We’ve been anxiously awaiting this interview release!! We’re proud to have Atlantic Records own, Josie Dunne joining our 2020 On The Rise roster!! With her brand new single “Lost” out today, we hope you fall in love with her as much as we have! Check out our interview below!
Credit: Bree Fish
So our first question is for readers who aren’t familiar with your music, can you share with us how you began your musical career?
I started off, I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago with a really big creative family,
all massively different in the arts. And to me, it just happened to be music and I fell in love with performing really first and I would learn covers and play at any event I could in around Chicago! I cold-called every bar, you know, event planner, anybody I knew and said I’ll play music for you. And it was kind of from there that I started songwriting and traveling down to Nashville and that was kind of where it all began. But I would say that my base of music was just listening to it with my family and then covering the song that I would listen to, And like any, any bar birthday party, graduation party, that would let me in.
We’re really excited about your new song “Lost”! Can you share with us what your creative process looked like for that?
Yeah, that song was really different writing that song than any other song I’ve ever written. It was before like the US started kind of going downhill and their quarantine was just kind of beginning in certain States. I was writing pretty much every day with my friend Connor, who I wrote my last single with, and he’s a really good friend of mine he’s probably my number one collaborator. And so we were writing and a lot of times we’ll just start with some ideas and move on from them. we’ll just spend an hour building a track and starting getting some melodies for different songs and then we’ll just be bored of it and move on. So we started lost and got kind of a personality and then moved on from it. And weeks later when it was quarantine, I was sitting in my room and it was kind of getting to be crunch time where we had to pick a six-song for the EP, but I wasn’t sure of any of the options that we had.
I didn’t feel super strongly it was looking like even I might have to cut an outside song,, which is like a song written by other people, which is fine. But being a writer is so much a part of my identity that I didn’t really want to do that. Yeah, it would’ve felt like taking the easy way out for me. I think like the kind of on that somebody else had written and I didn’t feel like I would be able to attach to it the same level of a song that I’ve written. And so I was kind of, it was getting to be the final hour where we were going to have to make a decision and the team was really split about it. And so I woke up on Easter morning and it was raining and I just was in a weird mood, you know, quirky. I just woke up on that day and looked outside, it’s pouring rain and I’m like, Oh my gosh, it’s raining at Easter. This is officially the worst! And, so the rest of the song kind of fell out from there. Just me being in my bedroom and writing in like a notebook and just kind of like spilling my feelings and, um, that’s how the song was born. And so then the rest of it was just the challenge of trying to figure it out, how to get it done as quickly as we could and like without being in contact with other people.
When writing songs, where do you usually find your inspiration, and do you have a specific method of writing?
It’s different every time. I think the way that I usually do it is I’ll start with, most of the time I’m collaborating with other people. So I’ll go and meet them at a studio or whatever, or like now given the times go send, I’ll get set track or I can, now I’m working on being able to still attract some myself, but a lot of times we’ll cut with music. So I get like a drum loop or like a guitar with or something, that kind of music that can be kind of the base of everything. And then on top of that, I’ll just babble like melodies on top of it that no lyrics at all. It’ll just be random gibberish kind of. And then from there, once we get melodies that we think are really cool, we’ll attach lyrics, but we’re always the hardest type. How do I take my time? Because to me, it’s the most important part of the song is making sure that the way is cool. It’s something that you believe in and that you want to stay and you know, tell the story.
Who are your musical influences and how have their sounds and styles blended into your own personal work?
My favorite music of all time, the music I really was raised on was Motown and R&B, soul, and then I became a huge Stevie Wonder fan. And, so I would say my main musical influences are artists that come from that, that era of time, like Ray Charles, Etta James, Stevie for sure. And these people that just like felt a hundred percent what they say, and told the story too, like Stevie’s lyrics are so meaningful. Oh my gosh, you know, you really believe what he’s saying. And so I think that that was, had been like, probably the biggest influence on my music is making sure that it is always telling the story that’s like true to what I want to say. And also that it has a little bit of that organic feel always in the background as music.
Would you say you’ve grown as a musician since you first released your very first song?
Oh my gosh. So much. Holy cow, So much. I think that’s what this EP really has taught me is we made this EP late teens, early twenties where I’ve been experiencing writing the songs and then immediately coming out with them because we’re releasing the whole, we’ve released it single by single. And so I think what I’ve realized as I’ve gotten to this last song is looking back, listening down to the whole thing, I can hear all of the growth. I can hear, Oh, I really pushed myself to get that, that lyric in the second verse. Or Oh, I really like all of the ways that I thought I was growing along the way. And because it’s like a timeline, listening to It chronologically as how it was written and how it was experienced. I think that’s been the coolest part of the EP is realizing that in real life, in my late teens, early twenties, I kind of realized I’m never going to stop growing. I’ve just been making it up as I go. I just keep continuing to make it up as I go, cause that’s how everything has been in my life up to this point, as a human being, and in music, it’s like you just learn a little bit along the way and every, every new song that comes out or every new experience you have. you get a little bit smarter, a little bit better and a little bit closer to your most authentic version of yourself. The music has got closer and closer to who I am, but also just as a person it’s like, Oh my gosh, I’ve grown so much to you as like a human being.
