Laufey

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 Hi, I'm Nora Jones and today I'm playing along with Leyve.

spk_0 I'm just playing along with you.

spk_0 Hey, I'm Nora and with me is always Sarah Odo.

spk_0 Hello and happy holidays, everybody.

spk_0 Yeah, this is our holiday-ish episode.

spk_0 I love this time of year.

spk_0 Christmas-ish.

spk_0 It's my favorite.

spk_0 And I feel like we have the perfect guest artist to make us feel cozy and warm and all the holiday feels.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 Our guest today is the captivating singer-songwriter multi-instrumentalist Leyve.

spk_0 She is blown up out there.

spk_0 I am watching her rise to start them and it is really fun to watch because she is a doll.

spk_0 She is incredible musician.

spk_0 We had so much fun hanging out and playing music together.

spk_0 She is our first Icelandic guest.

spk_0 That's true.

spk_0 She released her debut album last year called Everything I Know About Love and just released her new album Be Witched a few months ago.

spk_0 I think Be Witched is a perfect album title for her because her voice is very enchanting.

spk_0 You were going to say Be Witch.

spk_0 I was going to say Be Witch.

spk_0 I'm just trying to say it.

spk_0 Enchanting.

spk_0 Yes, it's beautiful.

spk_0 It's like butter, actually.

spk_0 It really is.

spk_0 And stay tuned for a little holiday surprise if you're feeling jolly.

spk_0 Yep, we do a little jingle-jangle.

spk_0 We did a couple Christmas songs together that we released as digital singles and so we might just do one of them at the end.

spk_0 We had so much fun hanging out.

spk_0 I learned a lot from her.

spk_0 It's fun to learn stuff from someone who is so much younger.

spk_0 It makes me happy for our future.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 She's very smart and cool.

spk_0 She's smart, cool and really just beautifully musical.

spk_0 So we had a great time.

spk_0 Thanks for listening to us for this whole last year plus two months.

spk_0 And please like and subscribe if you want to hear new episodes.

spk_0 We might be taking a little break after this episode and we're going to be back with some fresh episodes.

spk_0 A while.

spk_0 So you don't want to miss it the freshness.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 So if you don't like and subscribe then you might not know when we're putting out a freshy.

spk_0 Okay, did I say fresh too many times?

spk_0 You kept it pretty fresh.

spk_0 We appreciate you all.

spk_0 Thank you so much for checking us out and sticking with us.

spk_0 This has been a blast.

spk_0 And there will be more to come.

spk_0 So stay tuned and thanks and please enjoy this episode from Leive.

spk_0 This is one of my favorite on the album.

spk_0 Is it?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 It's pretty.

spk_0 I love it.

spk_0 It's not a single though.

spk_0 Whatever.

spk_0 It'll be a-

spk_0 The thing is I love all of them so much.

spk_0 I feel like they could all be singles.

spk_0 So I can't.

spk_0 It's really hard to decide.

spk_0 I think that makes sense.

spk_0 They're your children.

spk_0 They're like your little babies.

spk_0 Yeah, I figure you know if the kids like it they'll pick out the ones that-

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Singles for the kind of music you make, kind of music I make.

spk_0 It's confusing.

spk_0 I'm like, none of this is going to pop right now.

spk_0 Yeah, that's so you all can chill.

spk_0 Yeah, so it's not the same-

spk_0 Yeah, I mean the next thing I have.

spk_0 The next single is like with an orchestra.

spk_0 It's like a orchestra.

spk_0 When was the last time there was an orchestral single?

spk_0 Well, rarely.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 For me it's been one other time.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Well that's the reason I wanted to be a single because I was like well if I can't decide which one I may as well make it with purpose which is like pushing a symphony orchestra on to-

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 New music Friday.

spk_0 Yeah, my label always surprises me by picking the song.

spk_0 I didn't think would be a single to do a video or whatever.

spk_0 Yeah, I mean I like in the beginning I refused to do a video from the start because I was like I'm not going to do a video unless it starts popping off.

spk_0 It starts like getting a lot of excitement.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And then it did so now I have to go do a video.

spk_0 That's literally I'm waking up tomorrow and going to dance rehearsal.

spk_0 Really?

spk_0 After you get in late tonight.

spk_0 I have a movement coach.

spk_0 Ooh, that's exciting.

spk_0 It's going to be a new one.

spk_0 Why not, right?

spk_0 Yeah, why not?

spk_0 I'm doing a little something new.

