“I wanna shut the blinds and close my eyes. In a world where there’s no time…”. Imagine a world with no conception of time, at least not the one we have: completely devoted to work, achievements, norms and many other forms of oppression. Something similar to what Hsing and Luis experience in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Paradises Lost: they have never known Earth, nor can they expect to experience the promised destination themselves. These first lines are the beginning of Haute & Freddy’s new single, Touch Touch, their first new music since the release of their acclaimed debut album, Big Disgrace. Another wild example of the power of imagination, which the pair recently debuted live at Lollapalooza.
Because time is a possibility: a future that you desire is at the heart of the band’s narrative. “Ultimately, Haute & Freddy make music that will remind you to be you”, explains their bio, and that’s the closest you’ll get to expressing in words the feeling their music produces. The LA-based duo has shaken up the world of pop with the release of their debut album, Big Disgrace, one of the best albums of the year, full of maximalist and campy anthems that bring their incredible world to life. Its thirteen colourful, maximalist tracks blend analogue synths, inventive rhythms and theatrical pop with themes of escapism, individuality and inclusivity. Think The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Andrew Lloyd Webber, the ’80s, Lady Gaga, John Waters or Death Becomes Her. The band draws on these references but incorporates their own vision for a new generation: their fans are known as the Royal Court, which is already enough to give you a glimpse into their universe.
Every publication has tagged them as one of the best newcomers and emerging talents of the year, but Michelle Buzz and Lance Shipp have been creating music for a long time now (they have written and co-produced music for the likes of Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears and Calvin Harris). Both had established careers as songwriters before meeting in Los Angeles, and began writing together simply for fun, without expectations or rules. They soon created the characters of Haute and Freddy, using them as vessels for real-life emotions and a more uninhibited approach to creativity. Their debut single, Scantily Clad, became a viral success on TikTok, followed by tracks including Anti-Superstar, Dance the Pain Away and Shy Girl, which attracted millions of streams and attention from outlets including Rolling Stone, People and SPIN, among others.
Their music combines infectious melodies, bold vocals, ’80s-inspired synths and playful irreverence, something they make sure to translate into their live shows. From the dream of becoming a Showgirl at Heart to the defiant declaration of I Like My People Weird, Haute & Freddy encourage listeners to resist the pressure to fit in and make space for their most authentic selves. At its core, the project is an invitation to embrace difference, have fun and let the inner freak take centre stage. “I don’t know if it’s more about the empowerment of intimacy or the simplicity of letting community soothe the insanity of life right now, but regardless, it’s shamelessly dramatic”, they say of Touch Touch. It comes with a new video directed by Amalia Irons, enriching their already fabulous visual world that feels like life in another time; another possibility.
We spoke to the band a few days before they kicked off the next leg of their sold-out Big Disgrace World Tour, and discussed the freedom they discovered in making Big Disgrace, the ’80s pop and art that shaped their sound, their influences, and the importance of creating spaces where weirdness, self-expression and difference can be celebrated.
After a whole year of teasing us with absolute pop bangers in 2025, just a few months ago your debut album, Big Disgrace, was released. How do you feel about it now that you've had some time to enjoy it and get feedback?
Michelle: Just immensely proud of it. It feels like so much of our journeys were leading to making this music and I feel it in every song.
Lance: Honestly, I feel the same love for it as when we were creating it, but it’s amazing to get to see other people loving it too.
Lance: Honestly, I feel the same love for it as when we were creating it, but it’s amazing to get to see other people loving it too.
Big Disgrace isn’t just an album title: it’s almost a manifesto about embracing what makes you different. Throughout the record you balance escapism with real emotional struggles, and we can identify moments reflecting depression, burnout, longing, identity. You mentioned that you started creating music as Haute & Freddy for fun, but the outcome is impressive beyond the music itself: there’s so much love in it. Did creating the whole record teach you something important about yourselves that you didn’t know before?
Michelle: Creating Big Disgrace definitely taught me to follow the fun and trust myself. I had dealt with the fallout of my previous artist project completely flopping, a songwriting career with ageing credits that weren’t keeping me afloat financially, trying to stay in LA surrounded by colleagues who had hit their stride — I was truly under the impression that a successful career in music was not coming for me. Getting to that point where I made peace with not ‘making it’ in music, I was able to start valuing my own happiness. Haute & Freddy was my version of a giant miniature Lego city in a basement; this hobby fantasy world I couldn’t stop building while I got ready to have a job outside of music. Big Disgrace taught me that magical things happen when you express yourself without thinking about the next step.
