Mandy Slate’s world-building doesn’t cease at hooks and choruses; it stretches into movies, video video games, and the liminal areas between private upheaval and playful escape. Together with her new EP Dwelling, launched on October 3, she positions herself originally of a a lot bigger saga, one stitched collectively by moments of vulnerability, bursts of pleasure, and a pointy refusal to suit into pre-set moulds. On this interview, Slate speaks brazenly about writing as a approach of discovering belonging after popping out as queer, the consolation she attracts from sci-fi and fantasy storytelling, and the liberating chaos of making songs she will be able to really take pleasure in performing. From the E.T.-inspired title monitor to the surrealist visuals and on-line mini-series orbiting her music, Slate reveals how she’s reclaiming her narrative by refusing to maintain her creativity tethered to only one medium.
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Dwelling appears like the primary chapter of one thing greater — how did you determine which singles and concepts would kind the inspiration for this EP?
It’s the first chapter of one thing greater! It’s fairly actually half 1 of a bigger challenge I’ll be rolling out over the following few months.
The intro monitor, Dwelling, instructed me what story I used to be going to inform and sort of determined every part else for me. I wished to make a enjoyable commonplace pop music that day as a result of I used to be prepared to interrupt previous that “underground artist” stage and I simply wished to make a banger to assist me get to that subsequent step. I wrote so many songs in a single sitting and I didn’t imagine a single considered one of them and I gave up. Then I wrote Dwelling as a message to my future self to say “I don’t know what you’re doing or what you’re like however I hope you’re feeling extra snug in your pores and skin and extra beloved than I do.” I went with the “residence” idea impressed by the film ET as a result of that’s at all times been a consolation film for me and I used to be in a bizarre in-between part in life the place I had simply come out as queer and I had simply began releasing music and I misplaced a good quantity of my social help system and was being made enjoyable of loads due to that, so I sort of felt like I used to be floating round and misplaced and I felt like ET in that second. Out of the remainder of the songs I wrote that day, Dwelling was the one one I cared about though it was the least like what I wished to make so I recorded it and let it pleasantly shock me, then I let it inform the entire idea and the remainder of the songs. Dwelling is sort of that second of give up the place I used to be saying to myself “I actually don’t care to manage the end result anymore. I simply wish to be okay.”
The remainder of the tracks are enjoyable pop songs although (which is what I wished to make), however if you happen to have a look at the lyrics you possibly can inform I used to be actually determined once I wrote them to search out hope and discover a sense of pleasure in that awkward stage. I used to be clinging to any indicators of belonging and something that appeared promising on this new chapter I had entered, and typically that meant idealizing conditions that weren’t the perfect for me. The second half of the challenge, which I’ll be sharing later this yr and early subsequent yr is the a part of the story the place I needed to get actual with myself and get grounded. This half is enjoyable. I’m the kind of individual who’s going to discover a strategy to snigger and have a very good time it doesn’t matter what is occurring, and the tracks that come after Dwelling are me doing that.
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You’ve described Science Fiction as impressed by horror and sci-fi movies in addition to video video games; how do these influences filter into your songwriting and visible storytelling?
They’re my consolation zone and so they get me out of my very own approach. I didn’t launch my first EP till 2023 however by then I already had a fairly solidified artistic id, particularly visually, as a result of I grew up obsessive about gaming and digital worlds and sci-fi/fantasy tales. I wished to be a performer and a singer and a author once I was a child, however I gave up on that concept once I was actually younger as a result of I believed it was silly and I used to be fairly shy and insecure. However I nonetheless wanted a artistic outlet, so I’d spend any free time I had taking part in totally different narrative video games and creating artwork and designing garments and making elaborate neighborhoods in open supply digital worlds. That’s the place the gaming piece comes from. I felt extra snug in a digital setting than I did in actual life in order that’s the place my artistic id began. On the sci-fi facet, I at all times was quiet and had a tough time expressing myself earlier than the previous few years, so I beloved science fiction and fantasy as a result of they have been loud earlier than they even stated a lot. And I beloved how these tales might make robust commentary on totally different social and emotional and political points, however they have been simply playful sufficient to bypass the viewers’s psychological filter that’s too cautious to wish to hear it plainly.
Once I was about midway into making this challenge and I knew what I wished to do thematically, I bought a e-book known as The Language of the Night time by Ursula Le Guin that’s about writing science fiction tales, and she or he talks about how escapism is a crucial instrument to make sense of the components of life which might be unsure and to speak unconscious data (that fantasy “isn’t factual however it’s true” and that you just “don’t converse of goals as unreal. They exist”). I used to be studying it to assist me inform the visible story, however I actually linked with what she was saying as a result of I don’t write songs about what I absolutely perceive. I allow them to come from my intestine and the again of my thoughts to assist me untangle once I’m confused. Artists get a whole lot of strain to be as genuine as attainable and never promote a fantasy and let individuals know who we actually are, but when I had all of the solutions I’d simply say them, not create. So studying that e-book solidified what I wished to do with this challenge and empowered me to go even farther and create a world across the songs that demonstrated what I used to be experiencing on the time I wrote them and say precisely what I wished to say with none strain to be unnecessarily appropriate concerning the particulars.
