*Published by The Luna Collective on July 28, 2023
DO YOU EVER MEET SOMEONE WHO HAS ENERGY SO INFECTIOUS THAT YOU SIMPLY CAN’T HELP — but smile as you watch them experience life? For us, that someone is BIZZY, Nashville’s resident indie-pop darling.
BIZZY seems to go through life with an ever-present smile, inspiring laughter that has the capacity to revitalize any bad day. With an undeniable ability to charm anyone she meets, it’s no surprise that this up-and-coming artist has turned many casual listeners into loyal fans.
Though, when it comes to her music, BIZZY dwells in “back-and-forths.” Outbursts of passionate “I love you”s come followed up with caveats of “But I’d never tell you”s, and wry “I hate you”s almost always turn into “But I just can’t help wanting to be with you.” BIZZY deftly channels her confusion into track after track, hoping that pairing her thoughts with fiery instrumentals will somehow lead to a point of clarity.
And while she is a mere seven singles into her career, BIZZY’s sonic output has been nothing short of impactful.
The musician gives us a taste of her latest in today’s double whammy of a release: two singles, “Out Loud” and “I’d Never Tell You.” Both tracks immerse listeners in a season of the artist’s life that was filled with the eager giddiness and bashful secrecy of realizing she had a crush on a long-time friend.
According to BIZZY, the tracks are “total opposites, yet it felt so right to put them side by side because it shows both extremes of love.
“You never know what you’re going to get when you enter into a relationship — it’s a total gamble,” she said. “But the ‘not knowing’ is what keeps us going!”
“Out Loud” (co-written with Maddy Simmen and Dave Villa) recounts BIZZY’s slow-burn realization that she was deeply in love with one of her oldest friends. Gritty, crashing guitars bolster the boisterous declaration of love BIZZY shouts — but only so loud, so that the one she loves won’t actually hear her.
One can picture BIZZY clapping her hands over her mouth in giddy disbelief after the utterance of “I think I love you,” only to follow it up with, “Shit what do I do now?”
In this particular circumstance, BIZZY decides to keep it under wraps — which is where “I’d Never Tell You” (co-written with Suzie Buist and Alexander Frieden) comes into play. Here, we see BIZZY stone-faced and unfeeling: “It doesn’t even hurt / So why you saying sorry,” she sings. “I’ve been treated worse / It barely even bothers me.”
Of course, this is all a bluff — she ruminates over thrumming synth lines, “It won’t be easy / Getting over this feeling / Walking in rooms / All alone without you / Tryna to fill all the spaces you left.” Ultimately, BIZZY decides that some secrets are better left unspoken, even if it might hurt to stay silent.
The tracks arrive just as lived-in shoes passed down from an older sibling would — BIZZY has walked miles in these feelings, and is now ready to pass her broken-in-but-still-invaluable experiences on to the next.
“I love songwriting so much,” BIZZY shared. “It allows me to sort through my feelings. I feel a lot of things very deeply and all at once. Growing up, that was tough for me because it was like there was too much going on in my head — I didn’t know where to start.”
Lucky for us, BIZZY has now summoned the courage to say all of these feelings out loud — pun intended — or at least via song.
Continue reading below to learn how BIZZY tries to channel her inner child in the everyday, how she balances having music as both a hobby and a career, and about the making of her newest singles, “Out Loud” and “I’d Never Tell You.”
LUNA: Before we dive into the interview, I wanted to just check in and see how you’re doing today. What has been going on in your world?
BIZZY: So kind of you to ask. I’m doing really good! I just got back from a family vacation so I feel ready to take on the world again.
LUNA: When did making music start to feel like a meaningful outlet for you, and why does creating it continue to be meaningful for you?
BIZZY: It became meaningful the first time I wrote a song and showed it to my mom, and she cried. It opened up a whole world for me, where I could not only express how I’m feeling but make others feel the same way. It felt like magic.
