Carrie Lane is the up and coming indie pop artist you’ll be listening to all summer

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Carrie Lane is the up and coming indie pop artist you’ll be listening to all summer

‘I don’t want to be the next person, I want to be the first’

Carrie Lane is a rising young indie pop artist based out of California, whose body-posi mantra and hippie vibes make her, well, a total babe. In a world full of Lana Del Reys and Halseys, Carrie has a unique sound — what she describes as “tropic pop.”

Carrie’s new album, California Freaks, was released June 23rd and describes what it’s like to be young and in love.

babe spoke with Carrie about her new album, creating music for millennial girls, and her favorite meme.

How did your childhood influence your music?

It’s so interesting because the EP just released is named California Freaks, and I had never even been to California until I was 18 or 19 years old. I think that probably shaped a lot of how I ended up writing about it because California was always ideal in my mind, and then when I got here it was just so far from what I was expecting it to be. This EP is about the disappointments of what it was like moving here and how the people weren’t exactly what I was expecting.

  • Did the people change your views of California, or the actual place?

    I think California is so aesthetically beautiful and there’s a facade of everyone living in the clouds. Everybody is on the beach and beautiful, skinny, and tan. It’s almost like this fake dichotomy because the people are so bizarre and out of touch. For me, that felt like a circus or a freak show, and that’s where California freaks comes from.

    Is there an artist that influences your work?

    I feel like it’s really important to not have somebody in mind you want to be just like. A lot of times when I hear artists say that I’m like okay well If I told you, “I want to be the next Lana Del Rey” it’s like, why? One Lana Del Rey already exists. I don’t want to be the next person, I want to be the first person. I want to be the first Carrie Lane.

    I was a huge Beach Boys fan, Bruce Springsteen fan — classic rock was in my house. Growing up I listened to a lot of Amy Whinehouse and 90’s R&B, I have so many different weird styles that I pull from that kind of creates this unique style and I think we learned it on the term “tropic pop.”

    What’s your favorite song from the California Freaks EP?

    Florida Keys. The story of Florida Keys is when you first start dating somebody and stay over at their house for one the first times and you both are just too excited to go to bed. You stay up all night just talking about your life and all the stories from your childhood, and all the things you want to do and fantasize about all the places you want to go together.

    How has your music has allowed you to be a role model?

    Something super important to me is mental health awareness and it’s something I’m really passionate about, and I think the majority of young women are struggling to find their voice to talk about.

    So, I’m just trying to, in my own way, model positive behavior for what it means to be healthy and what it means to not be okay. I feel like there’s so much pressure on all on of us to be like “We don’t have the perfect relationship,” or, “We don’t have the perfect body,” and I feel like we need to learn it’s OK that we’re not there yet, and live in some of that discomfort and figure out a way to get there. I think my music basically gives me an outlet to tell those stories about myself, and kind of gives others a way to say, “OK, it isn’t just me going through these failures, somebody else is, somebody else is telling their story.”

    Where are you planning to go on tour?

    It’s so weird, I have this weird love for the desert that most people don’t understand. I kind of want to get in a gross tour bus and tour the Midwest, and Arizona — I don’t know. I spent all of my time in big, populated cities that I just want to go to Nebraska, I want to go to the middle of nowhere.

    What are your long term goals?

    I want to sign for a major label, and then I want to record a full length album. I also want to start my own clothing line and my own charity specifically for women and mental health. I want to do a lot. Eventually, I want to go back and do a Broadway show. That was my first love, my first passion, and it’ll always be there, the same way your first love will always be there. I feel like I have a million and one goals, and I feel like I should be able to reach all of them.

    One last question, do you have a favorite meme?

    Those are the ones with the white text on the top and the bottom, right? Or like a face? Oh! I like any ones of Kermit sipping the tea. I’m the person who just discovered the Kermit sipping tea thing a month ago. I’m so behind on all these things, they’re already circulated out by the time that I find them.

    You can listen to Carrie Lane’s California Freaks here, and watch out for her tour starting in the Fall.


    Interview has been edited for length and brevity. 

    @thelensofkenz