TRACE

words by LIz

Indie artist TRACE released her debut EP last year (check that good stuff ooooout) and has been gaining recognition, racking up plays, and touring since! She's said to fall “somewhere between the breezy, west-coast cool of Lana Del Rey and the moody, R&B kissed ruminations of James Blake.” She grew up surrounded by the craziness that came with the fame of her mother- a Vietnamese pop star. Not wanting to take the path her mom took, TRACE decided to "release her own creativity through a more introspective path and began to write- about everything." In the fall of 2014, she left a promising career behind and started her first EP-which she recorded in her bathroom. 

We took a listen to her new tracks, checked her out on Instagram, and knew this mama was onto somethin' good! Take a lil peek into her brain and give her new track "Oh My My" some love!

As a female in the music industry, how does being creative and having a voice empower you?

I think being a woman in this industry is opportunistic. I think by being a woman, there’s a certain attention I/we get and I want to ensure that what I’m reflecting, what I voice, is something genuine, refreshing and of course, strong. And not in the way that is aggressive, angry or intense, but confident and filled with grace and patience and intellect. Being able to have a voice (as a man or woman), in general is empowering and I think the trick lies within how we use it, Personally I hope I use it well.

What message do you hope to send to other people through your music?

I want people to not feel alone in whatever it is that is going on in their heads, lives, etc. At the same time, I also want to extend the invitation to be OK, feeling alone.

Just last year, you had over 3 million listeners on Spotify. Do you think that streaming has played a big part in getting your name out and exposing you to fans who may not have heard you otherwise?

Absolutely. I’ve had people come up to me after shows telling me they heard about me/or my show through Spotify. It’s been a rad thing to see the connection between listeners who stream and listeners who go to live shows!

Who are some figures-musical or not- that give you inspiration and motivation for your music?

Right now, and for a while, musically, it’s been Frank Ocean. He just has a way of writing that kind of blows my mind away. It gives me both inspiration and hesitation, so I think his art is a valuable source, definitely.

When/how did you know that music was going to be a huge part of your life?

I think there are a handful of moments I’ve felt that, but if I had to pinpoint one, it would be when I released my first ever single into the world via the Internet. “Heavy Shoulders” was released on January 27th, 2015. That was a terrifyingly good day.