spk_0 Well that's how you keep it fresh.

spk_0 Yeah, I did a music video for my last one I had to kiss a boy for the first time on screen.

spk_0 Oh boy, how is that?

spk_0 So scary.

spk_0 But I did it.

spk_0 I remember before the scene I like locked myself in a bathroom and I like I looked at the mirror and I was giggling so much because I thought it was so silly.

spk_0 And then I like looked at myself and I was like you are a professional.

spk_0 I was like you are a professional and you're going to push through this.

spk_0 You spent way too much money to not go through this.

spk_0 That's true.

spk_0 So I pushed through because I'm a professional.

spk_0 Was he a professional?

spk_0 He was an actor.

spk_0 Yeah, he was an actor.

spk_0 So he like walked me through it too.

spk_0 It is great.

spk_0 It helps to know that other person is.

spk_0 Yeah, yeah.

spk_0 No, it helps gracious.

spk_0 It helps so much and we were all good friends at the end of the shoot which was good.

spk_0 But it was definitely a new one for me like acting of it.

spk_0 But I kind of enjoyed it in the end.

spk_0 It can be fun.

spk_0 Now, dancing is going to be interesting.

spk_0 I tried to dance thing once and it never came out.

spk_0 I just realized I said it went that well.

spk_0 I used to think I was a good dancer but I think I'm just a good like interpretive dancer.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I'm question.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Are you doing like a diminished thing?

spk_0 Actually, I think I did.

spk_0 I think you did both.

spk_0 Actually.

spk_0 I kind of like you switch it up.

spk_0 I kind of like that.

spk_0 I'll just follow you and I'll avoid the B in case.

spk_0 Let's do that.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 Alrighty.

spk_0 One more kiss.

spk_0 One stainless.

spk_0 I don't want to go to sleep.

spk_0 Pale moonlight.

spk_0 Misty eyes.

spk_0 All allow myself to have me just tonight.

spk_0 And I hold on to every ounce of sleep.

spk_0 I know he don't love me quite like I love him.

spk_0 I swear to myself as he leaves her down.

spk_0 This will end till he haunts me again.

spk_0 I'll pretend you stay forever.

spk_0 Lay me down.

spk_0 Go to sleep.

spk_0 Haunt the always as he reps me around.

spk_0 And I hold on to every ounce of sleep.

spk_0 I know he don't love me quite like I love him.

spk_0 I swear to myself as he leaves her down.

spk_0 This will end till he haunts me again.

spk_0 I'll just go to sleep.

spk_0 I think it was one time I posted a little clip of from the start.

spk_0 I went to my manager and I was like I think I posted that a little bit early.

spk_0 But why?

spk_0 He was like you do whatever you want.

spk_0 I think you've done a good job of knowing.

spk_0 You don't want to do it too early so the excitement doesn't.

spk_0 People aren't angry at you.

spk_0 I was going to say what's the negative?

spk_0 Sometimes if it's a little early, people are waiting for it for so long.

spk_0 I was like where's the song?

spk_0 It wasn't a bad thing.

spk_0 I just remember doing a song from my second album way early on.

spk_0 It was a couple of years.

spk_0 I had written it and tried it for my first album but it didn't make it so it made the second album.

spk_0 I'd had it for a long time and we always did it.

spk_0 It was tricky because I was with the band and we were working out the arrangement.

spk_0 I ended up with five different versions of it.

spk_0 Not just different versions but very different arrangements.

spk_0 But really?

spk_0 In the end it almost spoiled the newness when you're in the studio for the first time.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 Capturing a song.

spk_0 It didn't spoil it at all.

spk_0 But I was confused.

spk_0 I completely get that.

spk_0 When songs turn into such a different beast, they've been recorded.

spk_0 I try to keep the integrity of the song as much as possible.

spk_0 But I almost see it sometimes as two different versions of the song.

spk_0 The form that I wrote at first in just me and one instrument.

spk_0 And then the recorded version.

spk_0 I've been releasing orchestral versions of the same song.

spk_0 I have a live version, a studio recording, and orchestra live recording.

spk_0 I think a couple of my songs have three or four versions out.

spk_0 And it's like, I kind of like that.

spk_0 It's great.

spk_0 It kind of reminds me of all the old jazz musicians.

spk_0 They had like five to four versions of dream a little dream of me.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 In different cities.

spk_0

spk_0 Take three exactly.

spk_0 The live album from the Vanguard.

spk_0 Yeah, exactly.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 No, when I talk about my film, Bill Evans recordings is always such a joke.

