A Q&A with Daisy Abrams ’19
Daisy Abrams, ’19, a music major from Los Angeles recently released an EP entitled “Stay Open.” The EP includes five original songs written and performed by Abrams: “Hypothetical,” “Inevitable,” “Beautiful Distractions,” “Daydreaming,” and “Outer Space.” I had the chance to meet up with Abrams and chat about her inspiration, her songwriting process and where she sees herself in the future.
Franki Rudnesky: What made you decide to come to SJU?
Daisy Abrams: I knew I always wanted to go on the east coast, just because I wanted something different. And my sister ended up kind of randomly going to St. Joe’s, and she now lives in Philadelphia so it was an easy transition to go far away because of being near her.
FR: When did you first have the idea to release an EP?
DA: I’ve been writing music since probably high school, which is when I really got into it. So as soon as I had a body of work I was like ‘it makes sense to release it,’ so I went to a studio in Los Angeles years ago, and it just wasn’t good. I liked the songs but I just felt like I wasn’t ready to go forward with it. But after writing years after, I knew last summer that I wanted to release this certain EP.
FR: Once you had the idea for the EP, how did it make its way all the way to production?
DA: So first I was just dealing with the songs, picking out of all my originals, which ones fit together and which ones I wanted to be my first ever. So first I decided that, decided the title, decided what I wanted the cover to be and then I went forward and I recorded the songs here in Philadelphia at a studio that’s called Milkboy Studios in Center City. And I recorded everything in one day: piano, vocals, ukelele. I was gonna just release it like that, just basic, and then I was like you know, these songs are really special to me and I felt like they didn’t have enough substance as it was. So my friends from L.A., Lexi Sorrentino and John J. Fox, they are musicians and producers, added the production. So if you hear the cellos and the little things here and there, that’s all them.
FR: So, how would you describe your songwriting process? What is that like?
DA: It definitely varies. Sometimes I’m in such a flow and it can take minutes like start to finish to write the song and that’s obviously the best when that happens; the song kinda writes itself. But other times it takes a little work, like I’ll really wanna sit down and write something and I can’t come up with anything.
FR: How are you feeling about releasing your EP?
DA: It’s definitely really satisfying just because I’ve been talking about this EP for a while and to have something to show for it is really nice. So I’m definitely relieved that I can check it off. I am proud of it; I’m really happy with how it turned out.
FR: And what has the response been like?
DA: People are so nice, it’s overwhelming just how kind people are. I’ll pass by people and they’ll be like ‘Oh I listened to it,’ and it’s like as much as it means the world, I didn’t really expect that. That was really cool, so people are so nice, especially here at St. Joe’s. People are so supportive.
FR: What would be your ultimate goal, like where do you see yourself in the future?
DA: Anything where I could do this for a living is definitely the dream. You know, I’d love to go on tour, I’d love to perform at music festivals and continue to record. Obviously it’d be great to be able to record without having to put in the money myself, like it would be nice if that could be taken care of. To be able to do it for a living, as a career, is where I see it. I don’t really care how successful I am, just as long as it’s a comfortable lifestyle that would be nice.
FR: So I just really have one more question overall – I was just wondering if you have any advice for students who want to release music, but maybe they’re nervous?
DA: I would say definitely put your fears aside. It’s just a thought at one point, but then you can just take the little steps, like writing down what you’re envisioning, what you’re hearing, and what you want it to be like, and just go from there. I think really people let their beliefs stop them. So I think that if people wanna release an EP just go ahead and do the little things and you’ll get there, for sure.
FR: That’s so cool. And then did you have anything else you wanted to say?
DA: Just, “Stay Open,” which is the name of it [the EP]. Stay open, guys.
“Stay Open” is now available on Spotify, iTunes and BandCamp.
