Q&A: A Talk with Kayla Janowitz of After Ours
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SHARON LAZO ☆
HONING IN ON HER VULNERABILITY AND LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCES — New Jersey native Kayla Janowitz, musically known as After Ours, releases her sophomore album Imaginary Friend. With the help of producer Joseph Kuhn, Janowitz was able to perfectly encapsulate her personal emotions and raw songwriting as she steps forward into this new musical journey, while still remaining true to her authentic self.
Imaginary Friend comes after 2 years from her previous self titled album, which showcased who she is as an artist. Solidifying her as a songwriter at heart who uses her soulfully delicate voice as a tool to truthfully share her art. And she does this effortlessly with each of the 7 tracks off Imaginary Friend.
With every song off the album, Janowitz explores loss, love, growth, and acceptance. There are smooth transitions between the fast paced songs like “One Last Time” or “Metlife” who juxtapose the slower ones like “I Know You” or “Little Number” which beautifully has that hazy feeling a Mazzy Star or a Kimya Dawson tune would. To even covering an adorded MGMT favorite “Congratulations”, which further showcases her beginnings and something she still loves doing, making covers! However distinct each track is, Janowitz, with the help of Kuhn, was still able to create a collection that blends perfectly together and tells a story. To wrap up Imaginary Friend, she delivers “Different Now” which is a heartfelt track about growth and change that can be felt by the cathartic ending which has that full circle feeling of a conclusion.
Something very special about this piece of work, as well as After Ours as a whole project, is it's so honest about the simplicity of each track. Proving you don’t need all that extra stuff to make a tastefully inspiring record. It speaks a lot on the person behind After Ours, and how imperative vulnerability and truth is to Janowitz in order to create a timeless piece that can have a lasting effect, no matter how uncomplicated it is. This work to me is a testament to following your instinct and letting your heart take the lead to create authentically sincere music that can feel freeing and healing.
Keep reading to find out more about Kayla from After Ours, her love for music, the making of Imaginary Friend, and what’s in store for After Ours.
LUNA: Congrats for the release of Imaginary Friend. How do you feel knowing your hard work will be out for the world?
AFTER OURS: I made the record with Joe in the beginning of 2024, so it's been a minute. I'm so excited to just have it out there, you know… but that's the thing. I think, when I first started making music, I was like, I don't know if I should put it out. And I think a lot of artists have this issue where they think it’s probably not a good idea to put it out. However, I think putting out music, whether you think it's good, bad or whatever, is so crucial to be able to make more music, you have to put it out!
LUNA: And it's really great! So great. And I feel like every song is different from the rest, but they're still cohesive as a piece. What would you say helped you most with maintaining that sound or the theme consistent throughout the whole record?
AFTER OURS: Well, for me, it's so funny as a musician. You know, obviously other artists put out full records all the time. And like, I don't know what it is about me, but I'm I've never been someone that could just start a record and finish it all the way. Like, I usually pick little songs and over time I'll get into the record. So that pretty much means, like, my attention span is so everywhere! So while making this record, I was, like, the songs need to be different. Obviously, they need to connect and be cohesive in some way, and I think that's via my writing and my actual voice… it's not genre bending or anything but, you know, So definitely an invisible string through it all probably is my writing and like how I how I express myself and just my voice. You know that feels like the missing piece, you know?
LUNA: So as a songwriter, I'm sure you poured your heart into every track, but which one, if you could choose, is closest to you at this time in your life?
AFTER OURS: Mm, that's a really good question. Well, the whole record is a collection of songs I wrote from 22 to 27 and they're all put in chronological order. So “Cherry Ears” The first track, is actually the oldest song, and “Different Now” was the most recent song and last off the record. So technically, I would say “Different Now” would be the most me because I wrote it last year, a few weeks before I flew out to record Imaginary Friend. Like I didn't even know that that song was going to make it, because I had just written it. So I would say “Different Now” would be the most present to me. But there's something about the first track, “Cherry Ears”, which is so funny because I wrote it before my frontal lobe was developed, but I still feel that song so much, and it's near and dear. So, I would say in between the first and the last song feels so much like me.
