0:15

Pushkin. Layvey's

0:20

fast rise to fame is a pandemic success

0:23

story. During Lockdown,

0:25

the twenty four year old multi instrumentalist built

0:27

a substantial following on social media,

0:29

where she was known as Jazz Girl.

0:32

Since then, the Icelandic Chinese singer

0:34

songwriter has released two studio albums

0:37

that blend classical pop and jazz

0:40

perfectly, and while working

0:42

in the style of artists like Elia Fitzgerald and Chet

0:44

Baker may seem unlikely for a Gen Z artist,

0:47

her music has proved to resonate deeply

0:49

with young audiences. The first

0:51

single from her most recent release, Bewitched,

0:54

has been streamed over twenty million times

0:56

globally since it's released a couple months back,

0:59

and the album itself was the largest jazz

1:01

debut on Spotify ever. Layvay's

1:04

online performances first went viral in twenty

1:07

twenty while she's attending Boston's prestigious

1:09

Berkeley College of Music. Raised

1:11

in Iceland, Layve started playing cello and classical

1:13

piano when she was just four years old.

1:16

By fifteen, she was performing with the Icelandic

1:18

Symphony Orchestra as a cello soloist.

1:21

The Chinese side of her family has been studying

1:23

classical music for generations. LaVey's

1:26

mom as a professional violinist and a

1:28

maternal grandfather taught violin at

1:30

China's Central Conservatory of Music,

1:33

and while Lave's classical training runs deep,

1:35

perhaps the most surprising thing about her sent to stardom

1:38

is the fact that she's now known as a singer songwriter

1:40

as much as a musician. On

1:43

today's episode, I talked to Leave about how

1:45

she started singing jazz standards online

1:48

and what inspired her to write her own songs

1:50

as well. She also talks about

1:52

the great sacrifices her Chinese family

1:54

made during the Cultural Revolution when there

1:56

was a strict band on playing classical

1:58

Western music, and she

2:01

sings two original songs for us, including

2:03

her single from the Start.

2:07

This is broken record. I don't know

2:09

it's for the digital age. I'm justin Mitchell.

2:12

Before we jump into my interview with Levey, let's

2:14

hear her sing an acoustic condition of her song from

2:17

the Start live.

2:25

Don't you knows how

2:28

I get quiet when there's

2:31

no one else surround

2:35

me and you and awkward

2:37

silence.

2:38

Don't shut look

2:41

at me that way?

2:44

I don't need to.

2:45

Remind herself how you don't

2:48

feel the same. Oh

2:50

the burdening pain

2:53

listening to your heart bumbous

2:57

news song made, She's

3:00

so perfect, blah blah blah.

3:03

How I wish you

3:05

wake up one day?

3:09

Fun to me confess your

3:11

little bell yst Just let me

3:13

say that when

3:16

I talk to you, Oh

3:18

cute b walks right

3:20

through and shoots on the

3:23

or through.

3:24

My herd

3:27

and I sound like aloon.

3:30

But don't you feel

3:32

to confess I've learned

3:35

from the start.

3:40

I love that I sound like a loon line such

3:43

a great play on word. Yeah,

3:48

in such a little time, you've gotten so successful,

3:51

I feel I can confidently say

3:53

that I should mention you. I mean, your album

3:56

was like the highest

3:58

debuting jazz album,

4:01

dare I say on Spotify? You know, if you

4:03

admit it to jazz, it is.

4:04

So so so wild. It was very

4:07

I you know, I I would have never expected

4:10

that that could be the outcome for the

4:12

kind of music that I make. You know, I

4:15

really set out to just make the music

4:17

that I loved and hope that people would listen.

4:19

And the fact that they have is

4:22

is very very special. I kind

4:24

of can't believe it.

4:26

I might go all over the places because you're a relatively

4:28

new artist. I don't know a ton about you in your route

4:30

to where is this place now?

4:33

It's a cuitous. It's like you it's confusing,

4:35

like where you came from before LA

4:38

and where you you know, there's a lot of many stops

4:40

stops. So how long have you been

4:42

in LA now?

4:43

A little over two years.

4:44

And you came to LA from.

4:47

It's kind of confusing. But d

4:50

C kind of because my

4:52

parents lived in DC while I went to Berkeley,

4:55

and then because.

4:56

Great parents, so they moved to the States.

4:58

Yeah, you know, it just was coincidental

5:00

actually, but because my dad worked

5:03

in DC, like between Iceland and d C, so

5:06

when.

5:06

My kids go to college, I'll also accidentally

5:08

have some work to do.

5:10

But it was so nice. It was so nice

5:13

because then what happened is COVID struck, right,

5:16

instead of going back to Iceland,

5:18

where I would have, you know, otherwise gone, I

5:21

went to d C. So I stayed in the States and

5:23

you know, had employment authorization and stuff

5:26

like that. So it was like actually quite integral

5:28

to me being able to start this career

5:30

during that time.

5:31

I think, So how much Berkeley

5:33

did you do remote?

5:35

Like from d I mean after I

5:37

did one and a half year in person and

5:39

then and then the rest online. Wow,

5:42

but I did graduate.

5:43

Congratulations.

5:45

That's it's no, it's

5:47

just it's a rare one. It's not considered

5:49

very cool to graduate.

5:51

But wow, No, I know some

5:53

cool people though that have graduated from.

5:56

Yeah, some of us make it all.

5:57

Look at you, you're

5:59

setting a new tone for Yeah.

6:02

You know.

6:02

The standard is that if you dropped

6:04

out, you made it. If you if you if you graduated,

6:06

you won't make it.

6:07

I'm always curious about Berkeley experience

6:10

because it's such a unique school

6:12

with such unique, very driven students.

6:15

For one, you know what I mean, I feel like students

6:17

who very much want to they want it,

6:19

they want it, and they want it like not. You

6:21

know. I feel like if you go to a traditional

6:23

four year institution where it's

6:26

it's much more, where it's focused on academics,

6:28

there's a sense of like, you know, it might take a while to

6:31

get into your profession, you might take

6:33

a detour through graduate school or

6:36

whatever. And you know, I

6:38

know, like with Berkeley kids, it's like, to your point,

6:40

they want to make it before they even graduate.

6:43

So that's a drive amount of pressure.

6:45

It is and I think strangely

6:48

I didn't put that pressure on myself because

6:50

I came from such an academic

6:52

background and my twin sister

6:55

went to like a four year university

6:57

in Scotland that was very much not like a music

6:59

school, so I was almost on that path. I think

7:02

I was different from a lot of kids at Berkeley

7:04

in that I came there quite open

7:07

minded and curious about what it was

7:09

that I was able to do within the walls of Berkeley.

