. 0:28:58.676 --> 0:29:01.996 I obviously having a classical music background, I always wanted 0:29:01.996 --> 0:29:06.156 to find ways of bringing that into a new audience 0:29:06.156 --> 0:29:09.276 of listeners who maybe have never gotten to experience and 0:29:09.436 --> 0:29:12.956 listening to a symphony orchestra or the sound world that 0:29:13.516 --> 0:29:17.116 a symphony orchestra lives in. And I'm so aware of 0:29:17.196 --> 0:29:20.436 how that world is, you know, kind of unapproachable and 0:29:20.516 --> 0:29:24.116 unaccessible for a pop music audience, for a young audience, 0:29:24.836 --> 0:29:27.156 for people that didn't grow up within the world like me, 0:29:28.116 --> 0:29:30.276 and I just kind of want to find a way 0:29:30.436 --> 0:29:33.756 always to bring it down, to bring it down to 0:29:33.836 --> 0:29:37.156 earth a little bit, and bring it to bring it 0:29:37.196 --> 0:29:40.996 to the people again, like this classical music, jazz music 0:29:41.076 --> 0:29:43.876 was meant for people. The fact that it's seems like 0:29:43.916 --> 0:29:47.436 something that's only for the educated now exactly, it's really 0:29:48.276 --> 0:29:53.116 how highbrow exactly is so disappointing to me because because 0:29:53.116 --> 0:29:55.316 I understand those worlds so well, Like I went to 0:29:55.356 --> 0:29:58.156 classical conservatory and then I went to jazz conservatory. I 0:29:58.236 --> 0:30:01.876 know how those worlds are, and I've made an angled 0:30:01.916 --> 0:30:05.556 approach to not kind of end up in those worlds, 0:30:05.596 --> 0:30:09.476 like taking those worlds and bring it to people who 0:30:09.516 --> 0:30:12.516 like don't typically listen to jazz or typically listen to 0:30:12.556 --> 0:30:15.596 classical music. Like My hope, of course is that you know, 0:30:15.636 --> 0:30:18.036 the people within those educated worlds are okay with what 0:30:18.076 --> 0:30:22.116 I'm doing, but at the end of the day, at 0:30:22.116 --> 0:30:23.796 the end of the day, I'm making it for the 0:30:23.876 --> 0:30:26.516 people who don't have access to that music. 0:30:26.796 --> 0:30:30.796 So well, Okay, to that point, overall, what was your 0:30:31.116 --> 0:30:33.316 Berkeley College of Music experience? 0:30:33.516 --> 0:30:38.316 My Berkeley College and Music experience, it was It was good. 0:30:38.596 --> 0:30:42.756 I mean, the school invested a lot in me, and 0:30:43.756 --> 0:30:46.716 they gave me one of their presidential scholarships, so it 0:30:46.876 --> 0:30:50.196 covered everything, and so I you know, I didn't have 0:30:50.236 --> 0:30:52.476 to worry about that component of it while I was 0:30:52.516 --> 0:30:55.076 at Berkeley, which I know is you know, it's it's 0:30:55.076 --> 0:30:57.716 not an inexpensive school by any means, and I think 0:30:57.756 --> 0:31:02.116 having that looming over you can definitely change the experience. 0:31:02.116 --> 0:31:04.156 So I was very lucky to have kind of like 0:31:04.196 --> 0:31:06.956 a stress pre experience in that sense. So I got 0:31:06.956 --> 0:31:08.956 to kind of go in with a very clear mind. 0:31:09.476 --> 0:31:11.236 I was very privileged to get to go in with 0:31:11.236 --> 0:31:14.396 a clear mind and think, just Okay, what can I 0:31:14.436 --> 0:31:17.796 do here? How can I make music? And make music 0:31:18.356 --> 0:31:19.156 twenty four to seven. 0:31:19.476 --> 0:31:21.956 Are there as many people there as open to what 0:31:22.076 --> 0:31:24.276 music can be as you because my sense of things 0:31:24.316 --> 0:31:28.836 is that people can be very narrow about what jazz 0:31:28.916 --> 0:31:32.876 is defined as and narrow about what they do instrumentalist, 0:31:32.876 --> 0:31:33.076 And this. 0:31:33.116 --> 0:31:37.916 Is absolutely I mean I remember even at Berkeley, like 0:31:38.756 --> 0:31:40.636 I would make a point out of telling people I 0:31:40.676 --> 0:31:43.076 was a cello player and not a singer and not 0:31:43.156 --> 0:31:46.356 a jazz singer, because you know, the people who took 0:31:46.436 --> 0:31:50.636 jazz very seriously didn't think that jazz singing was a 0:31:50.676 --> 0:31:53.556 real thing, you know, or like that didn't wasn't considered 0:31:53.596 --> 0:31:56.796 real jazz, And so yeah, I definitely got in touch 0:31:56.836 --> 0:32:00.076 with that world and saw how that can be, and 0:32:00.116 --> 0:32:02.476 I had experienced a lot of that within classical music 0:32:02.516 --> 0:32:05.116 as well, and the classical educated world, I know, even 0:32:05.156 --> 0:32:08.036 better than the kind of jazz educated world. 