LUNA: You are currently seven singles into your career. What lessons have you learned during this time, and what do you hope to learn or do better while making the next seven?
BIZZY: That’s actually crazy to hear that out loud, no pun intended. I feel like I put my first single out yesterday. I have learned and grown so much since I began to release music. The most important being: follow my gut. So many people are gonna try and come in and tell you what to do and how to do it. I listened for a while, until I realized none of us have any fucking clue what we’re doing. Everyone in the world — especially in the music industry — is winging it and hoping it works. I quickly realized my best bet to stay sane and happy is to just follow my gut and really learn how to trust my instincts.
For future releases, what I would like to get better at is finding new and fun ways to connect with my audience. They’re all so cool and fun, and I just wanna be friends with them. Social media is such an awesome tool for that, but I feel like there could be other fun ways to do that as well.
LUNA: You are currently a Nashville-based musician. What about Nashville keeps you there? What is the community like?
BIZZY: I freakin’ love Nashville. It is the perfect combination of small town and big city vibes. Having gone to college here and then staying after, I feel like I’ve really gotten to know the vibe around here. People are genuinely so kind. Obviously you get the occasional human with a stick up their butt, but we just smile and get the frick away from those people. I have been so blessed to find a true family here in Nashville, full of people that champion me and push me to be better and are always willing to help me in a way they can. I don’t think you get that everywhere.
LUNA: In an interview with Unpublished Zine, you stated that you want to “get to the point where [you] feel like a child, but also like a full human.” What about childhood do you want to incorporate into your adult life? I know that I personally miss the carefreeness and spirited lens of youth — what about you?
BIZZY: Well, first off, honored that you read that — thank you! There's so much about childhood that adults should never lose. For one, being curious without fear of judgment or looking stupid. We have all gotten so scared of how we appear as we get older (me included), that we forget to move and live. We’re so focused on how others perceive us. That’s something I try to work on every day. When I feel the urge to do something, wear something, or ask a weird question and the thought, “What if they judge me?” pops into my head, I ask myself, “Well, if there was a zombie apocalypse and it was just me on Earth right now, what would I do?” I then try to follow that thought.
I try to take away the fear aspect as much as possible, because it clouds my true feelings. Which leads me to the next beautiful point of having a childlike spirit: there is no fear. Like you said, children are just carefree, and so in the moment. There is a sense of magic and wonder that kids have that I work to regain and [retain] throughout my life.
LUNA: You’ve stated that you are a big hobby-having person. Work-life balance is especially important in the industry, so how do you balance having music as a hobby and also as an actual job?
BIZZY: Wow, you really did your research! Yes I’m a big hobby person. I always say that if I had no real job, I would never be bored because I would literally just move from hobby to hobby. It feels like there’s not enough time in a day or life to do everything I want to do. Me and my dad are similar in that way — we both wanna live till we’re, like, 200. In life, balance is so, so important for me and is something I struggle with a lot because it is not rewarded in this industry. What is rewarded is staying up till 3 a.m. and waking up at 6 a.m. to work on music. And I used to envy those people [who] would do that. I would feel like I was never going to go anywhere in life if I wasn’t writing or singing or producing every second of the day.
I finally started to listen to myself and what I felt like I needed. I soon realized that the way my brain works best is with short little microdoses of things. I love to work on a song for an hour then get up and go for a walk, and come back and not feel forced to finish it in that sitting if it doesn’t come naturally. It allows me to percolate on my ideas. I’m not saying this is for everyone — it's just what I’ve found works for me, and realizing I don’t have to feel guilty about that is so freeing.
I’m gonna be honest, I just went on a tangent — back to the question at hand. “How do I balance music as a hobby and as a job”? In a way, it’s by doing what I just said. Coming to music when I feel like it and not forcing it. It allows it to remain fun for me.
LUNA: A lot of your discography focuses on love and the various ways relationships can play out in this life. Is it easier for you to write a devotional love song, or, conversely, one about being jilted by love?
