Pre-Show Interview with Bossi
So I was wondering, do you have any pre-show rituals to kind of get you pumped up? The weirder the better.
“[laughter] So it’s actually not weird at all, but I meditate. I usually have enough pump up as soon as I stand on stage. So for me, It’s always about making sure I’m calm. So I will meditate and then try to hydrate. I always have a tonic water before I go on stage, ‘cause the sugar helps kind of lubricate my throat. Sometimes I listen to my music before I go on stage too, if I do need a little bit of excitement and pump up."
So what song are you really excited to perform tonight, especially if you have a little surprise planned for it. I had the pleasure of seeing you at We Found New Music and that fan [from “Monster in Me”] was like, my favorite part of that whole night.
“I mean, I’m excited to perform all of them, but I’m always really excited to perform that song; it’s theatrical. It’s really over the top. The fan is super snarky and sassy. Usually I really get a rile out of the crowd with that song. especially when I introduce it like I will tonight. And people who follow me on social media, they know the ‘Finishing School’, so for them it’s also like a nod to this thing they’re really into online”
Which I did see. I was really happy about seeing one of my photos of you as the highlight picture!
“Oh yeah! It’s 32 episodes so far and they always cover political or patriarchal subject matter”
Which would be a perfect segue to my next question. For the uneducated, ‘cause I myself am a fan of yours, what messages do you want to convey with your music?
“What I really want my music to convey overall is just the fact that women should be able to be loud, to be sassy, to take up the full amount of space to take up the stage, to be in full frame. So it’s really about empowering women, especially against the climate that we’re in right now. Allowing women to express anger, which is a feeling we don’t often allow for women, we encourage them to suppress [that feeling]. So those feelings of anger, of humor, of being over the top, all of these things that women are often told [that] we’re too much or we’re not enough. So I think that’s always the message I want to convey; Be over the top, be too much. You are enough. You are wonderful as you are and you should get to live the fullest expression of your life that you imagine.”
I wholeheartedly agree, and I feel like that’s what drew me to you in the first place. With that, do you have any messages or personal advice you’d give to up-and-coming artists or musicians who may be struggling to find motivation to keep going?
“I would say what’s helped me the most is focusing on the joy of the process and less on the outcome. Because it’s really tough today to be a musician. There’s so much, so many songs coming out on Spotify every day. So many of them now are AI and you’re not even competing with real people anymore. You’re competing with robots. So it can be really hard, it could be really discouraging. So what keeps me going is just remembering why I’m doing this in the first place, and focusing on the joy of creating, the joy of putting music out, and I’m proud of that product ... just continuing to stay consistent every single day, and keep getting that message out there. You know, marketing is always the hardest thing for artists, typically”
I’m so glad you brought up AI, it irks me so much. Especially when a song comes up and I find it really catchy. Then I find out it was all AI the whole time.
“I know. It’s so disheartening. Not to mention the whole, like, Spotify and the streaming process that doesn’t really give back to the artist”
Yeah, I’m sure we can go on and on about it [laughs]. So last but not least, do you have any current guilty pleasure songs?
“That’s a great question. I don’t know if it feels like a guilty pleasure, but I love Green Day; American Idiot is always super therapeutic. There’s [also] a really cool new band out of London, also indie. The band is called ‘So Good’. They have this song called ‘If I Had a Dick’ and it’s just so brazen. It is so brazen and fabulous and just hilarious and snarky. And it’s smart too, you know? It’s cool. So I actually have been listening to that too and really digging what they’re doing, especially because they’re an indie band out of London. I believe two girls in the band just kick ass.”
I really gotta check them out after the show! Thanks again for taking the time to talk to me, especially for my first ever interview. I’m actually a very nervous person and you made me feel very welcomed and comfortable!
“Of course! Thanks for asking me ... and thanks for taking photos and supporting artists and doing interviews like this. If it helps, I always get nervous before I go on stage too. You’re not alone my friend”
Written and photographed by Richardesque