Welcome back to another Teaky Tuesday – I mean to do these every week, so hopefully this is the start of a beautiful tradition that flourishes as my career does. 

On that topic (of flourishing), I’ve been thinking a lot about my identity as an artist. This isn’t really something new – it essentially consumes my day to day life – and I’m no more or less conflicted than I was a year ago, when I decided something had to change.

It was a spring day in Nashville, not unlike today, which is, in fact, the Eve of 4/20, the Highest Holy Day. I was gearing up to release my EP Spin Cycle (which is dope and you should check it out, whoever you are, reader) and I realized, for the thousandth time, that most, if not all of my music was sad. What a shame! Granted, I had been going through a tough breakup when I wrote the entirety of the EP, but I felt like I was turning a corner. A corner towards optimism, perhaps. I knew I was moving to Los Angeles, and that final western frontier spurred me to a new hope, a land of gold, of liberal politics, of Jewish Women ! (a relative rarity in Nashville). That’s when I began writing the title track of my upcoming EP, What if it all works out in the end?. [Note: written with Ben Pleasant and Charlie Brennan.]

And here we are, a year later, and I am as much an LA local as my Grandma Thelma is a Republican (she is very staunchly not). Still, I think my music has taken a positive turn, or at least a turn that seeks happiness. At the very least, a turn that begs the question: why not? Although “Half as Cool” is decidedly sour towards adulthood and “Star Sign” jabs at astrology, I think they mark a turning point in my sound. Especially my next release, “Existential Crisis” (comes out April 29th, presave HERE if you haven’t already). It’s all about positivity, man. Or not – I think it’s more about the desire for and the journey to positivity, or happiness, or satisfaction, or whatever grand platitude I’ve decided is the goal. 

But back to my own existential crisis regarding my identity as an artist. I’ve been posting a lot of my folk stuff on TikTok recently (and posting a lot in general), and people have been responding extremely well to those songs. That makes me confused! That makes me question everything I have been working towards this last year! I love my folk songs – I think they are the purest expression of my songwriting and artistry that I can create – but I am conflicted. I want my live shows, and my music in general, to run the gamut of emotions, from fun-banger-party-rock to chill-vibe-driving-on-the-highway-indie to sob-your-heart-out-breakup-ballad to laugh-out-loud-cheeky-witty-folk, but I also want people to engage with it. That’s the whole point of music to me – the engagement, the exchange that happens between artist and fan.

There’s no real answer to this question – I suppose I can always just do whatever I want, which is essentially what I do anyway, and let people find what they want to in my music. If that’s one song, great. If it’s the whole damn pie, then let ‘em eat.