BIZZY: It's funny that you say that because in my head I was never the artist that writes so much about love, but you’re right, looking at my discography it really is about love. I write about what I’m going through, and in this particular season of life that is love and loss of love. I don’t know if it’s easier or harder to write about losing love or gaining it. Gaining it is definitely more fun to write about, but there is something so rich about the songs that talk about the loss. I think it’s a tie (laughs).
LUNA: These two singles have very different themes, though they both center around relationships and love. Why pair them together in a package for this release?
BIZZY: Total opposites, yet it felt so right to put them side by side because it shows both extremes of love. You never know what you’re going to get when you enter into a relationship — it’s a total gamble — but the “not knowing” is what keeps us going!
LUNA: These two tracks are co-written with several other talented musicians. Can you share a little bit about how the co-writing process worked on these singles?
BIZZY: Yes! “Out loud” was written with Dave Villa and Maddy Simmen. It’s funny because it was only me and Dave’s second time writing together, and me and Maddy’s first. But I quickly found both to be so brilliantly talented and a pleasure to work with! I walked into the room and was gushing about the guy I liked and how the saga has been going on since we were in 4th grade. We started to write, and this one actually took us a good bit of time. We took lots of porch/snack breaks. It was difficult for me to get so much history and emotion into one song. But we got there! I remember a couple weeks later Dave sent me the demo and I straight-up listened to it on repeat for weeks!
“I’d Never Tell You” was written with Suzie Buist and Alexander Frieden — both incredibly talented humans. And musically so genius. I walked into this full of sadness and embarrassment because the guy I was head over heels for didn’t feel the same, and it was my first time navigating something like this. I remember just grabbing a guitar and singing what was on my mind, and Suzie and Alexander were so great in catching all of my words and making sense of them. We ended up with “I’d Never Tell You,” and for a while I didn’t want to release it because I didn't want him to know how I felt, and honestly I still don’t (laughs). As you can hear from the song, I’ve got a bit of a pride problem — but here we are, layin’ it all out on the table.
LUNA: For me, “Out Loud” and “I’d Never Tell You” create a kind of narrative: You realize you have these incredibly strong feelings for someone, only to keep them a secret. It seems that you use music as a vessel to strongly convey these feelings, but is it the same in real life? Is expressing yourself something that comes easily, or is it harder than it seems?
BIZZY: No, it’s not the same in real life, which is why I love songwriting so much. It allows me to sort through my feelings. I feel a lot of things very deeply and all at once. Growing up, that was tough for me because it was like there was too much going on in my head — I didn’t know where to start. But songwriting gave me an outlet. It was like it took my hand and said, “Hey, we’re gonna deal with each feeling one by one in a fun way, and at the end all your feelings will feel like magic, no matter how scary or dark they are.” Like, what else can do that on Earth? It’s magic, that’s all.
LUNA: What setting do you think your music is best enjoyed in? A stroll down the street? An energetic jog?
BIZZY: My music is for sure car music. Don’t get me wrong, a nice stroll down the street is great as well, but when I write or listen to my music, it’s usually in the car. That’s how I originally got inspired by music. My favorite thing to do when there was a new song or I had written a new song was to grab my iPod (holy frick, I’m old) and go to my grandpa's old truck and listen to to songs that made me wanna go 100 miles on a 20 mph road, because I felt it so deep in my soul. That’s what I want my music to do for people. But dear God, please don’t go that fast — it’s a figure of speech.
LUNA: I like to end all of my interviews on a happy note, so I want to ask: What has been giving you joy lately?
BIZZY: Ugh, we are one and the same! Love ending on a happy note! Something that has been giving me joy lately are my sisters. I just love them so much. As I get older I realize how special it is to be so close to my siblings. They champion me in everything that I do, and music is no exception. I told them I was going on tour, and within the day they had their flights booked for almost half the shows. This has been a hoot! Thank you!
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