by cass guinto
photo by stefan kohli
Carlie Hanson is an alt-pop artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist collecting one creative milestone after another. First breaking through at 17 years old and touring with major artists like Yungblud, Troye Sivan, and more since then, Carlie is carving an unforgettable path as a young musician. Her recent EP too late to cry, released on February 7th, was written and largely self-produced — a skill she literally picked up on her own through video tutorials. Through these seven captivating tracks, she channels the importance of shedding skin and stepping into new, more authentic narratives.
Congratulations on your new EP! It’s an incredibly sincere and dreamy record. Were there any particular messages or themes that you were trying to encapsulate through the music?
Carlie: “One, I was experimenting production-wise. I feel like a lot of my songs in the past were very pop-produced, which was amazing and what I wanted at the time, but because I was coming into producing on my own, I always go toward a more stripped-back version of myself. I tend to make more mellow music when I’m working by myself, which is interesting, so I think that’s what a lot of this EP turned out to be. A lot of them started with just me, and that’s what I was leaning towards. For themes, lyrics, and what I was going through, I had just been dropped from my first record deal. A lot of artists were going through that during COVID. I was in the headspace of, ‘I’m going to prove them wrong and I’m going to do this by myself.’ That energy is where the song ‘covering faces’ came from. As for ‘too late to cry,’ it’s about getting your head out of the funk and pushing yourself to get better at creating independently.”
What was the inspiration behind the EP title too late to cry?
Carlie: “I think ‘too late to cry’ was such a weird song with how it was written. I started in my bedroom and wrote these verses that were just me venting, asking ‘why weren’t you there?’ to people that I thought were going to be there for me. Then, I didn’t really know where to take the chorus, so I didn’t even have the lyric ‘too late to cry’ written yet. I took it to my friend Slush Puppy and he kind of just mumbled these words, and he was like, ‘I think it should be a really simple phrase in the chorus,’ and that’s when we got to ‘too late to cry.’ It’s weird how music works because that kind of just came out of the blue. It’s like magic sometimes because I really didn’t intend for it, and that’s the song that wraps the whole EP together.”
If any, which song on the EP do you feel the most connected to and why?
Carlie: “At first when the project came out, I loved ‘how many hours.’ But I think I always go back to ‘sinking’ being my favorite. I like the story behind it. As much as I was trying to be headstrong and confident about moving forward and not dwelling on what I was going through at the time, I’m a very emotional person at the end of the day. I tend to be very hard on myself. The production of ‘sinking’ gives me that nostalgic feeling I always search for in other music.”
Looking back on your musical journey so far, how has the songwriting and production process evolved?
Carlie: “It has changed a lot — it used to be more structured. When I was first starting out professionally writing music and going to LA for sessions, I was put into rooms with amazing songwriters, so I was kind of just following their lead on how to write because I was 17. I didn’t know what I was doing, I just liked singing. I didn’t know what a hook or a bridge was. We’d start with chords, then we’d riff melodies, write the chorus, and we’d kind of work from there. Sometimes that still works for me, but now I’m at a place where people who write music would probably think I’m insane sometimes. If I’m by myself, I’d probably still start with guitar, and then maybe I’ll record one lyric without knowing whether it’ll be a hook, a verse... then, I’ll kind of skip the writing and go straight into building the production. It’s so very strange and erratic now, but I think I’ve just gotten more comfortable.”
Early on in your career or even before it, were there any musical influences that shaped your sound the most?
Carlie: “The reason that I started singing was Justin Bieber. I was probably like nine when I first heard ‘One Time’ on the radio. I remember turning to my older sister and being like, ‘Is this a girl singing? Who is this? I need to go home and listen to this.’ So I got on my computer, obviously found out he wasn’t a girl... I immediately fell in love and went back to his original YouTube videos where he was doing covers. From that day forward, I was just immersed and wanted to replicate everything he was doing. I was singing the same covers. I was probably trying to dress the same as him. I just became obsessed. To this day, at least in my opinion, I have a similar style with how he does runs and uses a lot of his range. But as I grew up, I fell into a different genre of Lil Peep and the SoundCloud era, and I feel like now I have a little bit of all that.”
What are some of your proudest accomplishments as a musician? Were there any moments in your career that felt like true “I made it” moments?
Carlie: “I remember in the very beginning when I was 17 and first went to LA, even just being in a music session felt like I made it. But then I had these really insane bucket list moments, like I did a song with The Chainsmokers and I got to go play at a stadium in Denver with 50,000 people. To this day, I just can’t believe that ever happened. With moments where I’m playing a show and fans show up, that to me feels like I truly made it.”
What are two memorable experiences you’ve had — one exciting and one scary — that you’d like to share with us?
Carlie: “I’ve had a lot of exciting moments. I basically started in 2017, so a lot has happened — signing my first record deal, getting the Taylor Swift love was awesome. She added two of my songs to her favorite songs playlist and it was just really hard to believe at the time. I was like, did somebody do this for her? I remember not even believing it. Honestly, playing Red Rocks is very much up there for one of my most exciting moments ever. As for scary, I had the same team for quite a while through most of my career up until 2022. I switched management, not because anything happened, but because it was time for a change. It was really scary for me because that was all I had known for so long, and I’m sure other artists or anybody can relate to that. Being so used to working with the same people, and then you take a risk for your life and your career. That was scary, but everything else has been amazing so far.”
Your music video for “covering faces” was incredibly cinematic and beautiful, and I saw it was filmed in Japan! How did that idea come to fruition?
Carlie: “My last album that I put out was called Wisconsin, which is where I’m from. The whole last era was me taking my fans to my hometown, talking about home, and really taking them into that world. Then, I really got to a point where I didn’t feel like I was there anymore. I wanted to move forward. Like you said, I’m on this journey, always feeling different things. With this new music, it happened organically. I wanted to work with this director, and he told me he was going to be in Tokyo for the next month, so I went because I never experienced that before. So it happened naturally, but it also coincides with the music and how I was feeling. I felt like a nomad. I needed to go somewhere else and bring my listeners to a new place — to cleanse their palate from the scenery and the setting we had been in.”
Speaking of your listeners, what are some of the ways you stay connected with your fans?
Carlie: “It kind of feels like they’re growing up with me. I feel that I can’t not be myself. I can’t pretend to be anything. When I’m online, it’s helpful to show different sides of me that others may not know about. I also have a Discord that a lot of my fans are in so they can talk to each other. I love that platform. But yeah, I think just being myself and even posting embarrassing stuff is something that everybody needs nowadays. It feels like you’re more connected to them. Shoutout my fans!”
If you could go back in time and give your past self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Carlie: “The thing is that things wouldn’t have turned out the way they turned out if I did things differently. But I’d say... start producing early. It’s going to help you way more if you just do it. I would say don’t overthink, just have more fun and don’t be so cautious about what ifs.”
Is there anything coming next that fans can look forward to?
Carlie: “I don’t know what will come next genre-wise, but I know I have a lot of music in the vault. The next music is a full-length album. I’m going all the way and I’m gonna do it again. To my fans, listeners, viewers, whoever — be on the lookout for more teasers.”
