More than a year ago, burgeoning singer CELESTIA released “sucky notes”, her first first original song on SoundCloud. Her dreamy vocals quickly garnered her a following as she began to release more and more music. From the gin$eng produced ethereal trap banger “itwasntevenlikethat” to the softer, more laid back “pls dont get mad @ me” produced by fellow musician and boyfriend inochi, CELESTIA has been steadily proving herself a talent to watch. With the upcoming release of her debut EP, THIS IS REVIVΛL, we spoke with her to find out about herself, as well as her upcoming project.
UU: So I guess we should begin with introductions, how old are you and where are you from?
I’m 19 years old, and I’m originally from Portland, Oregon, but I recently moved to Sacramento, California.
UU: And what got you started making music?
I’ve been making music for a long time now. I started singing around age 6, and began playing guitar and writing music at around 12 years old. I started finding out about SoundCloud around 2013, and it wasn’t until around 2016 I decided to publish one of my original songs instead of covers of other artists.
UU: That was “sucky” notes right?
Yes! I uploaded “sucky notes” produced by despair.
UU: So who would you say are some of your inspirations?
I feel like most of my musical inspirations come from a variety of music. My earliest artists who have inspired me could be artists from Avril Lavigne to Paramore, or like Beyonce and Keyshia Cole. I listen to almost everything. Nowadays, I would say a lot of my inspirations would be people like Spooky Black, Killstation, Sosi, and Joji.
UU: So would you say your inspirations have shifted to other fellow underground artists? Have you met or collaborated with any of them?
I’ve met a couple of people I’ve known from the underground. People like Shyler, Rozz Dyliams, Shinigami, YungJZAisDead, and Hound Beats are also artists who inspire me. They are people who I’ve worked with or I would want to work with in the future.
UU: You said you listen to a lot of different genres, do you have a favorite?
Alternative and indie music are always going to be my favorite, anything acoustic as well.
UU: I notice a lot of your songs seem to be about relationships, would you say that’s been a big inspiration behind your lyrics?
I would say so yeah, most of my music naturally falls within heartbreak or anything about love. I guess it just plays a deep part in my music creation.
UU: So do you have a process for song creation or is it more of a spur of the moment thing?
It honestly depends on my environment. I could think of something in my head and hum it, and try to make something out of it. Or if I want to sit down and try to listen to music, see what inspires me, and go from there, write down what’s in my head, stuff like that. It just depends on how I feel too.
UU: Has there been any major difficulty in your music career?
I think the only difficulty I have at the moment with my music is figuring out where I or how far I wanna take it. Sometimes, I get discouraged but at the same time, I know this is what I wanna do as a career if I could. But no matter where music takes me, I’m still happy I chose this way to make myself happy.
UU: Music really seems to be a positive outlet for you, when you say you don’t know where or how far you want to take it do you mean making it in the mainstream and touring?
Oh yeah, like big dreams. Touring would be an amazing dream come true. I wish I could perform more. But what I’m trying to say is that as long as it’s music, I’m okay with it being the rest of my future, because it’s what I love to do the most.
UU: Are there any artists you are currently collaborating with or wish to in the future?
I’m currently working on a lot of music produced by M-Piece. He is one of my favorite producers at the moment. I would love to collaborate with more female artists in the near future, I think they are a lot of very important female artists in this scene that don’t get the credit they deserve!
UU: There is definitely a much less female representation in the underground music scene, would you say your experience making music has been different as a woman?
I’ve experienced making music definitely more different as a female. I don’t want people to know me as an artist because I was a girl, you know? I want people to realize there’s more to that with music. No matter who you are, art is art.
UU: And who are some female artists you feel aren’t getting as much exposure as you feel they should?
I think there are a lot of them. I personally love Kaiyko, she is super underrated. She is super talented, and I love her song writing.
UU: Your upcoming EP, THIS IS REVIVΛL has been in the works for a bit, is there any story behind this project?
I think the main theme of my upcoming project is introducing myself as an artist. I think THIS IS REVIVΛL is going to have a variety of music in it – I think it portrays my influences very well in one compilation. I like to experiment a lot. I’m proud to show this project to people. It’ll be a huge accomplishment of mine.
UU: Is there any particular message you want it to convey other than introducing the world to CELESTIA?
I just wanna say this to all of the other artists out there, that no matter how far you wanna go or not, remember to always enjoy it. I’m not this young forever, and I want to show people how much music I can make in this time I’m alive, whether it is to a crowd that is big or not. Just remember to have fun with it.
UU: Finally, is there any message you want to tell your fans or anything else you want people to know about you?
I hope my upcoming project showcases my artist personality to people and enjoy if they do. I’m really excited about where music lies for me for the upcoming year, and I plan to put out a lot, lot, lot more music in the near future as well.
THIS IS REVIVΛL debuts Febuary 10th, 2018. In the meantime, check out CELESTIA down below.