Q&A: Kississippi Promises Healing and Introspection in “damned if i do it for you” EP
IT CAN BE A BATTLE TO FIND BLISS IN SOLITUDE – Indie-pop songstress Kississippi has announced her sharp-tongued, transformative EP, damned if i do it for you, out on July 26. Alongside the big news, Kississippi shares the first taste of the project with the bold, whimsical “Last Time.” The forthcoming project sees the artist reckon with past and present pain as she carves a path forward that celebrates who she is today through splashy, striking production, evocative vocals and her own distinct brand of heart-wrenching pop.
Over four tracks, damned if i do it for you is an unrelenting exploration into the heart. This latest body of work promises to be a significant milestone in Kississippi's musical journey, showcasing her evolution as an artist. With a reputation for crafting deeply emotional and relatable punk-pop anthems, the songstress has always had a knack for capturing the complexities of the human experience. However, this new EP marks a turning point, diving even deeper into themes of introspection, healing and transformation.
To Kississippi, the collection is “a journey of introspection, peeling back all of your layers and searching for the love that you've always dreamed of within yourself. It’s a battle to find bliss in solitude, while you’re still healing from the wounds of a shattered heart. Along the way, it uncovers truths about identity and grapples with whether or not the imperfections you’ve found can be transformed into something beautiful. It’s a path to self-discovery and growth, as you navigate the complexities of self-love and acceptance.”
This poignant exploration of self-love and acceptance is set against a backdrop of striking production and evocative vocals, creating a soundscape that is both raw and polished. The EP comes from a place of wisdom and lived experience while grappling with the pain of past wounds and forging a path towards healing and self-acceptance.
The lead single “Last Time” offers a tantalizing glimpse into the world of the EP. With its bold and whimsical approach, the track combines Kississippi's signature heart-wrenching lyricism with a fresh, intrepid sound.
“Jesus Freak” acts as the EP’s centerpiece. It’s an anthemic guitar-pop track that is bright, celebratory, anxious, and, most importantly, composed cathartically; her command of tension and release is stronger than ever.
Damned if i do it for you serves as an emotional journey that uncovers truths about identity and the potential to transform imperfections into something beautiful. Kississippi masterfully navigates the complexities of self-love and acceptance, creating a powerful narrative that is both personal and universal.
Photography Credit: Morgan Kelley
LUNA: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar yet, what inspires your artistic style and creative persona?
KISSISSIPPI: I love Luna Collective, so I’m excited to chat. I would say the thing that inspires me the most is meeting other creative people through music and working with my producer Andy Park and writing with Sarah Tudzin and Maddie Ross. I think those have been the most inspiring situations and opening myself up to collaboration has been the most inspiring thing. Plenty of music has inspired me throughout the project, so it’s all across the board for me.
LUNA: What kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
KISSISSIPPI: I want it to be a space where people can take their pain and heal from it, and even just laugh about that a little bit and dance it off.
LUNA: You just released your single “Last Time” which is a sneak peek into your upcoming EP and I absolutely love how vulnerable the lyricism is and it’s relatable to anyone who's ever experienced an unrequited love. What is the inspiration behind the single?
KISSISSIPPI: The single is about a situation where I was feeling very heartbroken, but I knew that I signed myself up for it. I knew that the person that I got involved with was capable of breaking my heart. I took that heartbreak and tried to see it from a different perspective, like how can I own this for myself? How can I make it so that this person doesn't have control over me?
LUNA: What advice do you have for your listeners who have experienced an unrequited love?
KISSISSIPPI: I think that there's so much love in the world. There's so much to be explored, and at the same time, being alone is actually really, really good. I think the best love you can find is the love that you have for yourself. Personally, I think that I really depended on other people to show that love to me. I thought that I could find self-love through other people through looking into someone else and was in the mindset of ‘okay they love me, so there must be something to love.’ I really think that being alone has been the most healthy thing for me. I've gotten to know myself a lot better in the time that I've been single. I've learned what I actually need and want from a relationship and it's changed my life a lot.
LUNA: You just announced your upcoming EP damned if i do it for you. This is your first big project since your Mood Ring record in 2021. Have you experimented more or taken any risks – either lyrically, sonically or emotionally – with damned if i do it for you since your previous releases?
KISSISSIPPI: Absolutely. I think that I've ramped it up quite a bit. I also feel like with this new EP, it was a chance for me to explore different kinds of music that I wanted to make. I do think that there's something for everyone who's enjoyed a Kississippi song in the past and I'm really excited about that. I think that it's definitely still a pop record, but I think that I was able to explore more emotions than I have in the past and I'm really excited about that.
