Q&A: Carlie Hanson Rediscovers Her Sound in New EP, ‘too late to cry’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY FAITH LUEVANOS ☆
BOLD AND RESILIENT, ALT-POP STAR CARLIE HANSON – returns with her latest EP, too late to cry. Born through vulnerability and self-reassurance, too late to cry marks an exciting chapter for the multi-faceted artist, one that promotes moving forward through heartbreak and finding the strength within oneself to “own their narrative.”
After parting ways with her label, Hanson has found her strength in the making of the EP by writing and producing the majority of this project alone. Hanson shared that too late to cry happened organically, a newfound opportunity for her to experiment and rediscover her sound. As someone who refuses to be boxed in within the confines of one sound, Hanson drew inspiration from multiple artists of various genres in order to craft a sound that’s unique to her.
As a true standout voice to her generation, Hanson’s lyrical wit and profound artistry in too late to cry leaves listeners craving more and eager to see where her career takes her.
The Luna Collective received the opportunity to chat with Hanson about the EP, her dream collaborations, her favorite lyrics, and more. Read the full interview below.
LUNA: The songs on this EP have a softer sound than previous releases. Will this sound be unique to too late to cry or are you beginning to take your sound in a new direction?
HANSON: This EP happened super organically. I think the process of making this EP was somewhat of an experiment for me to play around with production and see how far I could take it by myself. I’ve noticed when I’m working by myself, I like to make softer, slower, mid-tempo songs. I’m not sure why that is. But, in that regard, I never like to box myself in. The next project might sound completely different than too late to cry! I really just like to go with the flow and not think too hard about what happens when I'm creating. Maybe a hardcore metal album next?
LUNA: Who or what were some of the influences you had in mind while making this EP?
HANSON: As for other artists I was listening to, it was a lot of Dominic Fike. A lot of Mac Miller. I went back to Mac’s album Circles for production inspo. At the time I started working on this music, I had recently cut ties with my first record label, so that was a big influence on this project too. No bad blood with them at all, it was an overall great experience for me, but it was a moment of realization of like, “Alright.. I’m gonna try and do this on my own. I’m gonna take what I’ve learned these last four or five years and go make some dope sh*t in my little bedroom studio. I can do this,” type of mentality.
LUNA: In "covering faces,” you have a line that stuck out to me. "I string together words, scream from the distance, the deepest kind of burn, but you wouldn't feel it.” Can you elaborate on your experience through this line?
HANSON: I love this question. That lyric came from a place of hurt. A place of not feeling heard by people that I cared about. That’s all I can really say on that.
LUNA: What are 3 words you would use to describe this EP?
HANSON: Warm, honest, geetar
LUNA: What did the creative process for the EP look like?
HANSON: As for the creative process, if we’re talking about creating the music, it was chill! I wanted it to be that way (laughs). I didn’t want to put a lot of pressure on myself for this EP. It was like an experiment. Like I said before, it was me in my room, making tracks, or writing in my journal, trying to be nicer to myself throughout the process and trust my gut more. And when I got a song as far as I possibly could, like “covering faces”, I brought my friends in to help tie it up and wrap a little bow around it. I was spoiled enough to have my partner shoot a lot of the single artworks for me. She did that for the last album as well. Love.
And then for the EP artwork, I worked with a friend of mine, Stefan Kohli, to help bring that final image to life. Sitting in front of the Six Flags tower, wearing that Wisconsin hoodie, was an ode to saying goodbye to my younger self. Growing up! It’s weird. I’d also like to take a moment here to shout out Josh Madden from my management team at MDDN. He’s always very good at reminding me to trust myself and stay true to who I am throughout the process of creating art. He has sick ideas. What a good dude.
LUNA: Do you have any favorite lines that stuck out the most to you?
HANSON: I like a lot of the lyrics in “baby”. I freestyled almost all of those final lyrics in the first take. That first verse is pretty much everything I said in the first freestyle. “Look at the light how, look how it hits your eyes” I just like the image that I’m trying to create there. It feels moody and spacey.
LUNA: How did you decide that too late to cry was the right title for this project? Is there a specific story you can share behind it?
HANSON: “Too late to cry.” That feeling was just really how I felt. It was too late to sit around and mope and blame other people for what I was going through. You can only do that for so long before you just feel like sh*t and it gets you nowhere except lonely. I kind of had to let my thoughts and any pain get out in the music and move on that way. It’s too late to cry, we got to keep moving!
LUNA: The EP ends with "nutshell". What end note do you hope this leaves on listeners?
HANSON: I like that my cover of nutshell has a floatiness to it. Almost a psychedelic feeling. At least that’s how I feel anyway. It gives me a certain nostalgic feeling that I always try to find in music that I listen to. I hope it gives listeners that feeling. I also hope it makes listeners go and listen to the insane and amazing original song by Alice in Chains.
LUNA: If you could have any artist collab on one of the songs from the EP, who would it be and which song?
HANSON: I would want Justin Bieber on “covering faces”. Justin, you down?
LUNA: What’s next for you?
HANSON: Justin Bieber hopping on “covering faces” is next. No, but really, I’m going to put out an insane full length album next. And maybe do some twitch streams here and there. And maybe do some shows. But right now I'm going to finish this coffee.