LUNA: That's so fitting as “Cherry Ears” starts the record and “Different Now” ends it!
AFTER OURS: Yes!
LUNA: While working with Al Carson and Joseph Kuhn, what was your most memorable memory while in the studio with them?
AFTER OURS: Well it was just me and Joe in the studio. Al was virtually mixing, but Joe is like my little brother! Outside of him being an actual prodigy of a maker of music. He's so sick. But the most memorable memory… that's a good question. Uh, maybe, okay so when MkGee’s album came out, I remember he was like, “This is the best album I've ever heard”. And I listened, and I was like, “I don't know if I like it very much”, like I was being so annoying if I liked it or not, and he's like, “No, dude, like, it's actually, a perfect record”.And then I sat with it for a month, and I was like, this is the best album I've ever heard in my whole life. And it just like this, this guy who essentially was a kid to me, he just knows, like, what's good, and like, what sounds good immediately. And for me, like, I don't know, like, so like, that moment was awesome, because that album became, like, the most popular album! But honestly, like, I it's, it's hard to pick out a specific memory, because the whole thing was so awesome!
LUNA: Very bonding too.
AFTER OURS: Oh, for sure, 100% and he did all the instrumentation for the record as well. So he'll be tracking drums, and I'll just be there with a book, which I thought was really funny, while he did all the hard work. But he's just a really fun person and he's my homie, ya know. So it didn't feel very professional, where I'm like, okay, like, I'm going to sing this song and you're going to play the drums. It's more like friends, hanging out, collaborating!
LUNA: That's awesome! That's so cool… So another thing I really love about what you said about artists including covers of their favorite songs on their albums, that could later showcase an influence or glimpses into their lives. And you had covered The Zombies “The Way I Feel Inside”, which by the way, I love that song! But with Imaginary Friend you covered “Congratulations” by MGMT. So which artist band would you say also shaped your music taste?
AFTER OURS: Another great question. Well, I have an older brother who has been a musician since he was a kid, like an insane guitarist. So I think I grew up with a lot of good music solely because of him. I don't think my parents, no offense, but my parents not so much. They were never like cool hippie parents, never put me onto Led Zeppelin. It wasn't like that. It was my brother, he was my introduction into indie music growing up. Bands like Dr. Dog was, like, a really big one for me, they were like The Beatles to me. They really helped shape the way that I wrote my music, very like storytelling in a way, very emo and beautiful. I would say Billie Holiday, just like the soulfulness of her entire being. And then of course what I listened to in high school, which I still listen to now like indie sleaze, The Strokes. Omg and end of high school, early college I heard Angel Olsen. When I first heard her… yeah. I'm not even joking, I actually, like, nearly died. I think my heart stopped for like, five
minutes. She is a writer, she is the voice, but she's also, like, the instrument. Ultimately, I would say the indie sleaze movement really changed my life, because I realized, like, it was the first time I heard music where I was like, oh this isnt like z100, you know, yeah, this is like music that I don't hear on the radio, but it's so good. And I was really confused by that.
LUNA: No, totally, yeah for sure, for sure, like that Tumblr era introducing you to everything alternative.
AFTER OURS: Yes! I was highly active on Tumblr, and, you know, I was addicted to, like, Arctic Monkeys, like the Alex Turner Alexa Chung lore. But truthfully, like, I'm not embarrassed to say that indies sleaze music really changed my life.
LUNA: Of course, you shouldn't have been as invested or listening to some songs, but yeah, like it's shaped who you are.
AFTER OURS: And like anyone who felt slightly like an alternative growing up, like there had to be like an outlet of music, and of course, wasn't going to be, I mean, I listen, I love z100, I love the top 40, so much. Like, I'm not joking, but there had to be a way out to like, express yourself, and to feel like you were a part of the world though you felt alternative and like that era of music was perfect for that.
