Interview by Meghan O’Connor. Photos by Hafalia Yackel.
I knew the name Sizzy Rocket long before I ever met Sabrina. In New York, especially in the music world, that’s something special. Looking back, I should have known all along that she was different.
I met Sabrina through mutual friends at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, and I’ve been lucky enough to witness her evolution as an artist ever since. I witnessed her evolve as a performer, I witnessed her sign to a label; I witnessed the audience response to “Girls,” and to “Bestie,” and to Sizzy Fucking Rocket as a whole. When I was offered the chance to produce her upcoming video for “Bad Kids,” I got that feeling – that feeling when you know you’re a part of something special.
So here we are – two bad kids talking “Bad Kids.” She’s still Sabrina; I’m still me. She’s still Sizzy, too – the same way Bowie is also Ziggy Stardust. Sizzy is an alter ego in the most genuine way possible. She’s an extension of Sabrina.
She’s the best fast food love story you’ve ever known.
Sizzy recently got a lot of attention for her music video “Bestie”
Meghan: You tweeted once that you think all of the slow pop female artists in NYC & LA should break off into groups of 3, 5, or 7 and form hundreds of girl groups. Would you rather be part of a group than a solo artist?
Sizzy: No, I just feel like you could make a lot of girl groups out of solo female pop acts in NY or LA. There are so many.
Meghan: Do you think they’d be better if they were together?
Sizzy: I think it would be interesting.
Meghan: More interesting?
Sizzy: Yeah. ‘Cause it feels kinda boring, doesn’t it? Female pop right now. There are a lot of angel voices and everything’s really timid and soft and safe and about heartbreak. I just wanna switch it up, shake it up, make it more exciting. I feel like if you are a solo female artist you often get lumped into the pop genre, especially if you’re pretty.
Meghan: So you agree. You think you’re really pretty. [Mean Girls reference.]
Sizzy: [laughs] That’s why I want to do things that are more bizarre and strange.
Meghan: It’s kind of harder to shock people now.
Sizzy: It is. I don’t necessary want to shock people though. I just want to make them feel uncomfortable for a little bit.
Meghan: Speaking of uncomfortable, let’s talk about childhood for a sec. What was it like growing up in Vegas?
Sizzy: It was really weird. It’s a show town, it’s all superficial. It’s very visual, but there’s nothing under the surface. Everything is like a fantasy. I guess I learned to incorporate that in my own show from when I was like 14.
Meghan: Do you think Vegas made you weirder than you would’ve been?
Sizzy: It did, it made me weirder. It made me more visual. There’s definitely an element of show to what I do because I grew up there, but it’s also very isolating. My house is in the middle of the desert. I didn’t really socialize a lot in school, because I wasn’t a bad kid until I moved here. Everyone there just gets drunk. It is a very transient place.
Meghan: I read somewhere that Andy Warhol is a very strong influence.
Sizzy: He’s everything.
Meghan: How does he influence you?
Sizzy: His perspective on art is just so rebellious to me. You know, whispering in interviews, or his fascination with destruction and pornography and just the way he could create without filtering himself.
Meghan: He liked to make people feel uncomfortable, too.
Sizzy: Yeah. Those are things that I’m drawn to about him. He was really a persona, you know? He had a brand and he just built this magical empire. Uniqlo is manufacturing Campbell’s Soup shirts in 2015. This could become an Andy Warhol interview. His philosophy on art and the way that he saw the world was just incredible. His art also heavily involved the view of the audience. I feel like my show is very sexualized, wearing skintight latex and shit. Warhol was all about sex and sexuality and objectifying bodies and what it means. I love objectifying myself.
Meghan: Do you like objectifying other people?
Sizzy: I like objectifying women, because I can get away with it.
Meghan: Objectifying men?
Sizzy: That’s fun, too.
Meghan: Where does Sabrina stop and Sizzy begin?
Sizzy: There is definitely a line. When I wake up in the morning I definitely have a few moments as Sabrina to myself. Sabrina exists mostly in solitude. My alone time is really important. My songs are derived from real things that have happened to me. Sizzy turns on when the makeup comes on and the ego turns on and I’m leaving my house, or I’m having a show, or I’m meeting people. I think she’s a character I’ve created to excite people about my music. Sabrina and Sizzy both feel the same things, they have both been through the same things, but I need Sizzy to shield myself from reality.
