Q&A: Blythe Woods Has Been Writing ‘Loser's Guide to life’ Her Whole Life
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
BLYTHE WOODS THINKS SHE MIGHT BE POSSESSED. It's the only explanation that makes sense for someone who has written at least one song every day for as long as she can remember: filling notebooks, voice memos, and bedroom floors with observations that arrive faster than she can get them down. Raised between New York, Los Angeles, and Montana, she's never really had a home base, but she's always had the songs. Losers Guide to Life, her debut album arriving January 15, 2027, is the first time the world gets to hear what she's been sitting on.
The album was produced by Alex Casnoff (Dawes, Harriet) and recorded with Gabe Goodman on guitar and bass (Maggie Rogers, Del Water Gap) and Sam Kauffman-Skloff on drums (Role Model, Lizzy McAlpine), then mixed by Jake Aron — a team that brings serious indie credentials to music that started entirely on Woods' bedroom floor. The result moves between classic rock, early-2000s anthems, and hyperpop synths without ever feeling scattered, held together by a songwriting voice that has an almost unsettling emotional clarity for someone releasing their debut.
She announced the album on August 31st alongside the music video for lead single "Rowan Wait Up," directed by Meriel O'Connell, a video Woods describes as feeling like a curious kid using her imagination to get through a hard day. It's a fitting introduction: intuitive, unforced, and completely her own. Read on to learn how Blythe Woods went from hundreds of songs in private to one of the most exciting debut albums of 2027.
LUNA: You've been writing at least one song every day for as long as you can remember. When did you know that Losers Guide to Life was the right collection to introduce yourself with?
WOODS: I feel like starting to write music, especially at a young age, depends on when the right time comes around. Coming from a family who never pushed or rushed my art gave me enough time to really think my music through, and to have the ability to know when the right time was. So this past year I have felt like these are the right songs at the right time that tell my story in the moment. I feel really good about it!
LUNA: "Rowan Wait Up" was your first song out in the world. What was it like finally letting something public after writing hundreds of songs in private?
WOODS: I think it's weird especially with the song "Rowan Wait Up". Aside from it being very personal to me, it was not anyone's favorite song of mine. It was just by coincidence that this was the first song that Alex sent to mix, so it was the first track we got back and getting to listen to it in full production gave me the feeling that I was really ready to share my music. I really like to trust my gut, and nothing inside me said to hold "Rowan Wait Up" back. I also feel like sometimes you make the best connections when you're the most vulnerable.
LUNA: The album was produced by Alex Casnoff and features Gabe Goodman and Sam Kauffman-Skloff. What did it feel like bringing other people into music that started on your bedroom floor?
WOODS: It was honestly so fun! I love those guys, they are so talented! And it's also so easy to make art with Alex. Because he is so patient and just such a talented, cool person. To watch him approach my songs and my visions with such collaboration and care is super magical, and just so fun! And I'm so so so so grateful to be able to work with such pros that mentor me everyday. I can't wait to continue to learn from them.
LUNA: What's your favorite track on the record and why?
WOODS: I honestly have a few favorite tracks right now. But my favorite is a song called "Untitled". I'm not trying to gatekeep, it's literally the title of the song. The production is vibrant. I also had just so so much fun recording it. It's a shapeshifter and I'm obsessed with it. It's about the small details of somebody trying to keep up with you as you're changing.
LUNA: You grew up between New York, Los Angeles, and Montana — three pretty different worlds. How did moving between all of those shape the way you write?
WOODS: I actually feel like I was raised in even more cities than that. I do think that it can feel like we're leaving just as I start feeling at home in these places. It's always a reminder that home is where my family is. But life has really shown me that home is within myself, and that's the place I write from the most.
LUNA: Your bio describes your songs as "coming-of-age movies in musical form." Is there a specific film or era of film that lives in your head when you're writing?
WOODS: My mom and I watch a lot of 80's movies together so love that era — Reality Bites, Edward Scissorhands, The Breakfast Club and so on. But I don't really think about anything or honestly have any prompts in mind when writing. I feel like it just happens, it just flows out of me. I also feel like if I were to sit down and write about something specific it would sound forced or like I'm trying too hard. For me personally, I am a really intuitive writer. I have absolutely no knowledge of what the song is going to sound like or be about before I start writing. Sometimes I sit at the piano or hold my guitar, and then it starts flowing. So I love to write with my instruments.
LUNA: Which song on the album was the hardest to finish?
WOODS: Surprisingly it all came pretty easily, but weirdly "Rowan Wait Up" and "Loser's Guide to Life" were the hardest because I kept on trying to add more and it just wasn't working. I actually wrote an entire second bridge to "Loser's Guide to Life", but we ended up taking it out. We did end up going back to the OG version but we definitely took some detours.
LUNA: Tell us more about the "Rowan Wait Up" music video and what you want the visual world of this project to feel like?
WOODS: I wanted "Rowan Wait Up" to feel like a curious kid who's going through it bored in her back yard and so she uses her imagination. I find that nature, music, and imagination are the most soothing ways to make you feel better whenever you're down, and it's something everyone can access. Meriel O'Connell, my amazing director who I was lucky enough to work with, really hit the stream of emotions right on! She really captured what it feels like to be a creative kid, and I wanted it to be really natural. We had a really small crew and my family and my cousins around, so it felt pretty normal like I was off creating art one minute, then the next we were all having a water balloon fight.
LUNA: What intentions do you have for the upcoming fall season?
WOODS: Releasing more music and more surprises!! And watching Gilmore Girls and rewatching Sterling Point and trying to get better at my homemade matcha game, writing more music duh and snuggling with my dog Baby Orion.
