INTERVIEW: Molly Moore
Molly Moore
The Photo Ladies Interview - by Emily May
Molly Moore wants to change the conversation surrounding the identity crisis society is facing in the age of the internet. The NY-born and LA-based artist has always loved music and graduated from high school 6 months early in order to focus on her music, making the move to LA at 19. Aside from her dreams of creating her own music, Moore honed her songwriting skills and wrote songs for artists such as Jesse McCartney, Steve Aoki and Lea Michele. Formerly part of the duo Cosmos & Creature with her then boyfriend Brandyn Burnette, she also released three solo albums during that time, becoming an accomplished artist in her own right. In 2018, with the death of her father and ending of her relationship, Moore ventured out on her own, focusing solely on her solo career for the first time. Her recently released singles "Identity Crisis" and "Careful", from her upcoming album Voice of The Internet, share the message of being addicted as a society to social media and how to know if what you see on the internet is real or not. The album was written following her break up as she watched her ex move on while she wasn’t ready to do so herself. It is an ode to her journey towards self-discovery and tells of her personal journey through her music. “I was going through the actual separation and embracing myself,” she admits. “I decided to focus on me and give my solo career the shot I had never really given it, because I was always so focused on the band with my ex and doing things with him together. It was healing to be able to make music that showed independence versus being so overwhelmed by romantic pursuits. I tried to break the cycle and adjust on my own, so I could be a whole person the next time I got into a relationship.” “When you hear the record, I hope you don’t need to text or call your ex at three in the morning,” she leaves off. “You could put this on instead. I want you to cry to it and dance to it. I embraced being on my own. You have the same power.” Her latest single "Always Gonna Love You" is one of the more personal tracks on the album and is a bittersweet testament and reminder that regardless of what was and what could have been, the power of love is imminent. “This song is the result of connecting with another female artist after we both had gone through breakups. I had been needing to get this out for a while and we had a long conversation about how no matter what circumstances could've been different, ultimately you can't stop love when it's inevitable,” shares Molly. With a livestream event and more music to release, Moore admits that she is just getting started. This is just the beginning for her and she is looking forward to forging ahead with her music. You can connect with Molly Moore via the following links.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | SoundCloud | iTunes/Apple Music | YouTube | Deezer | last.fm | Tidal
You grew up in a pretty musical household and graduated high school 6 months early to focus on recording music, moving to LA when you were 19 to begin pursuing your career as a songwriter. What was that like for you, to make that move to LA at such a young age?
It was crazy and was quite a transition. I think I was a bit over-confident at that time in my life and it definitely humbled me, which I think was necessary. I was so young and I think I thought I was a lot older than I was. I met a lot of people when I came out here and a lot of people that I kind of already knew from New York were coming out to LA around the same time. It was cool and was a lot of fun and was a wild time. I mean, I don't really even know if I would say that I would go back and change anything because I wouldn't be who I am now. It was definitely a really crazy, kind of tumultuous time for me but was great in a lot of ways. I got to do a lot of collaborating with other people and getting to know different people in LA. That's sort of the name of the game when you get here, just getting to know a lot of different people and hopefully over time you find yours.
You have said that your move to LA helped you to grow into yourself and that being able to work with other people and see their perspective on writing and music helped you to feel pretty confident about your own perspective. How do you feel that writing songs for other artists helped you to find your own perspective as an artist?
That's a great question! I think it sort of led me away from that for a while and then led me to it. I grew up acting and love having different characters and playing different roles. I think that's why I love writing for other artists too. When I came out to LA when I was younger, I think I had a misunderstanding about what it really means to be a great songwriter for other artists. I learned along the way that, you know, it really matters what your perspective is and if you have a voice that people want to align with. I think I was more so hoping to step into somebody else's shoes and become another artist to write for them. But in reality, I realized that developing my own voice is how I can help someone else develop theirs. By having something clear in myself, and knowing how I got there, I could then help somebody else find their perspective of that and what that means for them.
You've written for other artists like Lea Michele, Steve Aoki and Jesse McCartney. When you moved to LA, was your initial goal to solely write for other artists or did you want to write your own music, as well?