0:32:07.916 --> 0:32:09.036 Much more time spent there. 0:32:09.476 --> 0:32:13.676 Yeah, absolutely, I would say ninety eight percent of Berkeley, 0:32:13.836 --> 0:32:16.596 like ninety five to ninety eight percent of Berkeley was 0:32:16.636 --> 0:32:20.036 super open, and you know, all kinds of genres and 0:32:20.076 --> 0:32:22.316 people from all over the world, and everyone kind of 0:32:22.316 --> 0:32:24.916 with a shared passion of wanting to do something within music. 0:32:25.556 --> 0:32:28.076 Of course, you know, wherever you go, there's going to 0:32:28.116 --> 0:32:31.236 be that group of people that are very focused on, 0:32:31.436 --> 0:32:34.676 you know, the purity of jazz music and the purity 0:32:34.716 --> 0:32:36.556 of the art, just as you have that in the 0:32:36.556 --> 0:32:40.516 classical world or you know, any other discipline. I respect 0:32:40.916 --> 0:32:44.716 those musicians so much because, honestly, those were the most 0:32:44.756 --> 0:32:48.516 talented musicians in school. I would say, But I've you know, 0:32:48.556 --> 0:32:50.716 I never wanted to become a musician like that. I 0:32:50.756 --> 0:32:53.356 wanted to create my own world of music that was 0:32:53.396 --> 0:32:56.956 a mix of a couple of different disciplines. So I've 0:32:56.956 --> 0:32:59.836 been thinking a lot about it recently because you know, 0:32:59.996 --> 0:33:03.276 I always want to really respect and honor the roots 0:33:03.276 --> 0:33:05.796 that I'm coming from. You know, I'm highly aware that 0:33:06.116 --> 0:33:08.796 jazz music, for example, is black music. You know, I 0:33:08.836 --> 0:33:11.996 know that comes from and I know, like I studied 0:33:12.036 --> 0:33:14.396 the history of it at Berkeley, I know where classical 0:33:14.476 --> 0:33:17.116 music comes from as well. I always want to honor 0:33:17.316 --> 0:33:19.796 my roots. Same with Bosonova music. I have a lot 0:33:19.876 --> 0:33:23.836 of Bosonova references. That's Brazilian music. You know, I'm not Brazilian. 0:33:24.156 --> 0:33:26.756 I'm also not black, so you know, I think it's 0:33:26.876 --> 0:33:29.516 really important that I learn a lot about where these 0:33:29.516 --> 0:33:32.156 influences are coming from, what the history behind it is, 0:33:32.596 --> 0:33:34.596 and make sure I honor it in my music. So 0:33:34.876 --> 0:33:37.436 that's definitely something I've been thinking a lot about recently. 0:33:38.036 --> 0:33:41.396 I think mixing up styles of music, mixing and matching 0:33:41.516 --> 0:33:44.316 is is totally fine. I think that's how music evolves. 0:33:44.916 --> 0:33:47.476 I think it's just important to know where it's coming from. 0:33:47.556 --> 0:33:51.476 Yeah, And just like you can't ignore that jazz music 0:33:51.596 --> 0:33:55.436 is black music from the America's or whatever, that, you 0:33:55.476 --> 0:33:58.756 can't ignore your own innate sort of history, right, which 0:33:58.796 --> 0:34:01.556 is that you're not that and exactly whatever new you 0:34:01.636 --> 0:34:05.076 can bring to that I think is probably really cool. 0:34:05.156 --> 0:34:07.316 I mean, and that is how things might hope. 0:34:07.396 --> 0:34:09.756 My hope is that I just my hope is that 0:34:09.876 --> 0:34:15.756 people in those educated communities know that I'm not, like, 0:34:16.036 --> 0:34:18.796 you know, painting over or slandering the history. And I've 0:34:18.836 --> 0:34:22.316 I've done my duty learning about it, but I still 0:34:22.356 --> 0:34:25.076 think those worlds are a little bit gay kept now. 0:34:25.236 --> 0:34:27.076 Yeah, and you could come in and follow it to 0:34:27.156 --> 0:34:29.516 a tea, and there's people that do that, like there's 0:34:29.556 --> 0:34:31.716 actually I got turned on recently. I was reading a 0:34:31.716 --> 0:34:33.956 biography of I want to say Erl Garner, but that's 0:34:33.956 --> 0:34:36.876 just because I've been listening to Misty I love your record. 