7:12

Because I came in as a cellist, right like, I

7:14

was on a scholarship to play cello. I

7:16

didn't go as a singer or a writer or anything

7:19

like that, and I kind of was like, Okay, I want

7:21

to do a little bit of everything and see what I can do. And

7:23

part of me just felt like it was so unrealistic to

7:25

become a singer that I just didn't even you

7:27

know, dip too much into it.

7:29

So sit your track with cello, but you also

7:31

want to pursue sing and a writing or you're curious about that?

7:33

Absolutely?

7:34

Yeah.

7:34

I mean I you know, I wanted to be

7:36

a singer the most, but it just felt very

7:39

unrealistic, which is.

7:41

Funny because it wasn't well,

7:43

yeah, I mean growing.

7:44

Up in Iceland, it's not something you see that often,

7:47

you know, you're not immersed in that, and like, yeah,

7:50

I don't know. I think I also like to play it safe as

7:52

a kid, right, And I didn't want to. I

7:54

was a little bit scared of dreaming outside

7:56

of the box, if you will. And I was like, who

7:59

am I to think that I can

8:01

do that? You know? I was also taught to like I've

8:04

come from my mother's Chinese and you

8:06

know, the Chinese kind of my Chinese

8:08

culture, sure, and background has definitely taught me

8:10

like you have to manage expectations,

8:13

stay humble, work very hard. Like those

8:15

are the three kind of pillars.

8:17

Manage expectations, they work.

8:19

Really hard, Yeah, exactly, Like obviously

8:21

like dream strive for big things, but like

8:23

in a very realistic way, in

8:25

a way that you work your way up to it, you know,

8:28

whereas like I think the

8:30

American dream is like a little

8:32

bit more delusional,

8:34

but in a really good way, do you know

8:36

what I mean? And now I've t but

8:40

I've tapped into that delusion now, But

8:43

I think you know that's that's you know, I

8:46

mean, in many in many ways, whether it be

8:48

a good thing or a bad thing. I think that's why a lot of Americans

8:50

succeed in really fantastic ways again,

8:53

whether it be good or bad, because.

8:54

Also why we like fail spectacularly

8:56

even after having succeeded.

8:59

Yeah, I mean, you know, big, big wins

9:01

and big losses come from big risks, and

9:04

Americans and American kids

9:06

are taught to take big risks. I

9:08

think a lot of my not even

9:10

my parents. I think I was just a very safe and calculated

9:13

child, so I didn't dare to take big risks. But

9:15

now I take really big risks.

9:16

That's great, even doubt. What was your first encounter

9:19

with American culture as a delusional

9:22

As.

9:22

A delusional I mean I went to elementary

9:24

school in the States

9:26

from age of six to nine. That was like the

9:29

first time I remember encountering

9:31

American culture.

9:32

Do you remember how you felt before you got

9:34

here, like being told you're going to come here and

9:36

just sort.

9:37

Of your feel Yeah, I mean I think, you know, I

9:39

was five years old, so I wasn't thinking

9:41

too much about it. I think I was excited to get

9:43

to move to a new country. I mean

9:45

I didn't speak English very well

9:48

or at all, so I

9:50

remember Icelandic and Chinese

9:52

Chinese. I remember just how

9:55

encouraged we were to speak up, like

9:58

public speaking. There was an emphasis on that,

10:00

even from you know, age six. In

10:03

my you know, public school in DC, it

10:05

was a lot of like show and tell, sharing,

10:09

you know, reading out loud, stuff

10:11

like that. From a very early age that I

10:14

didn't feel like there was as

10:16

much of an emphasis on. And I

10:18

think what resulted was like kids were quite

10:21

open and they were which was great for

10:23

me coming from a different country especially.

10:25

I mean I lived in Washington, d C. And

10:28

though it was like a public school, it was very

10:30

international just because the nature of the neighborhood

10:33

I lived in. There were a lot of like children

10:35

who had parents who worked in you know, international

10:37

service. So because

10:40

these kids were very international and because they were very

10:42

outspoken, I think they accepted kids

10:44

quite easily. So that was actually really good.

10:47

But I remember just always thinking, you

10:49

know, Americans and American culture

10:52

was quite extroverted compared to a

10:55

more introverted Icelandic culture, and I knew

10:57

that from a very young age.

10:58

It seems like was it uncomfortable to start.

11:01

No, not at all. And I think, you know, six to nine,

11:03

which is the time that I lived in America as

11:06

a kid, there's such formative years

11:08

and they taught me to become very expressive.

11:12

And I think when I took that expression,

11:15

like that expressive nature back

11:17

to Iceland when I was

11:19

like nine, eight or nine, in the middle of

11:21

the recession in two thousand and eight, I

11:24

felt quite loud. I quite felt really

11:26

larger than life, like really big, and

11:28

that was kind of something that I

11:31

dealt with for a while in Iceland.

11:33

What about at home? Was it encouraged

11:35

at home to be sort of living out loud?

11:38

Yeah?

11:38

Absolutely. My parents were

11:40

super, super encouraging of me

11:43

being an artist as well, like they from

11:45

a very young age. But it was I

11:47

had a very disciplined

11:50

childhood, not in a bad way, but in that

11:52

you know, I knew I came home from school and I practiced.

11:54

I was, you know, treading a pre professional

11:56

classical music path.

11:58

And that's because your mom, my mom is.

12:00

A classical violinist. Yeah, So from

12:03

age four I started playing classical piano

12:05

and cello and it just kind of became

12:07

a part of life, just as going to

12:10

elementary school becomes a part of your life. You

12:12

know, you go to math, you go to English,

12:14

you go to science, it come home you have an hour piano, hour

12:16

of cello, an.

12:17

Hour of piano, hour of cello before even an

12:19

hour of homework.

12:20

Yes, before homework. Yeah, but

12:23

in Iceland there isn't much homework. That's

12:25

nice, very nice. Yeah, yeah,

12:28

you know, I I would

12:30

say that the nature of

12:32

schooling in Iceland is a lot more relaxed.

12:35

And you know, there's no private school. Everyone goes

12:37

to the public schools. There's no you

12:40

know, the kind of hierarchy of schools that has been

12:42

set up in the States that you know follows

12:44

you all the way down to college. You know, like

12:47

people thinking about how they can set themselves

12:49

up to get to a good university

12:51

from the age of like six or seven. That mentality

12:54

just doesn't really exist in Iceland.

12:57

There a big class dichotomy.

12:58

They're like no, no, no, I would

13:00

say, I mean, of course, like like everywhere,

13:03

you know, there's but the wealth

13:05

gap in Iceland is generally

13:07

compared to other countries quite small.

13:09

Wow.

13:10

And it's a social democratic

13:12

country, and it's you know, follows kind

13:14

of Scandinavian principles and

13:17

you know, you have free free health care and education

13:19

or very very low low cost, which

13:22

is you know nice, It's.

13:24

Great that you got to bounce between.

13:27

Yeah, I definitely experienced both.

