Elinor Kry / via publicist
Lately, Wisp has been feeling extra confident. The 21-year-old shoegazer says she can tell by her stage banter with fans, even if her improv skills leave something to be desired.
“Sometimes I'll talk about stuff that's TMI,” she laughs on a July 16 video call from her Los Angeles apartment. “But I think that it's actually a good sign because I feel comfortable talking to them. “It just feels so lighthearted. There are no stakes, and I can treat the stage as my own little personal show, no matter how big the audience is.”
Born Natalie Lu, the San Francisco-raised guitarist and singer went TikTok viral with her first single, “Your face,” while attending SF State as a computer science student. Her first show came soon after: a battle of the bands at The Depot, a local venue. “It was terrible,” she recalls, noting that neither she nor her guitarist were particularly skilled at the time. “I was playing bass at that show and singing, and I was playing all the wrong notes.”
Things have changed a lot since then. “It was definitely a learning curve on the first headlining tour. And already then, that was a big feat for me," says Wisp. “But right now I'm at a point in my career where I just feel so confident on stage. And I know that there's so much room to grow, but I really like where I'm at right now.”
She isn’t the only one: The FADER caught Wisp rocking out at Governor’s Ball earlier this summer, and she was just announced as an addition to Lollapalooza. More critically, she’ll be opening for beabadoobee’s upcoming Powerline Tour this fall. It’s a full circle moment for Wisp, who cites bea as an inspiration, and an opportunity to bring her 2025 album If Not Winter to a wider audience.
The FADER talked to Wisp about getting inspired by Sappho and beabadoobee, performing live, and the follow-up to If Not Winter.
Elinor Kry / via publicist
The FADER: What did you listen to growing up?
Wisp: It changed a bunch growing up just because in middle school I was really weird and still trying to find myself and my style. So I was listening to a lot of alternative pop music. I was really big into Twenty One Pilots, Panic! At The Disco, Melanie Martinez, Marina and the Diamonds. That was my shit in middle school, and it definitely made me more of a loser. People really loved to bully me for listening to that kind of music.
Then when I got into high school, I had my whole '70s phase. I was listening to old rock music. I remember wearing turtlenecks and flared pants too, and I thought I was the coolest person ever. But that gradually turned into me listening to dream pop and shoegaze around my junior year of high school, too.
Can you tell us about getting the call for the beabadoobee tour?
It was about the end of last year, and I remember it wasn't official yet, so I was a bit nervous. But then when they told me that we got it, I was so relieved. Now I'm just really excited because her and the band are so sweet. I feel like all of us will really have the most fun on tour. We're going to go out and she's a great friend to have around, too.
I know you're a bea fan. When did you first encounter her music?
I discovered her music when I was 16 during the pandemic. This was the time where everyone was obsessed with being an indie girl. I loved Clairo and Rex Orange County and Boy Pablo, but Bea was the main person I would listen to and took inspiration from, because having someone that represented the Asian community making rock music really meant something to me. I just remember wanting to pick up the guitar more because of her, and I owe a lot to her for why I started songwriting.
The title of your last album If Not Winter comes from Sappho. Can you talk about why that felt resonant?
Um... I just like, love lesbians. [Laughs] And I think that Sappho is so sick. I would read [her poetry] and it'd be like two words – "bittersweet love" – and I would read it and be like, "Damn, this shit is so deep. I love this girl so much." Her being able to write poetry with such little words, but convey such a strong message, was really heartfelt to me because I feel like I was going through a lot at that time, and I didn't know necessarily how to convey what I felt to my friends or my family. It was easy for me to choke up on my words when I was talking about my relationships or my mental health.
But I realized that sometimes it's more simple than it seems, and being able to write more straightforward lyrics that still resonate with me to this day was very therapeutic. I found that I didn't need to go through all these crazy metaphors, or to write the most [profound] thing to get my message across. All I needed to be was honest with myself, and I feel like Sappho is always honest in her writing.
I remember when we spoke at Gov Ball, you mentioned you like playing the heavier stuff live more than the lighter stuff. When you are performing your lighter stuff, how do you make that engaging, for the audience or for yourself?
