Mistine on the Release of Her Dreamy and Nostalgic New Single “GardenState”
We come across many different forms of love in our life and most of the time, we are looking for something that feels familiar or for someone that feels like home. Inspired by the warmth and dreaminess of this kind of love, New Jersey born artist Mistine’s latest single dons the nickname and nostalgia of her hometown, “GardenState.” Released on June 15th, “GardenState” embodies the element of safety we look for in our relationships and the phenomena of how we can feel like we’ve “known someone our whole life.” With Mistine’s whimsical vocals and the atmospheric instrumentals of the single, you are left in a cinematic state upon listening. In a conversation with Unpublished Magazine, Mistine discussed this new era of music for her, reflecting on her past year of creative endeavors, touring, and blissful growth as an artist.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How has 2023 treated you so far?
[MISTINE]: 2023 is amazing. I think it's been the most content I've ever felt, which is fascinating to me. I'm really happy with the music I'm making for this chapter and I feel like I have a much clearer vision on visuals and where I want my music to go. I'm working on getting more involved in short films and knowing my direction for my own music. I've loved touring with the artists that I've worked with. I worked with Biig Piig and Meg Smith and Mckenna Grace, doing a bunch of shows with them and video shoots. I've weirdly done a lot of music video shoots, which has been so fun. I love seeing that part of the world of entertainment as well because I've done some before but not as many. I've also been just happy and really happy with my friends and who's in my life right now. I met a really lovely human that I've been dating for a few months and that's just great. I didn't know that I would find that especially at this point in my life. So, I feel really lucky and just excited for everything else that's gonna happen this year and seeing kind of where the universe takes me next.
[UNPUBLISHED]: That’s so good to hear. It’s so awesome when you get to a point where you’re really content.
[MISTINE]: I feel the past two or three years have just been absolute chaos. So much has changed and things went wrong in my mind, like things happened that I didn't want. And this year hit and I just feel like there was so much direction and calmness. It's nice. It's weird. I'm like, "wow, I'm happy." I've always been really happy but I feel so content right now. It's amazing.
[UNPUBLISHED]: For someone who hasn’t listened to your music before, how would you describe your sound?
[MISTINE]: I think there's a lot of nostalgia in my sound, just nostalgic rom-com energy. I really want it to feel like you're just diving into a pool of nostalgia with lots of sparkles. And something you want to drive to at night when you're coming home from a really late night like a beach trip with the windows down and you’re cold and you’re bundled up with your friends.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I love the specific thought of a night after a beach trip. Like you can’t wait to get home and grab food with your friends after having a day. It’s so fun.
[MISTINE]: It is. You like get fast food on the way back, then you make tea and your nose is still kind of cold because you had the windows down in the car. I feel like songs are inspired by chance meetings and longing for something familiar. And that's kind of where I'm at in my writing.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your new single “GardenState?”
[MISTINE]: Well one, it's Garden State, New Jersey, my hometown. I absolutely love New Jersey. The song is mainly about longing for a familiar type of love. The idea of falling in love with your childhood crush to me sounded like something I had wanted because they'd been in my life for so long. So, it's really familiar and feels really safe. Not that that had happened to me. But, when I was just kind of wanting to find that, it seemed like the perfect thing to fall in love with someone you've known forever. But, I really do think that just encompasses finding someone that makes you feel safe and comfortable like you've known them for a long time. That would be someone from your hometown, in theory, or just someone you meet that makes you feel like that. So, that was the inspiration, wanting to find that. Like someone that feels like a cup of tea and very cozy.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Can you tell me about your creative process for this song?
[MISTINE]: Yeah, this one was a new method for me and my writing partner at the time. We wrote it a while ago actually and just kind of put it in the books because it sounded very different than anything I had made before. So, I wasn't sure how it would fit in. Then over time it became one of our favorites. And everyone I had shown it to was like "Oh, I love this one." Which is why it's coming out now. But, basically we made the track and then auto tuned. Like we just sang random things in auto tune for like a half hour, just picked and choosed the melodies we really liked and then tried to interpret what we were hearing. Like what gibberish we were saying and then brought it into this concept. And here we are.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Does the title of the song have anything to do with the movie Garden State?