13:29

And you know, I spent every summer in China as

13:31

while growing up, so so I

13:33

have extreme Yeah, I was Actually

13:35

I was in China just a couple of days ago.

13:37

I was there for ten days, playing

13:40

a bit. But it was my first time back

13:42

since COVID, and it was nice to revisit

13:44

that as the adult that I've become since.

13:47

How was it? What was that? And do you saw family there?

13:49

Yes, my grandmother lives there. She

13:51

she's a professor, was a professor at the Central

13:53

Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and

13:56

my grandfather was as well, who's who's now

13:58

passed. So the classical music routs run

14:00

run quite deep. But yeah, she was

14:02

there, and I played with a China Philharmonic in

14:04

Beijing, and I think it was very special

14:07

for her to see that. Actually,

14:09

my grandfather was a violin professor and a lot of

14:11

his students were in the workstrane. It was,

14:14

it was it was a fun full

14:16

circle moment.

14:17

When did your grandfather pass?

14:19

Two thousand and nine?

14:20

So you were young quite a while ago. They were

14:22

quite young. He should get to talk to his former

14:24

students about him at all.

14:26

Yes, absolutely, and I remember him very

14:28

vividly. He was like a larger than life person.

14:30

I've actually been told that that I

14:32

resemble him in many ways, which is, you

14:35

know, such an honor. And you know, he really

14:38

loved music so much, and he

14:40

loved jazz music as well, and loved

14:43

like musical theaters, so I kind

14:45

of, you know, his idea

14:47

of music was it was just such

14:49

a musical thing, right, you know, I feel like you

14:51

can split music into two

14:54

kind of things. In my head

14:56

at least, it's like you have the technique and you have

14:58

the musicality. If you have both

15:00

your stellar I definitely

15:03

lean musical like I I

15:05

mean I've I've definitely you know, worked

15:07

up a foundation of technic, but I was never that

15:10

good at practicing. And I definitely leaned

15:12

in onto the fact that I onto.

15:15

The musicality that you had like an ear.

15:17

And yeah that and

15:19

feel for things exactly kind of the stuff

15:22

that you don't need to practice as

15:24

much to a metron to a literal

15:26

metronome.

15:26

But I was always my failing. I could never

15:29

I never practice. I hated practicing to a metronome

15:31

as I was always told my time.

15:32

Oh my god. To this day, the sound of a

15:34

metronome like triggers me, Like I get

15:37

like a physical reaction to a metronome,

15:39

which is great now because you know,

15:41

I sing to click sometimes, which I

15:44

didn't even know was a thing until two

15:46

years ago. Maybe when I started working in

15:49

music. It like bewildered

15:51

me so much that like on stage

15:53

there would be like a constant metronome

15:55

in my ear. It's funny.

15:57

Do you do it in studio two when you're recording?

15:59

Rarely? Sometimes, but I try.

16:02

I always try without click before I do it with

16:04

click.

16:04

Yeah, I would imagine if it triggers

16:06

you that much.

16:07

Yeah, well, I think

16:09

you know, I've earned it that I

16:11

can. I can kind of just let the music live.

16:14

But yeah, of course sometimes I need

16:16

to be, you know, pushed into place by a click.

16:18

Yeah, sure enough. We

16:20

have to take a quick break and then we'll come back with

16:22

more of my interview with Lave. We're

16:28

back with more from lay. May you

16:31

know, certainly mid century

16:34

Russia for instance, would

16:36

have and you know, Cuba

16:38

rock and roll would have been outlawed. I

16:40

don't know if jazz was the same, but it

16:42

certainly would have been hard to get a hold of

16:45

jazz records and things. I'd imagine, right.

16:47

Like h yeah,

16:49

I mean, well in the sixties and

16:51

seventies and in China, you

16:54

know, there was a cultural revolution, so

16:58

Mao and the and the Communist

17:00

Party, they basically, you

17:03

know, outlawed any type of foreign

17:05

influence and Western influence,

17:08

and there was just kind of like a grand scale focus

17:10

on all things just Chinese

17:13

like looking within. So my grandparents,

17:16

who who were professors

17:18

at the Central Conservatory of Western

17:21

Classical Music that was considered

17:23

you know, the bourgeoisies. So they actually

17:25

went to re education camp and

17:28

lived in the countryside for a while and were like

17:30

rice farmers and whatnot. And my mom grew

17:33

up in a boarding school because of that, and they

17:36

couldn't play any Western classical music,

17:38

no Western music at all, and it

17:40

like it goes so far. I've heard the craziest

17:42

stories from that time. But yeah,

17:45

my mother kind of grew up in that world,

17:47

and my grandparents also went

17:50

through that. I mean, my mother even

17:53

like down to the clothes that you wore, you like couldn't wear any

17:55

you couldn't wear bell bottom jeans or anything, which

17:57

was you know, in style at that time in the Western

17:59

world. My grandmother naturally has

18:01

curly hair, which is very very rare

18:04

in China, and the Communists thought

18:06

that she had permed

18:08

her hair, which was you know, Western influence,

18:10

so she had to put her hair up in a silk

18:13

scarf every day for years. Really

18:16

well, and none of them played music for the longest

18:18

time, or at least the you know,

18:20

the classical music that they were trained in.

18:22

How does your mom end up back playing.

18:25

Well, I mean she always she played violin.

18:27

She just couldn't play you know, it had to be Chinese

18:30

music, got it. I think, you know, my mother

18:32

was just so in that world that she, you

18:34

know, that that was the only path she could tread.

18:37

And I think that's why my mother so emphasized

18:39

kind of me and my sister's freedom

18:41

to do whatever we wanted and become

18:44

whatever kind of artists we wanted.

18:45

And because it was sort of so because it was.

18:47

So strict as she was growing up and she didn't

18:49

really have that freedom of choice, and so

18:52

she she just kind of let us do whatever

18:55

we want.

18:55

And like that an hour of practice immediately

18:57

after school is it's much

19:00

more lenient than.

19:00

Whatever Oh, my god,

19:02

definitely. I mean the way that my

19:05

I'm so thankful for that because I'm still

19:07

running off of that technique.

19:09

Do you still try to day?

19:10

No, not nearly as much as I did as a kid,

19:12

But you know, the hard work that I put in as a kid

19:15

is still paying off today because when

19:17

I'm like on strenuous touring schedules

19:19

or recording for hours on end, you know, the

19:22

stamina that I've gotten from all of

19:24

those years of practicing and kind

19:26

of the focus that I've gotten,

19:28

those skills still are lasting me at

19:30

this age, which is which is really really

19:32

great. But you know, I think

19:35

that's another reason I really love

19:37

the fact that I live in a time where I can

19:39

mix so many genres together. You

19:41

know, like they couldn't do anything of

19:43

the sort, and I'm just like, oh, I'm

19:45

going to mix jazz and pop and classical

19:47

together and present it however

19:50

I want. And the fact that we have that

19:52

freedom now is wild. I mean, it wasn't

19:54

so long ago that my grandparents

19:57

and my mother couldn't play even classical

19:59

music.

