Q&A: SKAAR Exacts the Price of Guilt and Paranoia on “Medicine”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY IVONA HOMICIANU ☆
HAVE YOU EVER WOKEN UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT HAUNTED BY YOUR PAST CHOICES?—SKAAR touches upon that phenomenon in “Medicine.” The guilt and paranoia of wronging someone creates a captivating atmosphere. The heavy pop-rock track was inspired by rock bands such as Arctic Monkeys, leaving an aftertaste that makes you want to go right back and replay it.
SKAAR is a Norwegian artist who released her first albums, The Other Side of Waiting and Waiting, in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Her most recent record is Mad Woman, released two years ago. “Medicine” marks the beginning of a new chapter—one where SKAAR is more certain about who she is as an artist.
“Medicine” tells the story of someone who knows they hurt someone else in the pursuit of their happiness and they’re afraid the wheel of the universe will turn against them. SKAAR’s interpretation portrays a perfect mix of regretful and haunted with a sensual touch. The music video further enhances the feeling of a fever dream you can’t escape.
Luna spoke to SKAAR about her new release, out now.
LUNA: Congratulations on your single “Medicine”! Could you tell us what inspired it?
SKAAR: Sonically, rock music that I grew up listening to, like Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age, a bit of Foo Fighters as well. I listened a lot to pop rock and rock music when I grew up and I haven't really written songs like that before, so I wanted to try out that kind of world. I've always been so inspired by it but somehow I just fell into the pop industry in Norway so fast when I was very young. Emotionally and lyrically, guilt and paranoia. That is the inspiration.
LUNA: The production is very catchy, with the drums and the heavy guitar. How did that process go?
SKAAR: I was finishing something else last year in the studio with my producer, and I needed a bathroom break. I went to the toilet and I started singing the melody for the verse. It's a bit embarrassing, but that's probably how most of my songs start; me just needing a break from the world, and that's on the toilet, because no one bothers me there. I sat there for too long, and I started humming the melody for the verse and the chords, and then something about the melody and the thought of what kind of song I wanted it to be stuck with me.
I was going to LA to write with some people, and I brought the idea into a session there, because I just really wanted to see what could come of it. I talked about the music I grew up with, Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys and The Neighborhood, and the producer and the writer I was working with caught it right away. The references really shaped the song. I brought the demo back home to my producer that I usually work with, and my guitarist put the crazy, iconic guitar solo on it. I wrote the outro part as well. I wanted it to be a mantra, telling yourself, “Oh my god, this is not going well.” I think it's just been a process of understanding the direction of the song, and references and a lot of guitar takes. We've been working with guitar sessions and sounds and amps, and it was so much fun.
LUNA: You can really tell the Arctic Monkeys influence. About the music video, it definitely feels like a dream that you can't escape. Could you give us some stories from behind the scenes?
SKAAR: We filmed everything in one day, which I think is insane, because we had a huge vision for it, and we had so many things that we wanted to do. I'm very into storytelling and fairy tales and folklore, Lord of the Rings, mythical creatures and things that are a bit spooky and mystical. I really wanted to reflect in this video a surreal dream universe, because the song is so much inside of your head. The guy making the video is my best friend. We've been working together for many years, and one of my closest friends also joined us to take some [behind the scenes] photos and videos, which are gorgeous. It was such a great and intense day.
My band was there, and they have a cool role in the video, where they have wigs that are the wrong direction. I don't think they 100 percent knew what they were going into; because they knew that they were going to be there in the room, they were going to play the songs, they were going to wear wigs, but it happened that the director, Martin, my friend, asked them to bump their heads. That just ended up being the whole video where they had to do that for three hours. They sent me messages afterwards, saying how their necks were hurting so much, and I was feeling so sorry for them, but they killed it.
Also, the guy who's driving me in the beginning, he is me and my band's taxi driver in real life. He has been driving us for three years now, like every gig we're going to. Every time we have to take a flight, he picks us up and he drives us and all the gear, and he wakes up crazy early because sometimes we have to leave at three in the morning. I think he's such a cool person. I just love him and I wanted him to show up in the universe somehow. I think he's gonna be retired in a few years, so I needed to keep this memory. He needs to be forever in the SKAAR universe.
