Q&A by Kara Zosha // Photo by Aidan Schechter
Morgen, the artist behind the smash hit Mom Jeans is releasing her second EP Bravado on March 9th. For those unfamiliar with her music it feels like an airy indie daydream with a slight edgy flare. Her authenticity shines through her entire discography and I had the pleasure of chatting with her about the upcoming release, her growth both personally and musically, and everything else that is quintessential Morgen.
Your EP Bravado is set to release on March 9th, how are you feeling?
I’m excited and stoked, It’s awesome! It’s crazy because I wrote those songs when I was barely 17.
How long have you been working on this EP and what has that journey looked like?
I started writing Bravado when I was living with my parents, so about a year ago, and then I moved to LA, which is a pretty big difference from a small beach town. I mean it’s not huge because it’s still in California, but from where I came in Santa Cruz it’s a really big transition. It was a lot. It was really hard honestly, not super hard, but hard. Bravado to me is about the transition period as well as the faking it to you make it sort of vibe. When I got to LA I was like “fuck, confidence is a thing, so I started building this kind of cool confident personality.” I’m an adult but I’m definitely 13 (at heart).
How did you choose the songs that went on the EP?
It was so random. It just happened to work out that all of the songs kinda made an ep that I liked, thank god. I have a lot of songs and a lot of them didn’t work sonically; I had a lot of different songs that sounded a lot of different ways. For this EP writing was mostly in sessions, I come to sessions with ideas a lot of the time and it was very much a collaboration situation.
How does the Morgen I’m speaking to now compare to the one that wrote this EP?
Take mom jeans for an example, there’s a line like “I don’t feel like me in a mini skirt” – Bitch, hold up let me show you what I’m wearing right now, (she proceeded to stand up and show her adorable outfit that consists of a skirt, tights, and a sweater). Like who am I, I don’t even know who I am. I am a walking contradiction and that is what Bravado is about, so yes there is a lot different. Quite literally, you can listen to the EP and you’ll be like “wow, girlie is not in that phase of life anymore,” but here we are and we are better for it.
Who influences your sound / what musicians do you admire?
Literally every artist I’ve ever listen to, like music/art in general I found is just like copy and paste. If you surround yourself with a style of music you’re gonna end up making that style of music. The music I make is very reflective of what I’m listening to because it’s what I wanna make. A lot of the artists include The Japanese House, Pvris, Clairo, Remi Wolf, Kate Davis, Dijon, Coldplay, Harry Styles, and my friends. Yeah, it’s just a lot of good music right now.
What was it like working with Merci, Mercy?
Honestly, it’s hilarious because Merci has been one of my favorite artists for a long time. I’m literally so starstruck that I got to work with her, it’s so cool. She’s super sick. I think we followed each other on Instagram and like that was awesome – it was kinda meant to be (the collaboration). I had written most of the song already, but I was like “I don’t really want to write a second verse and it’d be sick if we got a feature on this.” It was a really collaborative process and it was really fun, even when working with producers. It was hard, but it was really fun.
You’ve mentioned before Sick of Me is one of your favorite songs, is it your favorite song on the EP now, if not then which one is it?
Honestly, probably not. At one time it was my favorite song that I wrote, but it’s so funny because of how things have changed, my favorite song from the EP is Lilee for sure. One hundred percent, to die for, we love Lilee, Lilee is a slay. That goes to show how much I’ve changed, but Morgen from a year ago needed to write that song (Sick of Me).
How does Bravado compare to your first EP Unaccompanied Minor ?
Dude the first EP that I wrote, one of the songs on there I wrote when I was fifteen years old. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was really fun. My sound has changed from pop to indie pop to (now) moving towards more of an indie sound. But what’s interesting is, I’m kinda coming back around to my roots. The music I’m writing is a little bit more soulful and indie sounding. I’m happy with the way I’ve grown with music.
You’re performing an album release party on March 10th, can we expect any more live performances in the future or any thoughts about touring?
Oh hell yeah, absolutely! I wanna play so many more live shows. I’m playing a couple of live shows in March and hoping to play more in April. I don’t know, we’ll see how things go, but I want to play more festivals this summer. There’s no tour yet, but there is talk of one, so I’m hoping (to tour soon).
Anything else you want to say about this EP?
Have fun and listen to the EP if you want, please.
Tickets to the album release party.
