Q&A: OSTON Finally Made the Album That's Just for Her with ‘Isn’t That Sweet?’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
AUSTIN WOLFE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO TELL A STORY - Growing up in Park City, Utah, she spent her childhood writing songs and taking classical voice lessons, absorbing the DNA of artists like Adele and Julia Michaels - voices built for unapologetic, gut-level pop. By the time she was co-writing chart-toppers for VIVIZ, JISOO, NMIXX, and ITZY and penning songs alongside UPSAHL and Bülow, she had already proven she understood the architecture of a great song. What took longer was proving it to herself.
Isn't That Sweet?, OSTON's debut album, is the record that almost didn't happen. Early collaborators told her she didn't know who she was and tried to find it for her. A toxic living situation in Los Angeles, sleeping on a blow-up mattress, navigating an unhealthy relationship with someone in the industry, became, improbably, the environment in which some of her most promising early music was born. "Lie About You" and "Burton St." both emerged from that darkness, two songs about codependency that connected because they were true. Walking away from that situation, and from two management teams who couldn't give her what she needed, forced her into the discomfort of being alone with her own voice. That turned out to be exactly what the music needed.
A significant portion of the album was written after OSTON made the decision to take medication for the anxious and intrusive thoughts that had followed her for years. That stability gave her a vantage point she hadn't had before — a way to look clearly at herself, at the scenarios she'd survived, at the core unhappiness she was still carrying even after finding a healthy relationship and a community she trusted. The thirteen songs of Isn't That Sweet? live inside that reckoning. They are sharp and self-aware, tender and euphoric, messy in all the right ways. Read on to hear from OSTON about the album she was always meant to make.
LUNA: "Isn't That Sweet?" almost didn't get made, as you were told early on that you didn't know who you were, and people tried to find it for you. When did you finally decide you were the only one who could answer that question?
OSTON: It's kinda funny actually because this album in particular was always going to get made — it was past projects that got shut down. My debut album was actually supposed to be back in the 'Am I talking too much?' era (that EP has 8 songs so I think teccccchnicallllly it's an album) but this one has 13 tracks and it just feels like a natural progression of my career that led me to this point of feeling ready. So this definitely feels more like my official debut offering to the album game.
As for answering the looming "who am I?" question... I think it was after I parted ways with my second management team. I felt so lost. I jumped from my first manager to my second team pretty quickly and clung to them for direction, hoping they'd magically fix everything that I'd been through. When they didn't, I was even more confused. I dated around for like 2 years trying to find someone to help me and realized that, just like in a romantic relationship where you need time to heal, I needed to be deeply alone and uncomfortable to find my voice and have NOBODY BUT MY VOICE in my head.
LUNA: You were sleeping on a blow-up mattress in an unhealthy living situation when "Lie About You" and "Burton St." came out of you. What does it mean that some of your most promising early music came from one of your lowest points?
OSTON: I can't even lie, it makes a lot of sense to me. I've always written about hard shit — even back when I was writing songs at 9 years old (long before I had my first relationship) my mom was always asking me how I could write about these deep, gut-wrenching topics. I don't really know where it came from. I guess I've always just felt things very deeply. I channelled it from movies and from older artists I looked up to. So the fact that that's what people connect to means they're connecting to the most sincere and innate parts of me. So that's kinda beautiful I guess.
LUNA: What is your favorite track on the album and why?
OSTON: Ahhhhhh that's so MEAN don't make me CHOOSE. Right now I think it's 'Unstuck'. The lyrics get into something I was deeply afraid to face head on and write about for so many years and so finally doing it felt SO relieving. I really think it's going to help a lot of girls who've been in a similar spot. I also really love 'I used to like that girl' (for the same reasons). I love all the songs though. I'm really proud of myself and this record.
LUNA: You've co-written with incredible artists like UPSAHL and Bülow, and written chart-topping songs for VIVIZ, JISOO, NMIXX, and ITZY. What does it feel like to turn that same craft toward yourself?
OSTON: I think anyone who is an artist and a songwriter can relate to the sentiment of not giving yourself the same credit and praise as you give to the other artists you write with and for. I spent a lot of years of my early career hearing that "I was a good writer but didn't have a good voice" or I "couldn't make singer/songwriter music because I didn't sound like Adele." And then when I signed my first pub deal it was "we're interested in you as a writer but not as an artist." When you're getting your footing in this insanely challenging career, every step feels like it might be the thing that rockets you to reaching your dreams. So you take what you can get and keep your head down. I signed the pub deal and I wrote for other people and I did the producer dating game and I fell so out of love with songwriting that it became a mundane 'job' and no longer something I NEEDED to do. So I told my manager to clear my calendar and tell everyone I wasn't available for like a full year. Which forced me to write on my own, and to book sessions with people I trusted, just for me. Just to fall in love with making music again. So to answer the question, it feels indescribable to have something I'm so proud of that is just for me.
LUNA: What was the hardest song on the record to finish?
OSTON: "I think the drugs are working now" !!!!! I almost gave up on it so many times but my team quite literally wouldn't let me. It went through so many versions and it finally became what it is and I'm so happy we didn't give up. The closing track "No me without you" almost broke me too. I was hitting my head against the wall every day like "WHAT IS THIS SONG SUPPOSED TO BE!?!? LET ME WRITE YOU"… it went through like 4 lyric re-writes. That was tough.
LUNA: What's the first song you wrote for the album, and does it still feel like the beginning of something when you listen back?
OSTON: The first song I wrote FOR the record was "pancakes" (which did feel like an intentional moment where I set out to write for the album) but the actual first song written was 'I used to like that girl.' It was written at the same writing camp as my song 'Molly', but it sounded completely different and had a chorus that we scrapped. I teased it years ago on TikTok and it got like 4 comments from other writers that I admire saying they really liked the lyrics, and that was enough for me. I just always knew I wanted to circle back to it and once we made it fit, it felt like it completed the record for me lyrically.
LUNA: You were in a healthy relationship and surrounded by a supportive community when you made this album, and yet it's largely about realizing you were still deeply unhappy at your core. How do you hold both of those things at once?
OSTON: Balance, baby. I just don't think as humans we're made to feel happy all the time. I don't want to feel happy all the time because then the highs would all feel the same. Without the lows it wouldn't be as beautiful.
LUNA: Who have you been listening to lately?
OSTON: Devon Again. The Marías and Clairo (when I'm working or cleaning). Crosby, Stills & Nash (makes me think of my dad). Kate Stephenson. Trella.
LUNA: What do you want someone to feel the first time they listen all the way through?
OSTON: I just hope they're really engaged and think to themselves "I already can't wait to listen to this again." That's like the #1 goal.
LUNA: What intentions do you have for the rest of this year?
OSTON: I'm choosing to be delusionally optimistic that this record is going to reach lots and lots of people. This year is (somehow??) almost over, so I'm manifesting that this lays the groundwork for some touring (agents, if you want to book me hit me up! Please!), I wanna play Europe shows SO badly, and finding new people who love the record. I also hope to have a wonderful time supporting Maddie Zahm in the fall, I want to put less effort into things that don't fulfill me, and I’d love to not cry on my birthday.