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Your music is commonly described as dreamlike however emotionally grounded — do you consciously got down to create that duality, or does it come naturally?
Once I write a music I let it meet me wherever I really am. I’ve a nasty behavior of daydreaming an excessive amount of. If I didn’t maintain it in verify I might spend all day imagining and never making use of myself to something that issues to me. So the dreamlike factor might be the results of the truth that the one approach I can snap myself out of that tendency is to compromise and make one thing tangible out of the imaginative course of so I can come again to earth and performance correctly. If I didn’t make artwork I’d in all probability be a really tough human.
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The intro monitor on Dwelling units the stage for the EP — what sort of ambiance did you wish to construct proper from the beginning?
I really like the ambiance I constructed however it was principally an accident. Dwelling and the remainder of the songs on the EP and the second half that isn’t out but have been worlds I constructed to make myself really feel higher in moments the place I used to be bored or scared or lonely or offended or caught or determined. I used to be bored by the concept of immortalizing these emotions and simply making one thing that’s a flat out bummer. I wished to construct an environment the place individuals in related moments might really feel soothed or uplifted or excited. Or no less than give them someplace protected to discover their feelings with out getting consumed by them.
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You’ve headlined exhibits throughout LA and Phoenix — has taking part in reside knowledgeable the sound or vitality of this challenge in any sudden methods?
Undoubtedly. I used to not take myself significantly as an artist in any respect earlier than I began performing and connecting with individuals in individual. I sort of handled it like a joke and I used to be nonetheless embarrassed. I wouldn’t announce new songs till days after they have been out and I’d simply share the art work (which I wasn’t even in) as soon as and maintain it pushing. However having the ability to really feel the room once I’m performing and discuss to individuals after exhibits gave me a way of duty to be extra beneficiant about sharing what I imagine and what I feel will assist individuals by my music. Performing can also be tremendous revealing as a result of you possibly can’t faux it. You’re simply there. I bought extra snug creating issues that really feel genuine to me and which might be plausible popping out of my mouth as a result of individuals can inform if you’re mendacity. I was tremendous fixated on wanting my songwriting to be spectacular however I used to be taking part in a whole lot of exhibits once I was engaged on this challenge and I wished to ensure I’d have a very good time performing the brand new songs as a result of I wished individuals to be dancing and having fun with themselves. So I took the songs much less significantly and let myself play and I requested everybody I collaborated with to only get bizarre with it and have a very good time.
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Between the music, movies, and your on-line miniseries, you’re crafting a whole universe — what excites you most about increasing your artistic work past simply the songs?
I’m actually excited to have the ability to share all of this so I might be clear about what all of that is about for me transferring ahead. I’m nonetheless within the early phases of my profession and I haven’t shared a whole lot of myself (and a whole lot of me is within the movies and every part that goes with them). I used to be going to only launch the songs on their very own some time in the past however I didn’t wish to go away something unsaid so I needed to make the remainder of it. I’ve gotten a whole lot of well-intentioned strain to suit myself into totally different packing containers and archetypes that I don’t relate to. I wished to only get all of it out directly so I might say “no, that is what it’s” and in addition so I might go away every part on this challenge and any baggage I used to be carrying whereas I used to be making it previously and transfer on with my life. This challenge could be very a lot me reclaiming the narrative, and I wanted to transcend the songs to do this absolutely. It was actually time-consuming however I’m glad I did it and I’ll in all probability do it once more.
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Your followers appear to embrace the playful and weird components of your work — how do you steadiness that with letting them into the extra private facet of your writing?
I feel to some degree I take advantage of playfulness to make myself extra snug with the truth that the writing could be very private. I don’t curate my writing very a lot. Most of my songs have been written in a single sitting about no matter second I used to be residing in at the moment, and typically these moments aren’t me or my life at their finest. Beg was SO embarrassing to reside, and I meant each phrase of it! And that was stunning to have the ability to sweeten by enjoyable manufacturing (shoutout to Charlie Hallock) and cutesy album artwork earlier than I used to be prepared to share it. Once I make one thing I do know is significant or excites me, I’ll do no matter I can to make myself really feel higher about sharing one thing susceptible, and typically which means being just a little ridiculous about how I current it. However I feel individuals can really feel what I used to be feeling anyway, and which means the world to me.
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With Dwelling releasing on October 3, what do you hope listeners will take away from this primary chapter earlier than Science Fiction arrives in full?
I simply hope they’ve a very good time. Dwelling is usually already-released tracks with some very DIY lyric movies, and the remainder of the songs and movies on Science Fiction are extra elaborate and provides the “so what?” of all of it. This half places the singles in context with the remainder of the story and it’s alleged to be enjoyable. I normally come into initiatives with actually private and heavy intentions however I don’t need them to really feel that approach. They need to be a lightweight and simple expertise and really feel like play.
Stream Mandy Slate’s new EP on Spotify now.
Interview by Amelia Vandergast