I always wanted to do both. I think that I hoped songwriting would help me to pursue my own artist career in a lot of ways. In a lot of ways it did and in a lot of ways it didn't. It's always kind of a mixed bag. When I came out here, I think I wanted to work with other people but didn't know how to get anybody to care about my artist projects. I mean it wasn't only that, but part of me thought "Well, if I'm writing for other artists and working with more people, I can meet more people and just make more songs" and that's kind of what happened.
You were previously part of the duo Cosmos and Creature and during that time you released solo albums, as well. What was it like during that time for you to do both, and what is it like for you now to be able to focus solely on your own music instead of having to go back and forth between the two projects?
You know, it was an amazing time of my life and was, again, a crazy time. A lot of my life has been crazy. There was pressure from other people to kind of choose which one we were going to focus on, if it was going to be our solo projects or the project we had together. What we decided is that it was both and that we could do that. That was a risk for us to take, I think, because it's hard for other people to understand how you can do multiple things at once. But we would incorporate our solo projects into our live sets and stuff like that, which was awesome and kind of helped people to understand what our vibe was. We were like "We're not giving up on our solo projects. We have music we make together and love to perform it and that's it." I definitely was putting a lot of energy towards the duo when we were doing it and were in that relationship, so I think most of my energy was going there. I will say that ever since I started putting my energy back...well, not even back, because I don't even know if it ever was even fully in my solo project. I think I always was excited about making music on my own, but then it sort of grew into this duo that I was also really excited about for a long time. Now, it's like I'm actually focusing on myself fully for the first time and it's amazing. I just feel like I'm growing a lot and it's nice to be able to just learn and apply what I'm learning. I feel like I'm helping other people when I do get into a room to write for someone else. I feel like I have sort of found a place in my own music where I'm excited and feel like I've established how I can use my voice. That, I think, helps everything.
You've talked about your journey in learning how to let go of trying to control when you are writing your best work or when you are super productive and learning to let the work come to you. What has that process been like for you?
It's nice. I think I find more of it in this time period where people aren't doing as many sessions in person and there's not as much fluff happening, I feel, as far as random things being set up. I got into a cycle when I was making my album where I was working so much and really had a lot to say and was the thing that kind of saved me. That being said, in this time I've been able to start even writing on guitar again, which is something I lost touch with in working with other producers for so long. I've been relearning guitar and that's been a lot of fun. I think the ideas that I'm writing now are just...it's opening up because I have now gone through this loss and heartbreak and have written about that. I always will, but I think what I'm writing about now is becoming more about my own process and about love, still, in a lot of ways, both fortunately or unfortunately...however you want to look at it. A lot of the music I'm starting to make now is also just about my own journey, which I think is nice. It's just everything I've been through up to this point.
You'll be releasing your new album Voice of The Internet on November 13th and is an ode to your journey towards self-discovery. What can you tell me about making the album and what you learned about yourself in the process?
Yeah. I learned that I was really angry, listening back to the songs (laughs). I learned that I didn't have to judge myself so much for that anger and that it was ok and was warranted. Maybe growing and...maybe anger and sadness on someone else isn't cool...but I think that making art that's true to what you are going through and accepting that and having sort of an acceptance for the raw versions of those emotions is something that I've really had to learn in this process. There were times when I was like "Ok. I can't do this. It's too much." I was pouring it all out and it's scary, because it's about a relationship where everybody kind of knows who it's about, so it's just scary, you know? Well, obviously not new fans, but the people who have been following my career and the people I'm excited to share this body of work with, as much as new people, as well. I'm really excited for my music to reach new people too. So yeah, there was just a lot of acceptance that went into letting myself express the heartbreak as vulnerably as I did.
You have also said that in recent years the production of your tracks has evolved into a 50/50 mix of having a concrete plan going into the process and trying new things to see what fits. What has that evolution been like for you?