20:00

I am so glad that you're doing it too. You

20:02

know. It feels like we go

20:04

back to an American culture.

20:06

In Western culture, we do go back a lot,

20:09

but I feel like an era we haven't

20:11

revisited in a long time is

20:14

sort of that mid century jazz,

20:17

right, that musical world that existed

20:19

then, and it's so ripe for reimagining

20:21

because it's so expressive, so

20:24

emotional, and so musically sound, and

20:26

even the opening of your record

20:29

that sounds both like modern production

20:31

and like old production simultaneously.

20:34

And I think that's kind of like the brilliance of certain

20:37

people your age, some of your cohorts. I

20:39

guess we would say, who are sort of doing that, you know,

20:41

mixing these things up?

20:42

Yeah, thank you so much. I mean, that's

20:45

kind of that's definitely the goal to kind of hark

20:47

back to that time. And I think that's

20:49

the music I've just always loved so much.

20:51

And when I started singing, I immediately started

20:54

singing jazz standards and

20:56

like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday

20:58

and Chat Baker where And then also

21:01

on top of that, like the songs from

21:03

Golden Age films were

21:05

the only music I really listened to, Like

21:08

there's no other music I could make, Like that's the

21:10

music I wanted to make so much that

21:12

you know, whether it worked out or not, I was going to

21:14

continue doing it, you know. But

21:17

I also did find there was especially

21:19

when I started out and I was just posting like little

21:21

videos of me singing jazz standards online,

21:24

I found that there was such a gap for this

21:26

generation. No one was really doing it, but

21:29

nobody seemed to really dislike the music

21:31

that much. Like it's the bones

21:34

of the music is so good, right, these jazz

21:36

standards. There's just good songs that have lasted

21:39

for so long and have been honestly

21:41

like have been sampled so many times. And

21:43

jazz is kind of like the root of all modern music,

21:46

right. It's something that is

21:48

so prevalent in pop music and hip

21:50

hop and R and B. So actually

21:53

like.

21:53

Down to and to your point of it being the backbone,

21:55

because I think most of them, like the blues

21:57

is being the back but really coming

21:59

out of the big band era, like

22:02

bebop groups taking it down to like the bare

22:04

essentials of it. Might be a trio or might be a quartete.

22:07

I mean that's rock and roll. It's like three or.

22:08

Four hund's

22:11

all. It's all connected. And so

22:13

I think, you know, I tend to think the gen z

22:15

ear is actually really trained well for

22:17

jazz music and we've been like subconsciously

22:20

fed it for many, many years. So

22:23

I also think that the timing of music

22:25

now is like this new

22:28

audience of music listeners. They don't really care

22:30

what the music, you know, what era

22:33

resembles, if anything, if it resembles another

22:35

era, Like you're hearing these huge resurgences

22:38

in like nineties rock sound,

22:40

punk rock. Honestly like every seventies

22:43

music like Fleetwood Mac had a big moment

22:45

and talk recently during the exactly

22:47

it's like all music is coming back. I think

22:50

what gen Z cares about is

22:52

connecting to the artists, connecting to the lyrics,

22:54

connecting to the story. And jazz

22:56

is really good storytelling, I think, really

22:59

so Yeah, it's fun that we live in a time

23:02

where we can mix so many genres together and kind

23:04

of make it our own.

23:05

How did it come to be that standards ended up

23:07

being the first thing that you were singing, like, did you and counted

23:09

them through film or through radio?

23:14

No, Well, my father loved jazz music, so we played

23:16

a lot of jazz music in the house. And you know, as

23:18

a kid, I listened to pretty much only classical music,

23:21

and then I really liked, you know, obviously,

23:23

like the other kids of that time when I was like

23:26

seven or eight, I loved like Taylor Swift

23:28

and Miley Cyrus and whatever, but I couldn't

23:30

hear any of myself in those singers.

23:32

I've always had quite a deep voice, and

23:34

when I started singing, I just immediately

23:37

started. I think the first song I remember like

23:39

learning and like performing at

23:41

a like a singing show was

23:43

Singing in the Rain, So

23:46

and then I just naturally, you know, I

23:48

just listened to so much Ella Fitzgerald that I

23:50

just kind of like, you know, started

23:52

singing all the songs that she had in our repertoire,

23:54

which kind of ended up being just the Great

23:56

American songbook.

23:59

Ella talk about the sort of the spectrum

24:01

of technique and feel,

24:03

Yeah, I mean she has it all.

24:08

When you both stellar and she is

24:10

the epitome of that.

24:12

Yeah, It's like a few people like her. Stevie Wonder's

24:14

another who exactly you hear it less, but

24:16

with Ell it's more obviously she has the technique

24:18

exactly.

24:19

Yeah, it's true musicianship,

24:21

and I think coming from a classical music background,

24:24

I recognize that within her performing

24:27

and and also just growing

24:29

up a cellist. Like she sounds like a cello.

24:32

She sings like a cello in her

24:34

voice, like the tombre of it and the vibrato,

24:37

the approach, the legato. It's

24:39

very cellistic.

24:41

Interesting. I have to listen for that.

24:43

Yeah, it's like so obvious

24:45

once you think about it.

24:47

I've been on an Ella kick recently and you're just

24:49

trying. Yeah, just because just

24:51

because she's so good. I haven't listened in a while. And

24:53

honestly, we named my youngest daughter, we

24:55

named her after Ella Fitzgerald, Peter

24:58

Ella, and she's just starting to get

25:00

into music, so I think good. I say

25:02

it just randomly, but it's probably because I'm trying

25:04

to like subconsciously get

25:06

her and stuff, you know, because she around

25:09

the piano and sing and stuff. So I'm like, I'm hoping she

25:11

goes that direction. But yeah, just you know, I'm

25:13

not a great pians by any measure, but

25:15

I love just messing around.

25:16

And it's like you can learn a lot just mess around

25:19

so much. You can learn so much by messing around.

25:21

I mean nothing I do within the jazz world

25:24

aside from the singing portion. But I

25:26

came from a classical piano background, right,

25:28

so I was very I was conditioned to

25:30

do what the page told me to do, what

25:33

the music told me to do. And then when I

25:35

started singing jazz and I wanted to accompany

25:37

myself, I started just like slowly learning the

25:39

chords. And I'm by no means a jazz

25:41

pianist, so like what I do is not maybe

25:44

based in the most of technique, it's

25:47

more based on feel, which

25:49

took me a really long time to kind of allow

25:51

myself to do. Like in my I

25:53

think in my first recordings, I was like a little

25:55

bit embarrassed to play because I was like, I'm not

25:57

a jazz pianist. Like, but

26:00

when the first jazz pianists came about, they

26:02

weren't jazz pianists either. They were just messing

26:04

around as well they were.