0:34:36.916 --> 0:34:39.156 It's not Errol Garner. It's Hampton Hawes, who is like 0:34:39.196 --> 0:34:41.876 a pianist from here in La. In his book, he's 0:34:41.876 --> 0:34:45.276 writing about this Japanese woman whose name escapes me now. 0:34:45.316 --> 0:34:47.876 And she played like bebop like a mother. 0:34:49.356 --> 0:34:50.196 Was it, Hiromi? 0:34:50.436 --> 0:34:51.436 Thank you? Yeah, that's it. 0:34:51.796 --> 0:34:53.276 You went to Berkeley, did she? 0:34:53.516 --> 0:34:53.716 Yeah? 0:34:53.756 --> 0:34:58.436 Oh my god. Those Japanese musicians rip, and they're so talented. 0:34:58.116 --> 0:35:00.436 And they do it like they do bebop, like bebo 0:35:00.796 --> 0:35:03.116 be done and not. I don't want to take away 0:35:03.116 --> 0:35:05.716 from that, but if that's not what you want to 0:35:05.756 --> 0:35:07.556 do when you're doing it, there's an element of you 0:35:07.596 --> 0:35:09.556 also just not being like, if that's what she wants 0:35:09.596 --> 0:35:11.956 to do her, that's great, she's being true to herself. 0:35:11.996 --> 0:35:14.836 But if you also, in the process of wanting to 0:35:14.876 --> 0:35:16.716 participate in this music, want to bring your own history 0:35:16.756 --> 0:35:19.076 to it, and that's what feels the most comfortable, Like 0:35:19.276 --> 0:35:20.516 you'd be a fraud if you didn't. 0:35:20.676 --> 0:35:23.996 Yeah, I mean, I'm having so much fun that you 0:35:24.036 --> 0:35:25.516 know that we live in a day and age where 0:35:25.516 --> 0:35:27.916 you can mix all these styles of music together and 0:35:28.716 --> 0:35:30.996 you can kind of be whoever you want to be 0:35:31.076 --> 0:35:33.196 and kind of create your own genre as well. 0:35:33.396 --> 0:35:35.916 Yeah, because you would have penalized, I think in the 0:35:36.036 --> 0:35:38.476 day for that, because it wouldn't have been easily marketable. 0:35:39.316 --> 0:35:40.156 Oh definitely. 0:35:40.916 --> 0:35:43.716 I mean even two three years ago, I think I 0:35:43.756 --> 0:35:48.396 was just you know, people artists and people make fun 0:35:48.436 --> 0:35:51.836 of the Internet and TikTok and Instagram or whatever, but 0:35:52.636 --> 0:35:54.676 I have a hard time doing that because I think 0:35:54.716 --> 0:35:56.676 the reason I get to make the music I make 0:35:56.756 --> 0:36:00.076 today is because I had the freedom to do that 0:36:00.156 --> 0:36:01.436 and you got the Internet. 0:36:01.196 --> 0:36:03.916 Miss, Yeah, you could bypass the traditional. 0:36:04.116 --> 0:36:07.436 I passed the traditional by proving myself and with my 0:36:07.916 --> 0:36:10.636 fan base that I could do whatever music I want. 0:36:10.676 --> 0:36:12.316 And now I kind of gotten to the point where 0:36:12.316 --> 0:36:15.196 I think people in the industry trust me to make 0:36:15.716 --> 0:36:18.476 my own decisions about the music. But yeah, I mean 0:36:18.516 --> 0:36:20.756 back in the day you were either a pop singer 0:36:20.876 --> 0:36:23.476 or a jazz singer or a classical singer. It was 0:36:23.636 --> 0:36:24.676 very boxed up. 0:36:24.676 --> 0:36:27.036 And the people who got past it by the grace 0:36:27.076 --> 0:36:29.916 of God, like a Stevie Wonder exactly whatever. But there 0:36:29.916 --> 0:36:32.556 are very few and even Joan Mitchell is celebrated as 0:36:32.556 --> 0:36:35.196 she is. Yes, I would argue she's I don't want 0:36:35.196 --> 0:36:37.756 to say underrated, but in terms of the general public 0:36:38.236 --> 0:36:41.116 consumption and understanding of her music right, probably because it 0:36:41.156 --> 0:36:43.836 wasn't It was because it was too it was too confusing. 0:36:43.876 --> 0:36:44.996 What it was confusing? 0:36:45.116 --> 0:36:47.556 Yeah, it should be as heralded as you know, the 0:36:47.596 --> 0:36:50.556 Beatles and all that stuff. It's not. It's just crazy. 0:36:50.716 --> 0:36:55.316 I think now being unique is actually quite quite celebrated. 