The huge mask is based on my crying face. It's based on a photo I took a few weeks ago after having a very horrible week, very stressful and sad and overwhelmed. The girl making the sculpture was supposed to start it, and the director asked me to send a photo of myself so she could base it on my photo. I was like, “Is this okay? I look horrible.” And he was like, “Yes, can I send it?” It's insane to watch that face. It was a great day, and I'm so happy with the video, and it also makes me love it even more when there’s so many personal bits and pieces in it, so it's my most favorite video so far.
LUNA: Before this, you released “Missing Out,” which is about breaking free from a relationship that is clouding your vision. How does writing help you process your emotions?
SKAAR: It's been helping me my whole life. It’s the way that I've taught myself to live in myself and live in my emotions. I started doing that when I was in fifth grade, so I've been doing it for almost my entire life. I am a very emotional person. I think most people are, but I think some people lean more into it. For me, it's been such a powerful thing to get to know myself and to let myself feel things. I've been, like a lot of people, been struggling previously with anxiety and mental health issues, and having songwriting and music in my life has helped me so much with that. I've been able to get my thoughts out and have a clear goal with everything. It's been my safety net and my savior.
LUNA: If you could have the single “Medicine” on the soundtrack of a movie, which one would it be?
SKAAR: I've been thinking about if Twilight were to come now, it would be there. I would beg the universe to have it there. I think that would be insane.
LUNA: It fits so well because it already has so many rock songs on the soundtrack, I can definitely see it.
SKAAR: Thank you. I love the soundtrack in Twilight. I don't know if I understood it when it came out, but as a grown up looking back at it, oh my god, the soundtrack is insane. That would be the dream.
LUNA: The single marks the beginning of a new era, so I'm supposing a new project too. What should we expect from it?
SKAAR: Oh my god, yes. I feel like “Missing Out” was the bridge from my old stuff into the new era, but “Medicine” 100 percent feels like more of the kick start to the era. It's more leaning towards rock, to be honest. It's leaning more towards the music that I listened to when I grew up. My last project called Mad Woman is very electronic and clubby, very Nordic electronic, which I love but it's not what I grew up with, and it doesn't feel like my core. This feels like a door opening into more of myself in the project. It's also a lot more playful and I think that also has to do with where I'm at mentally.
On my last project, I was struggling a lot with my mental health and finding my place. I was very sad and angry, and I didn't know what to do with that, so that became the whole album. After working through that, obviously I’m still working on myself and figuring out stuff, but the last two years I've allowed myself to evolve and try different things and not take it too seriously. It's a mix of vulnerability and playfulness with a more raw indie sound. It feels very, very close to my heart. With every album I'm coming closer and closer to myself in a way, so it's very exciting to share this new era with everyone.
LUNA: How do you see music creation right now?
SKAAR: I am a bit more playful in the way that I write. I was very stressed out on my last album, and very like, “No, it needs to be like this.” I was struggling a lot with not feeling good enough. I was very hard on myself and struggling to let myself be creative no matter what the turnout is. I'm very different now. I'm working a lot more on letting myself be creative, no matter how and how long it takes, and trying out every idea and it doesn't have to be the end of the world if it doesn't work out. I'm giving less of a f*ck, which is good. I care about music so deeply. I think about songwriting all the time, and I write all the time, but I think it's more like I'm trying more stuff now, because I'm not that afraid of writing a shitty song. I don't have to release it if it's bad.
LUNA: It’s such a weight off your shoulders when you get rid of that expectation of “everything I create has to be good.” Once you get rid of that, I feel like you create more good work because you go through everything and you end up with something that you really love.
SKAAR: That's exactly it, you can just breathe while you create. I think that creating should be fulfilling and fun, and if you have this gift, you should really try to be happy while doing it. That's something I've been working with so much, finding the joy in it and not doing it to be perfect. It's definitely a weight off my shoulders, because it was stressful to think that I had to create something perfect every time because no one can do that.
LUNA: What are you most excited for this upcoming year?
SKAAR: This year has been insane in so many ways for me. With releasing new music and playing live, I've been playing guitar so much more and changing my live show, changing a lot of things about the way I do music. I'm doing four shows in Norway, closing the Mad Woman chapter and opening the new one. I'm so excited to do that, because it's been two years since I did a tour for Mad Woman, and that was also my first headline tour ever. Knowing how much I've worked for the new music, but also making the old music sound great live, I'm just so excited to show it to the people who want to hear it. I'm also really excited to release another song that's coming out before Christmas, which is really close to my heart.