LUNA: The EP definitely follows a journey of introspection and diving deep into yourself and your solitude. Did you have any lessons or breakthroughs while bringing the project to fruition?
KISSISSIPPI: Absolutely. At the time that I was making an EP, I was spending a lot more time getting to know myself and I was focusing a lot more on my mental health than I was on my creativity. During the writing process, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and that changed my life in such a massive way. Getting on the right medication, getting to do more therapy and locking in more on mental health during the process was healing. I feel like my writing style changed as I was writing the EP, so there was a lot of exploration and different sonic fields. The first song is very sad and moody. I wanted to turn it around and write “Jesus Freak.” It was me looking at the relationships that I've had and the way that I perceive love and making a joke out of it. I feel like I was able to laugh off a lot of different things. When I figured out that I was bipolar, what really helped me was writing “Bird Song” which is the last song on the EP. I had this whole situation where I needed someone to love me so that I could love myself. I learned to care about myself more and got on the right medication and went to therapy. It absolutely turned my life around. I'm feeling bliss for the first time in a long time and that's really special. I think that anyone who experiences heavy moods in either direction needs to find people that help you stay in check and find the right friends who you can talk to about those situations. I'm very lucky to be surrounded by people who are creative and emotional and that has changed my life.
LUNA: What is your favorite song from damned if i do it for you and why do you love it? Is there a certain lyric or message that stands out to you the most?
KISSISSIPPI: That's a tough question. I really do love all of these songs for very different reasons. I feel like they're all my favorite songs. They all have something different to offer. But as time has gone on, if I want a silly banger, it's “Jesus Freak” for me. When it comes to what I want to continue to write in the future and how I want to present myself, I think that “Bird Song” is my favorite song on the EP. I am really excited about that song and really feel like I was able to be more vulnerable with that song than I have in the past. I think that I've turned a lot of my emotions into love songs in the past. I think it's really easy for me to get carried away with that kind of thing. This song is the first time in a while that I didn't try to make something into a love song, whether that's for someone romantically or for a friend. For most of my songs, I channel into some sort of adoration for someone else and this was me, trying to find that for myself.
LUNA: You reunited and collaborated with Mood Ring’s producer Andy Park for this EP. Can you share more about your creative partnership and how it influenced the overall sound and direction of the EP?
KISSISSIPPI: Getting to work with Andy again was such a treat. It's hard to find men in the music industry who see you for who you are and who can understand the perspective that you have. I was able to open up in ways that I hadn't opened up before. I was able to take the seeds of a song and actually turn them into something else that I was too afraid to explore. With Andy, I think he sees me holding myself back sometimes and he's able to have these emotional conversations with me and pull me out of that situation. “Bird Song” opened me up to exploring my own emotions in a different capacity than I have in the past. I'm really excited to dig more into that. I really want to connect with other people who struggle with depression or with bipolar or with anxiety, whatever that is. I want to open myself up to that more and that's how I like to be in my friendships and I would like for that to happen with my music as well.
LUNA: You are also playing your Kississippi Summer Tour next month. What are you looking forward to the most with this tour?
KISSISSIPPI: The thing I'm looking forward to most is getting to watch the set from talker every night. We're sharing a band, so it's going to be slumber party mode. I think that she is one of the most talented people I've ever met. She reminds me of the people who have inspired me to do what I do now. I want people to be inspired by her. I feel really, really good about who I'm touring with. I feel like people will learn a lot from her as well, and so getting to share that space is going to be really awesome.
LUNA: Do you have any pre or post-show rituals that help ensure you play your best show?
KISSISSIPPI: Making sure that I feel good and I'm ready to go. A lot of the time that's literally just me doing my makeup in the van and being ready to go when we get to the venue and feeling good about myself. It's that and drinking a cup of tea or maybe having a shot of tequila, depends on the situation and the night.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
KISSISSIPPI: I feel really good about it. I'm really excited for everything to come. I think the thing that I'm most excited about is getting this out there. It's been a while since we recorded it. It's actually been mastered for almost a year now. I took some time to focus on myself and try to figure out what I needed to do to be in a better headspace before getting into touring again. I'm really excited to get back into writing. I feel like I'm in the best space to be writing than I've been in a really long time. I'm excited to share the whole experience with listeners. Our LA show is going to be my release show. It's the same day as we're releasing the EP so it's going to be a little crazy, but I'm really excited about that and I really want to make that a celebration.
