by mariah estran
photo by maxwell goldberg
Sometimes, you can’t avoid the feeling of love. Bursting from the seams — those three little words come spilling out. For singer-songwriter BIZZY, that is what happened.
For her, that urge to scream those emotions from the rooftop turned into the latest single, “Out Loud.” Racing hearts and blushing cheeks were what she wanted to portray. The expression stems from her own story of rekindling an old flame. Once she uttered the word “love,” she went straight to the notes app, penning the lyrics: “Didn’t know it til’ I said it out loud.”
The song became one she worked on longer than any other. “There was so much I could have written about, but I wanted to move away from the history and hone in on that feeling,” she says about the single. “This blushing, exciting, terrifying moment of realization where you're like, ‘Oh my God, I feel so much for you, but now what am I supposed to do?’”
She strives to stay authentic within her work. BIZZY finds comfort in other music — songs that feel like she is talking to a best friend. “I'm writing as if I was writing in my diary. That allows me to write about certain things I might not have said,” she explains about her songwriting.
Keeping that honesty in mind, BIZZY also unveiled “I’d Never Tell You.” A track that is the opposite of “Out Loud” — it expresses that happy endings might not always exist. “Whether you're in a relationship that ends, you have a song, and whether you're excited about when you have one, I just kind of wanted them to coincide with each other,” she says about releasing both singles.
In celebration of “Out Loud” and “I’d Never Tell You,” BIZZY took a moment to tell us more about the songs. She dives into the backstory, the songwriting process, how she hopes her music comforts others, and what some of her favorite artists are.
I want to talk about “Out Loud.” First, I read that this feeling came about after you opened up to a friend. I think that’s so relatable! I want to know more about the backstory of the song.
BIZZY: “So, I was talking to this guy I have known since 4th grade — we go way back, like middle school, always crushing on each other. Then we went off to college and would see each other on breaks. It was always kind of flirty, but we were also with other people. Then we graduated college, and I saw him — he came to Nashville. Everything happened when he was here. I was like, ‘Oh my god, I think I really like this guy.’ But I didn’t know if it was for sure.
My friend came over one night. She starts talking about her life. She goes, ‘Oh, how's the guy? What's going on?’ And I said, ‘I think I'm in love with him.’ Genuinely, I lost control of my mouth at that time. I didn't even know it until I said it out loud. Then immediately, I was like, ‘That's a song.’
So, I grabbed my phone and wrote it in my notes. Then, the next day, I wrote it with Dave Villa and Maddie Simmen.”
I want to talk about songwriting because the song has this way of describing that rush of a feeling. What is your songwriting process like?
BIZZY: “I've been talking about this song for the longest. I love this song. Normally, with songs I love, it's usually two hours, and that’s it — it kind of falls out. But with this, I kept thinking about why it took so long. I think it was because we have so much history. There was so much I could have written about, but I wanted to move away from the history and hone in on that feeling. This blushing, exciting, terrifying moment of realization where you're like, ‘Oh my God, I feel so much for you, but now what am I supposed to do?’
So, the songwriting was deep diving into my personal life with him and how I was feeling at that moment. It was funny because it was like my second [song] with Dave and my first with Maddie. It was like, I'm just dumping all this personal information about how I felt on them. They were like, ‘OK, we can get this, we can pull this off.’
We tried to hone in on the flirty, butterfly feeling. I feel like the song does that.”
On the contrary, “I'd Never Tell You” describes the opposite feeling. What made you want to release both songs on two different ends of the spectrum of emotions?
BIZZY: “So, ‘I’d Never Tell You,’ I wanted to release — well, one, because the titles just weirdly work. I also wanted to release them because, in my head, there's no happy ending for everybody. Even if you're in the healthiest relationship — like my parents, they've been married for 35 years — there are still horrible days, and there are amazing days. There's such an up and down.
These songs of love are not one or the other — it's both. Whether you're in a relationship that ends, you have a song, whether you're excited about when you have one, I wanted them to coincide with each other. Especially at my age, if you're starting with ‘Out Loud’ and ending with ‘I’d Never Tell You,’ you're always gonna have a song to listen to.”
You describe yourself and your music as that best friend or that shoulder to lean on. How do you feel like your music does that?
BIZZY: “I think I'm writing as if I was talking to someone. I'm being very honest about where I'm at and how I'm feeling. In doing so, people have connected, which is so awesome for me.
I'm trying to stay authentic because when I write, I'm not writing as if I'm like, ‘This is gonna go out in the world, and people are gonna listen to it.’ I'm writing as if I was writing in my diary. That allows me to write about certain things I might not say if I knew in my conscious mind that it was going out in the world.”
What artists do you personally feel have been your musical best friend?
BIZZY: “Taylor Swift — she's just grown up with me. She's painted every feeling. One thing I so admire about her music is that I'll go through what she went through, and I'll love it. That is like a sign of such an amazing artist to me. When I was younger, she would write about heartbreak, and I would be like ten. I was like, ‘Oh my God, that's an amazing song. But I have no idea what it feels like.’ Then I was in high school, and I would finally go through my first heartbreak — it (the song) would hit so much harder. I think she's painted such an amazing picture of her life and being honest and authentic.”
So, talking about Taylor Swift, you have a way of mixing rhythmic pop elements with a very alternative edge. Who are some of your inspirations?
BIZZY: “Julia Michaels, she's so cool. The way that her melodies can be so up, down, up, down. But her lyrics can say so much and rip your heart out in one sentence. Then I also love Rainbow Kitten Surprise.
They're so good in the sense that it feels live. When I'm listening to it and their production, it just gets more hype throughout the song. That’s something I try to capture in my music.
Listening to music in the car is my favorite thing to do. If I can get more excited in the car — I'm not actually doing this — it makes you want to step on the pedal more, and you're just like, it's such a good song. That’s the production and live feeling I want to emulate in my music.”
Lastly, what can listeners expect next? Possibly a larger body of work? What are we looking forward to?
BIZZY: “A larger body of music for sure. I'm not gonna be able to say when, but definitely in the works. I just really want people to, like, continue to get to know me and kind of build the circle and human that I am.”