The Untold Lore of Nessa Barrett

For decades, a shadowy organization called the Lemonati has kept lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Look around, lemon forward sodas, even lemon forward songs. We ran the tracks, slowed them down, reversed them, and squeezed out the truth. That's lemon propaganda right there. But now, 7up is fighting back with their new lime lemon soda. Join the 7 uprising. Flip the sip. Fall never arrives all at once. First the air, then the light, and slowly the things you love begin to find each other. A jacket meets a dress, a hoodie slips beneath a blazer, an old cap finds a new scarf. Because you don't simply step into the season, you create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall. Find fall your way at Ross. There's nothing really soft about being a woman. Hell yeah. Especially in like the world that we live in today. And so I just feel like being feminine and in your powers is so badass. And there is like a darkness energy that's like femme fatale that I feel like I always want to push forward, you know? Do you think heartbreak is a source of inspiration for you? Oh, yeah. I think it's probably because that's kind of what I know and what I'm used to. And in a really odd way, like I'm most comfortable with it than actually being like happy and in love. The things that make us feel the most are the things that aren't healthy and that are bad for you. Totally. Does love feel reckless to you? I think so. I mean, it's just so dangerous, you know? I feel like you're just opening yourself up into the possibility of getting hurt. Tell me about performing with Lana Del Rey. Oh my God. How did that happen? I randomly got a DM from her. Asking if I wanted to fly out to Alabama. Let's talk about the album again. I have more questions. We detoured. We detoured. Nessa Barrett, welcome to Nicki at Night. Hi. Thank you. It is such a pleasure to have you. Oh, thank you for having me. I mean, we've been talking about doing this for forever. I know, for so long. For months. So I am very excited. And also, the album, Tough Love, it's amazing. Thank you. I have been, I mean, one in general, like I, you have like one of the most like deep and like emotional stories and like journey of any artist. I think you are such like an incredible and like resilient woman. Thank you. And it is so evident in your songwriting and the sort of like themes that you talk about. Like your music is so confessional and honest. Thank you. I'm excited to like pick your brain about it a little bit. You know? I think one of the things that has been so like interesting to me about your music as a whole is like you have this fascination with like a dark romance. Yeah. You know, this sort of like pain and pleasure, love and loss. Yeah. Why do you feel this like unrequited love is so inspiring to you? I just think that anything with a little bit of darkness to it is just something that I've always been drawn to. Yeah. I think probably from my own experiences. But I just feel like love itself, it's something that is very dark. And you can't have something that's so good without having equally enough like the pain that comes with it. Totally. And yeah, I don't know. I think for a really long time, I thought that being in love meant that you needed to go through all of the dark, obsessive moments like the pain, the fighting. I thought that that's kind of like what it was. And now I'm starting to think that that's not true. But I guess, yeah, I just, it is just like, to me, I don't know. I feel like I find darkness in everything in a really weird way. Well, what is love to you now then? You know, how has that perspective shifted? Well, I think that for the longest time, I thought that I did know what it was. But I think now I'm trying to figure out. A new meaning for it, because I just feel like I don't know what it is. And I think that's OK. I just like healing and just like going through everything and even like writing the project and just like being very introspective about my feelings and relationships and stuff. Yeah, I think I just like feel like I don't know if I've had it yet. But I think you'll know it when you find it. Yeah, exactly. And there's something that you said that I really loved. Like this, the correlation, I think, between like love and pain is very interesting to me. And something I've always felt, you know, of like in order for something to really hurt you, whatever that thing is, like at some point you have to have loved it. Oh, 100 percent. Yeah, like just like heartbreak itself. Like you need to love something so much that it hurts to lose it, you know. And I think that there's, I don't know, I think that's probably why I romanticize heartbreak. So much because it's almost like proof that there was something there to begin with. Yeah. Yeah. And I think this is also why they call it like falling in love. Like in it implies this idea of like the fall. Yeah. Like free floating and loss of control. And, you know, you might hit something at the bottom or whatever. Like you don't know where you're going. Yeah. You know what I mean? And that's something I think about, you know, like we don't call it rising into love. No. We call it like falling in love. Yeah. I don't know. Like that's even a phrase that I thought about a lot. I think touches on like a lot of the themes that you're just talking about. Okay. I want to go all the way back to the beginning. So I think you have like such a fascinating journey. Like when did you know you wanted to be an artist? I think it's honestly been my dream since I was a kid. I grew up around a lot of music. And my dad always had like a makeshift studio. In our house. And so, yeah, like at the age of four, I think I like started recording for the first time. And then I like just started writing songs and singing in my room. And yeah, it was just something that I've always wanted. And I think my dad pursuing it my whole life. I mean, like he's his own thing. But I think because of that, I always felt like. It wasn't really possible. Like it could be like a hobby. It could be something that I love. But I never thought that I could do it. Actually. You didn't think that? No, I had no idea. Because I came from like a small town in New Jersey. And just like it was just like unheard of in my family. Like all of this, it's just so like taboo and crazy. And it just felt like impossible. Interesting. Yeah. So then when does like the internet come into your life? I mean, I think it's like the internet. I think it's like the internet. like you know being somebody who like really broke out in that time when it wasn't as like people weren't excited about an artist from TikTok yeah um I guess it it was hard I think because music was like the love of my life since I was a kid I think um because I started on social media people thought that I got into it because of it and so for a really long time I used to be so frustrated because people really weren't I guess taking me seriously or I was afraid that I'd always be like labeled as like a TikTok artist but um yeah I just like really tried to stay true to myself I just remember the second I was able to get in a studio I went and I was there every day every day I was I was making music like months and months before I even dropped my first song and um and I also like I remember at first too like the finding out like what pitch records were because I started recording in in a studio and I like started doing like covers and then all this stuff and then people would just like send pitch records and they were like super pop like what you I guess you would expect yeah um me to do I guess at the time and I was just like I'm not doing this like we're gonna do it my way like I don't care and I like it was actually so funny because I would I would go and I just like mess around on the piano or um we'd play like whatever and I just like be in the booth for an hour straight just saying whatever came up in my my head and I just like I just like yeah sit in the booth like for for hours and just feel like I'm gonna try and make a song the Lemonade has spent decades keeping lemon on top and lime in the shadows their lemon agenda has infiltrated everything even our music and hit song named after the color of lemons not a coincidence big lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years think about it but now 7up is fighting back with their new lime lemon soda now lime comes first 7up flip the sip fall never arrives all at once first the air then the light and slowly the things you love begin to find each other a jacket meets a dress a hoodie slips beneath a blazer an old cap finds a new scarf because you don't simply step into the season you create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall find fall your way at Ross no I love that and I think that that's actually a very beautiful approach I think that there is this like necessary level of play that has to happen yeah it's a creative process and you have to like in a beautiful way not care a little yeah and and eventually like something emerges and you're like wait a minute like there's a melody there or whatever you know like it yeah and and I think that that's beautiful that you had that sort of mindset very early on yeah was there a first song I hope you're miserable until you're dead my first song was pain oh wow yeah and um yeah it was my very first song that one it was originally like probably like 10 10 to 20 minutes long because it was just me in the booth singing my heart out just like fresh breakup yeah crying like and and we just chopped it up and made a song really yeah would you ever release the 10 minute version absolutely not someone's gonna ask for it now no it was I hope it's deleted I hope it's gone it's burned um but I I just also remember like I was crying like he could hear like it was a lot like if if anyone were to walk in that room they'd be like what is wrong with this girl but that was that was my first song and that was kind of how I'm pretty sure how I got signed with um Warner wow it's really cool wow do you think heartbreak is a source of inspiration for you oh yeah I think so um I think it's probably because that's kind of what I know and what I'm used to and what in a really odd way like I'm most comfortable with it than actually being like happy and in love and so I think because um I felt it so much in my life and I've written thousands of songs about it it's just so easy for me to be inspired by it because it's just like the norm it's where I'm like most comfortable yeah that that breaks my heart I don't want that to be your norm I want you I mean hey great music coming out of it I'm not complaining I'm not complaining but you know like I I know you are going to find a love that makes you completely not think the sentence you just said you know what I mean um and I very much look forward to that day and I think it will bring an entirely new perspective to your music which will be it actually might yeah I'm excited to see yeah um I mean you have said in an interview before the two things I can write about most are love and death why do you think that is I don't know they're kind of the same to me in a really weird way I mean both are inevitable and both leave you heartbroken and they change you dramatically and I feel like there's love and death in absolutely everything and so um yeah I don't know and I just I especially I love mixing the two because I feel like just the act of falling in love it is so life and death and so I I don't know I I just love writing about it no I I completely I think one of my favorite things about your music is exactly what you said like exploring the intersection of good and bad you know and how often those two things are linked to one another yeah and also even with love and death I think it is um like what is more ultimate of the human experience I know yeah you know like when you said that those are two inevitable things it's like yeah like you every human being on earth is going to experience those at some point yeah um and like what's more beautiful to connect with like a crowd of people over yeah you know what I mean I also want to ask questions about your sort of like world building and visual identity because I think it's very tied to what you just said I mean in general I think you have some of the most like incredible visuals out there right now thank you thank you like I love the videos I love the everything it is beautiful um and I think what's so cool is you have this ability to combine something that is very dark with something that is very feminine yeah can you tell me about that sort of like expression I don't know I feel like I try and add a little darkness into everything because that's that's who I am and I I just love pulling all sorts of feminine energy into whatever I do and um I was asked this like one question recently and and um they they asked who's this question it was like how are you um able to write um about femininity without making it um feel soft and all I had to say was that there's nothing really soft about being a woman hell yeah especially in like the world that we live in right now I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know and so um I just I just feel like being feminine and in your powers is so badass and there is like a darkness energy that's like femme fatale that I feel like I always want to um push forward you know and I yeah I love it and I also I just like just like there's so many contradictions about feeling feminine and sexy but also having this bold energy you know I could be sweet I can be I can I can bite and so um yeah I kind of try and bring all of those worlds together no I love what you said that there is like nothing soft about being a woman and you're so right and it's it is so interesting to me how you know very stereotypical portrayals of femininity yeah would have been that you know what I mean and would have been a blonde haired girl in a pink dress yeah and like that I think is something that's so cool about you oh thanks is that it's like so feminine but it's like exactly it has like this darkened edge to it and it feels like so true to you yeah also too like and I like I say this like all the time but if I see a photo of a beautiful woman in a white dress it's a really pretty photo but if yeah you like zoom out and you see a beautiful woman in a white dress standing in a grave like I suddenly like I want to know the entire story and I feel like that's why like I'm so drawn to adding some darkness and into everything because it just like it brings like depth into it you know and it makes it more more real yeah I think the contrast also is very like pulling yeah um and even other ways I've seen like I've seen like performance videos and stuff where you're like you know like lighting or set or whatever is very like dark or there's like a cross behind you but like your dress is very like you know white and like lacy or whatever you know contrasts um but again I think that's why also like from an outside observer like it's so cool to me because Like, so many things we've already talked about are, you know, love in pain or loss in life, right? Like, it is this reflection of the music in a way that, like, you're very, very good at doing. Thank you. And it's very, very cool to watch. I have to ask, like, were you ever inspired by Tim Burton movies? Oh, I love Tim Burton. Yeah. Anything that he does is so awesome. I actually, my last album, I had a song called Edward Scissorhands. And, yeah. Just anything by him, it's so, it's so, I love it so much. No, you are, I'm manifesting a role in a Tim Burton movie. Could you imagine? Or a song or anything. You're perfect for it. Oh, thank you. Yeah. I mean, that's a dream, so. It would be so cool. Thanks. I'm, we can make that happen. We've spoken it into the world now. We need to know. You gotta get the moon water out or whatever. Like, we're manifesting, we're doing it all. Let's go, let's talk about the album again. We got to, we detoured. We detoured. First, like, what about this album? This album feels different from the rest of your work. I mean, I think over the last year, I've really just found my sound. And I got a lot more confident in my vision and my taste and what I like. And I, I just made this entire record, like, just using my intuition and being open to so many different sources of inspiration and creativity. And, yeah, I just, I, I didn't. I didn't try and force anything, and I just let myself be me completely. And, and I think you can kind of hear that in, in the songs. And so I, I think that's also like, I love this project so much. Me too. It's like, I, I don't think I've ever felt this way about any of the music that I've made before. And it's such like a freeing feeling. It just, it just feels, feels so good. And it's only going to get better. You're going to tour it. You're going to perform it. Like, yeah. Like it literally. We're, what, a week and a half out from it releasing? Like it, it, we're just, this is just the beginning. Yeah. I, I, what do you think you found about your sound? You know, you said you found your sound. Like what, what was the missing element that you found with this project? I think it, you know, it takes like a lot of like trial and error. Cause like there's, I also listened to so many different types of music, but, um, I feel like for a really long time, I like had this. This one sound. Then I tried to stick with it. And then for aftercare, I tried to like challenge myself and, and switch it up and do something completely different. And then I toured that album and I was like, I just felt so uncomfortable in my own skin trying to perform those songs because it wasn't me in like, cause also it's not just the music that you're writing and you're making, but as an artist, like you have to be. You have to overcome those songs and totally, I have to feel completely natural being on stage and singing it. And I realized, okay, I don't feel comfortable performing this type of music. And so I really went in with this project and I just thought about, okay, how do, how do I want to show up on stage? Like, how do I want to rock out with my band? Like what's going to make me feel the most confident and, and I love guitar. I love drums. Yeah. I also like, I started going back to all the music that I loved listening to. Um, and that was just like a lot of like sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, like rock and trip hop and in all of that. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to actually pull inspiration from my favorite types of music and my favorite genres and eras instead of, um, what is kind of happening now. Yeah. You know, I want to go back and. Like a more classic. Sound. Yeah. You feel it. Um, and I think there's like a more, like an interesting range of sound too. You know, like, like, like the guitars, they're talking about like Dracula. Like you're going to be banging the guitar and smashing on the stage. Just like that. Like it has that type of energy. Um, but not all the songs are on that are like that, which I, I enjoy. Yeah. We were talking about touring this album that you didn't resonate with. That was something I was, I was going to ask you about because you know, you have this very. Like deeply confession. Uh, professional style of songwriting and, and I think that that is something that's like very important between you and your fans and like the connection of like you have had a lot of very publicly traumatic experiences when you have to go and tour a song that is about that years later. Is that ever like painful? Like, do you feel like you're reliving it or is it like therapeutic? I think it's, it's both strangely. Um, I think when they're really fresh, that's when it's really hard. Um, cause yeah, I had this song called die first. That was really big on my very first, um, album and that was also my first tour to do, but then I recently lost my best friend and so I like couldn't play it because I was just in so much pain and then eventually I did it and just being in a room full of people, people singing that with me and also feeling how much they relate to it and they feel it too. It made me feel like I wasn't alone. And so that's when it started to become something that was really healing. Um, and also my song dying on the inside, um, a lot of my fans like that one, but there was a moment where I couldn't play it for a little bit because I was actively struggling with my eating disorder and it just, I was like, I, I can't get myself to do it, but then while I was in recovery, I started playing it and I was like, it gave me, yeah, it just gave me, um, uh, a sense of healing too when I did that. And so I think time heals and also just being with the fans, it makes it so much easier and I, I don't really go back in time anymore because I feel like they just, they give it a new meaning. You know, it's not just my song. That's what I was going to say. Um, I lived it. I wrote about it. And, and then it. It'll sting for a little bit, but after that it's like, it's their song too. It's you know, it just becomes so much bigger than that. And so, um, yeah, in a way it's like rewriting the experience by like giving it a new meaning, you know, like, cause it means something to them. And I think that's also a beautiful thing about music, you know, everyone like internalizes it and applies it to their own life and a song can take a completely different meaning than you intended it in like a beautiful way though. Yeah. I mean, let's talk about too fast to live too young to die. What was the inspiration for that title? So I thrifted a shirt that just said too fast to live too young to die. And we were in the studio and we didn't know what to write about and I went to the bathroom and um, I'm just like, I'm peeing and I'm like, I'm just trying to think about like, what am I supposed to say? And then I just like looked down at my shirt and I was like, Oh, that could be cool. And then I, and then we just, we did it. It was, it was the shirt, the shirt, the shirt did it. That is, there's a merge concept here of you like finding a way to do something with the shirt. Yeah. Um, beautiful universe moment though. Great song title. I know. Isn't it so good for a really long time too. I thought that that could have been the album title. Yeah. It was too fucking long. And I just, I just released an EP and the title was Jesus loves the prima donna and that was long. And I was like, I need to, I need to do something. Let's keep it concise on this one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, no, that's so cool. I love that. And like, so you too, you know what I mean? Like perfect. Sure. The life lesson is when you need musical inspiration, go to the thrift store. Oh my God. Yeah. Apparently. Yeah. You'd be surprised. No, seriously. Just scroll through the graphic DS and then you find, find a good quote. Um, tell me a bit about like what that song means and like the meaning of that phrase to you. Yeah. I mean, um, it's just about that, like reckless love, you know, and, um, just being so in it that you're, you're down to, to ride with them and to die for them very like Bonnie and Clyde song, which I've, I've always wanted to kind of make, make a song like that. And, um, yeah, and it was, that song was like fun to write too, because the, the chorus came so easy. And then when it came to the verses, sometimes when you have like such a, a big chorus and you like write it in like 10 minutes and you're like, Hey, this is great. And then the verses are like, Hey, what do I do now? But it was fun because we just, I decided to make it into a story. Um, and so, yeah, that one, that one, I was really able to like play around with it while also pulling in, um, any of the feelings that I've, I've had in the past. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And in the past, you know, that, that reckless sort of love. The Lemonati has spent decades keeping lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Their lemon agenda has infiltrated everything. Even our music. That hit song named after the color of lemons. Not a coincidence. Big Lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years. Think about it. But now 7up is fighting back with their new lime lemon soda. Now Lime comes first. Seven up. Flip this time. fall never arrives all at once first the air then the light and slowly the things you love begin to find each other a jacket meets a dress a hoodie slips beneath a blazer an old cap finds a new scarf because you don't simply step into the season you create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall find fall your way at ross yeah does love feel reckless to you oh i i think so i mean it's just so dangerous you know i feel like you're just you're you're you know opening yourself up into uh the possibility of getting hurt yeah you know and it really is that's like also inevitable like it either yeah it crashes and burns or you live happily ever after and you get married you know there's not really like an in-between and also this knowing of like 99.9 of the people that you do is not going to be the one that you're married oh my god yeah it is more it you know you're going into this thing with like this logical knowing and has a higher chance of failure than success but also like feeling so deeply that you can't not yeah which is this crazy crazy thing about love why why do you think we are like so eager to explore things we know are bad for us because we're human i think and i think that we crave anything that just excites us and makes us feel something and i think unfortunately the things that make us feel the most are the things that aren't healthy and that are bad for you totally you know and i also do feel like we we get comfortable in in that darkness and in that you know um just hurt and so you know when you're comfortable you start to crave it and um yeah i just think it's just the the human brain is just really really tricky sometimes tough and yeah often not working in our own favor oh no never never which is you know love that a fun thing that we get to deal with as people um a song that really really struck me on the album first listen um was candy i i'm interested to hear what the song means to you but like specifically this line that struck out to me was love is such a sin silly little me thinking love was more than sex work yeah do you feel like love can be sex work i think for me it felt that way um i'm not much of a i'm not a sexual person and i have a lot of trauma and just intimacy issues and yeah um i have noticed that when i am in a relationship with someone and there is someone that i'm supposed to feel comfortable with i you know being intimate is like my act of of love you know i'm doing it for that person yeah and then i just like ultimately end up feeling kind of like used and abused because you start to just look back on it and and think like there's just so many times i've just like been like okay wow like it didn't mean um as much as it does to me than it does to to someone else which is i think is a a really hard thing that i've learned throughout my life you know um that sex is just sex for a lot of people and you know when you're when you're really forcing yourself to to do that even though it is so uncomfortable and it's very and it's almost like painful at times um and just like you know like you're you're doing this big thing only at the end to realize like oh it meant nothing to them at the end of the day and and i've just i've just i've had a lot of traumatic stuff and i have never really um been able to talk about because i've talked about so much dark shit that happens in my life yeah in my songs but that is just like that's one thing that i have shied away from and um that's just been so so fresh and so raw and something i really didn't know how to put in words um i've never written a song about it before but then i i made candy and i feel like that's the closest i was um to kind of expressing that kind of like shame and that kind of dark thing that's been a part of me and i think for a really long time without you know being a little bit too honest yeah and i i think that that is such a fascinating concept for a song because it is such a real thing that happens in relationships and i couldn't name three other songs that are about it you know what i mean yeah it's so hard you know to love someone and like even the love can be mutual but like finding pace with like physicality is yeah it's completely own like big beast or like you know like you know like you know like thing to solve you know what i mean um and i think that that's why it was like such a prolific song to me too is is it's like wow like so many people have this experience yeah i mean just it just makes me really sick and i the when i released the album and i was reading a lot of the reactions and comments about candy like i was i was on my bed and i i was crying because it broke my heart that so many women and even like men could relate to it um but also like i just had this moment of like wow like i don't feel alone anymore and that was just like a small like drop of of that part of me and i was so scared to be so open about something like that and so um it just like it i thought it was just like so special it's it's sick that so many people relate to it it's terrible i hate it yeah but um i feel like there's some sense of like a safe place that we're able to build with each other um when we connect with songs like this yeah and also i think that that is like one of the most beautiful things about like your fandoms specifically too is like it is there are very few artists and i've really seen those are like the fans i think connect with you in a way and you connect with them in a way that is so personal you know what i mean yeah um and you know while that experience of like giving that drop of yourself was scary and terrifying i want you to remember this feeling the next time yeah you're writing and and afraid to give away that piece because i think if you look at like the history of your songwriting like every time you've done that it has been very well received and like felt and appreciated you know what i mean but i get it that's such a crazy concept of writing a song that you just don't want people to relate to yeah because the experience is rough oh yeah i think there's a lot of my songs where i'm just like yeah when i hear that people relate to them it's just like my my heart breaks all over again you're like damn i'm sorry girl i know i'm like fuck yeah you and me both i know yeah that's so crazy but i there is again like this interesting thing about the human experience of like so much bonding happens through shared pain yeah you know even like friendships and stuff or even like i literally remember my first job when i was 16 at the mall and like bonding with my friend because we hated our boss you know what i mean like like there is this like interesting thing of like a collective negative experience forms like solid yeah yeah it's so it's so important too and i also think like talking about really um just like big and important topics like this is is so special because like you need people to know that they're not alone but also too like sometimes like you don't really know what you're going through or how you feel is traumatic or mean something until you hear someone else talk about it and you're like oh wow i i am valid for how i feel and and you can kind of almost put like a name to it and it it kind of takes away some of that like baggage that you're you're carrying because like it's not this like thing that like you feel now you can be like okay like this this was wrong and these people feel this way too and now i have like you know this sense of um just like safety weirdly yeah yeah um and again i think that's also like a tough tough thing about when you're talking about like love and relationships is there's not there's not this concrete right and wrong most of the time no yeah it's like the i feel this way you feel this way um and you know not not always like a clear solution yeah uh especially like in love like the lines just get so blurred and it's just like there's so many complications and so many things involved and yeah it's it's it's tricky yeah something else i've i have always been interested in with like you as an artist um and like i really admired about your artistry is like you have insane output like you write but it's so much music all the time. And I think it's so cool because I talk to a lot of artists who are very the opposite and have like a really hard time releasing something or they'll write 200 songs and scrap 190 of them how how does like the release process feel for you as an artist I just like putting out music it's just it's really what it is I think it's just it's you know it's it's a high that I'm like constantly chasing um and it just it really is like literally like a release which is like it's so good to you know just to feel something so heavily that you want to write about it and you make a song and it's it's beautiful and you're like fuck yeah no it's just like I need the whole world to hear it because it shouldn't just be mine you know I think it's just like nothing I've never felt um the the high um in any forms of my life other than the high of um just making a good song and then like releasing it just like writing a good song and like loving it like nothing really beats that damn that's awesome though like you found the thing you were meant to do in life you know yeah but also too like it kind of does like fuck you up because then like obviously you have bad days in the studio where you walk away and you're like that song was trash but again that's it is the correlation between pain and pleasure that we've talked about before like in order in order for this to happen you have to love a song you have to hate five others you know like there has to be this like frame of reference constantly for you to be like that was a banger you know what I mean like and I think about that a lot like how how these experiences of good and bad pain and pleasure like yeah are eternally linked to one another but we view them as very like binary system you know I made a song it was good or bad instead of like I made five bad songs to like get out the idea yeah do you know what I mean and I feel like the creative process ends to be the second of the two a lot more often um I have a funny story I want to tell you where I just think it was an interesting story so I was at your um EP release party and I was talking to I'll keep the name out of it I was talking to one of the um executives at your label oh nice and she was like asking me this kind of happens to me or I'll be like random music and these things like some person will be like what people on the roster and they start like asking me questions yeah so she asked me you know like oh like who do you really like on the roster and like who are you interested in blah blah and I was saying names and I was like and it's like well like Nessa of course and her response was just like well obviously like who else and this way that was like so it was like so dismissive to the point that it was charming that like like obviously do you know what I mean and I was like I thought it was like really beautiful I've never had that sort of experience where someone at the label like spoke about an artist that way like it was almost silly to mention that like yeah you were incredible you know what I mean it's just something that everybody should know oh I love that and I thought it was really really beautiful you know I was like oh it's like cool that she has people there that are like yeah real believers you know what I mean yeah I mean like we're we're family now it's been like six seven years and it's just like they've they've been with me along along the way yeah so I feel like I'm I'm really blessed to have um you know so many people that still believe in me and in my project yeah and it's it is truly I think the most important thing for an artist you know I think a lot of people get trapped in that decision of like you know when they're doing the first like label meetings and you're kind of like dating right you're like going and like taking all the of like should I do this one or that one and I'm like I think who you're speaking with and who is like working on you matters more than like the institution oh 100 you know what I mean like they have to believe in you like the person that you are going to be working with and like they have to see the vision yeah um and I'm glad you have people who see the vision you know yeah uh this is kind of a random question but I just have to ask and also I do feel like is kind of sonically inspired by this album like tell me about performing with Lana Del Rey oh my god how did that happen I don't know um well everyone knows I'm like a Lana girl of course till the day I die yeah I'm obsessed with her I love her so much and um I randomly got a dm from her asking she asking if I wanted to um fly out to Alabama like that week to um play one of my songs with her for her like headlining set yeah at a festival and uh yeah I said hell yeah I do oh 100 I like actually like couldn't breathe like for a moment because I was just like oh my god what the fuck is this like it was a pinch me moment um but yeah I I canceled everything that I had that week I got on the next flight to Alabama and we sung American Jesus which that's so cool it was so cool and I just like I don't know like she's just like this like a real like just something about her and her her presence and oh my god yeah oh my god like I just I just fell in love with her even more and she's she's so sweet and yeah just like she's everything she is also like to me one of the like I remember in my youth like a very foundational artist of like scrolling on tumblr and like seeing fan edits of yeah you know and people making these like like these old movies and like putting them over her songs they'd be like Casablanca or something like that and I remember that being this like like gear shift in my mind of a child of like that's what like world building is yes right like the fact that some random 12 year old found this song and was like it perfectly matches the vibe of this random thing you know and like I don't know why like that was a formative experience of my youth of like and her music will always be that for me but I also think it's so cool of her that she like does that the lemonati has spent decades keeping lemon on top and lime in the shadows their lemon agenda has infiltrated everything even our music that hit song named after the color of lemons not a coincidence big lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years think about it but now 7up is fighting back with their new lime lemon soda now lime comes first 7up flip the sip fall never arrives all at once first the air then the light and slowly the things you love begin to find each other a jacket meets a dress a hoodie slips beneath a blazer an old cap finds a new scarf because you don't simply step into the season you create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall find fall your way at ross I know and like wants to do your song I know right I just like I just really couldn't believe it but that just says like how like kind her soul is and she's just like she's so supportive of everyone and in everything and I'll never forget like coming off of stage like after her set like we just hugged each other and she looked at me and she just told me how proud she was of me and I just like wanted to cry and I'm I was like I'm hugging her after after we just got off stage and I'm wearing a long top and I'm like oh my god I'm a del rey t-shirt like that's right and um yeah it was just one moment that i'll never oh yeah never forget well i think you gotta get her a too fast to live too young to die t-shirt there's something here i feel it um okay a question i always like to end the show with for people that are listening and they're gonna listen to the album yeah what is one song you really want them to like pay attention to or read the lyrics of or just something about it that you would like to to give them context to better understand the song what would that song be and sort of like what is that story i think i would have to say glamorous okay and it's just like so funny for because for so long i was like i only have like one sad song on the album that was candy yeah but because and i could just completely forgot about glamorous um because it just it sounds so like hot and so sexy and you know like yeah it makes you like want to dance and you feel like that bitch and um but like if you really pay attention and read the lyrics and listen to what i'm saying it's it's really dark it's it's really deep and it's just really real and it's all based off of true stories and um exactly everything that i've i've gone through um while living in la and trying to find my way out here and um and yeah it's just it's it's really sad when you like listen to it but also it's just like yeah like read the lyrics once and then then you can like dance to it yeah but again i love the contrast of that i know yeah i love like an up-tempo heartbreak song or like a down-tempo you know this is the best experience in my life song like those types of things are always cool to me um but nessa thank you for coming on the show dude i'm so glad we finally did this and i'm so happy to be here and i'm so happy to be here and i'm so happy to be here - I know, I'm so happy. - Me too, you are. You are so brilliant. You had such great takes about love and life. And I am obsessed with the album, truly. I can't wait to see you on tour. Thank you. Okay, well, we'll see you next week, y'all. Coca-Cola. For the big. For the small. The short. And the tall. Peacemakers. Risk takers. For the optimists. Pessimists. For long-distance love. For introverts and extroverts. The thinkers and the doers. For old friends and new. Coca-Cola. For everyone. Pick up some Coca-Cola at a store near you. First the air, then the light. And slowly the things you love begin to find each other. A jacket meets a dress. A hoodie slips beneath a blazer. An old cap finds a new scarf. Because you don't simply step into the season. You create it, layer by layer. Until it finally feels like fall. Bye.