Premiere: Hollis Brings Lyricism and Striking Creativity to Life with “Tripwires”
GETTING YOUR FOOT CAUGHT IN THE “TRIPWIRES” — will take you on a tumble of lyricism, tie you up in colorful creativity, and get you tangled in captivating cinematography. As the lyrics unravel, Hollis brings to life the experience of getting stuck in the cycle of negative loops as she explores how to break free. Opposing colors with cyclical motion personifies this cycle and gives us a creative insight of what it’s like to be, “just chilling and reflecting on the inside of your head and what it would look like if your head was interior-decorated!”
Hollis’ new single, “Tripwires,” carries a more “home-like,” DIY feel, in comparison to her bigger cinematic projects, such as her past music videos “Let Me Not” and “All My Weight.” Along with that home-like feel, the track includes a calming indie-pop feel. Paired with soothing harmonies, a hypnotizing beat, and her poetic lyricism, Hollis’ storytelling is brought to life. As a multi-disciplinary artist, her talent speaks for itself as she unleashes her unique creativity alongside her powerhouse of a creative team.
Read below to learn how “Tripwires” came to life, Hollis’ background as a poet and growing MV director, and to get acquainted with Hollis as an artist.
LUNA: It’s nice to meet you, Hollis! And congrats on your new single/video, “Tripwires.” Can you tell me about yourself? What would you like the world to know about you as an artist?
HOLLIS: So, I’m Hollis! I am a musician. I'm an independent musician through-and-through. And as an independent musician, I've always been a music video creator, as well. When I started out making music, it was only a couple of years after that [when] I produced my first music video. I started my career doing spoken word poetry, and then when I was up in Seattle for college, that got me really into the hip-hop scene [there]. So that was actually the first band I was ever in. It was a rap duo with my best friend, called Canary Sing, and I just went from doing rap to doing more electronic R&B with my band. The Flavr Blue.Only in the last couple of years have I been centering my solo artistry and making music that now kind of fits into the alt indie-like realm. But, you know, I'm embracing it in this last year. I think, especially during COVID, [there has been] a lot of disruption and a lot of time for reflection, and I’ve really been thinking about how being a multidisciplinary collaborator is really just at the heart of what I'm driven by as an artist. So this year I really challenged myself to own my music, video directorship, and [emerge] sensibilities and owning … claiming that identity for myself.
LUNA: Can you walk us through the creative development of “Tripwires”?
HOLLIS: For the video, it's interesting, because I had just directed a music video for my single “Let Me Not,” which was this big, epic, large-scale cinematic, wide-sweeping … [most] dramatic thing I had ever done and endeavored to do. And I really wanted to think, because “Tripwires” is such an intimate song. I had a few ideas that spurred from the writing of the song that I knew I wanted to be in the visual. So I knew I wanted it to be indoors. It's kind of like a home/inside vibe; very much the inside of your mind. It’s you just chilling and reflecting on the inside of your head and what it would look like if your head was interior-decorated almost! (laughs)
And then I knew I wanted to play with opposing colors, because to me, the song is very cyclical. To me, the song is about going back and forth, or almost [going through] a negative feedback loop and then trying to break it. So I knew I wanted to play with color, and not quite oppositional colors, but just kind of like a lot of really strong contrast. And then finally, I got inspired by this creative director that I literally stumbled across on Instagram Reels, and her name is Karen Cheng. She is just really amazing! She comes up with all these really cool hacks for making really dope shots. For example, she did this insane shot with a fishing rod and a 360 camera off the Golden Gate Bridge, where it's just, like, this super epic thing. So I saw this tutorial that she did using a Swiffer where she transitions between different rooms with a soaring circle-like shot. so that was literally something that I saw her demonstrate how to do on IG Reels, and I just kept running it back, and I was like, “Oh my God, this is ‘Tripwires.’”
So I guess, [with] all that said, my three elements were cozy insides, oppositional colors, and then this idea of circuitous movement in circles. It really just stemmed from there, and I am so blessed with a tremendously scrappy DIY creative team. I truly could not have done all of it without a dope [team]. My amazing assistant director and wardrobe person Abbie Martin, the production designer Abby Perez, and then my indispensable cinematographer Edward Tran, who's just so down to get as creative and as hands-on as possible. I also want to shout out my friend KO who killed the hair and make up and advised on creative direction as well. It just felt like we were literally crafting at one point! Like, all the stuff on the walls we painted; we had like a “Paint and Sip” night, and it was just so fun to get so hands-on, because we really wanted that DIY, handcrafted feel, and so yeah, hopefully it translates.
