Q&A: Katrina Weissman Finds Closure in Unexpected Places in Newest Single “Not Love”
DATING APPS HAVE GARNERED A BAD RAP DUE TO INSINCERITY — but Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter Katrina Weissman can attribute at least one positive to their existence: the ability to mend heartbreak, however slow it may be.
In her previous single, “Wasted Space,” Weissman longed for a sense of romantic closeness while in an isolated pandemic environment. But in “Not Love,” released on April 21, Weissman takes the opposite approach by trying to distance herself from the feelings of a previous relationship. Dating apps are used as her vehicle into meeting new people, but with that came unremarkable encounters with others.
Instead of giving into dejectedness, Weissman spins these dates in her favor, vocalizing, “It’s not love but it’s enough” over a ’90s-alternative soundscape driven by guitar and drum instrumentals. She expresses a relatable honesty that many can find hard to articulate into words: even if new experiences do not pan out as intended, they can unintentionally help you move forward.
Weissman is set to graduate from UCLA this spring, and while she feels apprehension toward the future, there has been no shortage of creativity and self-sufficiency in many aspects of her life. Her educational background has allowed her to gain deep experience in musical production; coupled with her sociable personality, she is eager to collaborate with like-minded individuals both professionally and for personal enjoyment — all of which make her world much more vivid.
Read below to discover the background behind producing “Not Love,” Weissman’s artistic influences ranging from literature to film, and how her perspectives on emotions have changed as she’s grown up.
LUNA: Your last single, “Wasted Space,” was made in a pandemic era state of mind. What was your headspace and background process of making your new single “Not Love”?
WEISSMAN: I wrote “Not Love” right after we got our vaccines, and I started going on some pretty mediocre Bumble dates. Nothing really stuck, but I still felt good about it because it meant that I was closer to getting over this relationship I had before COVID. So yeah, the “it’s not love, but it’s enough” is very literal.
After I wrote the song, I sent it to my co-producer friend Oliver Turiano. He really liked the song and immediately made this amazing ’90s rock-sounding backing track to it, kinda inspired by Pavement and The Cranberries, who we’re both big fans of. It felt almost done at that point but we decided to keep it on the back burner until I had access to a recording studio to get the vocals right.
Finally, last year I started taking all these audio engineering classes at UCLA, and once I passed I was able to book some recording sessions at the studio there. I put the “Not Love” demo into Pro Tools, hit play, and then ran from the control room to the mic to sing. I just kept running back and forth over and over again until I got something I could make a comp out of. Then Oliver and I mixed the song for a while on Zoom and Audiomovers. It wasn’t sounding perfect but we were just like, “I don't want to wait a million years to release this song. Let's just do it.” I was literally about to upload it that week when I had a call with Daniel Cullen about mixing some of our future songs. I sent him “Not Love,” just as an example of stuff that we were working on, and he was like, “I love this track, it’s good now but it could be … crazy — let me mix it for you,” so we sent it to him, and now it sounds even better than I hoped. We’re actually working with him on all the other songs now as another co-producer.
LUNA: Knowing this, is there a planned narrative to your future projects, or are you creating music based off your current feelings and instincts?
WEISSMAN: All of the songs that we’ll be putting out are just in the order of when I wrote them, at least so far. “Not Love” is a grief song [in which] I'm accepting that a breakup period is over and that I don't need to think about it anymore. The other songs aren’t really related to that. I’m just in a different headspace now where … it's hard to describe. I've gotten more emotionally mature as time has gone on, and hopefully that's reflected in the songs.
LUNA: I had a very similar epiphany recently, so I definitely relate to that.
WEISSMAN: Yeah, I hope the songs are relatable. It's weird getting to a point where, even though I'm still super small, the songs aren’t only going to be played in my room and written on my phone. I hope that people connect to the music I’m putting out and I sometimes worry that I write with that in mind a little bit too much. It’s just that my favorite artists are people that I really relate to so I hope that I can contribute the same kind of emotional solidarity.
LUNA: Every artist has their nuances. Even if some artists are similar, you’re not going to get the exact same thing from all of them.
WEISSMAN: Exactly. I love the emotional maturity that I get from Julia Jacklin. I don't think I can offer the same warm acceptance without any angst, but I do appreciate it in her.
LUNA: We're all getting older, and some things just come with age and maturing — there's no way to like force that sometimes. But you have to embrace whatever you are at that point in time that you're in.
WEISSMAN: In one of the songs that I have coming up, I have a line that’s just “I want you to feel bad because I do,” which is very simple and pretty childish. But it’s true sometimes! Sometimes that is just how you feel.
LUNA: Outside of music creation, what do you do in your spare time?
WEISSMAN: I read and watch a lot of movies and TV. I actually just read The Bell Jar for the first time, probably because I'm about to graduate and am feeling the pressing weight of “I don't know what I'm gonna do with my life!” I also hike sometimes. I just discovered some beautiful grassy spots in Topanga that I like a lot. But honestly, the more time I spend in LA and commit to making music, the more everything I do is related to music and all the people I hang out with are musicians. It’s very sweet, actually. I think that befriending other people who are doing the same thing makes it like we’re all on the journey together.
LUNA: Which artists or albums are you currently into right now?
WEISSMAN: I have been listening to The Innocence Mission a lot. One of my very good friends from high school recommended it to me. You know how Spotify used to let you get your “taste match score” with friends? We got, like, 98%, so I take her recommendations very seriously (laughs). She sent me their album Small Planes in the fall and I still listen to it a lot. It’s got a folky rock vibe. The new boygenius album is also great. I'm a big fan of them. I also recently watched Party Girl. Are you familiar with it?
LUNA: No, I've never heard of that.
WEISSMAN: It’s so fun. You should watch it. It was a super silly, low-budget movie where Parker Posey is this “party girl” but also a librarian. Anyway, it has an awesome soundtrack that I’ve been listening to a lot as well. I recommend it if you're into the late ’90s New York club scene.
LUNA: What do you have planned for the rest of this year?
WEISSMAN: I’ve been working with Simon Hirshfield, a member of another SoCal band called Dark Dazey, to record the next few singles. He lives with my mixing engineer, Daniel, and I’ve been over there a lot to work on stuff. I'm not sure if we're gonna release a full album or just do singles, but it’s been really fun. Having those audio engineering skills is very freeing, but as the artist it’s a much more calm experience being able to focus solely on arranging and getting takes right, rather than worrying about that while also sweating through your clothes to set up a whole drum kit and all that. Now I get to sit in an at-home studio with candles and plants and really focus on how things are sounding. So yeah, it’s been lovely.
I've also been working with this on campus label called Cherry Pop Records, and I'm going to be releasing a song with them, I think in June. I’ll also keep playing around LA this summer, getting more into venues outside of Westwood. I just made a lyric zine that I've been selling at shows that I'm super happy about. It’s little collages of various photoshoots I've had and my lyrics posted on top. It's all been very fun. I'm super grateful to have found a lot of people that are into this stuff and want to do it with me.
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