Rita Mae on her latest singles ‘Kiss The Sky’, ‘My Bad’ & ‘Big Star’
Inviting listeners to join her in the liberating journey of self-expression and emotional authenticity with her new music, rising indie artist Rita Mae chats to us about owning your confidence, exploring the the potential sacrifices about ultimate success, travelling the US, performing at the same place as Taylor Swift, working with fellow kiwis Leroy Clampitt, Alisa Xayalith and Harry Charles, and more.
Hype Medium: I hear you've been in the US! How are you going with that?
Rita: It's going good. I've been away from home for ages now which, you know, I miss my mom and my cat! It's one of those things that like, I love being here because it's just pretty amazing for the music stuff. But it's just like, being out of your comfort zone for months at a time - you kind of get used to it, but then it's also just like, wow, it's just been so long since I've felt properly relaxed (laughs). And there's just like always a flight you could miss, or always something. I was just in Nashville for 10 days, and then because I like to make things more scary for myself, booked my flight back to LA on the morning of the day I was having a show (laughs). That was yesterday, and that's really great that it wasn't cancelled
Hype Medium: (laughs) Living life on the edge, that’s what life is all about. You've made it. You're fine. You're alive. That's all that matters. And how long have you been away from New Zealand for?
Rita: I left on the 11th of May, and it's mid August now. I went to Australia for a couple weeks, and then L.A. for two months and then I went to New York and Nashville, and now I'm back, and then I go to London.
Hype Medium: Nice! Oh my gosh, it's so exciting. I saw you did a show in LA with Georgia Nott / Georgia Gets By in LA. How was that experience?
Rita: It was so good. We were both doing solo kind of acoustic sets which used to be my whole thing. I just did open mic nights for years and then when I first started performing, I didn't know anyone to play my band so I was like, by myself for so long (laughs). Now it's kind of like the last few shows I've done in New Zealand have all been with a band, and I guess I kind of quickly got used to the luxury of having a band, and you're like not the only one on the stage. So it was definitely nerve wracking because it was my first show outside New Zealand, and I was all by myself (laughs). But it was kind of amazing, like the venue was really intimate. And people came, and it was kind of one of those great crowds that's like silent while you're playing, not because they're bored, but because they're actually really listening. It was a pretty, beautiful night. I played all my songs that are gonna be coming out soon. I tested them out on a US crowd which was cool. Georgia was so amazing. It was just really nice because we've been friends for a while, so it was this slightly out of my comfort zone thing to play my first overseas show. But also because I was playing with Georgia and there were lots of kiwi friends there, I kind of forgot that I was playing in LA.
Hype Medium: Yeah I guess it's nice to have that little Kiwi community there, and obviously playing with Georgia, it’s like a little piece of home there for familiarity.
Rita Mae: Exactly, yeah it felt like a nice little ease into the international playing thing, it wasn't too out there.
Hype Medium: Nice! Well yeah, I'm sure you're going to get used to playing overseas a lot soon! And then like growing up, who were your musical and creative influences that have kind of influenced your music today?
Rita Mae: Oh, so much stuff. I feel like it's sort of the combination of the influences I got from my parents, combined with my own kid and teen tastes. I grew up listening to tons of Radiohead and Velvet Underground and like Lucinda Williams and Johnny Cash. I feel like Johnny Cash was my first songwriting inspo (laughs) which is pretty funny. But then the first artist that you have a crush on because you're so obsessed was like Avril Lavigne. And then like through high school, literally the two artists I listened to was Taylor Swift and Radiohead.
Hype Medium: Love that! Yeah because I wanted to mention, was it you visited a venue in Nashville that Taylor Swift had played at?
Rita Mae: Well my 12 year old obsession, it's settled down in adulthood and I listen to lots of different artists, I was obsessed enough when I was younger that I just knew everything about the beginning of her career. So I knew that she was discovered at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. They do these weekly open mic nights that anyone can sign up for, but you have to sign up 11am on the dot, and there's a limited amount of spots. And I just happened to be there on the Monday that they were doing it and I was like “Yeah, I should do this”. A gift to my younger self, so I did it and it was a really intense open mic. Like it wasn't people are sitting around talking and drinking and half listening. It's like a listening party. You get seated properly, it's hard to get in, and you don't say a word while people are performing. It felt like some kind of industry showcase, but anyone can sign up sort of thing (laughs).
