Introducing: Knife Girl

We wrote about the fabulous brassy pop of The Good Times Are Coming Your Way on the blog recently. We were so enamoured of the song we caught up with Knife Girl to talk music, the creative process, and transitioning.

Could you tell us something about Knife Girl the artist?

I make all sorts of music about my feelings and society and gender and sex and depression and stuff!

How does Knife Girl differ from previous music projects you’ve been involved in?

My old artist name was my deadname, and ‘cause I changed my name when I started transitioning, I also changed my artist name. That change in artist name gave me the chance to try out something new.

This new music I’m making has a lot more structure and lyrics to it. I’m really trying to push myself musically and also with how I present myself. I want to be a pop star.

Which comes first in your creative process – music or lyrics?

Usually my songs start out as doodles in  my DAW, and when I’ve got some sort of good loop going on that’s when I start thinking about lyrics and vocal melody.

What producer or musician would you love to work with?

I’d love to work with Charli XCX or Carly rae Jepsen. They’re great songwriters and performers, I really look up to them.

What song can you not resist singing along to?

Africa by Toto.

What other Finnish acts should we be checking out right now?

This is an awesome question but I’m so stressed I’ll forget to mention someone/something really cool. Teini-Ikä is making funny crazy pop music. Lucy Lohan is making some weird ass rap . Telephone Romeo who plays bass in my live band makes great psychedelic rocky poppy funky music.

Recent single The Good Times Are Coming Your Way comes across as pop with a purpose. Could you tell us something about the song?

I wasn’t really trying super hard to make it pop, but I think the lead melody is pretty catchy. When I wrote Good Times I was going through a tough time with my depression, and I wanted to write something hopeful for myself. I don’t actually know whether or not good times are really coming your way, you know? It’s more like hoping for it, manifesting.

The track features on your new album. Are there any central themes to the songs on Uniform?

Uniform is about how we’re forced into certain roles and places because of society’s expectations. We seek validation from places that don’t respect us, and try to be people we don’t want to be. The album isn’t all that heavy though, I think there’s a lot of wacky and fun songs on it.

What’s up next for Knife Girl after the release of Uniform?

I’m focusing on writing tighter and more poppy songs right now. It’s a bit more electronic, something like my earlier OONA EP.  The next album is gonna be all POP, and I’m really excited about it.

Uniform is out now via Soliti 101/Playground. You can stream Uniform and more music from Knife Girl on Apple Music and Deezer. Be sure to check out Knife Girl’s Twitter and Instagram socials to find out more about the album and upcoming gigs.