0:36:55.836 --> 0:36:58.676 And you know, when I was younger, all these things 0:36:58.716 --> 0:37:02.236 that made me so confused, like being a like a 0:37:02.476 --> 0:37:06.676 cellist or or you know, being you know, mixed race 0:37:06.796 --> 0:37:11.156 and being loud. These things I used to that I 0:37:11.276 --> 0:37:14.596 used to feel like were my limits are actually the 0:37:14.596 --> 0:37:18.076 things that have made me who I am and given 0:37:18.116 --> 0:37:22.436 me a career so cool, very very Obviously, we. 0:37:22.436 --> 0:37:24.316 Have to pause for another quick break and then we'll 0:37:24.316 --> 0:37:26.476 come back with the rest of my interview with Lave. 0:37:30.996 --> 0:37:33.596 We're back with the rest of my conversation with Lave. 0:37:34.396 --> 0:37:36.516 What was the social media trajectory in terms of putting 0:37:36.516 --> 0:37:39.556 your music on? I mean, were you ever using YouTube 0:37:39.636 --> 0:37:43.036 early on, like to put music out even as a kid, 0:37:43.076 --> 0:37:44.716 like where you docu my? Oh? 0:37:44.756 --> 0:37:47.516 Of course I posted some covers on YouTube when I 0:37:47.556 --> 0:37:50.236 was twelve, just like everyone else know. They aren't up, 0:37:50.316 --> 0:37:52.916 but them, I have them. They're privated, they're quite cute. 0:37:53.356 --> 0:37:58.636 But yeah, the story starts twenty twenty. The pandemic had 0:37:58.716 --> 0:38:01.596 just started and I came back home and I was like, okay, 0:38:01.636 --> 0:38:04.676 I have this empty space of time now. I'd recorded 0:38:04.676 --> 0:38:06.356 one song, which ended up being the first song I 0:38:06.356 --> 0:38:08.756 ever put out. It just so happened that that was 0:38:08.796 --> 0:38:12.316 like the first semester that I was working on writing 0:38:12.396 --> 0:38:16.236 and recording, and that was a song called Street by Street. 0:38:16.956 --> 0:38:19.116 But anyways, I got back home, the song wasn't out yet, 0:38:19.156 --> 0:38:21.236 and I thought it was a two week break. I 0:38:21.276 --> 0:38:24.476 was like, you know, I'm gonna write as much as 0:38:24.516 --> 0:38:27.356 I possibly can, and I'm going to post videos of 0:38:27.396 --> 0:38:30.516 myself playing jazz standards on the internet just as a 0:38:30.556 --> 0:38:35.316 form of practice, and we'll just see what happens. Never 0:38:35.356 --> 0:38:38.836 in a million years would I've thought that what happened 0:38:38.876 --> 0:38:41.676 would happen, which was, you know, the videos got some 0:38:41.756 --> 0:38:43.836 attention on the internet. I guess there were a lot 0:38:43.836 --> 0:38:46.276 of people board at home on their phones right right, 0:38:46.516 --> 0:38:49.636 and they just started getting shared and my following started 0:38:49.676 --> 0:38:51.996 to grow really fast, and we're doing more. 0:38:52.036 --> 0:38:53.956 And even in those early videos, it was kind of, 0:38:54.276 --> 0:38:56.556 to be honest, with more just straight up straight jazz, 0:38:56.676 --> 0:38:59.436 like straight jazz, yeah, like covers of Louis and Ella 0:38:59.676 --> 0:39:02.356 or whatever. It wasn't even like your own material, at 0:39:02.436 --> 0:39:03.556 least that I've seen, right. 0:39:03.636 --> 0:39:06.516 Yeah, there were a couple like maybe once a week 0:39:06.636 --> 0:39:09.716 or once every two weeks, I'd post a song that 0:39:09.876 --> 0:39:11.996 you know, resembled a jazz standard, which is kind of 0:39:11.996 --> 0:39:14.316 how I started writing also in that style. I didn't 0:39:14.356 --> 0:39:17.436 really realize that you could do that, that you could 0:39:17.476 --> 0:39:21.316 write like a jazz standard sounding song in twenty twenty. 0:39:21.756 --> 0:39:25.636 So it sounds intimidating, I'm going to write a standard, right. 0:39:25.916 --> 0:39:28.996 I mean, yeah, it's basically proclaiming that you want to 0:39:29.036 --> 0:39:33.756 write a song that lasts forever exactly, that's exactly, that's 0:39:33.836 --> 0:39:37.956 the idea. But yeah, I wrote one song called like 0:39:38.036 --> 0:39:40.676 the Movies, just like on my guitar, and it was 0:39:40.796 --> 0:39:42.796 it was very cute. See like now I look back 0:39:42.836 --> 0:39:44.556 and I'm like, that was a very innocent song, but 0:39:45.316 --> 0:39:47.476 it was in kind of like an old style, and 0:39:47.516 --> 0:39:49.876 I posted it on TikTok. It was my first TikTok, 0:39:50.636 --> 0:39:53.476 and it kind of like went viral, and there were 0:39:53.516 --> 0:39:56.716 all these comments were coming in being like, oh, this 0:39:56.796 --> 0:39:58.956 sounds like something I've heard in a movie or something 0:39:59.116 --> 0:40:02.036 like my Grandma loves and and I slowly started to 0:40:02.076 --> 0:40:04.836 realize that, you know, there's kind of like a space 0:40:04.916 --> 0:40:08.116 missing for gen Z to indulge in this kind of music. 