Lance: Making Big Disgrace was my confirmation that the universe will reward you for being yourself at all times.
Lance: Making Big Disgrace was my confirmation that the universe will reward you for being yourself at all times.
Scantily Clad was your introduction to the pop world; it’s an ’80s-inspired art-pop dance song, and that sound extends throughout the rest of your album. Do you think the ’80s were a decade in which pop music and culture were a bit more open to “weirdness”? Who are your favourites from that time?
Michelle: Lene Lovich, Kate Bush, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Bowie — it was an era of dramatic, eccentric performers, the age of the synthesizer. I will always resonate with those sounds and that kind of artist that is oozing some wild force. I think we are seeing artists give that kind of madness again, regardless of genre, and it’s exciting.
Lance: I love the ’80s because I’m obsessed with synthesizers. They were making music with a brand-new instrument and you can hear that creativity in the songs from that era. I love Phil Collins, Tears For Fears, Missing Persons, and iconic songs like Forever Young and Take On Me – they never get old.
Lance: I love the ’80s because I’m obsessed with synthesizers. They were making music with a brand-new instrument and you can hear that creativity in the songs from that era. I love Phil Collins, Tears For Fears, Missing Persons, and iconic songs like Forever Young and Take On Me – they never get old.
The song Dance the Pain Away balances anxiety and joy at the same time. It’s brilliant, and it reinforces a message that we tend to forget: we still need to dance our pain away; it works! Do you think dancing is actually a form of therapy for you?
Michelle: Totally. It shuts my mind off and is the best way to just be in the moment, feel the music, and not care how I look.
Lance: There’s such a catharsis after dancing with friends; any built-up anxiety can disappear, it seems.
Lance: There’s such a catharsis after dancing with friends; any built-up anxiety can disappear, it seems.
How did you meet? Do you remember the moment when you decided you wanted to create music together? And how did that lead to the birth of Haute & Freddy?
Michelle: We met in 2016 through mutual friends in the songwriting community and would bump into each other at the same parties. We didn’t start having prolonged conversations until the pandemic, though. Some friends and I would spend our nights playing all of our rejected demos, and Lance and I started realising we had the same taste in music. It was a huge surprise to both of us to hear what we were making by ourselves.
Lance: Yeah, once we started showing each other music we loved from our childhood and old demos, we could hear all the same inspirations. We both shared a lot of the same frustrations with our careers as well, and I think that led us to want to do something we had total control over, where all the things we were really into could exist.
Lance: Yeah, once we started showing each other music we loved from our childhood and old demos, we could hear all the same inspirations. We both shared a lot of the same frustrations with our careers as well, and I think that led us to want to do something we had total control over, where all the things we were really into could exist.
I’ve read that you used a homemade setup with a sock-covered microphone to record Fields of Versailles. Are there any other homemade tricks you've used in your music production that you can tell us about?
Michelle: All of H&F is so DIY. Lance literally builds pre-amps to emulate really expensive ones. And they work! With Sophie, we recorded with two socks over an SM57 because we were at an Airbnb and didn’t want to hear so much of the room… but with Freaks, we were also at an Airbnb and we let the room noise exist.
Lance: I built a few pre-amps and compressors that we ran the songs through. I love electronics and understanding how everything works. And a lot of the time we didn’t have a ton of space, so most of Big Disgrace was recorded in a bedroom or a living room, and mixed from a kitchen table.
Lance: I built a few pre-amps and compressors that we ran the songs through. I love electronics and understanding how everything works. And a lot of the time we didn’t have a ton of space, so most of Big Disgrace was recorded in a bedroom or a living room, and mixed from a kitchen table.
Freaks encapsulates something really interesting: traditionally, marginalised people have reclaimed some of the insults they have historically received and turned them into statements of pride. This song owns the word, and it’s brilliantly brought to life visually in its music video. You worked with Amalia Irons on it (and others), and it reminds me of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. How did the song and the video come about?
