Q&A: With Three New Releases, Rio Romeo Brings You Undefeatable Joy
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ WORDS BY GIGI KANG ☆
☆ PHOTOS BY LUCY BULLINGTON ☆
Photo by Lucy Bullington for The Luna Collective
FULL OF DETERMINATION AND EMANATING A LIVELY SPIRIT—Los Angeles-based butch artist Rio Romeo is the picture of what it means to be an individual. From their hands-on creative vision, to their resistance to anything but optimism, to their signature layering of (what seems like) countless hoop earrings, everything that makes up Rio Romeo is singular.
Having dealt with significant hardships over the course of their life, including prejudice against their identity, homelessness, and a brain injury, Rio’s warm character and desire to inspire joy through their music is admirable.
“I feel like every single day that I wake up, I work hard to be able to honor my community,” they share. “I don’t take it for granted. I feel so honored that so many wonderful people have brought me here, and I feel absolutely indebted to give back.”
From February to April, Rio released a batch of three new songs, and they’re all about love and brightness. The first release was “Terminal Lovesick” which is theatric, ‘60s inspired, and led by harmonies stemming from Rio’s appreciation for doo-wop music. Thematically, it’s a love song with lyrics like, “No one can help me / I’m just too far gone / ‘Cause every day I love her / This illness wears on.”
The second release, “You’re The Piece of Shit,” still highlights Rio’s harmonies, but it’s more of a witty pop song. The percussion-heavy track is a spirited critique of problems in the music industry, such as the greed and deceit of “big-wigs and presidents / And other stupid schmucks,” as they sing. Ultimately, in classic Rio Romeo style, the song is about taking one’s power back, expressed through lyrics like, “Well, a platinum record later / And who’s writing the rules now? / I hope you feel so embarrassed.”
Finally, “Jane Freaks Me Out” is simply a lot of fun. It details the exhilaration of a crush and is filled with environmental sounds peeking through the background, like a car honk, shouts, and clapping. It’s the type of song to make a crowd follow along, even if they’ve never heard it before. Rio says, “I want people to come to the show and look forward to ‘Jane Freaks Me Out.’”
Read our conversation with Rio Romeo below on the three new singles, the heartfelt impact of community on their life, their history with visual art, how they found inspiration in ‘60s music, and more.
Photo by Lucy Bullington for The Luna Collective
LUNA: Good Grief! was the result of many years and difficult experiences, as well as perseverance. That level of honesty is what made it great. Now, heading into new music, what part of you is writing these songs?
RIO: The silly part. These new songs are more lighthearted in a way that’s really fun. I’m a deeply silly person to my core. I think that there’s definitely space for things to be heavy and emotionally exploratory, but these singles are really fun. We’re all gonna laugh and giggle, and have a good time. I can’t wait to play them live because I think they’re going to be so fun.
LUNA: The first track we heard from your recent releases was “Terminal Lovesick.” I love the laidback video for this song. It was filmed and edited by yourself, and you’re always very hands-on with the visuals. What is the experience of that aspect of your artistry like for you, outside of the music itself?
RIO: Long before I was a musician, I was a visual artist. I have always been constantly painting, drawing, keeping journals, and sketching. The base of my artistic practice as a whole is visual art. I have such strong opinions and a clear idea of what I want things to look like. I find that being a musician is the most exciting way to be able to navigate visual art because there are so many different things that need to be done. There’s the cover art, music videos, set design, and tour posters. I really keep myself employed as a visual artist through being a musician.
LUNA: I love to see how other people see the world. This hands-on approach allows us to see that part of you. I watched some of your other videos too, like the one for “California” and the claymation you’ve previously incorporated. We can definitely tell there’s a visual art history.
RIO: I think that letting people into my world is really easy. If I am to do something extravagant, involve all these people, and have others make the visual world, it gets really complicated really quickly. But with something like the video for “California,” I literally just drove the [route] from near where I grew up to near where I went to high school because I have a fondness for that area. It feels easy to be able to take these real, lived moments of my life and share it with people.