0:40:09.156 --> 0:40:12.676 So I kind of just continued doing that, writing songs 0:40:12.716 --> 0:40:16.836 in that style, posting them online, and also posting videos 0:40:16.876 --> 0:40:21.836 of myself singing and playing cello and guitar and piano 0:40:22.036 --> 0:40:25.716 to singing these jazz standards that had you know, to me, 0:40:25.876 --> 0:40:28.676 they're old songs, but to gen Z. So when seeing 0:40:28.716 --> 0:40:31.076 it on their TikTok, you know, for the first time, 0:40:31.116 --> 0:40:35.196 that's a new song, that's a new sound, And I 0:40:35.236 --> 0:40:37.756 thought that was really, really cool, and so it kind 0:40:37.756 --> 0:40:41.436 of just snowballed from there. Yeah, it became jazz girl 0:40:41.596 --> 0:40:44.396 on Instagram and TikTok. 0:40:45.076 --> 0:40:47.516 I did it feel overwhelming? Did you necessarily know where 0:40:47.556 --> 0:40:48.276 to go from there? 0:40:49.156 --> 0:40:51.956 I had one song that's Street by Street that I 0:40:51.996 --> 0:40:54.396 put out like three weeks into the pandemic, just like 0:40:54.516 --> 0:40:56.956 on Destroy Kage, I just like threw it out there 0:40:56.996 --> 0:41:01.556 and no clue what I was doing, and it just luckily, somehow, 0:41:02.476 --> 0:41:04.356 I think I grew. I was growing an audience at 0:41:04.356 --> 0:41:07.476 the same time, and it just got thrown into you know, 0:41:07.716 --> 0:41:09.676 the algorithm, if you will. I don't even know if 0:41:09.676 --> 0:41:12.516 that's the right word, but it was just really good, 0:41:12.756 --> 0:41:13.836 good timing. 0:41:13.556 --> 0:41:16.676 And on Spotify got tip like it hit. 0:41:16.636 --> 0:41:19.396 Some Discover week lease or something like that, so people 0:41:19.436 --> 0:41:22.796 started listening and the music was like almost like a 0:41:22.796 --> 0:41:24.756 derivative of jazz and that it had a lot of 0:41:24.796 --> 0:41:28.156 jazz principles, but was you know, a modern story and 0:41:28.596 --> 0:41:32.316 something new and didn't seem too different from what I was, 0:41:32.476 --> 0:41:35.556 you know, posting online. So it kind of, yeah, it 0:41:35.756 --> 0:41:39.276 just grew and it became almost like I kind of 0:41:39.356 --> 0:41:43.516 harnessed social media, like I knew I'd built a community 0:41:43.556 --> 0:41:45.796 on there, that was so great for me and my 0:41:46.036 --> 0:41:49.716 creative process. Like that first year of COVID, I really 0:41:49.756 --> 0:41:52.356 spent figuring out who I was as an artist. And 0:41:52.836 --> 0:41:54.716 you know, I could turn on a live stream at 0:41:54.756 --> 0:41:57.316 the flip of a switch and sing a song that 0:41:57.316 --> 0:42:00.116 I'd written that day and get immediate feedback. And then 0:42:00.156 --> 0:42:02.036 I got to know my fans and they got to 0:42:02.076 --> 0:42:04.396 know me, and they were from all over the world, 0:42:04.476 --> 0:42:07.316 and we'd talk about the state of COVID and we'd 0:42:07.316 --> 0:42:11.716 be like, Oh, what's happening, and like, you know Peru, Yeah, exactly, 0:42:11.796 --> 0:42:14.516 and it was it was so special. And I'd have 0:42:14.636 --> 0:42:18.676 these like Sunday lullaby live streams, So every Sunday I 0:42:18.756 --> 0:42:20.996 turn on a lullaby live stream and I'd just sing 0:42:21.036 --> 0:42:21.596 and we'd talk. 0:42:21.676 --> 0:42:24.596 It's great. I wish I had found that somehow. 