Michelle: I love that it’s also a circus term that can now be rebranded instead of being used as an insult. We love taking that kind of terminology – same with “oh, what a big disgrace” – and making it something proud and unashamed. We wrote it in Topanga with Askjell (same collaborator as Sophie, Fields of Versailles, Sweet Surrender) and it was an explosive day. I feel like us and The Rocky Horror Picture Show share a similar approach to poking at conservative hang-ups, so I wanted to honour that through the video as much as possible.
“Creating Big Disgrace definitely taught me to follow the fun and trust myself.” Michelle
Your album is a balm for the queer community and anyone who feels like they don’t belong. Now that you’re travelling the world, how do you see things in terms of equality? There’s a scary feeling that we’re going backwards and that there is more and more racism and hate present in our daily lives.
Michelle: I feel this a lot; it’s impossible not to. But I will say, going on tour this year to so many different places we had never been before, seeing the big variety of ages in the Royal Court, feeling the kindness in that room, the respect people are having for each other, the joy and self-expression – I don’t know if it’s naive, but it makes me feel like maybe the majority of people in this country really do want things to evolve and make sense.
Lance: I see the world the same way as I always have. Every person is equal. To me, it’s so simple: we all deserve the same opportunity to live freely and not feel like our life is in danger because of the colour of our skin, who we love or how we want to express ourselves. At our shows, that’s the space we want to create, where everyone can feel loved for who they are.
Lance: I see the world the same way as I always have. Every person is equal. To me, it’s so simple: we all deserve the same opportunity to live freely and not feel like our life is in danger because of the colour of our skin, who we love or how we want to express ourselves. At our shows, that’s the space we want to create, where everyone can feel loved for who they are.
Your aesthetic blends Baroque fashion, carnival imagery, underground clubs, and ’80s synth-pop. Was there ever a moment when you worried people wouldn’t “get it”?
Michelle: Haute & Freddy was the first time in my career that I stopped worrying if people would get it. The week we posted Scantily Clad, I was literally going to interview for a piano teaching position at a school, so Haute & Freddy was just a hobby and no one needed to get it anyways.
Lance: I have a healthy amount of delusion that has kept me going in music. I don’t worry too much about if people will get it because if I did, I probably wouldn’t release it. If it feels good, do it — that’s what I tell myself.
Lance: I have a healthy amount of delusion that has kept me going in music. I don’t worry too much about if people will get it because if I did, I probably wouldn’t release it. If it feels good, do it — that’s what I tell myself.
Your performance is so complete. The makeup and costumes deserve a moment of their own; how did you create your style? What are the main references and places where you find the right clothing? And what about the makeup?
Michelle: Thank you, honestly! We have a running joke that I’m no longer allowed to style our music videos because it becomes my entire priority, to the point where I’m not learning the choreo that I need to do in the video because I’m having too much fun spending a third day at a costume warehouse. When we got our first show, I remember going to Jet Rag and getting every ’80s prairie blouse I could find. For the Freddy look, I found a few vintage stores in LA that have owners who used to work at costume houses — and they have secret areas in the back of the store where, if you give off the right vibe, they will show you their costumes.
When Playclothes in Burbank sold off their costume rentals, I bought every pirate-adjacent look humanly possible. I remember the cashier saying, “You must really like pirates.” The prairie blouse and pirate blouse are still staples, but now it’s about making the shoulders bigger, the ruffles more romantic, the details more enchanting. I love sketching our tour looks and spending days downtown finding fabrics. As for the makeup, it’s all inspired by Dame Pat McGrath, especially her spellbinding work with Galliano. My squiggly brow is an exact nod to the chic unhingedness captured perfectly in Galliano’s 2007 show.
Lance: And my answer is… Michelle shows me the clothing after going on her quests, and I say I love it!
When Playclothes in Burbank sold off their costume rentals, I bought every pirate-adjacent look humanly possible. I remember the cashier saying, “You must really like pirates.” The prairie blouse and pirate blouse are still staples, but now it’s about making the shoulders bigger, the ruffles more romantic, the details more enchanting. I love sketching our tour looks and spending days downtown finding fabrics. As for the makeup, it’s all inspired by Dame Pat McGrath, especially her spellbinding work with Galliano. My squiggly brow is an exact nod to the chic unhingedness captured perfectly in Galliano’s 2007 show.
Lance: And my answer is… Michelle shows me the clothing after going on her quests, and I say I love it!