Hype Medium: That's insane, it sounds like a competition!
Rita: It felt like it even though it’s not?! I honestly didn't play very well because it was so intense (laughs). It was just one of those things, it wasn't like I was crazy nervous or anything, but there was something about the intensity of it. I don't know why but it suddenly feels like the most important show I've ever played (laughs). I mean, I didn't completely flop, but it was like a soft flop (laughs).
Hype Medium: I’m sure it was fine! And now you've played at the same place as Taylor Swift, so that's something that you can take away. I'd love to chat about your song “Kiss The Sky”. This is not only my favorite song that a New Zealander has dropped this year but I think it's in general just one of my favorite songs that has been released this year. It's so amazing! Every time I interview a New Zealander about it, like on our podcast, your name is always mentioned, this song is always coming up. So huge congrats on that!
Rita: Thank you!
Hype Medium: Can you chat through a little bit about how that song came about?
Rita: So that was a song that actually I wrote on a trip to LA but it was a session that ended up all kiwis (laughs). Of course I end up writing my favorite song with New Zealanders overseas. It was me, my friend Harry Charles produced it who I work with lots, and Alisa Xayalith from The Naked & Famous and her own project too - so she was like the co-writer. It was just this day that we all kind of showed up, and we couldn't really be bothered doing anything. No one had an idea. I don't know, I feel like the session almost got canceled. We were just a bit tired, and we're like “meh, we may as well try” which I feel like kind of led into how the song ended up being, weirdly. Because it was like no one was really thinking that much about anything or feeling very emotional about anything. I had just this sort of like restless energy and I just wanted it to feel this release of energy, I guess.
We just kind of wrote this song that's just about being like so overconfident. I am not as confident as that song is (laughs). Just kind of like being really greedy, and wanting everything, and just like not wanting to try that hard for it though (laughs). I don't know, because I feel like there's this feeling, and maybe it's a bit of a New Zealand thing as well, of I guess just being embarrassed about things that you kind of want in general, whether it's like in love, in career and money or friendships or anything. It's like you don't really admit to having big dreams or something. And I think it just felt fun, because it was almost the most exaggerated version of admitting I actually want everything and I don't want to have to even pay for it (laughs) with no disclaimer. I know I don't really deserve that or anything but it's like “No, I just want everything”. And I think that felt fun to say, even though obviously my actual attitude to all of that is more nuanced in real life. It just felt like indulging in this complete greed that just felt fun to sing, and it was just what I ended up wanting to say that day.
Because I guess in a lot of my music in the past, I've just been a bit more self deprecating or like shy or less bold with things. And I was just like, “I just want a song that has absolutely no talking down about myself on it at all”.
Fuzzer: Yeah I guess that's the great thing about music - you can kind of step into this artist character in a sense, and then just be whoever you want to be. No limits, complete freedom, and just say what you want. And it doesn't have to be so serious or anything like that, as you said.
Rita: Yeah it just felt like a really unserious day, and I think because I've never really owned that kind of confidence. I'm more confident the older I get, but like, I feel like my natural disposition is very self-doubting. And so it was just really fun to almost say things that I would just never have the nerve to say in day to day life. Just like indulge in this character. For me, it's usually true, I'm not making up stories for my songs but you can exaggerate it, and you can lean into some of the character more than you ever would.
Fuzzer: I love that! And we love your song “My Bad” as well, which is also another incredible song. What was the inspiration and songwriting process behind this one?
