Q&A: Melanie Herrera Discusses Her Enchanted Debut Album, ‘A Fearful and Wondrous Thing’

MusicQ&A

May 28

INTERVIEW

EVERY STORY HAS A BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END—For New York–based singer-songwriter Melanie Herrera, her story began in the woods, much like many fearful and wondrous things. After spending her youth learning about the magic and power of storytelling, she embarked on a new journey. A journey to find out her creative identity and her next path to follow.

In her debut album, A Fearful and Wondrous Thing, she dives into all of the things that make her a fearful and wondrous thing. From learning a new skill to having an identity crisis to making a cheeky mistake that turned out to be funnier than it was meant to be, Herrera has managed to cover all of the feelings throughout the album.

Behind each song, there is a lesson, vision, metaphor or illusion that Herrera uncovers. Luna sat down with her to discuss the whimsy, nerdy details and emotional layers that bring her story to life.

LUNA: Can you describe your feelings about this album in a whimsical, magical way that reflects its Storybook Pop theme?

HERRERA: My creative self lives in a fantasy world where everything is possible. As a child, I felt most inspired and lit up when I was barefoot running around in the woods. Therefore, I feel like it is only natural that I, as an artist, build this world where I live in fields and castles. For me, that is where my art exists, and that is the only way I can explain it.

My creative self and these feelings in this other world are interconnected. To me, the concept of life is a fearful and wondrous thing that feels like it has an inherent otherworldly magic. I would lean into that heavily when I was doing the visuals for this album and thinking about where this album lived visually.

LUNA: Since the album is 12 tracks, and each song explores different aspects of humanity, was the number 12 intentional? Are you interested in number theory or symbolism?

HERRERA: I do not know what you would call it. But I am definitely driven by an unnamed internal sense that these things go together. The album was originally 12 songs. I do not know why, but I just thought that number felt right to me. My lucky number is 24. And I do not want it to be an odd number. That felt weird to me. It cannot be 13, 15, or 11, and the number 9 felt a little bit more complete. But 12 felt good to me.

In the last three months of making the album, I took a song out, then rearranged the order to end with “Love is Like Surgery.” Which was a song that I was not going to put on the album, but my husband, who is a huge part of everything I do creatively, was like, “I think you should end this album with this song because it feels like an epilogue.” That was what made the album come together. The other thing I will say is that for every single song I write, I have a clear idea of what the visuals should look like and what the texture of each song should be. It is either water or trees, or playing cards. It has always been clear to me. I do not know why.

LUNA: On the second track, at the end of “Cool Girl’s Party,” there is a voice memo that sounds like laughter. Can you explain whose voice that is and what happened in that moment?

HERRERA: It was an accident. I did a take, and I screwed up. It sounded so insane, then I started laughing. My producer, Tiger Darrow, who is one of my best friends, thought it was so hilarious. She was like, “I am taking that laugh and putting that in this song.” She tacked it on to the end, and I thought it was an amazing idea.

LUNA: I love that! Can you talk about why “You’re Doing Great” comes before “A Little, Always,” and what inspired the shift from a motivational theme into a different topic right afterward?

HERRERA: The journey of this album is inspired by my return to artistry. I always wanted to be a musician growing up. I wanted to be like J. Lo [Jennifer Lopez]. I want to be in movies. I want to be dancing and singing. I want to do everything. I saw myself as an everything girl. But I was also an undiagnosed neurodivergent. After college, the transition from being a student in a BFA program was rough on my confidence. II felt super lost artistically. I was like, “I do not know who I am. Am I an actor? Am I a singer?” I did not feel good enough.

Going back to the neurodivergent thing, I felt like I was a person who had no self-discipline. I had no self-organization. I did not know how to be a person who could achieve great things. I ran to screen acting at that time because it felt safe. I got lucky with some opportunities and things happening in my life. I was like, well, I can do this for now, but I was miserable. During the pandemic, I kept seeing people eight years younger than I was, fearlessly showing up online, getting hundreds of followers, and getting recognized. While I was looking at them, I held on. I am in my mid-to- late 20s, and I have been training for this my entire life. This is all I have ever done and all I have ever wanted to do. I am so tired of myself not actually being the version of an artist that I want to be. I want to be a musician. I want to be a self-made entertainer. I had to come to terms with that and reckon with it, and stop living in this place of trepidation and fear, and what was comfortable. Then step into a life that was a little scarier and a little more challenging, that required more of me. I hired a life coach at that time. I was on anxiety medication. Y’know all the great steps that helped me to get there.

