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Hi Storry, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
I’ve been well. All things considered. Healthy and staying active, making and releasing music is what’s keeping me sane!
Can you talk to us more about your latest single “Worth”?
We live in a world where new is better and what becomes old is an increasingly shorter window. Our WORTH seems to be tied to our physical beauty (especially as women and even more so for women in the music industry). I’ve even had people negotiate the terms of my contract based on my age being a risk to their investment. The song WORTH is about that fear of aging, of being irrelevant, of not reaching the heights of what we deem success before we shrivel into oblivion and through some joking and cynicism, the song is meant to question what true self-WORTH should look like.
Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?
If I were to add anything to my explanation above, it would be that during quarantine, I felt as though time was moving forward, but for the first time in my life, I couldn’t move forward with it. My plans had been changed, paused, or canceled and I was in a place of limbo and uncertainty about my career in a way that I had never experienced. I was ageing, but without the benefits of at least seemingly making progress. So, the song WORTH seemed extremely pertinent. I also think it’s a universal thought process, one that we all have to work through in our lives.
How was the filming process and experience behind the video?
It was super emotional. I knew that I wanted to be vulnerable and show my insecurities – my cellulite, my grey hairs, and all the parts of me where I see faults. Karimah Zakia Issa quarantined with me and so she directed all the visuals for all the songs on the record (10 tracks) in just 3 days. So, if you can imagine, it was an emotional ride. (The music videos will be released for each song every couple weeks on my YouTube channel). Karimah is a director but she’s not a cinematographer or editor. But we had a $0 budget and in quarantine, no way of collaborating with others. So working within these restrictions was interesting and fun because we had to really simplify the concepts and just work with what we had and what we could do.
But the filming of WORTH was really special because Karimah got me in my feelings and had me crying real tears. She had me repeat the last sentence of the song which is “You’ll never make it”, over and over again to myself in the mirror, until I really felt the loss of hope in myself and broke down. I know it sounds rough, but for me, I’ll do anything for the art and I felt proud knowing I did an Oscar -worthy performance! Lol
The single comes off your new album Interlude-19 – what’s the story behind the title?
I had literally just released my debut album, CH III: The Come Up not even 30 days before the pandemic hit and the world was shut down. I asked myself what this time really meant. This limbo and uncertainty we were all experiencing. I asked myself, what comes between chapters? Between movements?
Interlude is defined as “an intervening or interruptive time, space or event…when a situation or activity is different from what comes before and after it.” This time of isolation has felt like purgatory, but also a much needed interruption from our ‘busy’ness and our frenzied state of ego and consumption. We are now forced to either look at ourselves, at our world, or otherwise attempt to drown ourselves with frivolous distractions. I realized, that these months, this year, though seemingly endless, is but a blip in time. A flash in the pan. So, I decided to call this record INTERLUDE-19 and for this very reason the songs are short (between 45 seconds to 3 mins), and explore themes like time, waiting, the powers-that-be, self-deprecation and death.
How was the recording and writing process?
It was therapeutic. And for the first time, I didn’t ask for anyone’s opinion. I just made the shit! Lol I wasn’t going for perfection and I wanted it to come out immediately so that people could relate to it in real time, while they actually needed it. Therefore, it was imperative I move fast. I also had to work virtually, which was very different. None of the players or producers on the record were in the same room. We all did our parts separately in our own home studios.
When I told my friends, Alison and James, the concept to this new record, they graciously allowed us to go up to their space in the country called ‘Collabo Camp’ to finish the project. We had 10 days up there to write, record and shoot all the visuals. So, even if I wanted to, I didn’t have the time to overthink or rethink. This was an exercise of doing!
The first 7 days were writing, recording and doing a little rough production. I had already collected a lot of the rough beats/production from my fellow peers before heading up there. And then the last 3 days was the shooting of all the visuals. When I got back home, I sent the files to their respective producers, and they added the final touches. It’s been a cool process.
What aspect of isolation did you get to explore on this record?
Isolation has been hard on my mental health. I was lucky to be isolated with a few of my favorite people, so that made a world of difference. But I found myself coming back to the idea of death. Not just physical death, but the idea that being asleep or unaware of our lives is also a form of death. And that if we don’t live our lives to the fullest and truly be present to experience it, then we’re not actually alive. Hence why all the songs on the record make a sentence “DEATH, DON’T WAIT, FOR NO ONE, SO, LIVE, A STORRY, WORTH, TELLING.”
INTERLUDE-19 speaks about the governing powers-that-be, and how so much information that we get can be tainted by mere humans that we put so much faith into. I speak about waiting, the fear of aging, especially during a time when our biological clock is ticking but it seems like our progress has completely halted. And I speak about this virtual world that we’ve been forced to be even more engaged with, taking over our lives, and losing the real value we have in the real world.
Where else did you find the inspiration for the songs and lyrics?
Within my own life experience. Everything I write is from life experience and what I see happening around me.
What else is happening next in STORRY’s world?
Well, I have videos for every song on the record and so 1 visual will be released every couple of weeks on my YouTube channel.
Otherwise, I’ll be creating. I already have a couple album ideas in my head and a lot of banked music. So lots of writing and getting better at my craft. I’m hoping to get more opportunities to perform as well and spread the music that’s already out to a wider audience.
Potentially, I’m headed across the pond to London, England to check out the landscape there for a little bit. Always up to another adventure – just trying to live a storry worth telling.
Watch the new video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJQxuY7iDWw&ab_channel=STORRY