spk_0 I'm like, yeah, but like take three, right?

spk_0 Take three, right?

spk_0 Exactly.

spk_0 Because the old jazz records they put on all those extra takes.

spk_0 Like, so takes.

spk_0 I kind of like that.

spk_0 I like that.

spk_0 I like that sometimes.

spk_0 I don't like it when you start hearing the same song over.

spk_0 Yeah, yeah.

spk_0 You know, but.

spk_0 It's so clear.

spk_0 Yeah, it's awesome.

spk_0 Because there's really no bad one.

spk_0 Exactly.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Exactly.

spk_0 No, it's cool.

spk_0 It kind of tricks my brain into thinking like, oh, like that version will never be.

spk_0 There's no final version of a song.

spk_0 That is a good thing to remember.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Because I think it's really easy to get caught up in that.

spk_0 Definitely.

spk_0 And you're recording.

spk_0 I think that's how I like have at least gotten through like this album and whatever so quickly.

spk_0 It's because I was just like, I don't hold on to my songs for that long.

spk_0 I'm like, if that's how I wanted it in the moment, I'm not going to overthink it.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I can never look.

spk_0 I'll never look back at, you know, my musical decisions from when I was making that album and regret them.

spk_0 Because that's just what I wanted in the moment.

spk_0 Yeah, it was a record of the moment.

spk_0 Exactly.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0

spk_0 And it's your painting a brushstroke and it's an abstract thing.

spk_0 And you're just sort of filling it in as you go, right?

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 And it's what it is.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Exactly.

spk_0 This is so fun to get to hang out.

spk_0 I know.

spk_0

spk_0 It's such a joy for me.

spk_0 I mean, obviously, I've been such a fan of yours for genuinely since I was a baby.

spk_0 So to get to even sing with you is like, it feels like stepping into a record or something.

spk_0 It's incredible.

spk_0 I mean, you're such an incredible musician.

spk_0 You switch on guitar, the cello.

spk_0 We were playing around with the cello yesterday.

spk_0 It was amazing.

spk_0 And then you play piano, really beautiful.

spk_0 Oh, thank you.

spk_0 I'm like, can I play the piano?

spk_0 No, no.

spk_0 Because I can't play anything.

spk_0 You know, like I was mentioning yesterday, you're such a, the way that you play is so uniquely you.

spk_0 And to get to hear that, like kind of Nora Jones touched on songs that I've written is like absolutely mind blowing to me.

spk_0 It's so cool.

spk_0 Thanks.

spk_0 I'm excited.

spk_0 I feel like I feel very familiar in your songs because they are with the kind of chord changes that I grew up with.

spk_0 Two five ones.

spk_0 Yeah, I mean, the two five ones.

spk_0 I mean, I had to really train myself to not play sevens and like alterations.

spk_0 Whenever I started playing other kinds of music, because my hands would just normally go to the...

spk_0 That's definitely, I suffer from that illness as well.

spk_0 Yeah, but I mean, it's okay.

spk_0 Yeah, I mean, I don't hide from it.

spk_0 They're all kinds of, the amount of times I've been in sessions and people are like, yeah, it's almost like a little bit of a rub there.

spk_0 And I'm like, yeah, but it resolves.

spk_0 Yeah, it resolves.

spk_0 It resolves, yeah.

spk_0 It's like, hey.

spk_0 Oh, yeah, no, I like like the dirtiest chord that then resolves.

spk_0 And like, I always say like the beauty is in that tension.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I think that's like when people are like, oh, especially like when young, like Gen Z, when I think what they hear in my music that is unique.

spk_0 I don't necessarily think it's like unique to me, but I think it's unique maybe for, you know, this year and this time.

spk_0 It is just that tension and resolve that doesn't exist as much in pop music.

spk_0 Yeah, that's true.

spk_0 Yeah, I don't even know.

spk_0 Some of the most popular pop songs now, like I hear they have like either like some 251s or like kind of that tension and resolve.

spk_0 And people like, what is this? And in my head, I'm like, it's the tension.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 It makes sense.

spk_0 I like the type of rope and music.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Oh, it's the best.

spk_0 Of course, me too.

spk_0 I was wondering if we could try that song Valentine.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Yeah, absolutely.

spk_0 My little jazz standard.

spk_0 I love it. It's kind of a, yeah, well, that's what I like about it.

spk_0 It's a jazz standard.

