Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Running Towards The Dark With CHELSEA WOLFE

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Running Towards The Dark With CHELSEA WOLFE · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Right, so I'm here with Chelsea Wolfe today speaking with
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Heavy Mag about her upcoming release, The Dark, which is
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: due very soon. We're next week on Friday. So how
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  Speaker 1: are you feeling leading up to that? Do you get
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: any special feelings that come out leading up to it
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: or are you pretty well versed?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think at this point I'm ready.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you live with these songs for a while.
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  Speaker 2: And then, yeah, like right before the album comes out,
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  Speaker 2: there's just this like, you know, the work starts to
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  Speaker 2: kind of pile up. So you're just like, I don't know,
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  Speaker 2: I kind of go like onto autopilot and just make
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: sure that I'm taking care of everything I need to
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: take care of and doing a good job. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'm really excited to get it out there and to
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  Speaker 2: start playing the songs live and things like that.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exciting. And it would be like that. It'd
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: be so much work that piles up. You're like, why
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: are we doing this again?
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  Speaker 2: It's like, it's what we've been working towards.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. So I've seen the Darksman explained, like you're becoming
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  Speaker 1: the thing that you fear in order to become more brave.
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  Speaker 1: So how do you articulate that and put that such
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  Speaker 1: a complex thing into words in such a beautiful way?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I guess that's like a little bit more
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  Speaker 2: of like a poetic way of talking about becoming okay
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  Speaker 2: with the fact that when you start to pull your
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  Speaker 2: power back from a harmful situation, and start taking care
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: of yourself more than like pouring yourself over and over
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: into someone else. You can sometimes be seen as the
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  Speaker 2: villain in that story when actually you're really just trying
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  Speaker 2: to like set some boundaries and take care of yourself
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: and stop self-abandoning. There's a lot of that on this record.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think like, again, being okay, being seen
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  Speaker 2: as a villain, becoming the darkest thing in the woods, like,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know, there's a little bit of like wildness.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: There as well.
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  Speaker 2: Just like embracing, getting older as a woman and just
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  Speaker 2: becoming a little bit tougher than I used to be.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a beautiful thing to say because
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  Speaker 1: I feel like when you are strong in a situation
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  Speaker 1: that you've broken away from and you stand out for
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  Speaker 1: yourself and you're quite, you know, you can be vocal
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  Speaker 1: about it and be proud in what you've done, people
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  Speaker 1: often do like to label you as a villain because
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  Speaker 1: it's more socially accepted to be quiet on such things.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Yeah, we
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  Speaker 3: can move on.
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  Speaker 1: So something that was really fun that I've seen you
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  Speaker 1: take part in was the Tiny Desk episodes. So you've
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: been lucky enough to do a few over the years,
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  Speaker 1: which is really cool. So did you walk so that
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Napalm Death could fly?
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  Speaker 3: I don't know, man.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, my first one when I was younger was, like,
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  Speaker 2: a little bit more, I don't know, just, like, raw
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: and in the midst of tour and– And I think
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  Speaker 2: I was like in a really good headspace to do that.
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  Speaker 2: The second time I got to do it was kind
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: of like in the middle of not doing touring and
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: sort of like, I don't know, maybe like not, I
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: wasn't like in the greatest place mental health wise. So
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  Speaker 2: that one was like a lot more scary and I
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: don't feel like I aced that one as much, but
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  Speaker 2: I'm like, at least I have one that's decent.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Such different time spans as well. That's a long
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: time in between doing them, which is, yeah, really cool
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: to have that to look back on as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: So you have a lot of devoted fans on your page.
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  Speaker 1: Anything that you see, sorry, that I see you post,
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of people who outpour a lot of
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  Speaker 1: love for what you do. And is it a great
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: feeling to know that you've made a space in a
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  Speaker 1: community where people can come to you and feel that
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  Speaker 1: sense of warmth and belonging?
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  Speaker 3: For sure.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I get the sense that a lot
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  Speaker 2: of the people that listen to my music are maybe
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  Speaker 2: similar to me and being introverted and like, I don't know,
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  Speaker 2: like the beautiful dark things in the world, like to
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  Speaker 2: sort of like, I don't know, create like a cozy
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  Speaker 2: space for themselves. And I don't know, just, yeah, again,
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  Speaker 2: just like introverted and maybe a little bit awkward, but also,
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  Speaker 2: you know, mystical and yeah, just, I don't know. I feel,
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  Speaker 2: I do feel like I've created or I haven't created,
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  Speaker 2: but like putting this music out there has, has created
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  Speaker 2: this space for a lot of people like that to
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  Speaker 2: come together and, and all sorts of people really.
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  Speaker 3: But yeah, I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I don't feel like I'm doing a great job at
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  Speaker 2: answering any of these questions, but, um, I do feel very,
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  Speaker 2: very supported and very, like, I think it's really sweet
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  Speaker 2: to see community come together.
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  Speaker 3: Um, and these like sort of common energies.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: I have to agree. And, you know, looking into the
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  Speaker 1: work that you do and what you put out and
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  Speaker 1: how intentionally it is put out, it makes someone like,
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  Speaker 1: I like the occult things and the stranger things in life.
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  Speaker 1: So when I see someone like you out there, it's
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  Speaker 1: just like an instant gravitation towards what you do. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you definitely have created a good space.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: That was, that was like a hundred times more eloquent
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  Speaker 2: of what I was trying to say.
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  Speaker 3: So thank you.