I wanted my first project to be reflective of that feeling of returning to a life that is about everything. It is not only safe. It is scary. It is being open and honest with myself, and with what I experienced. And being a willing vessel for these things to happen. That is why the album journeys through imposter syndrome, anxiety, feeling older, and being cheeky while having a bit of an attitude, and then it will be about being heartbroken. It is supposed to present this Technicolor experience, which is why the album artwork is a woman stepping out of a painting. It is supposed to express the freedom of where I was living in this safe world. The painting is of sunflowers, which are my favorite flowers. The image resembles me stuck in this world, and stepping out into an unknown, scary, mystical, magical experience.

LUNA: Have you seen the Disney movie, Enchanted? This all seems so similar to the scene where Giselle falls from the fairytale world into New York City. If you had a friendly animal sidekick with you and were falling into the real world, which song from the album would you be playing?

HERRERA: I feel like “Strangers Again” has this cumulative, party-healing vibe to it. And it kind of resembles an arrival to me.

LUNA: Is there a fairytale or childhood story that has always stayed with you over the years?

HERRERA: The Nutcracker. It is a huge part of my youth. I was a classical ballet dancer for 15 years. I have been in The Nutcracker more than 10 times. It is a huge part of my imagination and creative world because it was where I first learned how to perform. Through those performances, I learned how to tell a story and what a story was. All the things that come with creating a story, like the structure and the magic.

LUNA: I’ve seen the word “baby” used in derogatory, flirty, and playful ways. Could you discuss the context behind the song “Call You Baby”?

HERRERA: I think “Call You Baby” is about calling a man a baby. It always depends on the context. It would be crazy to call a woman a baby. On the other hand, if someone I love is calling me baby, it can be in a sexy way. If it is not, well, not everyone likes to be called a baby. But I believe that context is always important.

LUNA: In “Whatever’s Left,” you use the phrase “the grass is greener on the outside,” and in “Love is Like Surgery,” you use a simple phrase that clearly captures the song’s meaning. Can you talk about how you come up with these everyday expressions and turn them into song concepts?

HERRERA: I love metaphors, and I believe that they are a powerful way to communicate an idea. This song, “Love is Like Surgery,” is unusual because it does not follow a Pop music structure. It is more like a tag-on or epilogue. I had this idea that love is like surgery one day, while I was sitting at the piano. I liked the tune I was creating. Then, I was like, “Well, what else is love like?” And so, I began to think about a lot of things, some of which I cut out. I wanted to choose things that felt recognizable, and flip them to find the depth.

Taylor Swift does that really well. She will use colloquialisms or a football or a disco ball. Y’know, everyday things people are used to but also somehow flip them to make people think. Sometimes I try my best to emulate that because I believe it is an amazing artistic tool.

LUNA: Do you play any instruments, and would you consider adding a live orchestra to any of your songs?

HERRERA: I play piano. I would not consider myself virtuosic when it comes to playing the piano. As I said earlier, I am an undiagnosed neurodivergent. I hated lessons as a kid. I could not focus, and I thought it was so boring. But I loved playing the piano, so all of it is self-taught. Piano is my instrument of choice. Most of my work starts with the piano. What is interesting to me is that I did not have strings in mind when I was writing. My producer, Tiger Darrow, with whom I make everything, is a string player. She is a cellist. When I first started working with her, she was like, “What if we have strings to this song or this concept?” We started to mold together what a storybook is, which is what I call my style of music. It naturally became this…back and forth of me bringing my singer-songwriter and theatricality, and then Tiger bringing her pop and cinema. Then, together, we created this thing.

Now, when I start, I start to think “Ooh that can feel like this. I want there to be strings in this part.” I wrote the song, “Whatever’s Left,” and I was very clear with her that I wanted there to be a cacophony of sounds in the chorus. I want it to be a bit of everything. She knew exactly what I meant at the time, which is why I love her so much. She literally did it and spit it out; that is why we have such a great work relationship.

LUNA: Just for fun, if there were a mythical creature that embodied A Fearful and Wondrous Thing, what do you think it would be?

HERRERA: Oh my gosh. I am going to say it would be Aelin Galathynius, the lead female character in the book series, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. Her story is an arc of self-empowerment and redemption. It is inspiring at its core because she is a woman who saves an entire continent. She also becomes awakened to her power or depth of her powers by the end of the series. I think she would be a great symbol for the album, A Fearful and Wondrous Thing.