26:05

And so many, so many of the greats

26:08

who even became like great in terms of technique

26:10

and a revered for technique, they came from

26:13

playing other styles, you know exactly,

26:15

and just by circumstances they had to

26:17

record in jazz or play with the jazz group or

26:19

something, and then they picked it up and learned it over.

26:21

Well that's how yeah, I was reading a Bill

26:24

Evans biography the other day actually,

26:26

and like he started out as a classical

26:29

pianist and then just like kind of started newdling

26:31

his way in and learning about it. And I

26:33

was very inspired. I was like, I should do that. But

26:36

I'm a huge Bill Evans found and it made a

26:38

lot of sense because I can hear a lot of like classical

26:41

technique and ideas. You

26:43

know, it's very based and technique. But

26:45

yeah, it's so cool. I mean, my life

26:47

as a musician and my musicianship

26:49

got a whole lot better when I allowed myself to mess

26:51

around and make mistakes.

26:53

It's pretty obvious how like the

26:55

Bill Evans and the Al FitzGeralds of the world

26:58

like influence your your sound and

27:00

your music and your feel for things. Less

27:03

obvious is, I guess, like the Taylor

27:05

Swift side of things, which I guess you grew up listening

27:07

to as well. Absolute, But I'm

27:10

wonder if that's more in the approach to

27:12

yourself as an artist. I think so, yeah.

27:14

I think you know the way that her artist's

27:17

trajectory, just the way that she's kind of

27:19

been able to stay true to herself

27:22

whilst climbing over different

27:24

genres and every time she

27:26

moves and changes a bit, you know, she retains

27:28

her fans and gains new ones,

27:30

and people respect her as an artist as a

27:32

person, so they follow the music

27:35

that she puts out. And I also

27:37

think for Taylor, for me, it's

27:40

the storytelling aspect as well, Like she

27:42

had me believing in these stories when

27:44

I was like nine years old and I had never even

27:47

talked to a boy before. And there's

27:49

such there's such power in that being

27:51

able to convince someone of a

27:53

story because they've just told it

27:55

so well and so beautifully.

27:57

So so yeah, I think's been someone of the dynamics

28:00

of something. You know, it's like exactly of

28:02

how it will be when you finally Yeah.

28:04

Well, there's so many songwriters that, like my

28:06

music doesn't really you know, come close

28:08

to resemble, but I'm just so inspired by

28:10

like their lyricism and their approach.

28:12

You know. It's like I love Carol

28:14

King as well, and like the Carpenters

28:17

and down to like Sarah Brellas.

28:20

Like, my inspirations are kind of all over the place,

28:22

but they're all like very potent songwriters.

28:24

Yeah, have you gotten into Jonny Mitchell

28:26

yet?

28:27

I was gonna mention Joni Mitchell as well. Yeah,

28:29

but yeah, I mean, and some of her stuff, She's done

28:32

some really cool string stuff as well, like orchestral

28:34

sounding stuff, which I obviously really

28:36

admire.

28:37

I imagine you probably want to start doing something

28:39

like that, Yeah, yeah, or dabbling with that.

28:41

I loved, speaking of the orchestral

28:43

side of things. I loved your song California

28:46

and me, oh, thank you my

28:48

favorite song on the I mean show, ittle

28:50

change, But over the last week and a half or

28:52

so, that's been like dialed in is my favorite.

28:55

Thank you so beautiful.

28:57

I love that one.

28:58

Yeah.

28:58

I obviously having a classical music

29:00

background, I always wanted to find ways of bringing

29:03

that into a new audience

29:06

of listeners who maybe have never

29:08

gotten to experience and listening to a symphony

29:10

orchestra or the sound world

29:12

that a symphony orchestra lives

29:14

in. And I'm so aware

29:16

of how that world is, you

29:19

know, kind of unapproachable and unaccessible

29:21

for a pop music audience, for a young

29:23

audience, for people that didn't

29:25

grow up within the world like me, and

29:28

I just kind of want to find a way always

29:30

to bring it down, to bring

29:33

it down to earth a little bit, and bring it

29:35

to bring it to the

29:37

people again, like this classical

29:39

music, jazz music was meant for people.

29:41

The fact that it's seems like something

29:44

that's only for the educated now exactly,

29:46

it's really how highbrow

29:49

exactly is so disappointing to me because

29:52

because I understand those worlds so well, Like

29:54

I went to classical conservatory and then I went to

29:57

jazz conservatory. I know how those worlds

29:59

are, and I've made an

30:01

angled approach to not kind

30:03

of end up in those worlds, like taking

30:06

those worlds and bring it to

30:08

people who like don't typically

30:10

listen to jazz or typically listen to classical

30:13

music. Like My hope, of course is that

30:15

you know, the people within those educated worlds are okay

30:17

with what I'm doing, but at the end of the day,

30:21

at the end of the day, I'm making it for the people

30:24

who don't have access to that music.

30:26

So well, Okay, to

30:28

that point, overall, what was your Berkeley

30:31

College of Music experience?

30:33

My Berkeley College and Music experience,

30:37

it was It was good. I mean,

30:39

the school invested a

30:41

lot in me, and they

30:44

gave me one of their presidential scholarships,

30:46

so it covered everything, and

30:48

so I you know, I didn't have to worry

30:50

about that component of it while I was at Berkeley,

30:53

which I know is you know, it's it's

30:55

not an inexpensive school by any means, and

30:57

I think having that looming over you

30:59

can definitely change the experience.

31:02

So I was very lucky to have kind of like

31:04

a stress pre experience in that sense.

31:06

So I got to kind of go in with a very clear

31:08

mind. I was very privileged to get

31:10

to go in with a clear mind and think,

31:13

just Okay, what can I do here? How

31:15

can I make music? And make music

31:18

twenty four to seven.

31:19

Are there as many people there as open to

31:21

what music can be as you because my sense

31:23

of things is that people can be very narrow

31:26

about what jazz

31:28

is defined as and narrow about what

31:31

they do instrumentalist, And this.

31:33

Is absolutely

31:35

I mean I remember even at Berkeley,

31:37

like I would make a point out of

31:39

telling people I was a cello player and not a

31:42

singer and not a jazz singer, because

31:44

you know, the people who took jazz very

31:47

seriously didn't think that

31:49

jazz singing was a real thing, you know, or

31:51

like that didn't wasn't considered real

31:53

jazz, And so yeah, I definitely

31:56

got in touch with that world and saw

31:58

how that can be, and I had experienced

32:00

a lot of that within classical music as well, and

32:03

the classical educated world, I know, even

32:05

better than the kind of jazz educated

32:07

world.

32:07

Much more time spent there.