0:42:25.036 --> 0:42:28.836 It definitely saved me from a very bleak time in history, 0:42:28.836 --> 0:42:31.396 I would say, yea. And I think that's another part 0:42:31.516 --> 0:42:35.636 of why the timing of the project worked, because I 0:42:35.636 --> 0:42:38.756 think nobody wanted to be reminded of the bleak times, 0:42:38.836 --> 0:42:41.596 and the music I was offering up sounded like it 0:42:41.676 --> 0:42:45.636 was of a different time. Everything was so online and 0:42:46.876 --> 0:42:50.076 getting something that felt less online, like jazz music or z. 0:42:50.556 --> 0:42:52.396 I also went back to like some of those like 0:42:52.476 --> 0:42:57.436 old musicals, Oklahoma or whatever. I just love Oklahoma very cool, 0:42:57.516 --> 0:42:58.436 It's very cool. 0:42:59.356 --> 0:43:02.916 I'm a huge Rogers in Hammerstein fan. So the songs 0:43:02.916 --> 0:43:04.476 from those films are like my favorite. 0:43:04.516 --> 0:43:06.396 Sorry with the fringe on top, like are you kidding me? 0:43:07.236 --> 0:43:10.636 Chicks and ducks and geese, they will scurry. That's wrapping 0:43:10.756 --> 0:43:11.316 right there. 0:43:11.676 --> 0:43:14.756 It is, and with that beautiful melody. Dude, I don't 0:43:14.796 --> 0:43:17.196 know how they came up with that. Stuff's incredible. 0:43:17.356 --> 0:43:19.316 No, I know it's it's it's wild. 0:43:19.956 --> 0:43:22.516 Would you mind there's a guitar right there? Would you 0:43:22.596 --> 0:43:26.396 mind sort of playing that the first song? Sure? Yeah? 0:43:27.076 --> 0:43:29.076 Street by Street just a bit of it. 0:43:29.196 --> 0:43:34.876 Yeah. So I was almost in like more of a 0:43:35.076 --> 0:43:37.836 R and B kind of swing of jazz back then, 0:43:37.996 --> 0:43:42.796 like lo fi cool. So yeah, it's interesting how it's evolved. 0:43:42.836 --> 0:43:53.716 But anyways, it's Street by Street. This food a small 0:43:54.036 --> 0:44:11.996 to my face lally, it's some nothing bad. Remind me. 0:44:11.436 --> 0:44:13.316 The way the jeused to. 0:44:16.196 --> 0:44:16.676 Give me. 0:44:17.276 --> 0:44:25.116 Butterfly took me twenty one days. 0:44:24.476 --> 0:44:27.396 To carf. 0:44:28.596 --> 0:44:36.156 Paradise Paradise. 0:44:38.156 --> 0:44:50.836 By stop by stop, break by break. I'm reclaim me 0:44:51.436 --> 0:44:52.756 wor smart. 0:44:54.996 --> 0:45:02.396 The cities ware you too small to give way to just. 0:45:02.796 --> 0:45:12.356 One god, Street by street, breath by breath, from the 0:45:12.516 --> 0:45:13.316 back bit. 0:45:13.516 --> 0:45:22.396 To the sky. I'm taking back my shity. 0:45:23.556 --> 0:45:31.196 I'm taking back my Your voice is so incredible, it's 0:45:31.236 --> 0:45:33.876 like live. Hearing it in this room is insane. 0:45:33.956 --> 0:45:34.836 Oh thank you. 0:45:35.636 --> 0:45:36.916 Yeah, I think I got a great voice. But that 0:45:37.036 --> 0:45:39.956 was it was, honestly in the rooms incredible. 0:45:40.476 --> 0:45:41.596 Thank you very much. 0:45:41.876 --> 0:45:42.716 That's a cool song. 0:45:42.956 --> 0:45:45.236 Yeah, it's a cute one. It was like the one 0:45:45.236 --> 0:45:47.876 of the first songs I ever wrote, and it really 0:45:48.516 --> 0:45:51.596 it really healed me. It really. I remember I had 0:45:51.596 --> 0:45:54.116 my light bulb moment after writing that song. I was like, 0:45:54.756 --> 0:45:56.876 oh my god. I was like, in the middle of 0:45:56.916 --> 0:45:58.956 writing it, my heart was racing. I was like, I 0:45:58.956 --> 0:46:00.556 think I have it. I think I got something. 0:46:01.676 --> 0:46:04.436 Was there was there any music that particularly inspired you 0:46:04.476 --> 0:46:06.796 while writing that, anything you were referencing in your mind 0:46:06.956 --> 0:46:08.436 or I don't know. 0:46:08.516 --> 0:46:10.396 There's like, you know, there's a lot of Sam Cook 0:46:10.436 --> 0:46:12.316 that I was listening to, so it was like a 0:46:12.356 --> 0:46:14.796 Sam Cook lick kind of that I threw in there. 0:46:15.436 --> 0:46:17.476 You know, there was jazz music. I was also listening to, 0:46:17.556 --> 0:46:20.036 like a lot of Bruno major at the time, Who's 0:46:20.516 --> 0:46:21.996 I went to a concert with him and it was 0:46:22.036 --> 0:46:25.676 the first time I really saw jazz and and like 0:46:25.956 --> 0:46:28.956 kind of songwriting being presented alongside each other, and it 0:46:29.036 --> 0:46:30.396 really inspired me. 0:46:30.716 --> 0:46:33.396 So yeah, as you were playing that, it occurred to 0:46:33.396 --> 0:46:35.956 me that, I mean, in a way, you're a jazz 0:46:35.996 --> 0:46:40.276 singer or just a singer with some jazz influence and 0:46:40.316 --> 0:46:42.836 a player, but also like a singer songwriter. I mean, 0:46:42.876 --> 0:46:45.876 it's not many people did that in jazz. I guess 0:46:45.916 --> 0:46:48.196 you know a couple of times. 