LUNA: It’s different from artist to artist. Perhaps some people put on more of a character because it’s hard to open up in that way, but it’s natural for you.
RIO: I think I’ve always been an oversharer (laughs).
LUNA: Speaking of “Terminal Lovesick,” tell me the ‘60s influence in your sound.
RIO: I love listening to old doo-wop. The first time that I was exposed to 1960s lovers’ music was completely by circumstance. I was in San Francisco and I found this box of crap on the side of the road. Looking back, somebody definitely put all of their ex-boyfriend’s stuff on the curb (laughs). There were all these CDs in the box and I took a couple to play on my car radio. It was a bunch of old doo-wop songs and I listened to them over and over again, and really enjoyed the complexity of the harmonies. It was so different from everything that I normally was exposed to.
So, interest and intrigue carried over into my older adult life. The more time goes on, the more I’m like, “Man, these ladies were cooking with their vocals.” They had something really cool going on. I enjoy the process of doing one-take songs, doing a good vocal the first time. Because of the limitations of recording technology at the time, they were just three girls singing into a microphone and they had to get that harmony right. So I think the lightness of it is really enjoyable, as well as the harmonic complexity of it.
LUNA: It’s like fate put that box in your way.
RIO: I know! On one of the CDs, it was handwritten, and it said, “For your precious love” or something. It was so interesting.
Photo by Lucy Bullington for The Luna Collective
LUNA: You also released sheet music for “Terminal Lovesick” which is a tradition for most of your releases. Where did this tradition come from and why do you think it stuck around?
RIO: The first time I released sheet music was because somebody made a composition of my song “Butch 4 Butch.” People were always DMing me, asking, “Hey, do you have sheet music?” But I actually can’t read sheet music, so this person sent me their copy that they made of the song. [I asked if it] would be okay if I shared it with other people, so that’s where it started.
After that, I started having someone make compositions of the songs that were highly requested. I love being able to involve people and meet my fans where they are. I love to be able to give back since I know very strongly that my career would not have been possible without a really supportive community around me. So it’s just a way that I give back to the fans.
LUNA: What I love most about “You’re The Piece of Shit” is the implication of moving on to better, like the line, “I probably won’t recognize you.” It’s funny because, on one hand, music immortalizes the experiences that inspired it, but on the other hand, it allows the artist to reframe those experiences in whatever way they want and take their power back. As someone who writes very personally, how do you approach finding the best way to present a memory through your music?
RIO: The way that I use music as a songwriter is compulsive, like there is a song that must be made. That’s how I feel most of my songs start. “You’re The Piece of Shit” was definitely no exception. Whether it’s something sad or something funny or anywhere in between, I feel like the only way to be able to express myself about an experience is through music. Especially being an interdisciplinary artist, I could do it in a different way but there is really no way to remember something in a sassy, cheeky way [other than through] music, for me.
It really is such an expansive tool of how to remember and how to process. This song, I really feel proud of myself for making it to a point where I have more support and that my voice matters. So it’s figuring out how to navigate those emotions and process them. Especially with things that are funny and silly, music is the ideal way for me to do that.
LUNA: Historically, the kinds of emotions in “You’re The Piece of Shit” were not allowed to be expressed or even felt by anyone other than men in music. Of course, slowly, that has changed, as it should. But what was the experience like for you of allowing yourself to feel the anger, get it out, and feel proud about it at the end of the day?
RIO: It has been a hard experience for me to navigate anger. I grew up in a very conservative environment. It took me a long time to unlearn the whole women-should-be-quiet thing. Many years of my life, it was like, “Yeah, women are treated like shit. Doesn’t that suck? You should really shut up about it.” Being able to navigate these emotions of anger through music is really cathartic because I am an overwhelmingly optimistic and empathetic person. I think that it is completely within my right to feel angry about things. I find that, unless it’s channeled through music, I’m just going to feel sad about it. So it has been a wonderful tool for me to exercise my ability to be fucking pissed off because I deserve it about things.
Photo by Lucy Bullington for The Luna Collective
LUNA: What I love the most about the video and expression of anger is the fact that the golf club has that sweet little pink bow on it the entire time, even at the end when everything goes down (laughs). I love the symbol of that so much.
