In Conversation with BIZZY: Embracing a new era and artistic growth.
Photo by Maxwell Goldberg
Amy:
Hey BIZZY! This is so exciting. It's so nice to chat with you.
BIZZY:
I know! Wait, where are you from?
Amy:
So, I'm in London at the moment.
BIZZY:
I love it. That's awesome. Are you visiting or do you live there?
Amy:
I live here, yeah. Where are you?
BIZZY:
I'm in Nashville, I just moved into this house like two months ago and it took us like a month and a half to finally like, get freaking electricity in the house.
Amy:
Ah Nashville that’s so cool! What time is it? I think it's like early morning?
BIZZY:
It's 10 yeah, not bad.
Amy:
That's good, that's good. Pretty nice, and it's Friday!
BIZZY:
Yeah, it’s been a slow morning, I'm just hanging out!
Amy:
So how's this year been for you so far? What have you been up to? Tell me everything!
BIZZY:
Yeah, it's been so good. I feel like it's been a lot of discovery, a lot of figuring out a new sound. I'm changing my sound, not drastically, but definitely enough to make it have a different vibe and that's been really exciting, but also very stressful and interesting. Just finding producers and people that understand what's in my head and trying to understand the sound that I'm hearing in my head and be able to relay it to people. It's been a discovery year, but it's been good.
Amy:
How have you found that? When you meet someone and you work with them for the first time, are you then inspired by them and is that what generates your different sound? Or are you the one that's pushing the producer and getting the sound that you want out of them? If that makes sense?
BIZZY:
Yeah, I'm definitely always inspired by people, and I think when I'm writing the song and I'm writing with new producers, then it's definitely propelled by everybody in the room, but if I'm going to a producer with a song that I've already written and kind of an idea in my mind, then I'm definitely more propelling the concept and the sound and where I see the direction going. I love both, but I think the harder one for me is trying to get across what I hear in my head because at this point, in this kind of transition period, I'm not a hundred percent sure what it is. So it's a little bit confusing for everybody.
Amy:
But that's the point, isn't it? I know we talk a lot about how the fans are gonna anticipate something and how the fans react to your music, but there's a lot to be said about how you work as an artist and how you grow when you're coming up with this music. Have you found that over the past few months you've been learning a lot more about yourself?
BIZZY:
For sure, yeah. I think just a lot in grounding myself in who I am and trying not to be so much of a people pleaser and finding that, okay I can be an artist and I can do things for people, but I can still write and sing and create for myself. That's where it all starts. I think if I ever lose that, that's what's gonna lose the excitement for me, and also the connection to people. I started writing - and I still write - like it's a diary for me. I think that's what connects with people the most.
Amy:
It's authenticity isn't it? People can tell when you're not being genuine, not being true to yourself. You need that pure honesty, which can be really tough sometimes right? To be completely vulnerable?
BIZZY:
Totally, and even being totally honest with yourself in a period of like change growth. I don't even know who the heck I am or what I'm doing. Yeah, it's been a lot of discovery, but all good things.
Amy:
That's good to hear. You released When It Ends this year - how was that? How did that go down? Was it scary to release? Tell me about that.
BIZZY:
Yeah, that one was really fun to release. I have loved that song for a really long time and I worked with Brandon Meagher, who produces a lot of my stuff. We understand each other, he's very just emotionally driven and can hear a song and be like, oh this needs this, so it was kind of an emotional ride of figuring out where that song should sit. It's always been a dream of mine to have bagpipes in one of my songs, and I told him that probably like four years ago when we first met and he was like, okay, that's really weird, but for sure. Then I wrote this song and we were like, ‘this is the bagpipe song, YES’. So we put bagpipes throughout it and I think it just added a lot of emotional integrity to it.
Amy:
Any particular reasoning behind the bagpipes? Any links to Scotland or are you just a big fan? Haha.
BIZZY:
I'm honestly just such a fan. I love them. I don't know why I've always loved bagpipes. I think that it adds such a sadness and a heartstring moment to it. I think with this song, the whole concept behind When It Ends is this fear of losing people and things in your life if things start to crumble, if all the good goes away. So it was kind of a funeral for that and so it felt appropriate.
Amy:
That's fitting. Yeah, totally makes sense. It's really cool. I love the song - it's a great song.
BIZZY:
Thank you. Yeah, it was fun song to put out.
Amy:
I’d love to talk new music, can you tell me about your new track? What is it called and when is it being released?
BIZZY:
Yes! It's called Default Setting and it comes out next weekend! Oh my gosh, it's coming up so fast. September 6th. I'm just so excited. This is kind of the new chapter and it's not crazy different but it just feels like it's gonna lead into newer stuff and be a gateway. It's just very upbeat. I'm so excited.
Amy:
Alright! Did you collaborate with anyone on this one?