32:09

Yeah, absolutely, I would say ninety

32:12

eight percent of Berkeley, like ninety

32:14

five to ninety eight percent of Berkeley was super

32:17

open, and you know, all kinds

32:19

of genres and people from all over the world,

32:21

and everyone kind of with a shared passion of wanting

32:23

to do something within music. Of

32:25

course, you know, wherever you go, there's going

32:27

to be that group of people that are very

32:30

focused on, you know, the purity of jazz

32:32

music and the purity of

32:34

the art, just as you have that in the classical

32:37

world or you know, any other discipline. I

32:39

respect those musicians so much

32:42

because, honestly, those were

32:44

the most talented musicians in school. I would

32:46

say, But I've you know, I

32:48

never wanted to become a musician like that. I

32:50

wanted to create my own world of music

32:53

that was a mix of a couple of different disciplines.

32:56

So I've been thinking a lot about it recently

32:58

because you know, I always want

33:00

to really respect and honor the roots

33:03

that I'm coming from. You know, I'm highly aware

33:05

that jazz music, for example, is black

33:07

music. You know, I know that comes from

33:09

and I know, like I studied

33:12

the history of it at Berkeley, I know where classical

33:14

music comes from as well. I always want

33:16

to honor my roots. Same with Bosonova

33:18

music. I have a lot of Bosonova references.

33:21

That's Brazilian music. You know, I'm not Brazilian.

33:24

I'm also not black, so you know,

33:26

I think it's really important that I learn a lot

33:28

about where these influences are coming

33:30

from, what the history behind it is, and

33:32

make sure I honor it in my music. So that's

33:35

definitely something I've been thinking a lot about recently.

33:38

I think mixing up styles of music,

33:40

mixing and matching is is totally fine.

33:42

I think that's how music evolves. I

33:45

think it's just important to know where it's coming

33:47

from.

33:47

Yeah, And just like you can't ignore

33:50

that jazz music is black

33:52

music from the America's or whatever,

33:55

that, you can't ignore your own innate sort

33:57

of history, right, which is that you're not that

33:59

and exactly whatever new you can bring

34:02

to that I think is probably

34:04

really cool. I mean, and that is how things

34:06

might hope.

34:07

My hope is that I just my hope

34:09

is that people in those

34:11

educated communities know

34:14

that I'm not, like, you know, painting

34:16

over or slandering the history. And I've I've

34:19

done my duty learning about it, but

34:21

I still think those worlds are a little bit gay

34:24

kept now.

34:25

Yeah, and you could come in and follow it to a

34:27

tea, and there's people that do that, like there's actually

34:30

I got turned on recently. I was reading a biography of

34:32

I want to say Erl Garner, but that's just because I've been listening to Misty

34:35

I love your record. It's not Errol

34:37

Garner. It's Hampton Hawes, who is like a pianist

34:39

from here in La. In his book, he's

34:41

writing about this Japanese woman

34:43

whose name escapes me now. And she played

34:46

like bebop like a mother.

34:49

Was it, Hiromi?

34:50

Thank you? Yeah, that's it.

34:51

You went to Berkeley, did she?

34:53

Yeah?

34:53

Oh my god. Those Japanese musicians rip,

34:56

and they're so talented.

34:58

And they do it like they do bebop, like bebo

35:00

be done and not. I don't want to take

35:02

away from that, but if that's

35:04

not what you want to do when you're doing it, there's an element

35:07

of you also just not being like, if that's what she

35:09

wants to do her, that's great, she's being true

35:11

to herself. But if you also, in the process

35:13

of wanting to participate in this music,

35:15

want to bring your own history to it, and that's what feels the

35:17

most comfortable, Like you'd be a fraud if

35:20

you didn't.

35:20

Yeah, I mean, I'm having so much

35:22

fun that you know that we live in a day

35:25

and age where you can mix all these styles of

35:27

music together and you can kind

35:29

of be whoever you want to be and kind

35:31

of create your own genre as well.

35:33

Yeah, because you would have penalized, I

35:35

think in the day for that, because it wouldn't have been

35:37

easily marketable. Oh

35:39

definitely.

35:40

I mean even two three years ago,

35:43

I think I was just you know, people

35:45

artists and people make

35:48

fun of the Internet and TikTok

35:50

and Instagram or whatever, but I

35:52

have a hard time doing that because I think the reason

35:55

I get to make the music I make today is

35:57

because I had the freedom

35:59

to do that and you got the Internet.

36:01

Miss, Yeah, you could bypass the

36:03

traditional.

36:04

I passed the traditional by proving

36:06

myself and with my fan base

36:08

that I could do whatever music I want. And now

36:10

I kind of gotten to the point where I think people

36:13

in the industry trust me to make my

36:15

own decisions about the music. But yeah,

36:18

I mean back in the day you were either a pop

36:20

singer or a jazz singer or a

36:22

classical singer. It was very boxed up.

36:24

And the people who got past it by

36:26

the grace of God, like a Stevie Wonder exactly

36:29

whatever. But there are very few and even Joan Mitchell

36:31

is celebrated as she is. Yes, I would

36:33

argue she's I don't want to say underrated,

36:36

but in terms of the general public consumption

36:38

and understanding of her music right, probably

36:40

because it wasn't It was because it was too it

36:43

was too confusing.

36:43

What it was confusing?

36:45

Yeah, it should be as heralded as you

36:47

know, the Beatles and all that stuff. It's

36:49

not. It's just crazy.

36:50

I think now being unique

36:53

is actually quite quite celebrated.

36:55

And you know, when I was younger,

36:57

all these things that made me so confused,

37:00

like being a like a cellist

37:03

or or you know, being you

37:05

know, mixed race and being

37:08

loud. These things I used to that

37:11

I used to feel like were my limits

37:13

are actually the things that have

37:16

made me who I am and given

37:18

me a career so cool, very

37:20

very Obviously, we.

37:22

Have to pause for another quick break and then we'll come

37:24

back with the rest of my interview with Lave. We're

37:31

back with the rest of my conversation with Lave.

37:34

What was the social media trajectory in terms of putting

37:36

your music on? I mean, were you ever

37:38

using YouTube early on, like to put

37:40

music out even as a kid,

37:43

like where you docu my? Oh?

37:44

Of course I posted some covers on YouTube

37:47

when I was twelve, just like everyone else

37:49

know. They aren't up, but them, I have them.

37:51

They're privated, they're quite cute. But yeah,

37:54

the story starts twenty twenty. The

37:57

pandemic had just started

37:59

and I came back home and I was like, okay,

38:01

I have this empty space of time now. I'd

38:04

recorded one song, which ended up being the first song

38:06

I ever put out. It just so happened

38:08

that that was like the first semester that I was

38:10

working on writing and

38:12

recording, and that was

38:14

a song called Street by Street. But

38:17

anyways, I got back home, the song wasn't out yet,

38:19

and I thought it was a two week break. I

38:21

was like, you know, I'm gonna write

38:23

as much as I possibly can, and I'm

38:25

going to post videos of myself playing

38:28

jazz standards on the internet just as

38:30

a form of practice, and

38:33

we'll just see what happens. Never

38:35

in a million years would I've thought

38:37

that what happened would happen, which

38:39

was, you know, the videos got some attention

38:42

on the internet. I guess there were a lot of people board at

38:44

home on their phones right right, and

38:46

they just started getting shared and my

38:48

following started to grow really fast,

38:51

and we're doing more.