LUNA: How would you compare “Tripwires” to your previously shot music videos?
HOLLIS: So,I think, again, each of my music videos had a completely different approach, like the first one I directed. It was all black and white and still had that circular movement, but it was with a circle dolly instead, and it featured other dancers. The second one was just super bombastic, epic, emotional angst — this was kind of like a ’90s throwback; very Seattle, but it was just grand! It was epic in scale, as well. Which is what I was trying to go for. Like, this larger-than-life [feel]. So I feel like with “Tripwires,” I really wanted it to feel super approachable, super intimate; almost kind of like you're having a sleepover with yourself — [that] kind of vibe — and make it fashion, you know (laughs). Again, my creative team is just so dope, and the cool thing with this is that we really mixed it up with the different cameras for different shots. I knew I wanted to do what we call the “trick shot” that we got from Karen Cheng. So that circle shot was a leading creative driving shot for me, and I knew that's what the first chorus was going to be, which is shot on an iPhone. We shot the majority of the video on a cinema, high-definition camera, which is where Ed as a cinematographer can really flex. The third camera that is also an “Ed” thing was shooting on a camcorder onto Hi8 film.
Everything that happened in the yellow room –a lot of that grainy texture and stuff – that’s literally the film that we shot. The cool thing that I loved, for example, is what we call the Yellow Room, which is the world that exists within the TV. We shot that on a high-definition cinematic camera, but we ended up only using footage that is on film. The effect that happens on me, where it becomes those distorted, warped lines — that's literally all-natural. The camera was just fucking up, and it created this effect. And when we were watching it on playback I was like, “How did the film know exactly how I feel inside?” It was so much more creative than anything that would have been planned as a director. So I was so happy to embrace those organic idiosyncrasies to inform how the creation turned out. I just love how naturally that happened, and it just again shows the power of working with film. The magic of real film.
LUNA: So we are about to enter 2022, and it’s been a crazy two years! How have the past two years changed you as an artist?
HOLLIS: I mean, it's changed me tremendously. I think in the first six months of the pandemic, I feel like my inner artist died. Not to be too dramatic, but I think I had just released my EP, I was planning on going on tour, I had finally mustered up the courage to do a solo project after so many years of collaborating and being in a band. I was like, “Okay, you know, I'm going to be brave and push through!” And then the pandemic happened. And being an independent artist is already really hard. You have to really have your inner coach push you and say things like, “You can push through the 60 thousand songs uploaded on Spotify a day!” or, “You can be noticed and build an audience!” I feel like any independent artist feels that.
So I think when the pandemic happened, it was like, “Oh, it was already such a challenge to pursue this path.” So now with this and the fact that live music is really the most significant income that an artist can make, for me, I lost all my revenue. Everything that made [me] money primarily was doing live events, performing, or hosting and producing live events, you know? Or just being in person with people. And then, finally, my creative process was very hands-on collaborative with people in the room, going to studios, and writing with people. So I really detached from a sense of my own. It was just like my whole entire identity felt like it was completely thrown into space, and it was hard. But I also feel like the pandemic made me a much stronger artist, because I had to not only have a real honest conversation with myself, but I realized that my artistry is not contingent on how well I perform in the market. My artistry is not deposited on the way that I appear successful in the world. It really has to do with my own self-understanding, my own healing, and my own self-expression.
Also, it’s what's possible to do together. Because, as musicians, we are widely resilient people, and so I wrote my album — 90 percent of it I wrote over Zoom with people. I had to learn how to be my own engineer; I had to learn how to be the person that encouraged [myself] because I was so used to working with people in the studio. So I do think that I have emerged to be a much more resolved and confident and independent creator in a way that I like. I could have gone the other way, and I'm really thankful that I recommitted to myself and that this was the path for me.
Furthermore, I wanted to make sure that I was being as ambitious as possible. I think, again, as an independent musician, there's this tendency to think about, “Okay what lane are you in? What artists are you going to be similar to on Spotify?” You just keep thinking about how you can fit into something, even if you stand out. But, you know, that's what I love about The Luna Collective. I was so happy to see Remi Wolf on the cover of The Luna Collective, because I feel like she's an artist that’s truly doing some different ass shit. It's wildly encouraging to see an eccentric and audacious artist [like Remi Wolf get recognized]. It's like, I want to channel that audacity in my own artistry. That to me also means challenging myself. To really lean into directing and to feel like I don't have to be in a certain place in my music career to allow myself to direct. That's kind of what I was thinking before: that I have to prove myself. But the problem is, you'll never prove yourself enough. But if you're operating from a place where it's like, “It’s if, then, that.” Then for me, that's not how my creativity is inspired. I'm inspired by multiple disciplines coming together. So, yeah, I'll stop there, because I am talking a lot (laughs).
