Karin Ann is a breakout artist you definitely need to discover ASAP. The Slovakian singer-songwriter has already had a whirlwind year that has seen her touring Europe with the likes of My Chemical Romance, Imagine Dragons, YUNGBLUD, and receiving well deserved critical acclaim and attention. And she’s ready to let it keep building with the release of her infectiously laden new single, ‘you make me miserable’.
Introducing herself to listeners with her EP’s ‘side effects of being human’ and ‘lonely together’ she has cemented a brand of honesty with a side of angst in the production and a satirical edge in the lyricism. And ‘you make me miserable’ perfectly continues that exploration with its pop-punk sonic driving this nostalgic 2000’s edge, and lyrics that will have you smiling because of the brutal “fuck you” energy behind them.
I recently chatted with Karin Ann about the infectious energy behind her new single ‘you make me miserable’, discussed touring with My Chemical Romance, YUNGBLUD and Imagine Dragons, and explored the takeaway she wants people to remember following pride month. Check it out BELOW;
THOMAS BLEACH: Your new single ‘you make me miserable’ is an infectiously playful track about finding out that a guy you were seeing actually had a girlfriend the whole time. Can you explain the creative process of this track?
KARIN ANN: I didn’t really have the intention of writing about it, or anything really. I was just in the studio and we had this production loop going, and started playing around with different lyrical ideas. But one of the lines just stuck and we started building the rest of the song around that. It was just what I was feeling at the time.
TB: How long did the song take to come together?
KA: In terms of writing it was three hours, and then we spent about a week recording it. But I wrote it pretty recently, in February, and we’ve been playing it live ever since as I just love it.
TB: I would say that you ended up having the last laugh. Was that the lyrical intention you wanted to have for this song instead of being inherently sad about it?
KA: I kinda got over it pretty quick. I don’t like drama, and I don’t like being involved in situations where people are like; “this person did this, and this person did this”, like ugh, it’s so dramatic, and I don’t like that. So when I get myself in situations like where someone is actually seeing someone else while talking and seeing me, I just withdraw interest pretty quickly. Even though it hurts for a little while, I usually just write a song and get over it that way.
TB: What’s your star sign *laughs*?
KA: My sun is Taurus, my moon is Aries, and my rising is Virgo. It kinda fits *laughs*.
TB: Looking back at your discography to date, are there any songs that when you started writing them you thought were going to be of a particular tone, but then as you got deeper, it turned into something else?
KA: With ‘We’re Friends, Right’, I started writing a bunch of lyrics on my phone, and then I took it to the piano and didn’t know where to take it from there, so I dropped it. I called my friend Lola Luciani and asked if they wanted to write with me, and I didn’t have the intention to keep working on this one, but as we talked on FaceTime for like 3 hours it ended up just falling into place that we’d continue this idea I’d started. The lyrics are very on the nose. The people who know what happened will know straight away who this is about.
We still didn’t finish the song and know the exact tone of the track until the band rehearsal for my first tour in Poland. I was in a hotel room, should have been asleep, but was not asleep *laughs*, and I was scrolling on YouTube and found this beat I liked. So I sang these lyrics over it and it worked. So then I took this melody to my band and we worked on a completely new production, and it ended up being more of an angry song than a happy song.
TB: ’You make me miserable’ has strong 80’s melodies with a 2000’s pop-punk sonic shining through. What were some of the actual references you had for the song while in the studio?
KA: Actually this is one of the very few songs that I didn’t have any references for. It was more based on a vibe, and how I felt, than musically penned for a particular sound. We just went with whatever, and experimented with sounds and ideas, and constantly put things in and took things out.
TB: The music video is a compilation of footage from your recent run of dates with My Chemical Romance and Imagine Dragons, and in particular your connection with the fans. What is one of your favourite moments captured in the video?
KA: One of my favourite’s is from when I was playing the YUNGBLUD show and I was sitting on the edge of the stage playing ‘Reflection’ which is a sad one, and everyone put their lights up in the air. I usually ask everyone to do that, but they did that before I even asked them to, and literally every single person was doing it. It was super cool. It was a sea of lights and it just made me cry.
TB: And what is one of your favourite moments that you had to leave on the cutting room floor for the video?
KA: There was probably a few *laughs*. We recorded a lot of me just hanging out with my friends on the road which was cut down quite a bit as I wanted the main focus to be on the fans and people coming along to watch the shows.
TB: Along with the likes of My Chemical Romance and Imagine Dragons, you’ve also recently toured with YUNGBLUD and Alfie Templeman. What is something you’ve learnt about yourself as a performer and as a musician from performing at so many different types of shows?
KA: That I need to do more cardio *laughs*. I’m still learning what works for me while performing live. I have learnt though that I should practice my balance as I wear chunky platform shoes, and I jump and spin around, and I’m always trying to not fall over *laughs*. Basically my thought process on stage is; don’t fall, and breathe *laughs*.
TB: Pride month is wrapping up at the moment, but to be honest, it’s always pride month for us. What’s something you want people to take away from this pride month as something we always need to remember?
KA: Don’t tell people what to fucking do. I’m so done with this month. So many things happened, especially in America, and I’m just so mad with it. Can’t everyone just mind their own business? It’s all love. Just give people love and mind your own business. It truly baffles me how people feel a big need to tell others how to live their life.
TB: ‘we’re friends, right?’ Is a bit of an anthem about dealing with an ex moving on really quickly and being left with the throwaway line that it’s okay because “you’re friends, right?”. Has there been a time where you wished you used that line on someone?
KA: I’m never the heartbreaker, I’m always the one getting my heart broken. I made a joke about it recently as it kind of happened again, and I was saying how every time there is a “catch” for me. I’m never the one who got away. It makes me mad. From my point of view because I’ve been in that situation, I wouldn’t want to be the one who got away, and wouldn’t want to hurt a person like that.
TB: ‘You should run from me’ is one of my favourite songs of yours. Can you share a fun fact about the creative process of this song that people may not know
KA: It’s a very random song. I have this friend Ida who I wrote ‘Midnight Calls’ with, and I just asked if she wanted to write something else together as we had so much fun before. So I sent her a part, and it was a really random part of the song, something that wasn’t deep. It took a while to write as we were going back and forth over messages, and because we are both really busy, those messages were taking like 2 days *laughs*. But the outro is my favourite thing about the song. It was the reason why I wanted to put it out. It’s so sick.
TB: Let’s play a quick game of rapid fire questions about the song, are you ready?
KA: Yeah!
TB: The emoji that best describes my new single ‘you make me miserable’ is…
KA: The dancing guy in the purple suit.
TB: My favourite lyric in the song is…
KA: “When we kiss we taste like whiskey. Maybe that’s why you just miss me”
TB: A lyric I changed was…
KA: I don’t remember specifically, but there were a lot of changes, especially in the verses.
TB: The thing this song taught me about myself while creating it was…
KA: That sometimes I don’t don’t feel like moping around, and sometimes I just feel like saying “fuck you”.
TB: The colour that comes to mind when I think of the song is…
KA: Orange!
‘you make me miserable’ is out now!