Singer-songwriter Julia Cannon’s EP Listening is finally out and we are happily listening. It’s a mix of indie folk, country, Americana, whimsy, and honest lyricism. If summer afternoons lying in an open field in Nashville while watching the clouds drift by had a soundtrack, this EP would be it.
We, at For The Culture Zine, were grateful to get the chance to interview Julia Cannon. We learned about how the EP and the title track came to be, what the deciding factor was for her to pursue music, and what she hopes people take away from Listening.
Q&A With Julia Cannon
Q: Congrats on your latest EP, Listening! How did it all come together? What was it like creating music during a pandemic?
JULIA: Thank you so much! It was really hard! It started with the title track.
Before Covid, I was planning on getting my band into the studio and recording a full length album. When that got put on pause, I played with the idea of doing this acoustic EP, but I was nervous because I don’t feel as confident without my band. But when I wrote the title track “Listening” I felt like I needed to put it out into the world. It was so emotional to finally be able to express this perspective of mine that nobody wanted to hear before. That set the tone for the rest of the EP. Basically, I felt naked. I was making it at the worst chunk of time we’ve lived through, and I had to have my therapist guide me through finishing it because I got so frustrated and depressed at times that I didn’t touch it for weeks.
But it gave me purpose and I’m glad I did it.
Q: Are there any specific influences that you’re channeling on Listening?
JULIA: I usually use reference tracks and influences to guide me in the production phase, but I was honestly such a mess that I didn’t this time. LOL. I just tried to compliment the songs as best I could with arrangements and production.
Q: Which song on the new EP challenged you as a songwriter/producer and which song was your favorite to create?
JULIA: Track 2, “Hard Headed”, was the most difficult one. I love to listen to emotional ballads, but I hate to make them myself. I feel boring when I do. Which is stupid because it’s not boring. And I don’t think about not being boring when I write the songs, I just write what’s in my heart.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m just ashamed to be a sappy mush.
Track 4, “More”, was my favorite. As soon as I got the Mandolin tracks it felt like it was coming together the way that it was meant to. Although, that track is more Americana/ Country than I usually am. But genres are stupid! I like that song.
Q: You’re quite active on TikTok. How have Social Media platforms like TikTok helped your music career so far?
JULIA: I’m poor and can’t afford the same marketing tactics as some of my peers, SO I decided to build an organic community the hard way, by screaming into the void. A lot. I try to run my artistry like a business, while also using it to be as vulnerable as possible. It’s hard, but I feel like the community I’ve built for myself is full of people that I truly want to share my music with.
TikTok is overwhelming, but the environment can be so supportive. I think that the algorithm on TikTok is more friendly to creatives than it is on some other social media platforms. I have definitely made a lot of positive connections there.
Q: You’ve described the household you were raised in as “unorthodox.” How have your household and the community you grew up in shaped you and the way you approach making music?
JULIA: Both of my biological parents are immigrants from the Philippines and Panama and my step dad, who raised me from age 3 on, is native Alaskan. They all had their own trauma and obstacles to face. I watched them struggle to do better than their parents and give us a better life while battling their own demons. Without going into too much detail, it was a really difficult environment to grow up in.
I started writing songs as a way to cope with our circumstances. It was therapy for me. I learned how to entertain at a very young age. My mom told me that one time when our power had been shut off, I got up and started to sing and dance for everybody by the light from the fireplace. I think she said I was 3 or 4. I guess it goes deep.
Q: Was there a particular moment when you realized you wanted to pursue a career in music? What drew you to Nashville?
JULIA: I’m going to be 100% honest. I moved to Nashville because the cost of living is cheaper than other cities I was looking at, and I’m poor. Lol.
I always wanted to pursue music. I used to make my cousins sit down and watch me pretend to be Celine Dion. But up until late in my senior year of high school that I thought that I was going to play it safe and use a full ride scholarship I had to the University of Alaska to become an english teacher. I always loved to write. And pursuing music seemed like a luxury to someone like me.
Then someone told me that I was good enough and that I should apply to Berklee and I started to believe them. That person changed my life. I went full steam ahead from that point on.
Q: How different was the creative process for Listening versus your first EP, My Name Is Julia?
JULIA: Very different. My Name Is Julia came out when I was still in college and I recorded it in my little apartment in Boston. I didn’t put too much thought into it at all. I just wanted to put music out. I used it as a learning tool and I had fun recording with my friends and producing it. Listening was much harder to make. For one million reasons.
Q: What I love about your discography is that it covers different genres from indie-folk, to Americana, jazz, and even comedy. For instance, in 2016, you released a humorous yet catchy “electronic butt anthem” that would make Tina Belcher from Bob’s Burgers proud. How did it feel to have your music video featured on actress Elizabeth Bank’s website WhoHaHa?
JULIA: Thank you! That was absolutely unexpected and hilarious to me because I made that music video as a part of a homework assignment with my best friend. We had to write an electronic song for my songwriting class and I recorded half of it on my iPhone garage band app. I actually just wanted to make my professor laugh by going too far with a joke. Which I did. It’s a technically terrible song but its so catchy.
My professor turned beet red when I turned it in and said “Julia, this was NOT the assignment.”
I try not to take myself too seriously.
Q: As an independent artist, how can people support you?
JULIA: The most efficient way to support me financially is to buy my music on Bandcamp. They pay the artists more for the sale than any other service!
The best way to support my art other than buying it, is to share it. If you enjoy what I’m doing and think someone else might too, then please consider sharing it.
I got bills.
Q: What do you hope listeners take away from Listening?
JULIA: I wrote the title track while I was processing the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
We were in the part of the pandemic that was extremely quiet and it felt like everyone was finally listening and processing the horrific truths that were once easy to ignore.
I felt a lot of heavy grief and a little bit of hope that maybe people would keep listening.
That’s truly all that I want.