Photo by Olivia Brissett
Pop songstress Tiarlie made a splash with her striking debut single, “Table Bitch,” a noir slow burn that flipped gender power dynamics on their head to thrilling effect. Her second single, “Sober,” accompanied by the video directed by Mia Xavez, showcases a more personal side of the artist by opening up about love, addiction, and getting clean. We sat down with Tiarlie to chat about her inspiration and personal journey as the next captivating voice in pop music.
ALT CITIZEN
I’m going to steal this one from the legend, William Miller: What do you love about music?
TIARLIE
I like that it tells stories, I’m very into storytelling. I love musical theater, any music with a lot of information that tells me things, no matter what it’s about.
Where does inspiration come from?
TIARLIE
Anything! I love musicals, I love musical comedians like Bo Burnham and Tim Minchin, but inspiration can come from anything. Most of my songs are about very specific people, whether I’m trying to embody them or tell their story. I get most of my inspiration from interesting characters that I meet.
Your debut single, “Table Bitch,” is a smoky slow burn in with a magnetic noir style. The song has a strong narrative thread and the accompanying video features some striking imagery. What was the genesis of the concept behind that single/video?
TIARLIE
The genesis of the song was kind of dark. I was 15 and I would hang out with a lot of gross older dudes and I would see a lot of power dynamics that are really disturbing. I didn’t see that at the time and then I sort of did.
For the video I didn’t want to portray a situation like that because it’s not a very nice situation. So I thought, what if we flipped it and the girls have all the power in this situation? That’s where it came from. I didn’t want to recreate the song because it’s not very empowering.
How important was it that “Table Bitch” was your introduction to the world as an artist? It’s a pretty bold statement to make right out of the gate.
TIARLIE
Yeah, I didn’t think about that! People were like “wow, that’s what you went with for your first thing?”
I actually had a whole other song lined up that I really strongly didn’t want to be my first introduction to the world, so I ended up changing it at the last minute. I think “Table Bitch” is like the setup of singing from someone else’s point of view; it’s a running theme in a lot of my songs. I thought it was the most clear portrayal of my writing style
The definition of pop music has expanded considerably in recent years to incorporate a much wider array of styles and influences. This wide range is apparent even in the pair of singles you’ve released so far. How do you think this expansion has benefited artists who make pop music?
TIARLIE
When I write music I never think about if [songs] are coherent in how they sound, as long as I’m getting the words that I want out. The rest happens in the studio. Sometimes I go in wanting something super dark and electronic and sometimes I want something kind of jazzy.
I think that artists have more room to do that now straight off the bat rather than having to stick to a style and then do like a weird album to sort of explore something else. I think there’s so much room now to explore sort of whatever sound fits with whatever you’re trying to say.
And do you think that’s benefited you specifically as you’re just getting started out?
TIARLIE
Yeah, definitely! I don’t feel there’s as much pressure anymore to have a sort of signature thing right out of the bat. I think you can fuck around a little and find out for yourself.
“Sober” is the title of your latest single, it’s a beautifully intimate song. Talk to me about the inspiration behind the music, is this a personal story or something more universal?
TIARLIE
I think it’s a bit of both. It’s the most personal song I’ve ever written. I’ve struggled with addiction for a while and I got sober and clean at the same time as falling in love with my soon-to-be husband. It’s this sense of calm that I found. I sort of thought my life is just inevitably always gonna be really complicated and then one day it just wasn’t anymore. I think that is a very universal thing. Some people find it when they find a passion for something or they fall in love, I know everyone who gets clean usually feels it, but you suddenly go “oh, everything’s pretty simple!”
“Sober” is tonally perpendicular to “Table Bitch” but feels comfortable living next to it. When writing, do you treat tracks individually or envision them as part of a larger concept or narrative?
TIARLIE
They’re all very individual. I find it really distracting to try and write something in coherence with whatever you did last. Usually there’s a lot of emotion when I’m putting down a song so I don’t stop thinking like “oh, does this work?” Whatever sound happens, happens!
You mentioned a little bit about how love as a concept plays into the tone of “Sober.” As The Beatles famously sang, “all you need is love;” in the 21st century does this still ring true in the same way? How do you think the concept of love has shifted from the 1960s?
TIARLIE
I think love is love. I think you can trace a very similar feeling that you feel now to, like, ancient Egyptian times. I don’t think that it changes that much. I definitely think that relationships have changed a lot with things like social media and just the changing of the times. I think that love is such a universal, primal thing that I hope stays the same forever!
How does “Sober” represent the shift in the way those relationships exist?