spk_0 And I think because you have all these younger fans, of course they love the music, but I also feel like some of these songs speak to their moments.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Because growing up, listening to Lush Life, you know, that's one of my favorite standards.

spk_0 But I couldn't relate to it when I was a kid.

spk_0 And something about this song has that sort of first love, the kind of thing that I feel like.

spk_0 I think that's one of the ways I've managed to, because I went into this like always with the goal of appealing to a younger audience.

spk_0 Okay, you did.

spk_0 Yeah, consciously.

spk_0 Consciously.

spk_0 Yeah, I made a point out of it.

spk_0 I remember there's so many great jazz musicians and that sort of kind of like an older audience and have served me also as a listener.

spk_0 But I think what this generation really cares about is, is relatability.

spk_0 Well, I also, I'm a very honest person and the way that I write is very much the way that I speak.

spk_0 So it kind of, I guess, naturally ended up being like that.

spk_0 But I think the reason that I've managed to grow such a Gen Z audience with music that sounds, I guess a bit older is because the lyrics are, I guess a little more relatable than a Lush Life, you know.

spk_0 Exactly.

spk_0 As wonderful as that song is.

spk_0 I love that song.

spk_0 I wasn't a kid that wrote it like 17 when he wrote it though.

spk_0 Billy Sherwin, was he like 18 when he wrote it?

spk_0 I think you're making me right.

spk_0 He was young, but I think back then 18 was a whole other life.

spk_0 That's true.

spk_0 He used to visit all the very great places.

spk_0 Yeah, I don't know.

spk_0 I recently learned that Paul Enka wrote my way for Frank Sinatra when Paul Enka was only in his early 20s, which is also kind of bonkers to me.

spk_0 That is like, yeah.

spk_0 That is an old man song.

spk_0 He did write great song, but an old man one for sure.

spk_0 He did write it for Frank when he was, I guess, later in his career.

spk_0 Still, I don't know to get that emotion.

spk_0 It was pretty cool.

spk_0 However, my music is very, I definitely write about very, well, I guess the experiences that I've been going through in the past, you know, four years of writing, which is very much like moving out of my home and being like young,

spk_0 in a new city for the first time, falling in love for the first time or stuff.

spk_0 That's the magic.

spk_0 It's funny. I write my albums or my journals.

spk_0 I even look back to some of the first songs I wrote on my first EP and I'm like, wow, that was really young.

spk_0 That was very, I don't think like that anymore.

spk_0 It's pretty cool.

spk_0 Yeah, it's your journal.

spk_0 It's your record of that time.

spk_0 I think come away with me was the first song I wrote when I moved to New York and I started playing guitar.

spk_0 And it was very simple because I didn't know very many chords on guitar.

spk_0 My EP is very much like that.

spk_0 It was my first time playing guitar as well.

spk_0 Yeah, I like that.

spk_0 I think one of the reasons I started writing on guitar, and I still, even though I'm a much better piano player, than a guitar player, I still write mostly on guitar, I think, because I just know chords and not too much.

spk_0 I can focus on the writing.

spk_0 The emotion and the lyrics.

spk_0 Exactly.

spk_0 The lyrics were like the piano I can get carried away.

spk_0 There are just too many options and I understand it too well.

spk_0 I've written more songs on guitar for that reason, the same reason.

spk_0 Not that I'm fancy on piano, but you're pretty fancy on piano.

spk_0 You know, anyway.

spk_0 Let's try this song, Valentine.

spk_0 Valentine.

spk_0

spk_0 Valentine.

spk_0

spk_0 So cute.

spk_0

spk_0 I love that.

spk_0 Sorry to chime in on as many her when she sees my daughter.

spk_0

spk_0 So lovely and dainty.

spk_0 Dainty.

spk_0 It's so sweet.

spk_0 It's a cute one.

spk_0 It's a big swing.

spk_0 It's definitely one of the songs I look back and I'm like, yep, I was definitely 21.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I laid out on that lyric.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I know I sing that now and I'm like, yep, those three years ago.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 It's funny, right?

spk_0 I think it's great.

spk_0 It's a cute one.

spk_0

spk_0 First love kind of thing is just so we've all been there.

spk_0 Yeah, you know, I think for my young listeners, it feels relatable and I think for older listeners,

spk_0 even me now being three years older, it reminds me of a kind of like a sweet time, innocent time.

spk_0 Yeah, I love that.

spk_0 So you're in the middle.

spk_0 I met you about three weeks ago, I guess.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 We did a show together in Gensperous.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 That was fun.

