Meeting the Feisty Side of Ber on New Single “Boys Who Kiss You In Their Car”
[UNPUBLISHED:] I’m so excited to get to chat with you today about your latest release “Boys Who Kiss You In Their Car.” I’ve been a fan of your passionate and raw lyricism for a while now, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear the unexpected explosive production of “Boys Who Kiss You In Their Car.” What inspired this sonic shift for you?
[BER:] Hi! Thank you for having me! And thank you for that, lyrics have always been my favorite part of the process, so it’s awesome to hear they resonate. Yes, BWKYITC is quite different, both sonically and, um, emotionally… I really wanted to show another side of me with this song, and it felt fitting for the topic. This song is a piece of satire really, and it was the second song I wrote with my friends in Now Now, who of course come from big indie roots, and it felt really right to dig into that and I’ve been waiting for the right song to make the jump into this indie pop/rock space. We laughed our way through the lyrics, and the grittier side to the production just felt really right, mostly because it was fun. It’s definitely inspired a new wave for me that I really love and resonate with, and I think as a newer artist it's been important to me to try new things and reach new audiences and show people that my first EP was just the start of what I hope to achieve and depict musically. But if I’m honest, BWKYITC is just fun, and Brad and Cacie and I had a lot of fun writing and producing it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] The music video for “Boys Who Kiss You In Their Car” is genuinely one of my favorite music videos of the year. I particularly really love the combination of film styles shown in the video and the artistry of what turns into a collage of the cars, people, and scenery that you find yourself stuck with. Can you tell me about the creative vision behind the video?
[BER:] Thank you! Oh wow. I’m honored. I have to give massive props to the team that worked on the video. The shoot was so fun and it was really great to work with a team of Minnesotans, specifically on this project. My friend Sawyer, who directed the video and pulled the team together, just understood the assignment really well when I played him the song and told him I wanted a video that felt “painfully MTV”.” The edit on it is one of my favorite parts too, I love the cut out and collage / DIY vibe of the video, and the car cut out in the bridge was actually one of the first ideas we had for the visuals. The edit was really the icing on the cake. It was so fun to shoot all of the individual scenes, we shot everything in the course of one day and mostly in my apartment, so it was fun to watch that become a movie set. The cast and crew were so fun to work with. It was a room full of friends and boys in indie bands in Minneapolis, which was almost too perfect considering the lyrical content.
[UNPUBLISHED:] The end of the video is absolutely hilarious as you take on the persona of some of the titular boys as they’re interviewed on their dating preferences. Are you pulling the characters from the actual boys who inspired this song?
[BER:] Yes. Absolutely. 100%.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Is the sound of “Boys Who Kiss You In Their Car” a sonic landscape you plan on exploring further in your upcoming releases?
[BER:] Oh for sure. I think you’ll find my next project to be a bit of a rollercoaster, which I’m really happy about. I’ve been writing a lot about the process of healing after a messy breakup, which we all know to be complicated. I think the songs reflect that sonically, and definitely land closer to the BWKYITC landscape.
[UNPUBLISHED:] This year has also seen your releases of the single “Superspreader” and the And I’m Still Thinking About That EP. If you had to give the music you’ve released this year a color to signify them, what would it be and why?
[BER:] The EP feels very yellow and the newer releases feel bright red. I’m not sure why. My EP was very contemplative, I was working through a lot of sad emotions, but the songs feel hopeful sonically. These new songs however feel very bold and loud and heavier, I feel like I’m being quite direct and not dancing around anything anymore. they’re not angry songs but they’re not not angry songs. Does that make sense? Haha
[UNPUBLISHED:] It makes complete sense! I’m also curious, how was the tour with Sigrid that you’re just now wrapping up?
[BER:] It was the best thing ever. I am a HUGE Sigrid fan. I have been since she released “Dynamite,” and truly she was one of my biggest influences when I first started writing songs in college. Sharing a stage with her was a dream, and getting to know her and her crew was so fun and special. Every show and audience were very different, but I’ll never not be grateful for the opportunity to perform for Sigrid fans, who were very inviting. I watched her set every single night and by the end of it Landon (my MD) and I knew every vocal run and guitar solo by heart and it was the most fun I’ve had all year.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you plan on touring more in the future?
[BER:] I truly hope so, touring is magical and I’m so glad to have live music back in our lives again. I’m a part of the generation of artists that started their career on the internet, and taking it off the internet and performing for real people in real venues is something I’ll never take for granted, I am so lucky to be able to do this. I have a great team and lots in store for the future, and touring is a big part of that.
[UNPUBLISHED:] As you’ve grown and changed throughout your career thus far, is there any advice you wish you had been given when you were first starting out?
[BER:] Haha, I feel like I am just starting out. I started releasing a year ago so this all still feels very new, but I’ve been writing and working with my management for years and its easy to forget that this isn’t just something that happened for me overnight. I have a degree in Popular Music, haha. I think if I could tell my younger self anything, I’d tell her to take herself less seriously. I spent years overthinking everything and getting in my own way, absolutely because I wasn’t ready yet, but the second I started just enjoying writing and making music for myself, the music felt right. People tell you that all the time, but I think it’s something you have to learn and figure out for yourself in your own time.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Is there anything else you’d like to add?
[BER:] Thank you for having me! I hope you like what’s coming next and I appreciate your kind words!
