“Just Life” BLÜ EYES’ Song About the Beauty in Perseverance
BLÜ EYES is a Los Angeles-based pop artist, songwriter, and producer whose songs triumphantly uncover the beauty in the broken. Her soaring melodies, coupled with her intimate, soul-bearing lyrics, have captivated listeners all over the globe. With releases on labels like Armada, Hexagon, AVA, and many more, her songs have garnered the endorsement of radio shows like A State of Trance and Beats Radio 1. Following her substantial success with top lining tracks in the dance world, this year BLÜ EYES has come into her own — releasing several self-produced singles that portray not just who she is as a vocalist, but who she is as an artist. These singles are all part of her highly anticipated debut album, coming next year.
What has helped you the most during quarantine life besides lots of tea and Rolling Stones t-shirts?
Haha! Long walks and making music. 100%. And Gilmore Girls. And my boyfriend.
On Earth Day, you said that the quarantine has been “a blessing in disguise for our world with the sky clear, flowers blooming wild and free, and the birds singing louder than ever before.” What are some ways we can continue to help the earth post-pandemic?
I think the biggest thing we can do is just continue to bring awareness to the fact that every choice we make impacts the world around us. The car we drive, the things we buy, the food we eat. Everything has an effect. So if we can, as a society, continue to make it more of a normal thing to prioritize low-impact products and foods, the more people can feel empowered to make small choices that will make a big difference. We don’t need 20% of the world to be 100% perfectly environmentally conscious, we need 80% to be 20% imperfectly conscious.
You said working on new music has helped you through these past few months. Which up-and-coming SoCal artists have you been listening to lately?
Ooh, that’s a tough one. Honestly, just listening to my friends’ release music has been awesome. My old college roommate put out some DOPE music this year (under her artist project, Spritely) that I’ve been loving. She’s based in Nashville but we went to school together in SoCal haha so that kinda counts. Some of my other college friends Trousdale have just started releasing music too and I’ve been loving that!
“Some Days,” “I’m tryin’ hard to hold it all together.” You shared the song (your first self-produced release) “poured out of me effortlessly and became a mantra I sang to myself to remind myself better days were ahead.” What inspired you to write it?
I had just gone through a super tough situation making a really big life change, and it was definitely one of those periods of my life where it was a coin toss when I woke up whether or not I’d be able to make it through the day without having a breakdown. I was talking to my friend James (with who I made the song) about that feeling of like “yeah, some days are ok, some days, not so good,” and he was like “let’s write that!” I never would have thought something so simple would be worthy of writing an entire song about it had he not said something, but he was totally right. I would never have written this without him.
The lyrics for your single “How” (with Bloom Line) were written at a time you knew you had to make a big change in your life. Life lesson learned was to listen to your gut … it’s always right. What’s your take away message for others struggling to make changes?
I guess I’ll say it’s never going to be easy making the “right” choice or doing the “right” thing. But it’ll be MUCH harder to live with that gut feeling gnawing at you, telling you you need to make a change. It’s not fun, but ultimately, if you’re feeling unsettled in your current situation, it’s time to rip the bandaid off. It’s so freeing once you make it through to the other side. And you learn a lot about yourself in the process.
Having to rewrite lyrics three times for a song about being the one to break someone’s heart, “Blame.” When the lyrics are personal, is it harder to write them or sing them live, similar to the songs that influenced your song’s creation like Kacey Musgraves’ “Lonely Weekend” and The 1975’s “Somebody Else?”
I don’t personally find it to be that way unless of course, the person I wrote it about is standing in the audience somewhere, haha. The way I see it is, the more personal I am, the more I am able to share my truth. And the more true I am to myself, the better it feels. Also, the more specifically I dig into expressing my own emotions, the more other people seem to resonate with it. Even if they haven’t felt that specific feeling, it moves them to connect with the music that I’ve made, and sometimes even allows them to tap into a loosely related emotion or situation that they have experienced themselves.
Throughout this year you’ve been working on your album. The pandemic has greatly impacted the music industry, but what positives have you experienced in making the record?
I’ve gotten to spend SO much more time developing my craft as a producer this year than I would have in any other circumstance. It’s been such a blessing to get to dive deep into what music moves me, what excites me creatively, and trailblazing the path toward getting my ideas to sound like what I hear in my head. It’s also just allowed me to take more TIME making things than I am used to. In the music industry (especially as a songwriter/producer), it’s all about quantity it seems. Finish a song in a day, make the track the next day, the end. Next song. It’s too fast. I’ve learned this year that when you take the time to sit with things you’ve made, give yourself the freedom to have unlimited editing time, you’re able to make better music. And then the next time you go in to start something new, you can take what you’ve learned in that process to inform the next thing. It’s a big upfront investment of time but it’s well worth it.
“I adored you like a deity, swore you meant the best for me.” “Blessing” ft. Casey Kolb, the song you said is probably your favorite thing you’ve ever made. What makes this song so special for you?
It’s just so unique! Casey and I really took our time building every piece of that song, making sure every sound was perfect, and every section flowed well. We didn’t rush it at all. I just loved pouring that much attention to detail into one song and then getting to step back and listen to the final product and go “wow. I’m so proud of that. It really is something special.”
“Just Life,” your fifth release this year. “Wish I could go up to the person I was back then…” Since writing the song, you said you’ve been through a career rebuilding, losing friends, the pandemic, 2020 in general, and how the song has given you a small space of comfort in these uncertain times. Can you share some other songs you listen to for comfort?
I love getting lost in everything by MUNA and Maggie Rogers — I’ve listened to every song of both those artists so many times that there are comfort and familiarity in those tracks. Plus everything they make just makes you feel good, empowered, and free.
You ask fans for their favorite lines in the songs you’ve released. What are your favorite lines from your favorite songs from other artists?
1. MUNA, “Pink Light”: “There’s a pink light in my apartment, it comes mid-morning as a reminder // that at the right time, in the right surroundings, I will be lovely.”
2. Taylor Swift, “All Too Well”: “you call me up again just to break me like a promise // so casually cruel in the name of being honest.”
3. Holly Humberstone, “Overkill”: “a couple more tequilas, and I’ll tell you how I’m feelin’.”