0:46:47.956 --> 0:46:50.276 Right right, No, it's a very rare thing to be 0:46:50.476 --> 0:46:54.436 a songwriter of a singer and a songwriter of jazz 0:46:54.636 --> 0:46:58.636 and jazz. Historically, jazz singers sing. 0:46:58.756 --> 0:47:00.996 Songs by sing songs by people. 0:47:00.756 --> 0:47:04.236 Who don't sing, and then you know, aside from obviously 0:47:04.276 --> 0:47:07.276 like Ella and a couple of examples like didn't didn't 0:47:07.476 --> 0:47:10.476 improvise either, so they weren't of course they had their 0:47:10.516 --> 0:47:14.556 own takes on songs, but it wasn't creating in that sense. 0:47:15.236 --> 0:47:17.716 So yeah, wear many hats. Well. 0:47:17.756 --> 0:47:22.436 I presume much of your songwriting is about your own experiences. 0:47:21.996 --> 0:47:24.796 Is it? Yeah, most of them are personal personal stories. 0:47:24.956 --> 0:47:27.596 Is it weird? Then to follow like the people like 0:47:28.396 --> 0:47:30.596 Taylor Swift down to Carol King that you mentioned and 0:47:30.676 --> 0:47:34.116 kind of putting your life out for your fans and 0:47:34.156 --> 0:47:34.596 that sort of. 0:47:35.356 --> 0:47:37.636 You know, I don't think too much about it. People 0:47:37.676 --> 0:47:39.796 ask me a lot like, oh, aren't you embarrassed to 0:47:39.796 --> 0:47:42.236 put it out? Or isn't it exposing? And I think 0:47:42.956 --> 0:47:46.436 in a way like when I bottle up an experience 0:47:46.556 --> 0:47:48.396 or an emotion in a song and let it free, 0:47:48.436 --> 0:47:52.156 it's no longer completely mine, and then it doesn't feel 0:47:52.156 --> 0:47:55.676 as daunting. That being said, the thought of someone listening 0:47:55.676 --> 0:47:58.756 to a song I wrote about them is terrifying. But 0:47:59.036 --> 0:48:00.796 I just don't think about that. I think, in my 0:48:00.836 --> 0:48:02.876 delusional mind, I'm like, yeah, they're not listening. 0:48:03.076 --> 0:48:05.756 That's the American in the delusion. Yeah exactly. 0:48:05.836 --> 0:48:07.716 And I'm like, if they listen, I just hope they 0:48:07.716 --> 0:48:10.596 don't tell me. Unless it's like a really really nice thing, 0:48:10.596 --> 0:48:15.956 then maybe they can tell you. But it's also worth 0:48:15.996 --> 0:48:18.716 it when someone's like, oh, I've experienced that before, I 0:48:18.756 --> 0:48:19.316 can relate. 0:48:20.036 --> 0:48:23.196 So the album cover too, I should say it's very cool, 0:48:23.396 --> 0:48:24.276 Oh thank you. 0:48:25.436 --> 0:48:25.636 Yeah. 0:48:25.636 --> 0:48:28.076 It was me and my twin sister, who's my creative director. 0:48:28.436 --> 0:48:30.956 She kind of, you know, the whole visual world behind 0:48:31.036 --> 0:48:33.356 leve is her kind of thought creation. 0:48:33.556 --> 0:48:35.036 Is that what she studied in college? 0:48:35.236 --> 0:48:38.876 No? No, she studied international relations and music. She's a 0:48:38.956 --> 0:48:43.076 smart cookie. But the idea kind of came from the 0:48:43.196 --> 0:48:48.596 music itself on this album is more mature and my 0:48:48.676 --> 0:48:52.396 last record, Yeah, and and I kind of wanted to 0:48:53.116 --> 0:48:55.796 shock my audience a little bit. I think my first 0:48:55.876 --> 0:48:58.836 album was so innocent that I wanted this second one 0:48:58.876 --> 0:49:02.996 to be a little bit more like otherworldly. So yeah, 0:49:03.036 --> 0:49:06.316 it's very kind of like glossy silvery. I almost wanted 0:49:06.356 --> 0:49:10.876 to appear more other worldly somehow it is. 0:49:10.916 --> 0:49:14.796 And it's such a striking cover strike, Thank You, Thank You. 0:49:15.436 --> 0:49:18.636 Is there anything you want to try in the future 0:49:18.716 --> 0:49:21.716 in terms of, like you've had some strings on this, 0:49:21.956 --> 0:49:25.556 you know, orchestra. I definitely want to do. 0:49:25.556 --> 0:49:28.836 More orchestra stuff. I want to write film music. I 0:49:28.876 --> 0:49:29.756 really want to write something. 