When I write music, at least for this next album, I am definitely thinking more about how it'll translate into a live setting, just because like you mentioned, I do love playing the heavier songs. But I also want it to feel very big in a small space, where the song isn't doing too much. I don't want to overcomplicate my music, but I want it to speak for itself. It sounds like a band is playing the songs, like a four-piece—all you can hear is drums, bass, two guitars, and my vocals—and that's enough to make someone feel something.
I'm just focusing on what makes me feel the most right now, because if I don't really resonate with the person that I wrote that song with about or the feeling that that song was meant to convey anymore, then I'm playing it on stage and I'm like, "Oh, I'm fucking bored right now. Let's move on to a cool, fun, heavy song." But this next album, I'm writing about someone that I deeply care about. So I think that as long as this person is in my life, it will translate into a live setting, and I'll be able to perform with a lot of emotion.
Is it tough for you to kind of channel that private part of your life on stage publicly?
I don't think so, not at all. It's like a bad habit that I have, but the songs that I write about people, I'll show it to them without telling them that it's about them. But it's so obviously about them, you know, there's no hiding it, [Laughs] And they could be mean songs, too! It's not a nice thing to admit, but I've written about people in the past where I'm like, "Damn, I don't like you anymore. Oh, you don't mean anything," and I'll show it to them and they'll be like, "Yeah, it's great! It's great!" [Laughs] So if I can get past doing that, then I could perform it to anyone, because the hardest person to show that to is obviously the person that you wrote it about.
And I feel like mental health and things that I would only tell my therapist about, if I'm getting it out in that setting and I have come to terms with who I am as a person and why I'm feeling this way, then I feel like it's a beautiful thing to share that with so many other people, because I know that everything I go through, I'm not the only one feeling this way, and so many people can relate to my mental health problems or my relationship issues. I kind of treat the stage as my chance to really let my emotions flow onto these other people, and I think it's just really therapeutic for me, and I feel my emotions the most when I'm on stage.
One of your responses earlier was talking about how you don't need more than the four-piece to make people feel emotion. But one of my favorite moments from If Not Winter is on "Latvia" when the bells come in. I was wondering if you could talk to us a little bit about that specific song?
I actually love talking about "Latvia" just because I feel like people glaze over it really quickly. It's an interlude, there's no singing – I meant for "Latvia" to kind of be a transition from the brighter side of the album into a more bittersweet side of the album, [so] it ends off on a really sweet, but also bittersweet note at the same time. And so I wrote "Latvia" because when I was filming the "Enough for you" music video, a lot of shit was going down during that time in my life.
I remember the first scene that we ever shot was at this castle called the Rundāle Palace, this gigantic, beautiful, royal castle in the middle of nowhere in Latvia. It was winter, so it was snowing, and basically the first scene was me walking up towards the castle, and we didn't know when the castle doors would open, but they opened exactly when I started walking up to the gate. And when the castle doors open, they play this bell, kind of like when the clock hits the next hour and it plays that little chime. And I remember feeling for the first and only time in my whole life, that I was having an out-of-body experience, and I wasn't even on drugs, you know? It felt like I was on psychedelics. Like in this dreamscape, I was actually a princess, I was actually walking up to a castle that was mine, and it was just so beautiful.
So I wanted "Latvia" to kind of represent the sounds that I was hearing, which is why there are bird chirps in the background, and these bell chimes, and my feet stepping in the snow. I wanted to transport people to that moment of me walking up to the castle.
Wow. Looking forward, when did you start working on new music for the upcoming record?
It's been about three, almost four months of writing new music for this next album now. I could say confidently that I have five demos that I'm really hyped about. So I think it'll take the rest of this year, hopefully a bit sooner to finish the album, because I'm so excited to share new music with people. And I'm really loving the direction that it's going in. It feels a lot more hopeful and bright and happy. I'm just really happy that I'm not stuck writing sad music anymore.
With your upcoming album, what’s something you’re feeling inspired by that people would be surprised to know that you’re inspired by?
Hmm. More modern pop country music. I find these country songs on TikTok and I'm like, “wow this is beautiful.” I'm listening to them and I’m getting so much inspiration from their vocal melodies. I’ve noticed when I am going into the studio I am gravitating towards more swing-y melodies because I want them to be so catchy. And also a lot of pop music still. I feel like my choruses and even my verses are almost boy band-y in a way. Like High School Musical vibe in a way.
Elinor Kry / via publicist