TIARLIE
As much as “Sober” is about my relationship and about falling in love with another person, it’s more about what love can do for yourself and your sense of self in the world around you. I go in a little bit about my relationship and things we love to do together, but at the end of the day it’s really about finding inner peace in it.
Do you think that, like pop music, the spectrum of what counts as love widened to include more definitions?
TIARLIE
Yeah, we’re definitely getting more accepting of all different kinds of love, but I think that love has always been there whether it’s globally recognized or not.
Drawing parallels between love and addiction is a common theme in pop music, why do you think that is?
TIARLIE
It’s all consuming and I think you can be equally addicted to a person as you can with a drug, and you can even be addicted to love in itself. So I get that there’s a lot of comparison, but then I also found that sobriety is a lot like love!
It’s like something that you can find and then you go “fuck, I can’t believe this has always been there and I didn’t know about it!” It’s the same way as when you get high for the first time, and the same way as when you get sober for the first time, or when you fall in love the first time.
A lot of people use drugs as a replacement for love that they feel like they don’t have.
How do you think your interpretation of the relationship between love and addiction expands the conversation around the existing analogy?
TIARLIE
A lot of people talk about love being a drug and being “addicted to you,” but don’t really talk about love being like the lack of drugs. It’s a slightly different spin on things but I think any conversation about addiction and sobriety is an excellent thing.
In the video for “Sober” love is celebrated in many different forms, even when it’s not an easy emotion. This is an inspired choice and beautifully rendered. Did the video concept develop alongside the song itself or did it come after?
TIARLIE
I knew that I wanted to show a lot of different love stories, that was sort of all I had. I don’t like to be super front and center in my videos, I like to be a sort of an outsider in them.
The concept actually came from the director, Mia Xavez (literally the coolest person I’ve ever met). She sent me this treatment that I just completely fell in love with. She sent me a million different love stories to choose from, and the underwater thing. It all came together, really beautifully, through her.
How do you think the themes in the song reinforced the themes in the video?
TIARLIE
I think of “Sober” as sort of an incoherent ramble, like an inner monologue, but there’s a lot of different little lines here and there that can be applied to a lot of different situations. Having a super old couple and a dad and a daughter, there’s a lot of imagery in it. In the video, [a character is] screaming on the bridge and it’s talking about men’s mental health. I think it was easy to apply the song to a lot of different situations, and we just had so much fun coming up with those
Love doesn’t always have a happy ending, and the video addresses this head on with some unsettling imagery. It reminds me of a line from another Cameron Crowe film, Vanilla Sky; (I’m adlibbing here a bit) “the sweet is never as sweet without the sour… one day you’ll know what love truly is. It’s the sour and the sweet.” Do you think it’s important to recognize that love doesn’t always end up like in the stories?
TIARLIE
Yeah, absolutely. But I don’t think a relationship that ends is a failed relationship. I think if you feel love at any time the sour is just another part of it, I don’t think it ruins anything. I think the best loves come after something terrible.
Does recognition of the withdrawal enhance the emotion’s high?
TIARLIE
Yeah, absolutely. A lot of the song relies on that. Especially my own relationship, we came out of addiction together and we always say we’re so thankful for that because we wouldn’t have found each other if we hadn’t gone to that really dark place. Or maybe we would have just been bored with each other!
There’s a lot of powerful new voices in pop music these days. As an emerging artist, how are you working to stand out from the crowd?
TIARLIE
I don’t think I approach it necessarily in that way. I think all of the really cool new artists coming out are paving the way, I don’t like to look at them as competition. I sort of think like “wow, wouldn’t it be so cool to join them?” I think it doesn’t get annoying as a new artist when someone’s doing something very similar to you and you end up being called the new “this person.” I’m just trying to do me. I do what I know and hopefully I won’t be painted as someone copying anyone.
Are there any artists in particular that you admire or would love to tour with?
TIARLIE
Ultimate dream would be Lana Del Rey! I’d love to tour with Olivia Rodrigo, I think we’d be very different styles but I just think she’s incredible.
What’s next for Tiarlie? Any plans for the future that you can share?
TIARLIE
I have an EP coming that is, I think, gonna be a masterpiece in the words of Julia Fox. But I don’t actually know how much I can say about it!
Last question, let’s get a little weird. Would you rather constantly have dry mouth or forever have your fingers covered in peanut butter?
TIARLIE
I think dry mouth because I vape like nobody’s business, so I basically always have that now!
Stream “Sober” and “Table Bitch” on Spotify and follow Tiarlie on Instagram.