0:49:29.836 --> 0:49:32.596 I'd love to hear you do a soundtracks. A couple 0:49:32.596 --> 0:49:34.596 of songs on here that I feel I could be, yeah, 0:49:35.236 --> 0:49:36.316 theme for a movie. 0:49:36.636 --> 0:49:39.516 I definitely. Every song to me is like a little movie, 0:49:39.556 --> 0:49:41.956 like every story from start to finish, and then the 0:49:41.956 --> 0:49:45.676 way that it's painted musically is very I I like 0:49:45.716 --> 0:49:48.756 to think everyone is like a little movie. But yeah, 0:49:48.796 --> 0:49:51.836 I'd love to do more orchestra stuff as well. On 0:49:52.236 --> 0:49:54.596 the other side of things, I'd love to like just 0:49:54.636 --> 0:49:57.116 like show up with like a random folk album or 0:49:57.156 --> 0:50:01.236 like country album, like lean really into the storytelling. And 0:50:01.236 --> 0:50:04.316 and then of course, like I want to do like 0:50:04.476 --> 0:50:07.716 some like a standards album at some point and something 0:50:07.796 --> 0:50:11.276 more you know, straight forward jazz in that sense. But 0:50:11.436 --> 0:50:14.676 I think for now, I'm my work isn't completely done 0:50:14.836 --> 0:50:16.716 in doing it the way that I am right now. 0:50:16.796 --> 0:50:19.356 Would you ever get a group, like a band together, 0:50:19.516 --> 0:50:21.756 like oh, absolutely, yeah, that you kind of just do 0:50:21.796 --> 0:50:23.716 all like tour with and make records with. 0:50:23.836 --> 0:50:27.076 And sure, yeah I have. I have a band that 0:50:27.116 --> 0:50:29.276 I tour with right now who are really great, and 0:50:30.116 --> 0:50:33.436 the records so far have just been made. Besides an 0:50:33.556 --> 0:50:36.796 orchestra and a couple of musicians here and there, it's 0:50:36.836 --> 0:50:39.916 been mostly just me and my producer Spencer, playing all 0:50:39.916 --> 0:50:42.716 the instruments and I having quite a lot of fun 0:50:42.796 --> 0:50:43.436 doing that. 0:50:43.436 --> 0:50:45.716 That's cool. How did you meet Spencer? 0:50:46.316 --> 0:50:49.596 I was just doing my session rounds and you know, 0:50:49.676 --> 0:50:52.396 going to different producers and kind of hoping and praying 0:50:52.476 --> 0:50:56.756 that i'd find somebody who understood my vision and understood 0:50:56.756 --> 0:50:59.876 the jazz part and the classical part and the part 0:51:00.716 --> 0:51:03.876 and like the songwriting part. And I happened upon Spencer 0:51:03.956 --> 0:51:07.196 and he just immediately understood it. I remember I was 0:51:07.276 --> 0:51:09.276 so worried that it would be hard to find, and 0:51:09.396 --> 0:51:11.836 it was quite hard to find. But when I found Spencer, 0:51:11.876 --> 0:51:13.916 I was like, oh my god, like, this is it. 0:51:13.996 --> 0:51:15.516 Like I found my musical soulmate. 0:51:15.836 --> 0:51:19.396 That's great. Well, hey, thank you so much for oh, 0:51:19.436 --> 0:51:23.396 thank you making the drive up of course, yeah, my pleasure. 0:51:26.116 --> 0:51:28.756 Thanks to Leave for singing some of her gorgeous songs 0:51:28.756 --> 0:51:30.756 for us. Speakin Hear a collection of all of our 0:51:30.756 --> 0:51:33.716 favorite Leave songs on the playlist at broken record podcast 0:51:33.836 --> 0:51:37.196 dot com. Subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot 0:51:37.236 --> 0:51:40.036 com slash broken record Podcast, where you can find all 0:51:40.076 --> 0:51:43.036 of our new episodes. You can follow us on Twitter 0:51:43.276 --> 0:51:46.716 at broken Record. Broken Record is produced with help from 0:51:46.796 --> 0:51:49.836 Lea Rose and Eric Sandler. Our show is engineered by 0:51:49.996 --> 0:51:54.036 Echo Mountain. Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. 0:51:54.116 --> 0:51:56.396 If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider 0:51:56.436 --> 0:52:00.676 subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription 0:52:00.756 --> 0:52:03.556 that offers bonus content and ad free listening for four 0:52:03.716 --> 0:52:06.956 ninety nine a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple 0:52:06.996 --> 0:52:11.596 podcast subscriptions. If you like the show, please remember to share, rate, 0:52:11.716 --> 0:52:14.636 and review us on your podcast app. Of the music's 0:52:14.716 --> 0:52:17.036 by Kenny Beats, I'm Justin Richmith.