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What would you say the most monumental moment of your career as an artist has been so far? Just personally for you, what do you feel has resonated with you most in your career?
Ooh, there’ve been so many little moments and it’s what’s funny. I think a lot of times the moments that have been like super impactful to me, like not the, not the moments you would think of, you know, typically. The first thing that comes to mind was that I think I’ve done now four different times. I’ve sung the Anthem for the Chicago Cubs. Like the first time, I did that it was at the Crosstown classic, which is from Chicago and it was like the biggest day of the summer and it’s the Cubs versus the white socks. So it’s like the whole city kind of rides together and watches the game. I’m a die-hard Cubs fan, that guy. So that moment, it wasn’t like, it was like I was playing my own song or anything, but just getting to stand on the field and sing the national Anthem was something that I had dreamed, especially to Crosstown classic. It was something I had dreamed of for my whole entire life. I remember coming off the field like crying, standing with my family, and just being like, Oh my gosh, I’ve got it, cause to me that was the biggest, it was like the super bowl or something.
Also, my headlining tour! This last year was a huge dream come true. And I’ve, I’ve spent a lot of time like over the last year and a half opening up for artists all over the country. And so to get to do my own tour was a really big deal to me. And, um, that was also really, really like a moment that I’ll never forget.
What do you miss most about touring? Getting to see your fans?
yeah, it’s, it’s terrible. I had a headline tour plan that has gotten postponed which is a huge bummer…it’s sad for me because I miss really connecting with fans! There are so many ways online to keep connected with people and I’m trying to do my best to really stay involved with everybody. Like for example, right now I’m actually in the middle of writing out tons of letters! I did the thing online where I said, I miss you guys, I want to send you a letter in the mail. And so everybody that signs up signed up got a letter. So I’m in the middle of writing like a thousand cards to people, Just little postcards in the mail! But yeah, I think there’s a lot of ways to still stay connected, which is super important. I think that the main tragedy of this is seeing all of the people who depended on it, which is a lot of my friends and family, not really family, but a lot of my friends, but that feels like family has had to move back home or really figure out other ways to make money cause they’re kind of in a hard place right now.
Do you have any resources or anything like that you could share with us that we could send that to our readers to help people that you know in music and touring?
Oh my gosh. Yeah, there’s this, there’s this charity that I’ve done a couple of different streams that have benefited different charities. One that I really liked was called Sweet Relief!
Do you have any advice for artists who were feeling lost or unproductive during quarantine? How are you personally handling it?
My advice for people, which is how I’m handling it, I’m trying to get on as much of a schedule as I can and keep my brain busy as much as I can. Reading, including drawing, painting, writing, whatever I can do to stay, to stay creative, to keep my brain moving. I think creativity and especially songwriting, I know for sure for me it’s such a muscle and the more you do it, the better you’ll get. So my advice for aspiring artists or writers would be writing your butt off. write a million songs and use this time to get better at the things that you might not be good at. Like for me right now, I would love to learn production and learn how to like trap my own vocals and build a track and to be able to like hopefully one day release a song that I’ve made entirely by myself. So I’m using the time and learn pro tools, which is a software that helps you be able to record.
Don’t beat yourself up. I think a lot of people are beating themselves up because they’re not being productive. And that’s not, not being productive. Do you need time to just chill? That’s also a great take it you’re given, we’re given this pretty incredible opportunity to do what we want it, you know, I mean, given that you’re healthy, that you have financially stable, all of these things that I feel really lucky that right now I am, you have this opportunity to just chill if you want to.
Where do you see yourself musically in the next five years? And if there’s anything that you could change or tell yourself as a younger musician to do as you grow older, what would it be?
I think in the next five years my goal is to be making music. That’s even more, like I said, even more authentic, even more, myself. I think that “Lost” is probably one of the most honest songs I’ve ever released. Like if I thought of a line, I’d really sit with it and be like, do I, is this actually how I feel right now? If not, it’s not good, It’s not a good enough line. And I think that that mentality Is what I want to apply to all music for me moving forward. Otherwise, I don’t want to, you know, I don’t want to do it. And so hopefully in the next five years, um, to have everything I do be at that level where I’m like as proud of it.
I would tell my younger self not to stress out so much. I’d be like, calm down you need to chill. I’ve realized so much in these last couple of months that the world is just going to unfold as it’s going to unfold. This is how I felt when writing, But also I think I didn’t need to stress out as much about every little piece of it because the right song like lost the song that’s right is going to come when it’s going to come and it’s not like, you know, as much as I want for as long as I tried to write that song, there was no of those can write it until the last moment. I think that that’s a really great lesson that I’ve learned is it’s okay, you know, stuff’s not going the way that you thought it was. It’s all right. It’s going to work out and you’re going to end up in a better spot.
Credit: Bree Fish
Connect with Josie: Instagram, Twitter, Website, & Spotify
