Getting Personal With Gigi Perez
Photo by Deanie Chen
[UNPUBLISHED:] How are you doing?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I’ve been good! It’s been raining a lot here in sunny South Florida. It’s been storming bad but I like the rain. With Florida rain, there’s a sense of peace to it. I feel like I can run out into the street during this rain but I don’t think that’s a good idea.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What does a perfect Sunday look like for you?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I think sleep in a little bit since it’s Sunday. Sleeping in means different things to different people but sleeping in for me means like 11:30 am. From there, I’ll take my dogs outside and have breakfast. I’ll feed the dogs and go to the gym or tennis or wiffle ball. I played wiffle ball with my family yesterday which was weird because we are not a sports family but some sort of ball activity. Then for lunch, I really like this place called Field Of Greens, I think they have the most perfect salads in the world. I’ll watch a TV show and recently I’ve been into South Park. I have a love-hate with the show because the characters are dumb but it’s hard to stop watching. It’s pretty simple for the most part and I like being laid back.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What’s something you’ve been loving recently? It can be anything
[GIGI PEREZ:] My water bottle. I’m obsessed with this water bottle. It’s Indigo De Souza’s merch. I always talk about her and if she ever saw any of my interviews she’s think I’m a stalker because of how much I love her. I got the water bottle at SXSW where she was playing. I saw they were selling it and I fell in love with this water bottle because the designs are really cool. What it says on it is even crazier, it says “Let the promise of death encourage the life lived in truth.” Her new album All of This Will End is coming out the same day as my EP, which I will be listening to on the release day. Probably more than mine but I’m really excited for it because I got to see a little sneak peek of the album. It’s super existential and I look up to her a lot. I’ve been drinking so much water recently because of that.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What is something you hate?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I feel like we live in a society that is judgemental and whether you’re being perceptive, I feel like there’s always a layer of judgment to everything we do. I think for the new year, I didn’t want to carry this feeling of judgment even towards myself but I can give you something I hate I’m just trying to be better at it and not hate. I hate Andrew Tate and podcast men. Take the microphone away, please. To follow that up, I love Drew Afulo, she’s so beautiful and she keeps the Andrew Tate’s away.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Have you been watching or reading anything good recently?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I just started watching Succession. It really got me and the theme song is so catchy. I don’t really watch shows too much either, getting into South Park was a product of my roommates always having it on or else I wouldn’t have ever had it on. I’ll open up the apps to watch shows and I’ll just sit there for like thirty minutes looking and I never decide. I recently got back into Search Party. I love that show and Kate Berlant and John Early are so funny. I just watched Kate Berlant’s special Cinnamon In The Wind was so hilarious. Her and John Early are my obsession right now.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Can you tell me some of your favorite artists?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I mentioned earlier but Indigo De Souza. I’m a huge Alex G fan but I feel like you could find that anywhere. Ariana Grande is also one of my all-time favorites. I was so obsessed with her when I was twelve She consumed my entire world and I was like “I’m not gay, I just want her to babysit me.” I also feel like I should get some credit for her and I’m kidding but I was twelve years old and I ran around my math class in middle school telling everyone that she was going to be the biggest pop star in the world. I was so obsessed with her career arc and I knew it in my soul that the world had no idea what was about to happen to them. Even before she had a song out, I was there. I would watch all the Youtube videos of her doing impressions and the real Ariana Grande fans remember those. I totally just knew she was going to be a star and I should have been her A&R. I should have signed her but it’s okay. Jeff Buckley is also another favorite. I found a lot of my favorite artists at nineteen or twenty. Nineteen was a big year of finding music I really connected to. Lady Gaga is another very big one, I’m just so inspired by her passion and her message.
[UNPUBLISHED:] How do you find new music?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I think a lot of it is my friends showing me new music. Pandora has the bops. It’s really good at discovering new music. I find it a lot at restaurants. I was at a rock climbing gym in Brooklyn and it’s like a really gay rock climbing gym, like it’s all gay people. So I heard this really insane song and you could just see all the lesbians being like “What song is this?” and we found it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have any tips for first-time rock climbers?
[GIGI PEREZ:] It’s so scary. I think there are two types of people in the world. People who could jump off thirty feet like no big deal and people that can’t. I am the one who can’t. It’s so interesting because it’s a very normal thing to not feel safe to jump off something after you climb it even though you might be attached to something. Don’t judge yourself if it’s difficult for you and if it’s fun and easy then that’s incredible. It’s a good way to get over barriers. Physically, it’s hard on you the next day and I thought it was more mental than it was going to be.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What’s your coffee order?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I’m a Starbucks girl. I love the iced caramel latte.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Snacks you’ve been loving?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I got this Chobani lemon yogurt recently and I’ve been loving it. I love popcorn, especially the Boom Chicka Pop.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What’s your favorite movie?
[GIGI PEREZ:] That’s hard for me to answer. My two initial thoughts were Fifty First Dates and literally any Adam Sandler movie from the 2000s. I grew up on those and I used to watch that one with my older sister a lot. I also love Just Friends and it’s a Christmas comedy from the early 2000s as well. Ryan Reynolds in Just Friends is so funny in it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] When was the last time you lied? What did you lie about?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I don’t really lie. Like it can happen sometimes but not often. This sounds terrible but it had to be to my mom or something. I don’t remember but I feel like she wanted me to do something and I just wanted to get out of it. They were probably like telling me to come downstairs and I told them I was working on something when I wasn't because I just didn't want to go downstairs.
[UNPUBLISHED:] When was the last time you cried?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I definitely cried this week, I just don’t remember why.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Has there ever been a body of work that has made you emotional?
[GIGI PEREZ:] Alex G’s last album God Save The Animals, it’s just so brilliant. I don’t understand what he means but I just attach my own interpretation to it especially when it comes to religion and God. I grew up in a really Christian upbringing and it messed me up but I love taking it back and speaking about religion when its not in the way of a worship service. I love music that talks about God but it’s not Christian music.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have any celebrity crushes?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I was obsessed with Hilary Duff and she was my first celebrity crush. I was like five years old and I loved Lizzy McGuire. Just putting this out there but that one magazine cover that she did, bless her soul. I also feel like Liz Gillies is a huge celebrity crush.. call me. And Aubrey Plaza. I feel like those are my girls, we can leave it there.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Can you tell me a hot take?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I think the “Dance Monkey” song is a great song.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Your EP, How To Catch A Falling Knife is officially out, what are you most excited about in regards to that release?
[GIGI PEREZ:] I’m so excited for it to be out. I wrote it back in 2020 so it’s been almost three years of having lived the experience. I think I’ve changed so much. When I wrote it and I knew I wanted to put it out, I was really nervous and I think the universe gave me time to sit with it to release that the story will be for people who need it. It’s for those who are going through heartbreak and betrayal. I’m releasing this as someone who has let go of it and I’m feeling very proud of myself that this is the final send off of this time in my life. I’m most excited for the connection that is being built between people through this because it was a hard thing to go through. When I look at myself in the mirror, I feel like I accomplished and got through something really hard and I want to be able to share that with other people that you can get through those kinds of things. Don’t get me wrong, the songs still make me sad and I’ll be singing this for a while. I absolutely love the project and I love my collaborators. That’s what’s so beautiful about music and sitting down with people to create a body of work is that I have so many memories of working with the people I made it with. Those memories will always be there and they’ll be the healing moments that will propel you to want to keep doing it. It’s exciting that this is my first project and I’ve dreamt of doing something like this since I was fifteen.