It's always different I find. Everybody's kind of different, unless you are working with the same person consistently, which I have been lucky enough to do on the next body of work. On the first body of work, I was working with a lot of different producers and found that adding live elements like horns and live guitar and live bass helps to bring out the soulful influence that I kind of start my music with. That's something that I have been learning daily, the importance of keeping my sound consistent and evolving too. I love musicians and live instruments and there's just nothing like that. They make every synth for it, that can sound like a guitar or sound like a piano, but when you just really have those instruments, it's something so special, when someone really knows how to play. It's generally not me (laughs).
You have doing 'Voice on The Internet talks'. What led you to want to start doing those talks and how has it been going?
It's been going! I did the first one a couple of weeks back. I have yet to do the next one, but was actually just thinking about that today because I have a friend that I wanted to do it, but he isn't available anymore so I have to switch things up. I've been thinking of doing it with my best friend Maddie for the second episode. It's something I'm going to be rolling out once the album is out. I'm going to be doing a lot more of that. The first one was amazing, as well. Sidney Tipton was my guest and she's an incredible artist and songwriter. We talked about identity crisis and how you can find yourself in an identity crisis when you are a female in the world and in the music industry. Men too. Everybody goes through a time when they feel lost. We kind of just dug into that and expectations and the things we project in our personality as almost like a coping mechanism to get through life. There's a certain point where you realize "Oh. That's not serving me. That's just serving other people." There were just a lot of conversations about that and why and how to break through that and it was a lot of fun. I'm excited about talking openly about that stuff, because that's just my life. It's who I am and I think that's what we should talk about. I don't understand why we talk about the weather or even sports. I don't like sports. It's been really cool to share the this on Instagram. I think I want to maybe develop it further, beyond that platform, so I'm still trying to figure that out to see if I can widen the reach in some way.
Along those same lines, you recently released your two singles "Identity Crisis" and "Careful", which share a complimentary message of being addicted as a society to social media and the idea of how to know if what you see online is real or not. Was there a specific thing that inspired those songs for you and what are your views on social media in general right now and the effect it's having on society?
Yeah. There was definitely a specific inspiration for that, which my whole album is inspired by, which is just, like, how do you get over someone when the internet exists? Especially if they've moved on and you haven't. It's just crazy, and what I realized is that I was falling victim to a lot of things that I didn't think I was susceptible to, in just looking avidly online to see who my ex was trying to date now. It was insane how I started to feel really bad about myself, because I was comparing myself to the types of girls that he liked, which is, like, sick! And so many people do it because it's there for you to do. It's this easy thing and there's no conversation really about it. It's like, it happens and people tell you to block that person and eventually you do or you don't. I realized that I couldn't block him out of my brain and that I needed to realize what I want and not let the world that's been created around me define what I create for myself. I decided to be alone and was like "This is going to suck but I'm just going to be alone and be with myself and figure out who I am and what I want." In that time, I really just realized how the internet plays a role in...either you can really establish who you are and identify with what's real or you can project an image that's a slightly altered version or you can project an image that's completely different. And it's not really received any differently all across the board. There are genuine people and there are really fake people who succeed on the internet. For me, I was just sitting back and analyzing this and realizing that I didn't want to be a part of that. I only wanted to be a part of the internet if I was going to help it move forward and evolve and realized I had to do that in myself. It's really about intention, I think, at the end of the day and realizing you have to decide that for yourself. No amount of memes or posts can tell you who you are. I mean, there are really actually helpful people on social media who are helping to evolve it, and there are great uses to making a funny post and making people laugh and all of that. I'm not hating on any of it, but there's a lot misinformation and I just want people to realize they can think for themselves.
You have said that in recent years you have been able to doing music full time and have been working on your work/life balance. How has trying to find that balance been going for you?
I am finding it every day. I am also realizing the importance of it every day, which I think is a key part to finding it. I lost touch with it for a long time to be honest and still struggle with it, but it is something that I am actively working on and taking time for myself throughout the day. I tend to be an over-worker and get into certain modes of working on certain things and can lose sight of a whole portion of what I have to do because I will funnel in and focus on something. I'm just realizing how much time management plays into taking care of yourself and having a self-care routine and balanced life and all of the success of a business, you know? It's kind of scary, like realizing I failed because of me and not because of anybody else. I'm the business. It's just making sure that I take care of myself and my mental health and my body. I'm literally just now realizing the importance of it, at 28 years old. I actually got sick about a month ago because I wasn't eating enough or drinking enough, and it's crazy to think that can happen and you don't even realize you're doing it. You don't even know that you aren't eating enough throughout the day. I've definitely been working more time for balance into my schedule.