LUNA: It’s all good! That was such a great and beautiful explanation of your growth! I love it! Onto the next question: Who are your musical/poetic influences?
HOLLIS: I could just rattle off a laundry list, but I think, for me, I'm such a songwriter, because I’m such a poet, and really understood myself as a poet first. , I think because obviously music was in my life before poetry was, I'm so driven by lyricism and storytelling in songwriting. So, for me, some of the greatest influences were Joni Mitchell, Lauryn Hill, and Elliott Smith was a huge one for me growing up. It's so funny to say this, but I was really into musical theater, too, and that idea of telling a story and having a song drive narrative. It was really big for me, and I think eventually I'd like to write a musical (laughs). Even an artist like Stephen Sondheim — who just passed away recently — he was such a remarkable songwriter. Also I was a huge hip-hop head. So backpack rap was a big front [for me]. I love Mos Def’s Black On Both Sides. It was a huge album for me, and just people who really center storytelling in their work always really inspired me to think about myself. I'm also a total simp for Matchbox Twenty and all of those kinds of great ’90s early 2000s super corny adult alternative bands that not a lot of people were into.
LUNA: I love Matchbox Twenty! I feel like those are the best bands! (Laughs) Especially the band No Doubt — it was hard to find some I knew who listened to them!
HOLLIS: Hype me up though! (Laughs) They were so massive when I was younger, and we were old enough to like things ironically. I was like, “Oh yeah, I like them ironically.” [And in reality], I was like, “No, I actually like this shit! It's definitely weird.” (Laughs) But overall, I think lyricism really drives “Tripwires.” For example, it's like all about lyrics for me, and [with] the music industry, people will be like, “Lyrics are the last thing that people listen to! Like, who cares about lyrics!” And I was like, “Well, I do. I care.”
LUNA: What do you hope your listeners feel when they hear your music?
HOLLIS: I just hope that they feel seen. I think for me, I feel like songwriting is a place of a lot of vulnerability. I feel like I can be kind of my messiest, just like my softest self, and I just hope that people feel seen and heard. I know it kind of sounds generic, but I hope that it feels relatable and accessible and that they can see themselves in the work that I make. And that it's kind of like a soft landing place for them to sit through their own emotions.
LUNA: What are your songwriting processes like?
HOLLIS: I am just such a collaborator, and I love working with a small circle of folks that I really love writing with for my project. For example, the song “Tripwires” I wrote with my friend Sweater Beats (or Antonio). And it was actually the first session that I had in person since COVID, and so it was really special for me. Everything that you hear … Antonio obviously mixed it up a bit, but every vocal was done in one day. That's why I really love creating something in the room with somebody. You can do everything [with] just two people in a room over a few hours, and create a whole sonic experience. For me, that is what I really, really missed from COVID, and I figured out how to do it by myself. Like recording myself. But it was just so, so nice to be back and not have to do it all by myself. I think for me it's all about building and finding a groove, finding a rhythm, and then, you know, I write a lot lyrically. I kind of just do a lot of free-writing, brainstorming, and then pull a narrative from that.
LUNA: I hear that you want to also venture into directing music videos! What artist(s) would you like to work with?
HOLLIS: I'm a little nervous about the name-checking people, because I don't want to jinx it in a certain sense. But I think obviously I'm inspired by so many different types of artists. From big artists down to super indie. I think what I'm motivated by is approaching the same way that I really love collaborating with songs as a songwriter. Going in with artists and really getting to know them and earning their trust and understanding their life experiences and what fuels them and what drives them; what they hope to express and figuring out how to put that in song. I'm really interested in how I can work alongside artists, given that I'm an artist myself. To think about how to create a visual for a song that means something to them. That really reflects something deeper than they've ever been able to show to their audience into the world before.
LUNA: Any exciting plans for 2022? Tours, upcoming EPs, music videos, etc.?
HOLLIS: Yes! I am going to be releasing my debut full-length album that I wrote almost entirely during the pandemic. I am going to be releasing that in the spring and I'm excited about that! So hopefully late spring, early summer. Maybe like April or May. Then hopefully just throwing my songwriting out there and figuring it out!
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