Rita: I work with this guy, Kyle Berzle, who's based in LA. He’s probably my most like consistent L.A. collaborator. He's like my L.A. Harry (laughs). He’s awesome and we just have a great friendship and a really chill kind of songwriting process. We honestly just kind of jammed that song out really fast. I think it was at the end of a period of having lots of sessions together. I feel like I have a lot of love songs but not many songs that are like “I have a crush on you”. You know? (laughs) Like usually I'm just being like “oh, unrequited love” or like “I don’t love you back” (laughs). So I was like “I want to write a crush song”. I used to be such a crusher, well I kind of still am, but like me in high school and stuff. I was always just having like secret crazy intense crushes on people. I would never tell them, but I'd write a song and video it and post it on Facebook so they would know (laughs).
I wrote it sort of like at the beginning of the relationship that I'm in as well, that feeling of like “I'm just so obsessed with you” and I've never distilled that feeling down that much. So yeah, that was really fun to write.
Fuzzer: Yeah, that’s such a good song and what a compliment. Like, a great song comes out of someone having a crush on you. You’d feel so good about yourself! And then you're about to release your next single ‘Big Star’ this Friday. That's so exciting! Can you tell us a little bit about what that one is about?
Rita: Yeah! So that one I wrote with Leroy Clampitt, who's also based in LA. It was so amazing. Because now when I work here, it's a lot of one off sessions with people that will often be quite on the computer and maybe quite beat focused on the production stuff. And with Leroy, it was just amazing because I've been a singer songwriter in my room girly for most of my life, and he was just like “let's just write the whole thing on guitar and piano and then we can produce it out if it needs it” sort of thing. And then we never really took it actually much further than what the rough demo recording on the day was. It was pretty much just a live performance almost with like vocal overdubs.
It's, I guess, kind of a weird one to explain, because it could kind of be about a lot of things, but for me, it's sort of like about my conflict with what it means to pursue your dreams. You kind of grow up and everyone's being like “follow your heart” and like “chase your dreams” and all this stuff, and like “be true to yourself” blah, blah, blah which is great advice. But it's also a lot more complicated to actually do it because where do you draw the line with that? Because with music, luckily I've got a really balanced life with it. I still see my friends and family a lot, I'm still working day jobs and my life is really regular, but with something like music, like the best case scenario, if you're at a point where you're making enough money to completely fund your life, it's at a very fine line between having to give up a lot of things and maybe sacrifice a lot of the best things in life. It's like if I were to get all the things I want, like a world tour or even moving to the States to do it or something, that would be like at the cost of so many of the things that I love.
It's a really confusing thing to go for because I'm so ambitious with it and I don't want to hold myself back with that because I feel like I'm in a great place with it. But at the same time, it's like “oh, do you actually want all that because what would everything going as well as it could actually be?”
Fuzzer: That's really deep! But I totally agree. Everyone's like “go chase your dreams because that's what you want to do, right?”. But it can come at a cost like - what are you sacrificing for that?
Rita: Exactly. So I'm optimistic, I like to think that you can have it all, but I guess I wrote the song from almost like a future self warning kind of perspective. Almost about the worst case scenario of things going well. Because I don't know - I love music and I want it all to go well. But you hear a lot of people that have done really well talking about being really lonely and it's a confusing one. So I’m just exploring that.
Fuzzer: Yeah, and I think it's important to talk about, and I know that lots of people are going to relate to that message as well. Thanks so much for sharing that. And what music are you listening to at the moment that you've been loving?
Rita: Ooh well, I'm really excited for Molly Payton's upcoming stuff. I've been loving the singles of her album. I've literally, other than that, been listening to ‘Brat’ (laughs). And I guess it's a weird thing that happens for me when I'm in a writing and recording mode, is that I actually don't listen to much music while I'm doing that. Partly just because my ears are overwhelmed after every day of recording, and then I'll just completely, in the Uber home, just go into my mindhouse. No thoughts (laughs).
Fuzzer: Girlpower, I love it! And what's next for you in 2024? Have you got any performances, more music, that sort of thing coming up?
Rita: I'll be sort of drip feeding the next singles. It's just going to be a slow roll out of that. And that's actually all that I have planned. I'm basically just trying to not run out of money on this trip (laughs). I'll be back in New Zealand for summer, so hopefully I'll do some celebratory shows and stuff when the whole project's out.
Thanks so much Rita! Make sure to keep up with her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Spotify or Apple Music.
