Q&A: Shybaby makes Olivia Rodrigo’s "bad idea, right?" even angrier — New album Is This Intimate due March 1
SHYBABY IS CALLING AND READY TO MEET YOU – She’s just released her siren song cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “bad idea, right?” and isn’t afraid to make it dirtier. Shybaby also announces her new album Is This Intimate, a collection of songs just as dramatic and loud as she, coming to the internet on March 1.
“bad idea, right?” wrapped in just one day between the checkered walls and shag carpet of La Fam Recordings in Brooklyn. Shybaby signs on Jeremy Snyder (Pure Adult, IDLES, Fontaines D.C.) to “[push] Rodrigo’s original further into its emotional punk core – frustrated & loud, self aware about its carelessness.”
Shybaby turns bratty rock into something desperate and lethal. The cover runs with a higher pulse and its distorted instruments slam dancing to exhaustion. Shybaby’s life experience (“proudly 33,” she says) informs “bad idea, right?” not with wisdom, but with insolence. Who says bad decisions aren’t still enticing after your 20s?
Keep reading to hear Shybaby talk about dating in New York, therapy, and previews of her new album.
LUNA: Rodrigo’s album is amazing, but there are a lot of moments where I think she could be louder, more aggressive. In covering "bad idea, right?," what are your thoughts on that? Is this something you wanted with "bad idea, right?”
SHYBABY: Yes exactly - I love Olivia and the album, but it feels like there's that room to push it further into the rock/punk end of things. The songwriting kind of begs for it. It feels like it could be slimier and heavier and wilder.
LUNA: I think the proud toxicity themes in "bad idea, right?" fit with Shybaby material really well. What about this song strikes a cord with you?
SHYBABY: Unfortunately yes, at 33 I do still identify with the coming-of-age themes on her record. Dating doesn't really ever get easier, and people don't ever really grow up or out of bad habits... especially in New York. People can change but most often they don't. I guess I'd have to include myself in that category, too. I figure it'd be fun to stay pretty true to the original, and just kind of drag it through the dirt a little. I like that OR's songs are really un-self conscious about the things she's clearly so self-conscious about.
LUNA: What was it like to connect and work with Jeremy Snyder on this?
SHYBABY: Fun and easy! Exactly the way I like to work. Knocked it out one afternoon at La Fam in Brooklyn. It's easy when your band is great and you're working with people who are just really good at what they do.
LUNA: There is an age gap between Rodrigo and you, even Rodrigo and me, but I still wholeheartedly relate to what she writes about. Do you think there is some fundamental experience that women experience in love/heartbreak/situationships/etc.?
SHYBABY: I think we're all just going through it as women, no matter what the circumstances are, and it's cathartic to be able to talk about it (or yell about it) – especially when it feels like you can't fix it. There's always drama, but as I've been talking through with my therapist, it's a choice to let yourself be treated in one way or another. I think that – age and gender aside – some have learned that better than the rest.
LUNA: Is it important for your music to be, as you say, "frustrated [and] loud, self aware about its carelessness"?
SHYBABY: Shybaby is where I go to be imperfect, loud, and unapologetic. I'm learning to carry that into the rest of my life where typically I'm pretty quiet, but when I'm writing, or when I'm covering a pop song, it's the most fun to make it louder. I know it's not always going to be for everyone, but it can't always be my goal to make everyone else happy.
LUNA: Was it important to announce your album alongside this cover, or was it just for fun? Is there anything you want to say or preview about your upcoming album?
SHYBABY: The songs on Is This Intimate were recorded with an entirely different band than the one I play with now - and the songs were written years ago. I've written since then, but I wanted to do something fun... and I wanted to do something that included the people who are a part of it now! This was the quickest way to accomplish that, and sometimes in order to get something done, I just have to book the studio time and figure it out after the fact. That's what I did here haha. I also just love the song and thought others might like to hear it like this too!