spk_0 It was.

spk_0 And since then, I feel like you're going through a lot.

spk_0 That's crazy.

spk_0 You're doing really great.

spk_0 And I feel like you're kind of people are getting turned on into your music really fast.

spk_0 I'm trying to not say you're blowing up because that just sounds obnoxious, but you kind of are.

spk_0 It's, yeah, it's a crazy time.

spk_0 I kind of can't believe it.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Especially with the kind of music I make and have sought out to make, it's I never, ever, ever would have dreamed of, you know, that it would breach kind of, you know, people that don't listen to this music.

spk_0 Normally, you don't, you know, have a history of listening to jazz music, which was always the goal.

spk_0 It just is so wild to me.

spk_0 Well, that's funny because I heard you say you've said a few times that it is kind of your goal to turn younger people on to jazz.

spk_0 You very clearly think want to do that.

spk_0 Yeah, that's kind of like the whole reason I make music, I would say.

spk_0 But I love that.

spk_0 I never thought about music that way personally.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I never thought about how or who it should be received by because I wasn't that forward thinking.

spk_0

spk_0 But I think with the nature of the way you have to make music these days, it makes a lot of sense to have to think about that stuff.

spk_0 Yeah, right.

spk_0 Well, I grew up playing classical music and jazz music and I went to jazz conservatory, if you all for school.

spk_0 To Berkeley?

spk_0 Yeah, so I have all this formal education behind me for these styles of music that kind of seem like they're only for those who have the formal education.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And I love the music so much and I want to make it kind of accessible to all.

spk_0 And I think one of the reasons that people believe that these genres of music are dying out a little bit is because it's lost that air of relatability and accessibility.

spk_0 Which jazz music in the beginning was meant to be that.

spk_0 It was kind of breaking out of classical forms.

spk_0 And I guess in a way of trying to save these styles of music, I've gone out to make this kind of music and make it accessible for all.

spk_0 But I think that's great because I've heard of other people doing that as well, but they are more of a historical route.

spk_0 You're writing original music and you're not trying to do something old.

spk_0 You're just doing what you feel in an original way.

spk_0 I think that's why it's being related to so well.

spk_0 Thank you.

spk_0 Well, this generation, they don't really care what the music sounds like.

spk_0 Of course they want good music, but they want just somebody that they can look to.

spk_0 The way I carry myself and the way I go about social media, for example, and releasing and all that is very pop music.

spk_0 The way that I go about it is very much a pop-focused career, which I wanted.

spk_0 But the second I opened my mouth, it's kind of like Valentine.

spk_0 It's like songs that sound kind of old.

spk_0 But because they're written about my current experience, it's my modern experience.

spk_0 I think there's some sort of connection there that gets to the new generation.

spk_0 I think it's really neat.

spk_0 I'm really surprised that it somehow worked out.

spk_0 Previously, when I'd walk around and people would ask me,

spk_0 like, oh, you are honestly one of my main examples for somebody that could bring music that was less traditional in that sense

spk_0 and bring it to a wider audience.

spk_0 There were so few examples.

spk_0 It was really only you for a while that I had to look up to that.

spk_0 So it's really cool to be sitting across from you and talking about this.

spk_0 But it's such a different world now.

spk_0 It is.

spk_0 It's so different.

spk_0 You're like a social media master, and you have to be that.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I mean, that's the way that I've managed to connect to a young audience.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Because they're all on social media.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I also enjoy it.

spk_0 But if you don't enjoy it, people can tell and they won't connect to it as women.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I'm lucky I enjoy it.

spk_0 Yeah, you're lucky.

spk_0 It's not a given to want to do it along with doing music.

spk_0 They're kind of two separate things that now the industry kind of requires you to do both.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I'm just lucky I enjoy it.

spk_0 I've seconded a bunch of friends lately and they're struggling because it's not the artist's

spk_0 brain to be a self-promotion.

spk_0 You have to be your own.

spk_0 You have to be like a business woman.

spk_0 You are a business woman.

spk_0 And that's what I find so fascinating that you're so on top of it all.

spk_0 At a young age, I don't think I really knew my way around stuff at that age.

spk_0 Well, maybe by your age I had to, but I mean, did you start out just as a teenager watching

spk_0 TikTok or was it me?

spk_0 I don't know.

spk_0 No, no.

spk_0 I mean, so I was at Berkeley.

spk_0 I was just a student there and then I was studying cello.