LUNA: So to piggyback off what we were talking about, you've been surrounded by music all your life. What took you so long to make your own music?
AFTER OURS: I just feel like, that feeling that I fucking suck. Like, who the fuck wants to listen to me? But that's, I mean, a lot of artists feel that way, or it's like crazy confidence, and you're like, I'm the best. But I was always like, you know, I love music so much, I was never properly taught music. I'm not, like, trained in music. Like, my band, who's wonderful, who I play live with, they all studied music. One of them went to Berkeley, like, so talented, you know. And I feel like they have the intuitiveness of music. They also understand music from, like, a technical standpoint. I feel like I understood music, but I didn't really know how to make the music that I wanted to make because I couldn't physically do it. So I started, like, doing covers, growing up and just learning the shapes of chords and just memorizing them, not really understanding why the next chord sounds good. So by the time I, you know, was 21 22 I was like, okay, like, I want to make music. I don't know what to do. And then COVID happened, and I was like, You know what? It's time to lock in, even if you know C,G and F on the guitar, there's so many world renowned songs that only have those chords, you know, from the Beatles to Taylor Swift or like Alex G like, there's a lot of simple songs that are amazing. And I was like, I'm just going to make some simple songs. And then I did, and that was kind of my turning point where I was like, listen, dude. Like, you can just like, say that you suck forever. But if you're not making anything, then you actually suck. So just like, make something, and if it, if it hits, it hits, but if not, then you can say that at least you tried.
LUNA: The first step is just doing that and you're doing it!
AFTER OURS: Yes I am!
LUNA: So when you're in a musical rut, where would you say you would go or do to try to get back into that creative mindset?
AFTER OURS: Well, I'm not writing constantly. Like, I have a lot of friends who make music who are constantly just writing. They'll journal, you know, they'll do writing exercises and thats awesome! Like, whatever helps! With me is I just don't worry about it at all. And if something comes to me, I'm like, oh, that that was awesome. Like, that's a great one liner. I'll just write it down to my notes app and hopefully use it one day. Or if I know that it's like, time to maybe start thinking about making music again. I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna just like do some covers. That's like, my thing. Like, every time I feel like I haven't made music in a while, or haven't even sung in a while, I guess I'll just like, learn the song that I've been singing to myself every day for four months. Yeah. Like, just like being involved in music. It's really great, because you don't actually have to be the one to be making the music. You could just be like a bystander. You could be an observer. You could be half, like, one foot in, one foot out, listening, but I think what helps me is just like, not putting so much pressure on myself to make music, because good music comes when it just comes you know. And there are people who get really, like, anxious or upset, being like, oh, like, am I trying to make this thing right now and it's not working, and it's like, Well, step away from it and come back to it, because you'll come back better. it's crazy, because in a lot of other parts of my life, I'm very like, ah, anxiety! But it's like, this is the one thing that I enjoy doing,
LUNA: Right, don’t ruin it.
AFTER HOURS: Yeah, it's like, the only thing I really like to do. I really don't have many other passions or hobbies. So it's like, why am I going to taint it with anxiety and pressure if I could just enjoy it? You know
LUNA: That's a very good answer!
AFTER OURS: Thank you, so much!
LUNA: And the last question is, what's next? What's next for After Hours?
AFTER OURS: Um, well, my good friend Lutalo makes music, and he and I are trying to make music together. And last summer, he and I went up to Vermont to just get in, like, a writing session with him. And I, I never really wrote with other people before, so it was my first time last summer. And I was like, This is awesome, because you, like, I was saying earlier, like, I'm not, like, classically trained in anything, I don't really, but neither is he actually, which is really interesting. But like, when you have someone else there to help expand on your baby idea, I feel like the options are, like, so limitless, and could really, like, tap in. So we ended up making like, two songs, and like, I love them so much. So I'm trying to figure out getting back in a studio with him so we could, just like, make more songs together. So the future, right now, for me, is to continue to make music and write with other people.