BIZZY:
Yeah, I collaborated with three of my friends, Tony Chetta, Gabriella Scotto, and Sarah Underwood. They're some of my favourite humans. We just were hanging out and wrote the song.
Amy:
How long did it take to get it all together?
BIZZY:
Honestly, it didn't take us long, I think it was like a two hour write, it was a very normal. It was very casual and I remember leaving and being yeah, I love that song and kind of not thinking anything about it. Then I have a list of demos that I'll sometimes go back and listen to, and it just kept popping out in that demo list and has stayed a favourite of mine. We wrote it two years ago, so it just stayed a favourite from a while ago.
Amy:
Do you still feel as connected to it now it's being released 2 years later?
BIZZY:
Totally, am I farther away from it? I think it's just as relatable, which is awesome, because that's always a worry. Is it gonna have outdated itself in a year or whatever? It's funny, I was going through another kind of relationship - so the basis of the song is about a person you continually go back to, no matter how many people you date in between that person -
Amy:
Oh no, this one's gonna hit a little too close to home haha. A universal experience.
BIZZY:
Hahaha, yeah, you're like great... It's literally the worst. So yeah I had originally written this song about a different guy and that was two years ago, but now I have of course another guy that I continue to go back to and I was like 'ah this song still hits', but at least it's a good sign the song is relatable.
Amy:
That’s so funny. I was going to ask how you think this single is going to resonate with fans? I think, like I said, that what you went through is a universal experience for a lot of people. Having this one person that you can't get seem to get rid of even when you know it's bad for you or whatever. Is it kind of that sort of an anthem?
BIZZY:
It is, it's that kind of vibe but the song is not sad. It's just being frustrated with yourself and with the situation in an anthemic way, you can just scream it.
Amy:
Oh my gosh, I can't wait, this sounds great. I think I need this now. Have you got a favourite lyric?
BIZZY:
Yes, it's in the second verse and it's, 'It's not even like you were the patron saint of dating'. We were just chatting in the session and we were writing all these nice things about him, and I was like, ‘guys, it's not even like he was the patron saint of dating, he was a horrible boyfriend’ haha. It just kind of came out and then we had to put that in.
Amy:
That's brilliant. That's so relatable. Have you got any visuals to go along with this track and how'd you find it creating visuals? For Spinach In My Teeth, that single cover is crazy. I love it, it's so funny. How do you come up with these ideas?
BIZZY:
Thank you! I just have a weird mind honestly. They usually will come to me either when I'm writing the song or if I'm listening to it focusing on what the visual is that I see in my head. We do have a music video coming out with this new single, and it's probably one of my favourite music videos too. It's something that I came up with I think the day we wrote it and I voice-memoed it. We didn't have a creative team at that time, but I thought if we ever get to do a music video for this, this idea would be really cool. Two months ago we managed to bring it to life and it was so cool. I don't wanna give it away, but it's just kind of showing the process with a digital twist on it. Default Setting sounds very digital to me in my head so it gets a little bit of that tongue in cheek.
Amy:
Okay. I like it. Sounds like it will compliment the track really well.
BIZZY:
Yeah, I'm excited. I hope people will like it!
Amy:
Is that going to drop on the same day next week?
BIZZY:
Yes 6th Sept too!
Amy:
Every song obviously has its challenges, were there any obstacles that you faced whilst creating the single and how did you overcome them? I mean, it sounds like it was relatively straightforward writing it in two hours, but was it hard to record it and get it how you wanted it to sound in your head?
BIZZY:
That was actually the biggest challenge for sure. Writing and playing live are my two favourite parts of music, but production is tough for me. I was working with a new producer and he's amazing, but we had worked with so many different people before we got to him, so finding him was such a blessing in disguise. He just got the song and really found a direction for it. Before that, it was a lot of 'this feels too sad' or 'this feels too EDM, or too pop'. It was a lot of trial and error, and we went through a lot of different producers to figure out which one could really understand the song and also level up the song. I think in this new chapter I really wanna be able to take it to someone and have them be like, here's all my ideas. I love being involved in the production process, I can hear ideas in my head, but I'm not good at playing instruments and so I just need someone who can be like, oh let's take that melody and take it to this level.
Amy:
Yeah, totally. It's so important to be able to work collaboratively with people and to be able to work with someone that you can trust as well. There's so much trust that has to happen in those rooms because it can be really vulnerable to write music. I don't know if you feel the same but I'm totally like, if I create anything, I don't want anyone to have an opinion on it, negatively or positively...
BIZZY:
Totally. Oh my god, yeah 1000%. All it is to be an artist is 'please love me and love what I just made'. Getting over that aspect and being able to take criticism is important. I think I can take criticism, but I'll still take its heart, so I think I'm learning about that too.
Amy:
That's where the growth comes in surely as well, like we were saying - I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna learn how to get a bit of a backbone and take criticism in order for my art to get better too.