spk_0 And yeah, while we got sent home because of the pandemic, so I went home and I had just a couple

spk_0 of weeks or so I thought of break because of COVID.

spk_0 And I just said to myself, you know, I'm going to post little videos on myself online playing jazz

spk_0 standards and songs that I've written that sound like jazz songs and just kind of, that

spk_0 was my challenge to, you know, try to write as much as possible and post as much as possible.

spk_0 And I actually didn't even have TikTok at that point.

spk_0 I remember my sister came, I have a twin sister.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 She and her friends had been watching TikTok and she went to university in Scotland.

spk_0 And I remember my sister was like, you know, you should get on TikTok.

spk_0 Like there are a lot of singers on here and I remember rolling my eyes and feeling like this

spk_0 is so stupid.

spk_0 Like this is not for me at all.

spk_0 Like I'm never going to like get into that.

spk_0 This is for children, you know.

spk_0 And then of course, like everyone else, I kind of got sucked in and I think I posted one video

spk_0 of myself singing, I wish you love and I'm like accompanying on cello.

spk_0 The cello, yeah.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And it just kind of immediately caught into the algorithm or something and all of a sudden I had all these

spk_0 young people commenting on it being like, oh my god, like this sounds like something out

spk_0 of a movie or reminds me of my grandparents or something.

spk_0 And it was really then that it kind of clicked in my brain that my generation had a hunger

spk_0 and understanding of this kind of music.

spk_0 It just hadn't been presented to them yet.

spk_0 So I kind of, you know, after that video kind of jumped on the train and kept on doing that.

spk_0 And it was kind of a perfect storm of events.

spk_0 I had my first song set to release the third week of the pandemic.

spk_0 It was just for fun.

spk_0 Like I literally uploaded it onto like tune core or whatever myself.

spk_0 And yeah, it's all just snowballed from there.

spk_0 It was all just a really lucky, lucky kind of string of events.

spk_0 But social media is definitely the reason that, you know, I'm not sitting in my bedroom in Iceland.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And got to move to LA.

spk_0 So I have, you know, as much as artists are inclined to hate on social media,

spk_0 I'm very thankful for where it's brought me.

spk_0 And it's given me a lot of control and leverage kind of as an artist myself to run my own business

spk_0 exactly the way I want to.

spk_0 And that's what you're doing.

spk_0 And release exactly the kind of music I want to.

spk_0 Like nobody's ever like when I wanted to release Valentine, you know.

spk_0 Not a single person was like, hey, you know, I don't know if Gen Z is going to like a jazz song like that.

spk_0 You know, nobody ever thought that because I'd already posted it on TikTok

spk_0 and it had already, you know, shown that it was there that there was interest there.

spk_0 It's pretty cool.

spk_0 You can take control like that.

spk_0 And once you're in the machine and people are excited.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 It's just connection with other people.

spk_0 Yeah, it is.

spk_0 It is this direct line of communication that I have with my audience.

spk_0 And that helps me so much as not as to know what they want.

spk_0 Like obviously I make music for myself first and foremost.

spk_0 But I also have an audience.

spk_0 And I listen to them.

spk_0 And it's really neat to have that direct line of communication.

spk_0 And so fun to respond to fans and respond to DMs.

spk_0 And they're never expecting it.

spk_0 Yeah, they're excited.

spk_0 They get so excited.

spk_0 I still remember like, yeah, I was only about three years ago.

spk_0 I remember I posted a video of myself like from a practice room at Berkeley singing

spk_0 down by Emily King and like playing along.

spk_0 And she commented on the video or shared it or something.

spk_0 And I remember I had to like take myself out of class.

spk_0 Like I just see myself out because I was like so nervous and so excited.

spk_0 And I like remember it like standing in the hallway hyperventilating.

spk_0 Because I was so excited that like Emily King had commented on my video

spk_0 and it encouraged me so much to like continue.

spk_0 And I now have that power, which is the coolest thing in the world.

spk_0 So you know, whenever I see a cover of one of my songs that a fan has made

spk_0 or you know a nice DM and I just, if I have a moment, I respond.

spk_0 Because maybe one day I won't be able to.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 But until that day I'm going to engage as much as I can.

spk_0 And because you remember how that felt.

spk_0 Yeah, I remember so well.

spk_0 There's like a couple of artists who are now my friends even

spk_0 that I like did covers of their songs and I was like freaking out.

spk_0 It's like so sweet.

spk_0 That's so cool.

spk_0 Like I can in one second like make someone's weak.

