Q&A: Jessie Mazin is Authentic to the Core
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY MILA MATEJCEK ☆
Mowgly Lee John Landry
BUILDING WORLDS SO REAL, SHE FEELS IT IN HER BONES — Listening to Jessie Mazin’s new EP let the feeling die is like having your own diary pages read aloud to you. Sweetness and vulnerability shine through the lines of her lyrics like a nightlight guiding you through a bad dream; she confesses how she’s navigated love, betrayal and the ultimate joy of finding peace within herself. The songs have an honest quality that is rare to find and well worth the listen.
The 21-year-old singer-songwriter from California is captivated by early 2000s nostalgia as well as her own internal reflections. From her music to her visuals, Mazin draws from the media of her childhood to create her own nostalgic world, where she invites listeners to piece through her songs and find solace in their meaning.
In the days following the EP’s release, Luna caught up with Mazin to chat the new record, musical influence and stream of consciousness writing.
Mowgly Lee John Landry
LUNA: Your new EP let the feeling die was just released on Oct. 9. How does it feel now that it’s out?
MAZIN: Gosh! It feels so good! I was holding on to this music for a really long time. It’s great that now I can work on other projects.
LUNA: Is there a song that you feel most connected to off the EP?
MAZIN: Right now it's “EVERY THOUGHT I’VE EVER HAD,” because it’s about having insane thoughts, but just accepting them. I just have to let things go sometimes.
LUNA: You’ve said before that sometimes when you write music, you end up learning things about yourself—that the writing reveals a truth to you. Was there something you learned about yourself by making this record?
MAZIN: Totally. I wrote “EVERY THOUGHT I’VE EVER HAD” with one of my best friends from high school. We were just word vomiting, and it was a rare occasion where I wasn't being super “thinky” about the lyrics. I was just letting them be what they wanted to be! Once we got to the chorus, we were like, "Oh, this is how we feel. I didn't realize that.” In terms of what was revealed during that process? Sometimes my brain gets away from me, but writing that song is how I realize that I just need to let it in and let it be what it is…and also maybe flip it on its head and have some fun with my thoughts, instead of being so wallowy and brooding.
LUNA: Are there any other songs off of the EP where you learned a truth about yourself?
MAZIN: “feel good” would definitely be one. It was a very cathartic process…I almost never sit down and say “I'm gonna write about this”—I just word vomit and then I figure out what I'm saying after I've already started. With that one, I wrote the first few lines and had to sit with it for a minute. So that's how I'm feeling! “All right, this is heavy. This is deep.” I think my heart and soul were finally catching up, to feelings I otherwise hadn’t explored.
LUNA: That's interesting. It's almost like you're journaling in your own unique way.
MAZIN: I've always wanted to be a journaler, because I think it's so cool to have a book full of all your thoughts. Actually, this just now makes me realize that I am a journaler, except the book with all my thoughts is just…all my songs.
LUNA: Has your writing always been so stream of consciousness?
MAZIN: When I was younger and starting to write songs I would be like, “I'm going to write a song about this” because I think that's easier to do when you're starting out—it's a bit scarier to just go into it without a roadmap, especially if you don't have the muscle memory yet. I think as I've written more and more it's become very second nature. Now I just start with a voice memo. God forbid I don't forget because I will sing something and then immediately it leaves my brain. But I'll start my voice memo, pick up my guitar, start playing, start singing, and it's gibberish and it makes no sense until I say something that does, and then I take that and I build off that. So yeah, I think now it's very out-of-body, second nature.
LUNA: What’s the inspiration for the album title, “let the feeling die?”
MAZIN: The title is taken from a lyric in the song "cognitive dissonance.” The chorus says, "Why can't I let this feeling die?” I kept thinking [about] this specific question that I'm asking. I feel like I'm asking it in every other song, even though I'm not saying it. I thought the title of the EP shouldn't be the question, but more of a command that I'm saying to myself…where I just need to let this go, or I need to seek something else—a different feeling, a better feeling, whatever. It really encompassed the whole collection of work.
The album is like individual snapshots of times in my life where I've needed to let something go, or maybe I have let it go, I'm actively trying to let it go or [I’m] scared to let it go. Things needed to be let go, and yeah, each song is a different example of that thought process.
LUNA: What style of music do you see yourself as?
MAZIN: I have such a hard time putting it into words. I grew up on pop music, like radio hits. So, I feel like my brain has this pop instinct when it comes to structure and melody. I also love Joni Mitchell, Sarah Bareilles and Brandi Carlile who are legends, storytellers and melody wizards. Just musical goddesses, who I've learned so much from in so many ways. My favorite artist and songwriter ever is Phoebe Bridgers. I just think she's an incredible artist. She’s a poet. I also love Radiohead and The 1975, and more alternative music. I had an emo phase when I was in middle school, like Panic! at the Disco and My Chemical Romance. So, I take from folk music, from singer-songwriters, from alternative. So, to answer the question—folk-rooted alternative pop.
For visual aesthetics, I'm really attracted to the old internet 2000s vibe. A lot of Gen Z and Millennials really yearn for this time on the internet, where things were a bit more simple—not necessarily wholesome because the internet has always been super strange—but it was just simpler and less serious. And obviously, we all have nostalgia glasses on that make everything seem better.
LUNA: What’s next for Jessie Mazin?
MAZIN: I’m playing my first ever headline shows! I’m very excited about it. Then, I’m starting on new music immediately.