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  Speaker 1: I got you. I got you. I would love to,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: if it's okay with you, talk about, I heard you
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: speaking about your grandmother and her influence on you and,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: you know, giving you a head start into the spiritual
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: journey and education. And I was just wondering, like, it
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  Speaker 1: is really important to learn from our kin. So I
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  Speaker 1: think automatically that's a beautiful thing that you've had. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think that would have put you on a different
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  Speaker 1: path if you didn't have that influence early on?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, probably.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, because I spent a lot of time with her
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  Speaker 2: as a kid. And as you said, she really taught
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  Speaker 2: me a lot about opening up to energetic work and
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  Speaker 2: the idea that there's more than just this physical realm
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  Speaker 2: and even things like aromatherapy and like the power of
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  Speaker 2: scent and these interesting things that like as a kid,
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  Speaker 2: I wasn't obviously thinking about automatically.
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  Speaker 3: And what's been really.
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  Speaker 2: Cool is that we actually, because of like weird family dynamics,
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  Speaker 2: we didn't talk to each other for like over 20 years.
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  Speaker 2: And that was like when I was 19 or something
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  Speaker 2: like that. And Now, like in my early forties, we've
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  Speaker 2: reconnected and I'm spending a lot of time with her again.
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  Speaker 2: And she's 89 years old and sharp and like, we
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: still just have so much in common. So that's been
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  Speaker 2: such a beautiful thing to reconnect with her and get
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: to spend time with an elder. And I feel so
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: lucky that I get to spend time with this elder
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: from my own family. And yeah, like the timeline of
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  Speaker 2: us reconnecting is very much like parallel with this record.
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  Speaker 2: So I do think that you know, somehow spending time
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  Speaker 2: with her is also kind of an influence on this
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  Speaker 2: record too.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm so glad I asked. That's really special. I
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: think it's, yeah, it's such a beautiful thing to be in, in,
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  Speaker 1: you know, connected with your, with your elders. Like I
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  Speaker 1: spend the time calling my grandmother, asking the questions that
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  Speaker 1: I don't want her to pass away and never have asked.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely resonate with that.
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  Speaker 3: It's beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: And would you say that people looking from the outside
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  Speaker 1: in would look at say what, how, not just yourself
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  Speaker 1: but how I would dress or you know wearing we
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  Speaker 1: like darker things or something like that won't give you
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  Speaker 1: the proper shot that you deserve with your music because
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  Speaker 1: they're too scared to be seen as different or you
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  Speaker 1: know like have you have any experience with people doing
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  Speaker 1: that towards you I.
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  Speaker 2: Mean definitely when I was younger like people in my
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  Speaker 2: personal life were a bit confused what my music was
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  Speaker 2: about and would call it like satanic or demonic or
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  Speaker 2: something which I think it's kind of a typical misunderstanding
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  Speaker 2: of anything that's leaning towards the darkness.
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  Speaker 3: But I guess, I don't know, I.
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  Speaker 2: Haven't directly heard that in a really long time, but
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure that there's people out there that are repelled
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  Speaker 2: by some of my gothic imagery or something like that.
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  Speaker 2: But I also just feel like there's so many people
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  Speaker 2: now that love dark shows and movies and things that
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  Speaker 2: are dealing with the occult. So there's definitely a big
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  Speaker 2: community there, for sure, as you know.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, absolutely. It definitely is, I don't know, a
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  Speaker 1: wider acceptance of people who are different and we don't
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  Speaker 1: really care anyway.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, of the communities, I find it to be one
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  Speaker 1: of the most beautiful out there and most supportive, so
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  Speaker 1: that's for sure.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And being not boxed into different genres and, you know,
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  Speaker 1: saying that this is who you are and only this way,
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  Speaker 1: you've had the opportunity to work with some really amazing
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  Speaker 1: people in the community. So what do you take away
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  Speaker 1: from these collaborative sessions and maybe something that surprises you
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  Speaker 1: each time from working with them?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes what surprises me is that, like, when I hear
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  Speaker 2: a song that someone's inviting me to collaborate on, I'm
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  Speaker 2: not really thinking about, like, what it would sound like
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  Speaker 2: you know, or like, I'm not really thinking about like,
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  Speaker 2: does this feel like a Chelsea Wolf song or something
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  Speaker 2: like that? I kind of just like lend to it,
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  Speaker 2: whatever comes naturally. And sometimes that might not be like
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  Speaker 2: the typical vocal that someone might expect from me or
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  Speaker 2: something like that.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know. That's what comes to mind.
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  Speaker 2: It's like, I'm just kind of open to like whatever
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  Speaker 2: the song wants from me and just rolling with that
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  Speaker 2: instead of trying to bring it into my world, if
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  Speaker 2: that makes sense.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And that is a beautiful way to be. I think
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  Speaker 1: that's how everyone should create is to lend it to
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  Speaker 1: the experience. And so you get a better result out
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: of it that way if you're not trying to force
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  Speaker 1: it to be something, the more it comes naturally to you.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 2: And I do wish more collaborations were in person. I
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: feel like, especially ever since 2020, more and more things
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: are done at a distance.
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  Speaker 3: And I really would.
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  Speaker 2: Love to do more and more in-person collaborations as much
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: as I can, because I just think that it lends
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: itself to a better song overall.
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  Speaker 3: But anyways.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it can be hard to connect with people, but,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: you know, like through Zoom, we have 15 minutes to
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: sit here and try to connect.
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  Speaker 3: But in person, it's so.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Much easier to, you know, meet each other and get
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: each other's energy straight away. Totally, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: It would be so tough, yeah.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Oh, we're running out of time, and I would love
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: to ask you so many more questions, but I wish
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: you all the best with your new release, and it's
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: been really wonderful talking to you.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you too. Thank you so much for having me.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Sorry it was so short.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: No, not at all. I'll catch you again another time,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I'm sure.