spk_0 It's crazy, right?

spk_0 It's weak.

spk_0 It's all.

spk_0 Yeah, it's so crazy.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So that's awesome.

spk_0 I mean, I'm sure you feel that power too.

spk_0 Like when people come to you and you know tell you how much your music has

spk_0 meant to them or what they've done.

spk_0 It's wild how that happens.

spk_0 I could learn a lot from you on social media.

spk_0 Also that.

spk_0 Running your own show being such a good business person.

spk_0 Also, you're on a label.

spk_0 But it's kind of self-run.

spk_0 Is that what's the label you're on?

spk_0 Oh, my label is called A.O.L.

spk_0 And they're really, really great and have been so supportive.

spk_0 And they support all my projects.

spk_0 And they kind of let me release whatever music I want.

spk_0 And I have like full creative control.

spk_0 And yeah, it seems like a really, really like best case scenario.

spk_0 It's like all these things that at least at Berkeley, you know, people are always talking about how like if you're with a label,

spk_0 like you don't get to make your own decisions and stuff like that.

spk_0 And my experience has been entirely the opposite.

spk_0 So what are the typical label or their?

spk_0 I mean, I would say so.

spk_0 There's not really anything they do that other labels don't do.

spk_0 Okay, but are they a major label?

spk_0 No, they're not considered a major label.

spk_0 But I believe they're under Sony now.

spk_0 Oh, gotcha, gotcha.

spk_0 That's great.

spk_0 Yeah, I own my masters and own my publishing.

spk_0 And it's cool.

spk_0 I didn't know that meant when I was with you.

spk_0 You know what I mean?

spk_0 Yeah, well, I mean, there's so much transparency in social media now.

spk_0 And like obviously with Taylor Swift, you know, speaking so much about it.

spk_0 And and re-recording all of her older albums.

spk_0 It's like, it's very kind of at the forefront of a lot of young artist's minds now.

spk_0 Yeah, and it's been empowering because it educates you all as to what the business is behind the scenes of business.

spk_0 I remember when I signed my record deal.

spk_0 It was not for a ton of money and we did 14 songs for the first album.

spk_0 And I had a publishing deal like in the works.

spk_0 But I only wrote two and a half songs on my first album.

spk_0 It was a few covers and a lot of songs from my band members at the time.

spk_0 I was a new songwriter.

spk_0 But we get close, we start pressing the records.

spk_0 And it comes out that I didn't understand any of this at the time until after the fact.

spk_0 The label only pays 75% of the publishing per song.

spk_0 So you have to get every publisher to agree to that.

spk_0 But of course it's favorite nations, which I didn't know anything about.

spk_0 And so if one person doesn't agree, then nobody agrees to it.

spk_0 Wow.

spk_0 And also the label only paid for 11 songs on an album.

spk_0 So here I had 14 songs out of pocket for three.

spk_0 I was going to be way out of pocket for three songs plus the extra 25% of each song.

spk_0 If that makes sense, quick math.

spk_0 But it was too late to go back because everything had been pressed and finalized.

spk_0 So this all kind of came out at the end right before the album came out.

spk_0 And I panicked a little.

spk_0 And then for now, I'm like, okay, ever since then I was very...

spk_0 You know, I learned my lesson is what I'm saying.

spk_0 But it's just little things like that that you don't think about.

spk_0 No, I mean, I've had my own version of that too.

spk_0 You know, like you kind of don't...

spk_0 It is odd in the beginning, especially for young artists.

spk_0 You really don't know anything about the music industry.

spk_0 And it is so, so, so confusing.

spk_0 Like I'm still learning so much every single day.

spk_0 I always tell people, like I got my master's degree in music business for my manager.

spk_0 Because he's still to this day teaching me everything.

spk_0 Like there's to know and there's so much to know.

spk_0 But like my first few songs I had no clue about any of that stuff.

spk_0 And I was just lucky that I had my manager swoop in and kind of like help me take care of it.

spk_0 That's good.

spk_0

spk_0 Yeah, you need people to help you through it.

spk_0 But also it's great to know that you're wise to the most of the stuff.

spk_0 I'm like very careful.

spk_0 Well, I remember like at Berkeley, like in music business classes that we would take.

spk_0 Like my main takeaway was like, don't be careful before you sign anything.

spk_0 Yeah, of course.

spk_0 Make sure you have a lawyer and whatever.

spk_0 So like I remember, you know, when I first started getting phone calls and emails from labels and managers and stuff like that,

spk_0 I was like, okay, slow down.