And also, I have to ask you about art, especially films and paintings. Which artists, movies, or artworks have influenced you in developing the universe of Haute & Freddy?
Michelle: Antiquing was the real start of visually dreaming up this world. Driving to small towns and going to antique malls, I kept gravitating to the old juggling pins with their faded paint, the worn velvet chaise lounges and footstools, the marching batons, opera glasses, a rusty wagon wheel, the lampshades with tassels, burnt edges of old sheet music. The first thing I bought was an old red unicycle. And that’s where I saw the old 19th-century magazine covers and their illustrations that influenced all of our merch and flyer designs.
One of the things I recently discovered and looooved so much is the name of your fanbase: Royal Court. It’s so on point; it feels like the perfect name (and quite horizontal). How have these past two years been when it comes to meeting fans? Especially as they commit to getting dressed up so well!
Michelle: The Royal Court is the best part of Haute & Freddy; they surprise us every time with their amazing outfits, makeup, passion, kindness and commitment to the bit. Last week, at our Lolla aftershow at Thalia Hall, I don’t think there was a single person who didn’t have a full clown get-up or a powdered wig on… and there were fans who made giant cue cards with “laugh” and “aaawww” and held them up from a balcony seat, while surrounded by fans with opera glasses watching the show in this snooty manner, just like we describe the queen in Scantily Clad. The Royal Court is literally bringing our world to life at the shows.
Lance: It’s been incredible to see the work they put into their outfits, the details, the commitment… it makes me feel like committing even harder alongside them.
Lance: It’s been incredible to see the work they put into their outfits, the details, the commitment… it makes me feel like committing even harder alongside them.
“We both shared a lot of the same frustrations with our careers, and I think that led us to want to do something we had total control over, where all the things we were really into could exist.” Lance
Last year you were playing sold-out headline shows, and now you’re touring internationally and playing festivals like Lollapalooza and Outside Lands. What are the most important things you are learning from the music industry?
Michelle: I’m kind of tuning out the industry and trying to focus on being true to myself every step of the way. Last year I was getting in my head being backstage at our first festivals; I think I felt like I had to prove why we should be there. This year I’m not even going there mentally and reminding myself to enjoy the day, have fun on stage, and if I pass an artist I love, I’m saying hi and not being so nervous.
Lance: There’s always a certain amount of stress with playing bigger shows and festivals, but once the show starts, that goes away and I’m mentally at a small club with the fans, making eye contact with whoever is screaming the words.
Lance: There’s always a certain amount of stress with playing bigger shows and festivals, but once the show starts, that goes away and I’m mentally at a small club with the fans, making eye contact with whoever is screaming the words.
Another highlight of the album is Showgirl at Heart. The track vividly captures a leading lady stepping onstage for the first time, bringing her moment of transformation to life. Do you feel like that when you perform live? In other words, what is the experience of performing your music together in front of different crowds every night like?
Michelle: It feels like a super safe place where all we are is in the moment with each other – riding the exact same wave and getting to have a ton of fun with the fans. Showgirl at Heart is definitely about all of us in the room, like, here’s our time to feel like stars and live the fantasy together.
Lance: During the show, I’m in my own world, super focused on playing the song and being as goofy as possible so our fans can feel free to be outrageous with us. It always hits me at some point like, wow, all these people love our music and actually bought a ticket to come here – that’s crazy.
Lance: During the show, I’m in my own world, super focused on playing the song and being as goofy as possible so our fans can feel free to be outrageous with us. It always hits me at some point like, wow, all these people love our music and actually bought a ticket to come here – that’s crazy.
You have written songs for major artists like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Kylie Minogue, among many others. And recently Lady Gaga shared your music on her social media. Are there any other artists you’d like to collaborate with?
Gaga would be at the top of our list, we’d love to make a big musical number with her. We’d also love to collaborate with The Last Dinner Party, maybe do a little verse or something.
After touring, what are your plans? I hope some rest, but can we expect new music along the way?
We have some new music coming this year. And definitely more coming next year.
If someone were entering the Royal Court for the very first time, what initiation would they have to complete?
Bring merriment with thee whenever possible, let thy balloon crown be seen, pay not attention to the nobles, ring thy bells, wear thine colors, wave thine flags, express thyself, raise thy voice when witnessing cruelties, be freakish, and know all the words to Big Disgrace without hesitation thus sayeth your Humble Jesters.
