Artist You Should Know: pronoun
Interview & Words by Jessica Klinner
Interview & Words by Jessica Klinner
One of the greatest things about the music industry is that there’s never a scarcity of new bands and artists to discover. That’s why we at Highlight love sharing our discoveries with you!
Today, we’d like to introduce you to pronoun, an emerging artist from Brooklyn who recorded her debut EP alone in her tiny apartment. The EP titled There’s no one new around you will be officially released on November 18 through the Jersey-based Rhyme & Reason Records. You can preorder the EP here.
We caught up with pronoun to find out about her background in music, new EP and why she won’t quit her day job.
You began working on music at an early age. What drew you to playing/writing/composing music that young? Did you have any formal lessons or were you self taught?
I was lucky to grow up with a very musical family. For a bit in elementary and middle school, I had taken lessons for piano, drums and guitar. I loved playing music but never considered making my own–I was more of a jock throughout those years. Around 14, I got really in to Dashboard Confessional’s acoustic stuff and decided to drop the sports and start creating. I think the lessons gave me a solid place to start, but I never took them back up again.
What did you study at Berklee and how has it helped or hindered you as an artist now?
I started off with music production and engineering. I really felt my place was to record and produce other artists. I loved it. My teachers and peers were amazing. It was a very small and tight knit group. Shortly into the major, I realized that it was, unfortunately, not likely a lucrative career choice. I decided to continue that major but take up music business just in case, which is actually what I now work in. Berklee was a special place, and it helped being around so many creative people, definitely unlike most groups you would be surrounded by in a normal college. I felt that, musically, I was far less talented than most, but I never really let that get to me. I felt I found my own little place within it all.
You’ve mentioned that when you started writing music again, you would do it after working your day job. Have you made the jump to full time musician yet? If so, what was the catalyst that made you leave your day job?
Not yet, and I don’t plan to right now. I love my job and everyone I work with. I get to be part of really special releases and have amazing colleagues who I can now call some of my best friends. Sometimes I wish it was more of a “I hate my job, I’m gonna make it big someday and leave.” [It] would be a cooler story and give me extra drive to keep creating, but that’s not the case. I’m lucky that I have time and passion for both.
All of your song titles are lowercase. Was this just an artistic choice or is there more to it than just aesthetic?
I personally find it more pleasing to my eyes to have everything lowercase, although me and my friends do have this joke that I am just a teeny, tiny, very small pronoun. Mostly because the music is so whispery and lonely. So the lowercase’s definitely play into that as well.
Is there a certain song on the EP that means the most to you? Why?
They all mean so much to me in different ways. “a million other things” touches on hope, “just cuz you can’t” touches on frustration and uncertainty, “til your legs give up” is a surrendering of sorts. I think “snowed in // there’s no one new around you.” means the most to me right now. It wraps up the EP with realizing “f*** this i deserve way better”. The other songs are less aggressive. When I wrote “snowed in,” it really brought me into the next phase for me emotionally. It’s the “I will not let you make me feel this way, and here’s why.”
With the songs being written during a heartbreaking time in your life, is it difficult to revisit those emotions when playing the songs now? Or has it helped you heal?
It comes and goes. Playing live right now is still super hard for me, but for different reasons. I don’t feel very comfortable with my voice or my guitar skills to start, and that affects my stage presence as a whole. I have only played two shows thus far, but sometimes I black out and get really in to it, like there’s no one in the crowd. The songs in general have helped the healing process. Sometimes I listen to them and I am like “Cool! I made these and I really love them!” Other times it’s more of like ” Oh wow, so that happened,” and it gets me upset all over again.
What do you hope listeners will take away from your debut EP?
Anything they want. Whether it be just listening to it in the background, or helping them through something they are going through. An acquaintance from high school messaged me out of the blue on Facebook last week and told me he stumbled upon “a million other things” and “just cuz you can’t” on Spotify. He explained he was having problems with his girlfriend, and it’s helping him a lot right now. At the end of the day, I made the whole EP for myself and my mental sanity. While creating it, I very much had that attitude of “This is for me, and me only.” I’m starting to understand that it’s more than that.
It was recently announced that you’ll be a SXSW official artist for 2017, which is so exciting! What else can we look forward to from you in the new year?
Well the EP will be coming out on November 18th. I also covered a Christmas song for the holidays, just for fun. For now, I am trying to focus on finishing up all my works and progress and compiling it into a full length record. Hopefully, I will be able to get that out around SXSW or a little after.