spk_0 I took all the meetings, but I refused to sign anything until I had like a manager and a lawyer.

spk_0 It's good.

spk_0 So it was like this puzzle piece.

spk_0 I remember the first few months of doing this, I was very confused because I really needed help,

spk_0 but I also wanted to make sure it was the right people helping me.

spk_0 That's good.

spk_0 I kind of walked around blindly for a bit, but it was all worth it.

spk_0 That's great.

spk_0 Would you ever consider signing a big deal and losing control of your masters?

spk_0 Is that something that's crossed your mind?

spk_0 I think it would have to be for a lot of money.

spk_0 I think hopefully I'm in the position now where like I don't think anybody would be crossing me and telling me what to do and what not to do.

spk_0 I think people realize that I'm very strong-minded and know what I want musically.

spk_0 But yeah, I'd have to, for a lot of money to give up my master.

spk_0 It wouldn't be a quick decision.

spk_0 It would be a group decision too.

spk_0 I love that everybody knows what that means now.

spk_0 Because of Taylor's way of thinking.

spk_0 No, I know it's funny.

spk_0 She's not the only one, but it's pretty big.

spk_0 It's good.

spk_0 It's brought on so much transparency in the music industry and kids are walking a little less blind into these big scary meetings.

spk_0 Yeah, well good.

spk_0 I'm glad.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I'm glad you're smart.

spk_0 It's I have a good team.

spk_0 I will say after I released this song, somebody commented.

spk_0 It's so Nora Jones.

spk_0 Really?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 That's funny.

spk_0 I actually don't think so.

spk_0 I think it's so you.

spk_0 I just remember that.

spk_0 So I said that.

spk_0 It's so nice.

spk_0 It's a nice piano, right?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I'm glad you're going to play piano.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I know.

spk_0 I'm really bouncing around all instruments now.

spk_0 I'm excited.

spk_0 You're going to play piano.

spk_0 I'm so excited to have the world on it.

spk_0 That's such a good call.

spk_0

spk_0 Did you study classical piano also?

spk_0 So cello and piano.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Classical.

spk_0 Growing up.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Intensely.

spk_0 Very intensely.

spk_0 Your mother's a violinist?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 She's a violinist.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 My grandparents were also a violinist and a pianist.

spk_0 Oh wow.

spk_0 And your sister is a violinist?

spk_0 She's a violinist.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 She plays on a lot of my recordings.

spk_0 That's cool.

spk_0 Anyone else's musical?

spk_0 No.

spk_0 Just.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Where did the jazz come from?

spk_0 Just my dad.

spk_0 Well, my dad really liked jazz music.

spk_0

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So he played a lot.

spk_0 So he played a lot of jazz music.

spk_0 And I think for me, like when I started singing, I always had kind of like a dark, like low,

spk_0 deep voice.

spk_0 And I could kind of resonate with like Ella Fitzgerald.

spk_0 And like, of course, my voice is not nearly like theirs, but kind of had that darker quality

spk_0 to them.

spk_0 And the recordings with like the big string ensembles and stuff, I could kind of relate

spk_0 to that.

spk_0 Like it kind of felt like a middle world between like classical music and something new, something

spk_0 newer.

spk_0 So I kind of, that's how I fell in love with jazz.

spk_0 That was the only music I really sang.

spk_0 Like there's a video.

spk_0 You never sang classical.

spk_0 No.

spk_0 You know, I don't love classical singing that much.

spk_0

spk_0 Maybe I'm exposing myself.

spk_0 I might come around.

spk_0 Like a Alice.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 There's one recording on Maria Callas singing a Samsung and Delilah.

spk_0 It's like one of the most beautiful songs in the world.

spk_0 I know.

spk_0 She had a lot of heart.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 That I will say.

spk_0 Cool.

spk_0 I love the song.

spk_0 This is a deep song.

spk_0 I mean, it is a deep song.

spk_0 You know, we were talking about Valentine and being young and all the relatable first.

spk_0 This one feels old.

spk_0 I've definitely matured a bit.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 My songwriting and experiences have matured a bit.

spk_0 I love this one.

spk_0 I'm glad we're going to do it.

spk_0 I love this song.

spk_0 That was the first video I've ever filmed online.

spk_0 What is it?

spk_0 I did.

spk_0

spk_0 I did.

spk_0

spk_0 I did.

spk_0

spk_0 I did.

spk_0

spk_0 I did.

spk_0

Laufey

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