RIO: Thank you (laughs)! I love how it matches the tie and everything. I also really loved the ribbon on the golf club.
LUNA: How was that day on set?
RIO: I was actually the one that did the entire shot-by-shot plan of the music video. I had the whole concept completely fleshed out and I brought it to a director. He was like, “Great plan. Let’s just do that.” I don’t have much experience in music videos, so I really thought that he’d be like, “I understand your vibe, but this isn’t going to work for whatever reasons.” So it was really fun and all the extras are my friends. Everybody was having a great time. I was able to accomplish the vision that I had in such a precise way. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. The day on set was really fun, and a productive, professional, supportive environment.
LUNA: “Jane Freaks Me Out” is a song that sounds very physical. There’s talking in the background, there’s a car honk. Even the harmonies feel more like a crowd, rather than a very polished section of the song. It adds a playful energy. Could you tell me about those choices?
RIO: There’s this feeling that is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced which I get to feel when I’m on tour. When a song is really working and everybody’s having fun with it—that has completely informed my songwriting. It’s the experience of knowing what feels good and what makes people move. With this song, I really wanted to play with the things that I think are going to work well live. I also played it live on the last tour in October and it was so fun encouraging people to clap and sing. The experience that I’ve been able to gain as a live performer really informed the context of it being so rhythmic, and the call and response of it. I want people to come to the show and look forward to “Jane Freaks Me Out.”
LUNA: Your community is really what I noticed as I was getting familiar with your work. I feel like there are a lot of people who would say music raised them, you know? Music was definitely my best friend in high school and that did not go away into my adulthood. Not every song achieves that level of understanding somebody so deeply, but you certainly are one of those artists that I think people can rely on for understanding because your music comes from a personal place of triumphing over difficulties and staying optimistic. What role does that connection that you’ve established with your community play in your life both as an artist and just as a person?
Photo by Lucy Bullington for The Luna Collective
RIO: I was really nervous to release “Nothing’s New” because it was so vulnerable. I was like, “This is embarrassing.” Then it got so popular and because of that experience, I’ve learned so much about the world. I learned that this thing which I felt was incredibly vulnerable and embarrassing to admit is such a common feeling—it is overwhelmingly something that everybody can relate to. We all feel the same things and there actually is nothing new under the sun, and that’s not bad. That’s where our strength is. Every shitty thing that you’ve been through, someone else has too and they made it out on the other side. That’s beautiful.
Being able to experience isolation and feeling that emotional vulnerability, then having it echoed back to me was a totally crazy experience. It made me understand that the strength of an artist is having a flag in the air going, “I feel bad and I don’t want to do this anymore,” then having people go, “I felt that way, too.” Knowing that I have people to catch me emotionally is so wonderful.
I think about my favorite people that I’ve ever had in my life, like mentors. It has always been people that have been able to meet me where I am. I remember there was this mentor I had. He was there for me when I was experiencing homelessness and I was going through a lot as a young adult. He’d be like, “Man, that’s awful.” He wasn’t trying to solve my problems—he was just an ear to listen to the issue. That’s what I’ve always longed to be as I grow into an older adult. I want to be able to meet people where they are and feel with them. It’s really beautiful that the music has been able to touch people in that way. I feel very honored to be a part of a community in that way, to meet people where they are, and feel together.
LUNA: It’s the craziest contradiction of life. You go through all this crappy stuff and it feels like the end of the world, and yet that exactly is what teaches you how to understand others. That’s the only way we’re able to have deeper connections. Maybe it’s not something we’re meant to understand. It’s very beautiful to see that you’ve used it to grow.
RIO: I definitely feel that way, especially because of the early days of my career when a handful of people were Venmo-ing me like five bucks when I really needed the help. That is the small uplift that literally has gotten me here today. I feel like every single day that I wake up, I work hard to be able to honor my community. I don’t take it for granted. I feel so honored that so many wonderful people have brought me here, and I feel absolutely indebted to give back.