[MISTINE]: So, when we were writing it, I actually asked to put on the movie in the background because I was like “I want this song to feel like it could fit in the Zach Braff movie.” It's one of my favorite movies and my dream is literally to get my songs in movies like that. They're really weird and interesting movies, but also so simple. The concept is just wanting to find someone you connect with that makes you feel at home.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Do you have a favorite lyric or instrumental part from “GardenState?”
[MISTINE]: I think my favorite lyric is "Come inside and I'll heat some water up on the stove." It's one, very me. But, it also encompasses a lot of things where you just want to bring someone into your life and make them something very simple and welcoming.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Your music deals a lot with nostalgia. What are some things that make you nostalgic?
[MISTINE]: I think old friendships and just moments in time where you feel like you are really connected with someone. There's no way you can always be that way with someone really because everyone's changing so much, especially at this age. I think I'm just nostalgic for those moments with people I've really cared about in the past and hoping they're doing well now.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Do you have any favorite memories from touring this past year?
[MISTINE]: I think my funniest memory is with Biig Piig. We did a festival in San Diego and then that night we were flying to Florida. We took the red eye and landed in Florida in the morning and then still had to drive three hours to the festival. We were all so tired because we just didn't sleep very much on the plane. Then in the van, there were like three rows in the back and all of us were completely laying down sleeping the entire time. And I just thought it was so funny because when I did wake up towards the end I was like “aw this is adorable.” We were all just so cuddled up in our sweatshirts, sleeping in the van. It was just so cute.
[UNPUBLISHED]: The last time you had talked with Unpublished you had just released your song “Temporary Feeling.” Now that this song has been out for about a year, how are you feeling?
[MISTINE]: It’s crazy. That whole Fade EP was the first project I had ever made as an artist and I think it meant so much to me because it just marked the beginning of a new part of my life that I get to express myself in. And it's been really fun to watch it still grow and have people listen to it and post about it. I absolutely love those songs and I'm glad that other people felt connected to it and I'm excited for this new chapter and to see how it translates in different ways. So, it's been really fun. I'm very proud of it. It's cool to have music out there to show people this is part of me, this is part of who I am.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What have you learned as an artist in the past year?
[MISTINE]: I think I've just learned that you need to not be so hard on yourself all the time. I think with the first EP, I put so much pressure on myself to do promo and get it out there and make videos every day. And I feel like I've come to the realization that while that’s really helpful for publicity, I wasn't happy with everything at the time and it was really exhausting when I wasn't creating as much or creating what I wanted. So, I'm just putting out things now that I really, really love and really feel like represent it in every way and myself. So, I've just been kind of accepting the mess a bit, letting it just be how it is and not stressing too much about what it looks like or if people like it or not. I like it and that's what matters.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What have you been listening to lately? What’s been inspiring you?
[MISTINE]: Actually, this past week, I don't know what's gotten into me. But, I was talking to someone about the first albums we bought. And I was like the first album I bought as a CD was the Aly & AJ Into The Rush album. I remember going to CVS and buying that CD. Then like a few days ago, I was like “I missed this” and I started listening to it again. Then I was listening to Hillary Duff again. They’re so good. Half of the songs of that time period, like the early 2000s, they make me smile. So, I kind of just have been listening to that every once in a while now. It's been fun throwing it back. I still know all the words. Also my best friend Bella and I had a movie night and watched the Lizzie McGuire movie last week. And it holds up. I mean it sounds silly to just miss that. But, it feels good to rewatch that stuff and listen to it again. It brings out this very innocent, childlike part of who we are, it just makes you smile. There's no ties to it. It’s good music.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What can people expect for the future? What are you most excited about?
[MISTINE]: I'm excited to do more. Obviously, more music is coming out. And also along with this single, we're putting out an interview documentary series. We went around two parks and just interviewed random couples and asked how they met each other and why they fell in love. And I just remember those days we met so many wonderful people. And I think sharing their stories is gonna be really exciting because everyone has a different story, but they all feel the same inside to me. They all just make me happy. And so yeah, people can expect to see that stuff and more music videos and just a new time in my life to experience new feelings and more shows. And a new merch line is coming out.
