paintings & art direction by Ravenna
This is not your typical artist interview. Over the past month, Ravenna Golden and I have spoken several times about a wide collection of topics ranging from mental health to video production. The recording artist from Minnesota, currently residing in LA, is one of the most rare and dedicated individuals I’ve found in music to date. Ravenna has allowed me to ask the tough questions, beyond what I’d normally inquire, because of her willingness to talk about her experiences being hospitalized, being a non-binary female artist, and being able to release content with little to no budget.
As King Ravy releases a single to commemorate her debut album, released 3 years ago today, take a second to read about her experiences in the music industry thus far and how she believes dedicating her life to being a musician has impacted her self image and productivity. Riddled with advice and pure introspection, the value in her authenticity is unmatched.
So you’re releasing a song on the 3rd anniversary of your album Girl Gone Wild?
The track is one that I did during a session for a project that hasn’t been released yet, but it’s in the works. I did it in one take almost completely off the top of my head. The song is about trying to reach out to someone who doesn’t want what you want, trying to move on, and you can’t. I was doing a lot of drugs at the time and it basically sums up all of the pain that was caused by the aftermath of releasing Girl Gone Wild.
At the time you released your debut album, did you see yourself continuing to make music three years later?
Definitely. There was just a moment when I was like, “I’m gonna be a pop star” and that this is what I’m doing for the rest of my life and this is it for me, music is it. I thought to myself that you know, maybe I’ll get a real job, but a backup plan sounded like a joke. At the bottom of my heart since I started I’ve known this is what I’m doing with my life.
Are you satisfied with where you are with music has gotten thus far?
Satisfaction as a concept is really confusing. I’ve been thinking a lot about looking at my music and my experiences and trying to see them through an objective lens. I had been really dissatisfied on an emotional level but on paper I was satisfied. I was releasing music but I was losing that belief in myself and just going through the motions. I’m just not the person to give up, ever, I refuse.
Does the person you are now feel different than that person?
I’m a very instinctive person, I’ve always known the who/what/why I am. My body image is definitely different, growing up struggling with eating disorders and being in the spotlight… I don’t know I guess it didn’t affect me as negatively as I thought it would. The only thing that’s frustrating is feeling like I’m on display. My first couple months in LA it started to get to me, right before I had a revelation that sorta switched up the gears, I would go on the gram and think “my posts aren’t even put together enough to get 200 likes,” and that’s what I was thinking like. And that’s not real, *laughs* its fucking dumb.
How have you balanced expressing yourself authentically online without compromising your privacy?
Those midwest artists who have their whole family on their feed, it’s just weird to try to be a pop star which is almost interchangeable with sex symbol these days, and even if you’re not mainstream you’re still an image. Sometimes you just don’t want your hometown to see that image. I don’t know if I have any advice about this yet I’m still trying. I’m very very team ‘be whoever the fuck you want’ just know your environment. I’m trying to strike a balance between who I am and who I want to be in terms of sexuality and in terms of privacy.
How do you feel about the way women are treated in the music industry in general, especially outside mainstream music?
I feel like my personality is androgynous. I often don’t think of myself as a woman. It’s harder for me to speak to being a woman in the industry when that’s definitely how I present myself but not always how I feel. Regardless its so scary to even speak on this because I know how many men would get annoyed but this is why I’ve become this strong and aggressive person in this quest to be taken seriously. Especially when it comes to mental health, it’s so easy to get written off as crazy or invalid on a subconscious level by other people. It’s not always conscious or even on purpose but it’s so easy to get forgotten about. There are so many men in pop music, I don’t have as many female artist friends as I would like, and I don’t have as many female collaborators. Especially in production, someones daughter is one of the only female producers I know right now and she’s fucking amazing. It makes me sad they’re so few and far between. It’s frustrating as hell.
As someone who’s always had a weird urge to shave my head, like sometimes I swear I’ll wake up and decide today’s the day and just do it, was that what lead to your decision or did something in your life drive you to do it?
Oh no, good story actually. I had a really wild ride that year, it was a level of confidence and a “I can do whatever I want” sort of feeling. So one night I just went into the bathroom and cut my hair [shaved side], and a few days later I thought “maybe I should get this taken care of”, I went in to Great Clips and the lady ended up completely misunderstanding, shaved my head right down the middle, and it was summer and I was living in Webster, population 23,000, everyone was super judge-y/old school/midwest, I ended up telling her to just shave it all off and it was horrible. It was really traumatizing honestly, but that being said I’m really glad that it happened. The second time that I did it, which was last year, it was like a “today’s the day” moment. My hair had gotten really long, I knew time was going to change it, it just took a lot of getting used to.
Who are you working closest with at this point?
The rundown of the squad, formed about the same time as Girl Gone Wild debuted, they all came to visit me at art school in Kansas City when I did an album release party. A lot of people make music but a few were just friends, there’s Pritty, Lewis Grant, Dylan Brady, Kevin Bedford, and Calvin Lewis to name a few. This group of people that I work with is a huge part of who I am as an artist because not everyone has that support system or a music identity that consists of other people. I’m an independent recording artist that has this amazing support and that’s rare and I want to see all of us expand on it. I think we will.
It’s cool to see them be a part of your content from time to time, like with the 7th Grade video!
7th grade had no actual budget. I was like alright how can I do this working a part time job where I don’t get paid enough and I can’t find another job because I’m trying to do music outside of work. So I’m basically broke as shit living in south central trying to figure out what the hell is going on while my friends are in Hollywood having a blast. I decided to I needed to have a pool party and I had just met cozyboy who literally lived down the street and he was so crucial to helping us make that happen at his place. Making friends in LA and not giving up is what allowed it to happen for sure.
You mentioned having an interest in writing for other artists, is this something you see yourself doing in the near future?
Yeah. Right now I’m kind of looking into the process for that and kind of taking next steps and making that happen. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to a lot because I think that as an artist I do a good job of having several different sounds but having it all still sound like me. So I would be really interested in trying to see how me telling someone else’s story would go, because that’s how I would do it. Or like trying to be someone else for a song.
As far as dabbling in other things goes, you’ve directed the 7th Grade Video, you directed AND edited Bryan’s Eye to Eye Video, do you see yourself doing more video going forward?
Oh hell yeah, one of my best friends in college, we did everything together in art school, and like we’re planning a video, I’m really excited about that. Bryan and I have something else coming up too. I proposed an idea to him last night, I’m trying to do a bunch of video shit because when i’m at home, if I don’t have a beat I think is great enough to record on, it’s different because I can write a song at home, and I can work on visuals at home. So that’s what I’m doing right now.
Have you ever done any production, or do you see yourself getting into producing at any point?
At some point it’s something that I want to explore, but I’m trying to hone in on a lot of other things at this point, in a way that I haven’t been, but I’ve done some experimental stuff, I have a secret side project of stuff that I’ve put out but it’s like absolute shit because I can’t mix and I know how a mix is supposed to sound and I know that it’s not it, the worst part is that I fucking love them because they’re mine but *laughs* I know they’re not that good.
If you haven’t heard Girl Gone Wild listening to it will surely contribute to the weight of this release, however regardless I highly recommend giving this single a listen and keeping an eye out for more in the coming weeks. Ravenna has a lot on her plate and all of it is worth our attention.