38:52

And even in those early videos, it was kind of, to

38:54

be honest, with more just straight up straight jazz,

38:56

like straight jazz, yeah, like covers

38:58

of Louis and Ella or whatever. It wasn't

39:00

even like your own material, at least that I've

39:02

seen, right.

39:03

Yeah, there were a couple like maybe once

39:06

a week or once every two weeks, I'd post

39:08

a song that you know, resembled a

39:10

jazz standard, which is kind of how I started writing

39:12

also in that style. I didn't really realize

39:15

that you could do that, that you

39:17

could write like a jazz standard

39:19

sounding song in twenty twenty.

39:21

So it sounds intimidating, I'm going to

39:23

write a standard, right.

39:25

I mean, yeah, it's basically

39:27

proclaiming that you want to write a song that lasts forever

39:31

exactly, that's exactly, that's the

39:33

idea. But yeah,

39:36

I wrote one song called like the

39:38

Movies, just like on my guitar,

39:40

and it was it was very cute. See like now I

39:42

look back and I'm like, that was a very innocent song,

39:44

but it was in kind of like an old

39:46

style, and I posted it on TikTok. It was

39:49

my first TikTok, and it

39:51

kind of like went viral, and there were all

39:53

these comments were coming in being

39:56

like, oh, this sounds like something I've heard in a movie

39:58

or something like my Grandma loves and

40:00

and I slowly started to realize that,

40:03

you know, there's kind of like a space missing for

40:05

gen Z to indulge in this kind of music.

40:09

So I kind of just continued

40:11

doing that, writing songs in that style, posting

40:13

them online, and also posting

40:16

videos of myself singing and

40:19

playing cello and guitar and

40:21

piano to singing these jazz

40:23

standards that had you know, to me,

40:25

they're old songs, but to gen Z. So

40:28

when seeing it on their TikTok, you

40:30

know, for the first time, that's a new song, that's

40:32

a new sound, And I

40:35

thought that was really, really cool, and so

40:37

it kind of just snowballed from there. Yeah,

40:39

it became jazz girl on Instagram

40:43

and TikTok.

40:45

I did it feel overwhelming? Did you necessarily

40:47

know where to go from there?

40:49

I had one song that's Street

40:51

by Street that I put out like three weeks

40:53

into the pandemic, just like on Destroy

40:55

Kage, I just like threw it out there and no clue

40:57

what I was doing, and it just

41:00

luckily, somehow, I

41:02

think I grew. I was growing an audience at the same

41:04

time, and it just got thrown into

41:07

you know, the algorithm, if you will. I don't

41:09

even know if that's the right word, but it

41:11

was just really good, good timing.

41:13

And on Spotify got tip like

41:16

it hit.

41:16

Some Discover week lease or something like

41:18

that, so people started listening and

41:21

the music was like almost like a derivative

41:23

of jazz and that it had a lot of jazz principles,

41:25

but was you know, a modern story

41:28

and something new and

41:30

didn't seem too different from what I was, you know,

41:32

posting online. So it kind of, yeah,

41:35

it just grew and it became almost

41:37

like I kind of harnessed

41:40

social media, like I knew I'd

41:42

built a community on there, that was

41:44

so great for me and my creative process.

41:47

Like that first year of COVID,

41:49

I really spent figuring out who I was

41:51

as an artist. And you know, I could turn

41:53

on a live stream at the flip of a switch

41:55

and sing a song that I'd written

41:57

that day and get immediate feedback. And then

42:00

I got to know my fans and they got to know

42:02

me, and they were from all over the world,

42:04

and we'd talk about the state of COVID and

42:07

we'd be like, Oh, what's happening, and like, you

42:09

know Peru, Yeah, exactly,

42:11

and it was it was so special.

42:13

And I'd have these like Sunday lullaby

42:16

live streams, So every Sunday

42:18

I turn on a lullaby live stream and I'd

42:20

just sing and we'd talk.

42:21

It's great. I wish I had found that somehow.

42:25

It definitely saved me from a very

42:27

bleak time in history, I would say,

42:29

yea. And I think that's another part of

42:32

why the timing of the project worked,

42:34

because I think nobody wanted

42:36

to be reminded of the bleak times, and

42:39

the music I was offering up sounded like

42:41

it was of a different time. Everything

42:44

was so online and getting

42:47

something that felt less online, like jazz

42:49

music or z.

42:50

I also went back to like some of those like old

42:52

musicals, Oklahoma

42:55

or whatever. I just love Oklahoma very

42:57

cool, It's very cool.

42:59

I'm a huge Rogers in Hammerstein fan.

43:01

So the songs from those films

43:03

are like my favorite.

43:04

Sorry with the fringe on top, like are you kidding me?

43:07

Chicks and ducks and geese, they will scurry. That's

43:10

wrapping right there.

43:11

It is, and with that beautiful melody. Dude,

43:14

I don't know how they came up with

43:16

that. Stuff's incredible.

43:17

No, I know it's it's it's wild.

43:19

Would you mind there's a guitar right

43:22

there? Would you mind sort of playing

43:24

that the first song? Sure? Yeah? Street

43:27

by Street just a bit of it.

43:29

Yeah. So I

43:31

was almost in like more of

43:34

a R and B kind

43:36

of swing of jazz back then, like lo

43:38

fi cool. So yeah,

43:41

it's interesting how it's evolved. But anyways,

43:43

it's Street by Street. This

43:47

food a

43:53

small to my face

43:59

lally, it's some nothing bad.

44:05

Remind me.

44:11

The way the jeused to.

44:16

Give me.

44:17

Butterfly took

44:22

me twenty one days.

44:24

To carf.

44:28

Paradise Paradise.

44:38

By stop

44:45

by stop, break

44:47

by break. I'm reclaim

44:50

me wor smart.

44:54

The cities ware you

44:57

too small to

44:59

give way to

45:02

just.

45:02

One god, Street

45:07

by street, breath

45:10

by breath, from the

45:12

back bit.

45:13

To the sky. I'm

45:18

taking back my

45:20

shity.

45:23

I'm taking back

45:26

my Your

45:29

voice is so incredible, it's like live.

45:32

Hearing it in this room is insane.

45:33

Oh thank you.

45:35

Yeah, I think I got a great voice. But that was it

45:37

was, honestly in the rooms incredible.

45:40

Thank you very much.

45:41

That's a cool song.

45:42

Yeah, it's a cute one. It was like the one

45:45

of the first songs I ever wrote, and it

45:47

really it really healed me.