You have also composed children's music for the Hasbro animated series 'Hanazuki'. What can you tell me about that series and how you came to work on it?
It was awesome. The opportunity came through somebody we were working with at the time and it was a lot of fun. We were writing so many songs at that time that a lot of what we were writing actually kind of fit into what the needs were for the music for the show. We also wrote a lot of songs from scratch after having watched the episodes, which was really cool because I've never done anything like that, where I'm getting visual inspiration for music. I'd also never made...well, I guess I've written a couple of scenes over the years where I submitted them for pitches...but I'd never really done it. It was my first time getting to write music for children and having that come out, which was really cool.
You have talked about being raised by spiritual parents and were raised to acknowledge the energy in the world and the universe and what's out there. What are your thoughts on the world right now? I've read a lot of people talking about a great awakening happening right now. Do you feel like that is happening?
Absolutely! There's definitely a massive shift happening. I can feel it every day and every moment. With darkness comes light and with light comes darkness and I feel a lot of the concepts and knowledge that people have really dug into the past year is incredible. It's something that gives me hope for the future. There's a lot of corruption and a lot of imbalance in the world and a lot of pain at the hands of powerful people. I think that is something I hope to be able to work to change in my life, in any way that I can, literally. I do feel like there's a great awakening happening and I feel it's happening to me simultaneously. I feel like I've been able to kind of deal with a lot in the last 6 months that I was running from prior. It's amazing and is a great feeling to not run from things. It's almost like we were all just shoved inside because we were just all running from everything. Or maybe it was just me (laughs). I feel like I have noticed friends talking to me and other artists who feel like they are on similar paths. I know, for me in particular, it's a very personal journey where I feel like I've had to kind of rebuild and with that has come a freedom from a lot of old habits and emotions that I refused to feel for a long time. Simultaneously, I feel that the world is kind of opening its third eye and seeing what's actually happening. It's beautiful and amazing. I've unfortunately been kind of feeling this way for a while about the state of society and not knowing how I could personally make a large enough impact to matter. I feel like every day I'm learning more about how to do that and feel like other people are starting to align with a deeper purpose in life, as well. It's very exciting.
I sometimes feel like maybe all of the slowing down of society happened for a reason, so that people could be more aware of what is really happening in the world.
It's true, because I can't ever imagine a circumstance where this would have happened, outside of this. I'm not saying I'm happy that people have been getting sick and dying. It's really tragic and I'm not trying to say it's a good thing by any means, in that aspect. I do think of it as people not having as many distractions to the impactful things they are dealing with.
You just released your latest single "Always Gonna Love You". What can you tell me about the track and what was it like to write it over Facetime?
It was crazy! The song was written pretty quickly and we just had this conversation where the girl I wrote it with had just gotten out of a relationship, as well. We were just feeling really similarly about it. We still had lingering feelings and it can be hard to let go of that hope that maybe someday it could work out and that things shouldn't have happened the way that they did. We came to this conclusion that we were both always going to love this person no matter what was different about the circumstances, whether it went perfectly or terribly. It's one of those things where you know it's always going to happen and you are going to feel that way. It's sort of liberating in a way and it's true. When you love someone, you really do have that place in your heart for them and it shouldn't ever really go away, if it was real. That's what I'm telling myself lately.
What's next for you, aside from your album release?
I'm doing a livestream on Tuesday with Jam In A Van, which will be awesome. It will be from their YouTube page and I'll be playing songs from my album. I'm also doing a livestream on November 18th and will be playing more songs from the album. Hopefully close to the whole thing. I'm also working on a second album. I have more music coming out after the album and I'm not stopping. This is just the beginning for me! I'm just excited to be able to connect with the people who have been listening more and building that social relationship online, which is the only place we can be right now. And have more conversations like this. I just hope I get to do more of this!