I wrote Daisies when I was feeling trapped physically (pandemic) and metaphorically. My responsibilities were piling up, I was dropping the ball left and right, letting people down, and I was just in a bad headspace. All I wanted to do was run away and be in nature. The chorus is not unlike real conversations I’ve had with my partner and with myself. When I bite off more than I can chew, and inevitably don’t want to finish all the things I’ve started, my partner will be like… You did it again. Hence the lyric, “I don’t need your attitude…hope that you don’t hate me.”
Obviously, running away from your problems doesn’t actually solve them, but I do think there is something to getting a little distance when shit just feels like too much. That’s what this is single is about.
What was the creative process like?
The process of writing Daisies was pretty magical. Everything felt really right the whole time. I was (and still am not) very confident in my writing chops, so I was intentionally looking to do more co-writes with as many people as I could to gain experience. I had just been connected to another artist/writer, Hannah Rose Cox, on Instagram, and we were both immediately interested in writing together. We both loved pop music so we started sending some songs back and forth. I sent her “Nikes” by Julia Wolf, which largely inspired that synth motif throughout Daisies. Once we landed on that sound, we started to write around it. After 3 2-hour completely-delightful-and-therapeutic writing sessions over FaceTime, we had Daisies.
I recorded Daisies at home for a few reasons: 1. Pandemic, 2. To save money, 3. I was trying to wrap up an 8 song project as quickly as possible. However, once it was finished it no longer fit into the project, so I wanted it to live on its own.
Alex Strahle, and LA based producer, absolutely knocked it out of the park on the production. He knew right away what I was looking for, so we probably only sent 5 or 6 versions back and forth before it was perfect.
We love the sincerity, especially the nuanced mental health advocacy; what do you want the main takeaway from the single to be?
I hate the “GSD” (Get Shit Done) culture that my generation was indoctrinated into, but that was not always the case. I ate it up for years. Then I got depressed, realizing that if my value as a person is based on my productivity, then I have no value when (not if) I’m burnt out. I hope that Daisies gives listeners a place to go when that negative self talk starts to creep in.
You’ve amassed a pretty strong following since your debut in 2018; how does that feel?
It’s crazy! It feels validating, frankly. When I released Fixating (EP) in 2018, I thought my friends and family would listen to it a couple of times and that would be it. Then, Fixating (the song) kind of took off and I really wanted to keep that momentum going. It’s been a little slow, and I started the game a little late in my mid-twenties, but the local and online support has been much more than I ever expected. I don’t know if I would’ve continued releasing music if I didn’t get that external validation so strongly in the beginning. I think my music is becoming more authentic to who I am, and I’m glad my listeners are so open to my experimentation with different sounds.
What has been the highlight in your career so far?
This is probably it – Daisies is my favorite release to date. I feel like every show I play is a highlight since I perform so infrequently, like 5-10 times per year. Playing sold-out venues here in Chicago is always incredible. I’m very cose to hitting 1M Spotify streams on another song, which will absolutely be a highlight.
Do you have any more releases in the pipeline?
Yes. My next release will come out this summer, and it features my dear friend Claire Zhang (from Chicago band “splits”) on electric guitar. This song quite melancholy compared to Dasisies, but just as introspective. There are several others that I’m excited to share, but I don’t know when