45:49

It really. I remember I had my light

45:51

bulb moment after writing that song. I was

45:54

like, oh my god. I

45:56

was like, in the middle of writing it, my heart was racing.

45:58

I was like, I think I have it. I think I got something.

46:01

Was there was there any music that particularly inspired

46:04

you while writing that, anything you were referencing in your

46:06

mind or I don't know.

46:08

There's like, you know, there's a lot of Sam Cook that

46:10

I was listening to, so it was like a Sam

46:12

Cook lick kind of that I threw in there.

46:15

You know, there was jazz music. I was also listening to,

46:17

like a lot of Bruno major at the time, Who's

46:20

I went to a concert with him and it was the first time

46:22

I really saw jazz and

46:24

and like kind of songwriting

46:26

being presented alongside each other, and it

46:29

really inspired me.

46:30

So yeah, as you were playing

46:32

that, it occurred to me that, I mean, in a way,

46:35

you're a jazz singer or just

46:37

a singer with some jazz influence

46:40

and a player, but also like a singer songwriter.

46:42

I mean, it's not many people

46:44

did that in jazz. I guess you know a couple

46:47

of times.

46:47

Right right, No, it's a very rare thing

46:50

to be a songwriter of a

46:52

singer and a songwriter of jazz and

46:54

jazz. Historically, jazz singers

46:57

sing.

46:58

Songs by sing songs by people.

47:00

Who don't sing, and then you know,

47:02

aside from obviously like Ella and

47:04

a couple of examples like didn't didn't

47:07

improvise either, so they weren't of

47:09

course they had their own takes on songs, but it

47:12

wasn't creating in that sense. So

47:15

yeah, wear many hats. Well.

47:17

I presume much of your songwriting

47:20

is about your own experiences.

47:21

Is it? Yeah, most of them are personal personal

47:24

stories.

47:24

Is it weird? Then to follow like the

47:27

people like Taylor Swift

47:29

down to Carol King that you mentioned and kind of putting

47:31

your life out for your

47:33

fans and that sort of.

47:35

You know, I don't think too much about it. People

47:37

ask me a lot like, oh, aren't you embarrassed

47:39

to put it out? Or isn't it exposing? And

47:41

I think in a way like when

47:44

I bottle up an experience or an

47:46

emotion in a song and let it free, it's no

47:48

longer completely mine,

47:50

and then it doesn't feel as daunting. That

47:53

being said, the thought of someone listening to

47:56

a song I wrote about them is terrifying. But

47:59

I just don't think about that. I think, in my delusional

48:01

mind, I'm like, yeah, they're not listening.

48:03

That's the American in the delusion. Yeah

48:05

exactly.

48:05

And I'm like, if they listen, I just hope they don't

48:07

tell me. Unless it's like a really really

48:10

nice thing, then maybe they can tell

48:11

you. But

48:15

it's also worth it when someone's like, oh, I've

48:17

experienced that before, I can relate.

48:20

So the album cover too, I should

48:22

say it's very cool, Oh thank you.

48:25

Yeah.

48:25

It was me and my twin sister, who's my creative

48:27

director. She kind of, you know, the

48:29

whole visual world behind leve is

48:31

her kind of thought creation.

48:33

Is that what she studied in college?

48:35

No? No, she studied international

48:37

relations and music. She's a smart cookie.

48:40

But the idea kind of came

48:42

from the music itself on this

48:44

album is more mature and

48:48

my last record, Yeah, and

48:50

and I kind of wanted to shock

48:53

my audience a little bit. I think my

48:55

first album was so innocent that

48:57

I wanted this second one to be a little bit

48:59

more like otherworldly. So

49:02

yeah, it's very kind of like glossy silvery.

49:05

I almost wanted to appear

49:08

more other worldly somehow

49:10

it is.

49:10

And it's such a striking cover strike,

49:13

Thank You, Thank You. Is there anything

49:16

you want to try in the

49:18

future in terms of, like you've had

49:20

some strings on this, you know, orchestra.

49:24

I definitely want to do.

49:25

More orchestra stuff. I want to write

49:27

film music. I really want to write something.

49:29

I'd love to hear you do a soundtracks.

49:32

A couple of songs on here that I feel I could be,

49:34

yeah, theme for a movie.

49:36

I definitely. Every song to me is like

49:38

a little movie, like every story from

49:40

start to finish, and then the way that it's painted

49:43

musically is very I

49:44

I like to think everyone is like a little

49:47

movie. But yeah, I'd love

49:49

to do more orchestra stuff as well.

49:51

On the other side of things, I'd love to like

49:54

just like show up with like a random folk

49:56

album or like country album, like lean

49:59

really into the storytelling. And

50:01

and then of course, like I want

50:03

to do like some like a standards

50:05

album at some point and something

50:07

more you know, straight forward

50:10

jazz in that sense. But I think for now,

50:12

I'm my work isn't completely

50:14

done in doing it the way that I am right

50:16

now.

50:16

Would you ever get a group, like a band

50:18

together, like oh, absolutely, yeah, that you

50:21

kind of just do all like tour with and make records

50:23

with.

50:23

And sure, yeah I have.

50:26

I have a band that I tour with right now who are

50:28

really great, and the records

50:31

so far have just been made. Besides

50:33

an orchestra and a couple of musicians

50:36

here and there, it's been mostly just me

50:38

and my producer Spencer, playing all the instruments

50:40

and I having quite a lot of fun

50:42

doing that.

50:43

That's cool. How did you meet Spencer?

50:46

I was just doing my session

50:48

rounds and you know, going to different producers

50:51

and kind of hoping and praying that i'd find

50:53

somebody who understood my

50:55

vision and understood the jazz

50:57

part and the classical part and the part

51:00

and like the songwriting part. And I

51:02

happened upon Spencer and he just immediately

51:05

understood it. I remember I was so

51:07

worried that it would be hard to find, and it was

51:09

quite hard to find. But when I found Spencer,

51:11

I was like, oh my god, like, this is it.

51:13

Like I found my musical soulmate.

51:15

That's great. Well, hey,

51:18

thank you so much for oh, thank you making

51:20

the drive up of course, yeah,

51:22

my pleasure. Thanks

51:26

to Leave for singing some of her gorgeous songs

51:28

for us. Speakin Hear a collection of all of our

51:30

favorite Leave songs on the playlist at broken

51:32

record podcast dot com. Subscribe

51:35

to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash

51:37

broken record Podcast, where you can find all

51:40

of our new episodes. You can

51:42

follow us on Twitter at broken Record.

51:44

Broken Record is produced with help from Lea Rose

51:47

and Eric Sandler. Our show is engineered

51:49

by Echo Mountain. Broken

51:51

Record is a production of Pushkin Industries.

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52:11

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52:14

the music's by Kenny Beats, I'm

52:16

Justin Richmith.