Meghan: Does it get hard to turn her off sometimes?
Sizzy: [nods] Yeah.
Meghan: How do you feel about that?
Sizzy: I’ve gotten better at it. I feel like a good performer knows. It’s like when people say “I can only write when I’m inspired.” I mean, no. A good writer can turn it on when they want to turn it on and turn it off when they want to turn it off. I’ve learned as a performer how to turn it on and off, but when I was younger and more naive I did lose myself in Sizzy. I was doing a lot of drugs and I was thinking that the persona was the be-all end-all. Sizzy is just the skin, but Sabrina is the heart. She’s what’s underneath.
Meghan: Do you prefer one?
Sizzy: I prefer Sizzy.
Meghan: You prefer Sizzy?
Sizzy: Yeah. I wish I could cover my whole body in glitter and walk around like that every single day, but unfortunately I can’t. In Sizzy’s world, I would just frolic around naked covered in glitter, never have to pay any bills, go shopping every day and do a show every night.
Meghan: I can see why you prefer Sizzy.
Sizzy: That’s why I prefer Sizzy.
Meghan: Has being more Sizzy than Sabrina ever been a problem in your personal relationships?
Sizzy: Are you talking romantic?
Meghan: You can interpret it however you want.
Sizzy: Well everyone I have “romantic entanglements” with has to deal with Sizzy and know that she’s the most important woman in my life. There have been people that I’ve been with that couldn’t deal with that. Obviously, they’re gone because I’m single and I’m loving it. It’s like a painter and a painting. If the painter was dating someone and they spent day and night painting. Sizzy is my masterpiece. If we’re going to be together, you have to know that Sizzy is where my heart is. I really want to have a threesome soon.
Meghan: Have you had one before?
Sizzy: No! That’s why I want to. That’s the goal.
Meghan: Why?
Sizzy: For the experience.
Meghan: Are you someone that likes to try everything once?
Sizzy: Yeah. I would say I’m a daredevil.
Meghan: Does something you haven’t tried yet attract you?
Sizzy: Yeah. The thrills.
Meghan: Oh yeah, of course. You do it for the thrills.
Meghan: Do you think thrills are inherently about being young? Or do you think you’ll always do it for the thrills?
Sizzy: I think I always will, but it’ll change over time. Maybe it won’t be called “thrills.” It already has changed. When I was 18, thrills was getting blackout drunk and running through Washington Square Park. Now, thrills is refusing to get a day job and pursuing my dream. When I was 20, thrills was going to LA and going 100 in a stranger’s jaguar down the 101 doing coke off the dashboard. [pause] But now [laughs] thrills is covering my body in glitter and letting a photographer take my nude pictures.
Meghan: What inspired you to write “Bad Kids”?
Sizzy: I really like “Bad Kids” as a title. I really like titles that sound cool, like “Thriller.” One of the best song titles I’ve ever heard in my life I was watching the Yeah Yeah Yeahs video for “Zero” and I had this image of a Sid and Nancy, two kids running down the streets of New York in Chinatown, which is where I used to run around and do bad shit. Leather jackets, cigarettes, neon lights, just fucking amped about getting in trouble. I feel like that really sums up the thrills era. Leather jackets, cigarettes, neon, trouble. And I feel like the lines of the song are a very detailed description of it all.
Meghan: Yeah, what’s that one line about cheap liquor? It’s my favorite.
Sizzy: Put your hands on my hips, cheap liquor take a sip, put your lips on my lips like this.
Meghan: Yeah. That’s it. What motivates you to create?
Sizzy: I don’t know. I just have to. I think Bukowski said, “I don’t care if you’re working a day job. I don’t care if you can’t pay your rent you will find a way to make art if you’re a n artist.” There’s just noother way. I guess money sometimes. But that’s not a motivator, it’s just a concept. I just have to. There’s no other way.
Keep a look out for Sizzy’s new video “Bad Kids” dropping soon. In the meantime, stay up to date via Facebook and Instagram.