BIZZY:
100%, and to not crumble under it.
Amy:
It's hard though, haha.
BIZZY:
For sure.
Amy:
The music industry as we know, is constantly changing, and can be a little rough out there. How do you stay true to your artistic vision when there are so many pressures with trends and trying not to write just to get that viral hit. How are you staying true to yourself?
BIZZY:
In the writing aspect, I write like it's a diary. Truly I write for my sanity, and I think even if I was doing a completely different job, I would have to write because it's the only way I can process. I think that that's allowed me to stay connected to who I actually am and who the authentic me is. Whether that's a pretty moment or an ugly moment, or an uncomfortable, insecure moment, it definitely keeps me honest. I think as far as on TikTok and Instagram, that's something I'm constantly learning and trying to figure out. I feel like I came into TikTok very honest and vulnerable and it was awesome and it worked for a while, but then when things start to not work you're like, okay, well what do I do? How do I shift? So figuring out how to shift but also be yourself and reinventing yourself in an honest way is something I think I'm continually learning.
Amy:
It's tough because you also see those numbers and sometimes it can feel like taking a step back. It's totally not because so much of it's just the algorithm, it's so random and so above anyone's control. It's just learning to be ok with that?
BIZZY:
Right, and distancing yourself from that feeling and just putting it as an outside entity.
Amy:
And for the fans as well, knowing you've got fans out there that are receptive to your music and enjoy your music. Those are the ones that matter, they're the people you're putting the music out for as well.
BIZZY:
Yes, 100%. Yeah it's a crazy world out there. It's the wild west.
Amy:
Looking back at your journey as a songwriter and how far you've come, what is one piece of advice you'd give to your younger self?
BIZZY:
Hmm let me think about that one. My younger self... If I knew what I knew today, then I'd say you are gonna get there in time. Though I'm probably gonna tell myself that in like 10 years if you were to ask me then. I want things to happen right then and there, I'm so impatient. I think that helps with my drive and keeps me going, but if it doesn't work out today, I feel like I'm a failure and I'm never gonna get there. I need to figure out that balance - you need to be driven but you also don't have to be doomsday. I would definitely tell my younger self that everything happens for a reason and that you are where you are because you need to be there.
Amy:
At 25 you're still super young, but it's that common thought. It's easy to feel like you're running out of time even though you're not?
BIZZY:
No, absolutely. It's crazy, as I get older the more I realise age is so different, and I don't wanna be cliche in saying age is just a number, but it truly is in the sense of where you are in your life. I remember being 12 and thinking 25 is so old, I'll have a house, I'll have kids, I'll be married. Now I'm 25 and I feel like I'm 10. I know nothing and I'm just as confused as I was. I give myself a lot of grace for that, but for sure there's that pressure. I think that there's something beautiful happening in the industry at the moment though. There are a lot of older artists, or people my age that are just getting discovered now. Noah Kahan and Chapell Roan and even Taylor Swift - hitting her peak at 34. It feels like it's about the music again. There are young people that absolutely deserve a light and are just as talented, but I think it's less about age and more about talent today, which is awesome.
Amy:
That's so true. That's a point I hadn't even really thought about, but you're right there's so many people being discovered later at the moment and out there totally smashing it. Okay so I have a silly little question to end things off. If you could have any superpower that would help you with your music and recording, what would it be?
BIZZY:
Oh, I've never even thought about that. I thought you were going to say just a general superpower - that's such a good question. Okay I would love perfect pitch because when I run around on stage I get out of breath and then I lose my pitch and I'm working on that. My second is to be able to play any instrument amazingly. That would be so nice.
Amy:
Haha like Jacob Collier vibes with his 10,000 instruments...
BIZZY:
Right! Just to be able to run around and play any instrument and just make it sound incredible. Those are definitely my two ones. What about you? If you could have any two superpowers, what would you get?
Amy:
I’d definitely copy you with the instrument one, and I don't know if it's a superpower, but just to be able to use Logic perfectly to produce, if someone could download all of that information to my head, that'd be stunning.
BIZZY:
Oh my god yeah. It's SO tedious. I don't have the patience. I can sit there and give you a melody in my head all day, but the second I have to click buttons on computers, I'm like I'm sorry this isn't making any sense.
Amy:
Snap. It's horrible. It's mean - it's great, but it's tough.
BIZZY:
Yes. A thousand percent. Wow, those are great superpowers. I love that.
Amy:
Thank you so much for chatting with me today. It's been so nice.
BIZZY:
Oh my gosh. Thank you! I'm so stoked we got to hang. This was awesome.
Amy:
It's been really nice and I'm so excited for the single, honestly I can't wait to hear it.
BIZZY:
Bye Amy it was so nice meeting you and thank you to under the radar for having me!
Default Setting, the new single from BIZZY is out now, listen here: