If you love introspective DIY artists, you will surely fall in love with Gretchin’s music and the following interview.
If you like the artist, please support their work and follow them on social media.
Hello Gretchin! So happy to do this Q&A with you. Could you please describe yourself to everyone discovering you through this interview?
Hey! So lovely speaking to you. I am a queer indie pop artist from London making music in my bedroom.
Although you debuted in 2017, your latest music, “Petals On The Dash” and “Coffee (Voice Memo)”, are the beginning of a process of reintroducing yourself to the world. What can you tell us about how your recent life experiences and changes have been reflected on those tracks?
I think I have grown up a lot and become a lot more comfortable in myself as a person and artist. In the space between my last releases, I came out as queer, which definitely made me feel lighter and more inspired. I was navigating the world as myself for the first time and not someone I’d been pretending to be for a really long time which definitely made a difference. And I’m also just so much more confident now. I used to be in rooms with people making music, mostly men, and I was like 19 years old, feeling like they knew more than me. So I’d just not put my foot down or voice my opinion. But now I’m much more sure of myself; I know what I am doing, I know what I want to make, so I’m gonna be loud about it.
Your 90s-inspired indie-rock sound perfectly suits your endearing vocal delivery and your natural ability for engaging storytelling. What influenced you into this sound and style as a songwriter?
Thank you! I grew up listening to a lot of Jeff Buckley because my Dad was a huge fan. I think that was my first introduction to that kind of music; these ethereal vocals paired with sometimes heavier guitar sounds. I just remember being fascinated by the album “Grace” when I was like 9. I’ve always been drawn to that; I love The Cranberries, Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins.
You are currently working on an EP set to be released in early 2023. How is the recording process going? Anything in particular that you want to achieve with the EP as a Queer artist?
It’s been really fun! There’s been a lot of learning too. It’s all been recorded and produced from my bedroom with my brother, and we have really just been experimenting and learning as we go. I think I’d just love it to reach new people who might relate to the things I’m singing about. It’s been really fun playing live shows recently to people who have never heard my music before and then chatting with them after and hearing that they really related to one song in particular. It just feels so human, and you need that amidst all the maybe not-so-human parts of being a DIY Independent artist.
If you could highlight a lyric from all the songs you have been working on recently, which one would it be? Which one of those songs was the most difficult to write?
There’s a song that will be on the EP called Send Me Your Lover, which I am maybe the proudest of. It kind of wrote itself and was very cathartic for me, but I think the difficult part of it was it was the first time I’d felt like I was being so so honest in a song. I think prior to that, I maybe had talked myself out of saying certain things and been too self-aware about it all, but that song is very honest and vulnerable for me. A lyric that highlights everything perfectly is from my song Petals on the Dash, which is out now, “I’m always one step forward and two steps back somewhere in the bathroom having a panic attack.”
One dream collaboration? And one song that you would have loved to write?
It’s my dream to work with The 1975, to be honest. And hmmm so many, but right now, Tracy Chapman – Baby Can I Hold You. So perfect.
If you could only listen to one album or artist for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
Ahh, that’s so tough… Pulp- Different Class.
And the last question and please feel free to open up about anything. What’s the most important thing you want to tell people about yourself and your music?
I’m making music about that second adolescence that happens when you’re in your 20s. I’m still discovering myself and my sound and evolving. I used to think I had to do all that in private and that I couldn’t release anything until I was this concrete person, but that doesn’t ever happen. Doing it ‘publicly’ with my music is cathartic, and I hope people can relate to it on some level.
