Abbey welcome to OLC! Your journey began with aggressive dance at age six— how did that have of charming audiences on stage first spark your love for efficiency, and what made you embark towards songwriting and music?
From the second I may stroll, I began transferring round the home and dancing. I used to be truly fairly shy speaking after I was youthful however not with dancing. Once I began aggressive dance at six years outdated, my persona began to come back alive. Aggressive dance taught me early what it meant to speak with out phrases, how power, emotion, and motion may fill a room and transfer individuals. I like that feeling of connection and making an viewers really feel one thing they didn’t anticipate. I at all times beloved writing and singing ever since I used to be small so during the last couple of years I made a decision I’d prefer to attempt writing songs and placing some music on the market. Dance provides me the boldness to specific myself, and songwriting provides me a voice. I began writing lyrics nearly as a personal outlet, and ultimately I found that music let me specific the identical emotion I like on stage. That’s what actually pulled me towards making music: the prospect to create one thing that resonates lengthy after the efficiency is over.
At simply 17, your single 17 looks like a daring snapshot of youth and self-discovery. What private tales or feelings impressed the lyrics, and the way does it replicate the place you’re in life proper now?
17” got here from this sense of being proper in the course of rising up, sufficiently old to grasp the world a bit, however nonetheless younger sufficient to not have the whole lot found out. A whole lot of the lyrics had been impressed by late night time conversations with mates, the strain of attempting to make the “proper” decisions, and the thrill of past love and crushes. Writing it felt like documenting a model of myself that’s continuously altering, and releasing it was like saying, “That is who I’m immediately, even when tomorrow I evolve once more.” The music is a mirrored image of the place I’m now, rising, curious, bold, a bit of uncertain at instances however attempting to belief my instincts and take care of the strain to select a path, to have a plan, to make selections that really feel everlasting after I’m nonetheless studying how you can drive, how you can love, how you can simply exist.
You’ve constructed a formidable basis in acting from a younger age. What’s one lesson from dance that also shapes the way you method creating and sharing your music immediately?
Dance taught me self-discipline earlier than anything. You possibly can’t shortcut hours within the studio, make excuses or surrender and the identical is true in music. That you must at all times present up, put within the work, and refine and work on issues again and again till they really feel proper. It additionally taught me how you can specific emotion bodily, which I feel helps me sing extra authentically. Once I’m making music, I’m at all times fascinated with the way it will make others really feel and how you can inform a narrative not simply by sound however by motion and power.
As a Burlington, Ontario native breaking into the pop scene, how has your hometown influenced your sound or the themes in your songs? Are there native spots or experiences that gasoline your creativity?
Burlington has this quiet, comforting small city power that I like. I’ve beloved rising up right here and being so near the water and Toronto and Niagara Falls. There’s one thing about being from a smaller place and even for those who dream large, you by no means actually lose that grounded feeling. There’s additionally a spot the place my mother and father grew up referred to as Haviland Bay that I like visiting and have spent a whole lot of time there with household. Its given me a few of my happiest recollections to this point and is the proper place to be after I have to calm down or be impressed.
Your Instagram (@abbeyanderson.music) showcases glimpses of you and your music creativity-what’s your go-to artistic ritual whenever you’re songwriting, and the way do you steadiness that with being a young person?
Truthfully, my artistic ritual is fairly easy, it often begins with me discovering a quiet space, largely my room and simply letting myself really feel no matter is happening in my head. I would head to the piano or strum on my guitar to get a really feel for notes and melody. I write down concepts or ideas in my Notes app, or in a pocket book even when it’s messy or makes zero sense at first. Balancing that with being a young person is extraordinarily busy however enjoyable. I dance largely 5 days per week, I nonetheless have a whole lot of homework to do, I get pleasure from hanging out with mates after I can. I feel my every single day life all turns into gasoline for the songs I write. Songwriting is a superb escape for me.
Transitioning from the physicality of dance to the vulnerability of melody should have been a giant shift. How do parts of motion or rhythm out of your dance background sneak into your pop manufacturing type?
Dance taught me rhythm earlier than I ever understood rhythm. Once I’m writing, I’m at all times fascinated with how a music strikes and feels not simply the way it sounds. Generally I’ll catch myself choreographing in my head whereas I’m listening to a beat. There’s additionally this sense of storytelling in dance, you’re expressing one thing with out phrases and that’s carried into my melodies. A whole lot of my vocal runs or rhythm decisions come from fascinated with how the emotion would look if it had been motion. It provides my music this mix of uncooked emotion and softness that undoubtedly comes from my dance roots.
With 17 out, what’s been probably the most shocking fan response to this point, and the way has placing your music out into the world modified your view of your self as an artist?
Essentially the most shocking response has been how many individuals of all ages actually loved this music. Some across the age of 17 and going by those self same emotions or others who keep in mind being 17 and what that felt like. I wrote the music considering it was tremendous private and particular to my expertise, so listening to that it’s resonating with individuals has been actually emotional and humbling for me.
Placing out music has made me notice I’m braver than I assumed. I used to fret about whether or not individuals would perceive me or decide me, however now I’m seeing that the extra trustworthy I’m, the extra individuals will join. It’s made me notice so long as I’m loving what I do, don’t let anybody discourage or take that away.
You’re carving your individual lane in a crowded pop landscape-who are some artists (previous or current) that encourage you, and what distinctive twist do you need to carry to the style?
I’m impressed by artists who mix vulnerability with catchy melodies and lyrics that make you’re feeling one thing. Artists like Gracie Abrams, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, are just some of the numerous.
The twist I need to carry is that this mixture of emotional storytelling that’s actual and uncooked the place so many individuals sooner or later of their life went by that or felt that method. I need my music to really feel intimate and private, like I’m telling your story.
Trying forward, what’s subsequent for Abbey Anderson? Any dream collaborations, tour plans, or new tracks you’re teasing that followers ought to preserve an eye fixed (or ear) out for?
There’s undoubtedly extra music coming, 17 was my third music I wrote and launched. I’ve three out to this point, all in 2025. Expensive Ex Lover snd Butterflies are the opposite two. I’m engaged on a pair new songs that dive into extra emotion and feeling and experiences which might be related to many individuals.
Dream-collaboration-wise, if I needed to choose one proper now it will be to work with Billie Eilish. I really feel like she understands emotional pop in a method that’s actually inspiring. And efficiency clever, sure I actually need to begin performing reside extra however proper now aggressive dance is extraordinarily busy with competitors season coming quickly however I’ll discover a technique to get my music on the market.
- E mail: neill@outloudculture.com
