Interview: Genevieve

April 3, 2016Samantha Beggins

By: Erin Brown

Sounds To Sight had the chance to interview Genevieve, the powerful and inspiring pop singer (formerly the front-woman of Chicago-based band Company of Thieves).

Genevieve released her first solo EP, Show Your Colors, on March 10, 2015.

Q: So you’re on tour right now, how is that going?

A: This tour is so fun. The guys from in A Great Big World are the kindest band I’ve ever been on the road with. Every night I feel really supported and safe enough to be myself on stage, which is so cool.

Q: What does music mean to you in your life?

A: For me, music is more of a way of life. It is always present – melodies and rhythms that are gently shaping all of my experiences.

Q: How does music help you share your experiences?

A: Well music is sound and vibrations and frequency and that is already exciting because I’m very sensitive to energy. It’s just a way of existing. It’s like I’m tuning into a certain vibration. It’s a state of mind – it’s a place where spirits can dance, it’s a place where the body can dance – it’s kind of an all coming together of mind, body and spirit for me.

Q: Who are your inspirations?

A: At about four years old the Beatles were my whole life. By the time I was 10 I was deeply moved by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. By the time I was 12 I was deeply moved by Bjork and Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. Those are really my main influences. Although I became a teenage and very hormonal and I had a wide range of artists I felt gave me a voice that I didn’t have, you know, which they necessarily didn’t stick with me.

Q: Can you talk about how you transitioned into your music and who you are now after leaving Company of Thieves?

A: I’ve experienced a lot of change since departing from Company of Thieves, mostly in my ability to surrender to the joy of being alive and saying yes to love for myself and love for others. I guess I used to be very concerned with fitting in to a group, specifically my band, and being able to be considered one of the guys or gal. That was a safe place for me but I wasn’t necessarily operating at my true vibration. I think that part of my desire to fit into the group when I was younger was to be taken very seriously – to be cool and edgy, whatever, all of these goofy, fleeting adjectives. But now, I am just myself. I’m just honest and I’m present and who knows what that equates to other than authenticity, which I love. I feel like I’m spreading my wings or something.

Q: What is the music writing process writing like for you?

A: The process is always changing – I only write when I’m inspired, which happens to be very often, thank gosh. It is sort of about me getting out of my own way, and letting something else kind of flow through me. Sometimes that’s me by myself at the piano at my home; sometimes it’s me walking down the street and singing a melody into my phone and recording it; sometimes it’s meeting up with another musician who is proficient on some instrument I am not and encouraged by them to dance with them musically, come up with the melody and lyrics to music that they’re playing. Sometimes I can hear a cool beat and I’ll start singing a melody from there. It’s really about being open to letting whatever it is that needs to flow through, flow through.

Q: In “My Real Name,” the lyrics go “You pushed me to grow/Maybe I can make it.” For you, what is the point where you know you’ve made it?

A: (Laughs) I love this! Okay, for example, I was recording a new song of mine, a demo of it, at a recording studio in Santa Monica, California called The Village. The Village is this awesome, totally famous recording studio that has been up and running for so long. Everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Lady Gaga to John Mayer and so on and so forth have recorded there. And I was sitting with a friend and saying to him, “I hope this all goes well. I hope I can do this and go on tour and reach as many people as possible and share this positive message of love and light. I hope it’s gonna be OK.” And he just started laughing and he put his head on my shoulder and says, “You’re doing it! You’re here, right now, recording in this studio! You live in California! You’re singing a song that you wrote about your life – like what do you mean you hope it’s going to be OK? You are doing it. You’ve been doing it.” And it was so simple, but it was the first time I had ever thought of it that way. Like, oh, when I’m present in the moment, I am – I am! I’m living my life, the one that I designed! So when I wrote “My Real Name,” it was inspired by accepting or being aware of love – like love that I could receive for the first time. It’s sort of like, wait – really? I can be loved? This is a way I can live? – to love myself and be loved and love others?…It’s like hey! Wake up! This is it – this is your life! This is heaven right now, if you want it to be.

Q: How do you envision yourself growing in the coming years? Where do you want to be in the next few years?

A: Well going with what I’ve just been sort of touching on, I would say: continuing to grown, to expand, to love, to be loved, to be inspired and to share and connect with others and be surprised. Creating a lot of whatever I need to create –art, relationships, a safe place to exist in within myself.

Q: So you are from Chicago, is it ever different performing here in Chicago having all of your history here?

A: It’s always different in a way that is special to me because I grew up there and I know the city like the back of my hand. I feel that a lot of people who come to see me play in Chicago have been able to see me grow up before their eyes. I’ve been playing publicly in Chicago since I was 15 years old. They see from a young teenager to now a woman in her life. It’s good. I can laugh a lot when I’m in Chicago and also feel challenged to really dig down deep and get to that good stuff because I’d be fooling no one (laughs) to cut myself short.

Q: What message are you ultimately trying to get across with your music?

A: Love. Love and beauty and faith and adventure. Not having to hide. That hiding is not necessarily equal to protecting – that you can celebrate your life and be who you are and love yourself and love others and accept love and it just rocks my world, and I hope it rocks yours, too.