Daughter of a poet and sister to Lorde — one of pop music’s greatest voices — Indy finds her own voice at the crossroads of the poetry that led her to songwriting and the saviours and idols who showed her the way. On her second EP, Fame Is A Bedroom, the New York–based New Zealander offers us, amid shimmering guitars and dreamlike choruses, lyrics that cut like a dagger to exorcise her demons and become her own guardian angel.
To begin, how do you personally relate to the concept of Savior, the opening track on this EP?
I wrote Savior at a time when I was coming out of a long‑term breakup, and I was kind of seeing things for what they were. I relate to the concept because it’s about the loss of innocence, and feeling like losing your innocence to someone a little bit older, in a way. I think it’s the one song that’s very vulnerable, and really depicts a really formative, somewhat toxic relationship with someone older. And I think that you have to turn twenty-five to see those kind of things for what they are. And in a way, it’s beautiful, but it’s still painful.
How do you see the themes of Savior and Idol overlapping or interrelating on the EP?
I love that you said that, because yes, they actually do. It’s kind of like Savior is… you date someone older when you’re younger sometimes, and you think that a man leads you by the hand, and you’re going to be saved by him. It’s easy to feel that way. Idol is a different story, because obviously it’s about my sister. It’s about sisterhood and family. And then you realise at the end of the day, it’s family that always knows you best. And so you may lean towards a relationship to feel known and loved. But when you lean into something that you’ve known your whole life, and you’ve idolised it, it’s more real, especially in your later life, especially when I’m twenty-six versus twenty-two, when I look at a relationship as a saviour versus equal. I really wanted that imagery to feel so divine and balanced, in a sense. But Idol isn’t. Idol is balanced, in a way.
Could you elaborate on how you express spirituality through your music and convey that divine aura?
Yeah, I mean, I guess for me it’s more just specific to people and seeing people as — some of the themes of this EP is I definitely put people on pedestals. And I think that sometimes, you know, the way I love is very grandiose and big. So I think it’s more in reference to symbolism in that way. The presence of my sister in my life is essentially my idol. You know, she’s a life of even knowing. And then I’m saviour in the sense of realising that actually I’m my own saviour, you know? And in the loss of a long‑term relationship and you find yourself again, you are your own. It’s my own artistic expression as my saviour in a sense.
How have you evolved personally and musically from your first EP, Threads, to this new EP, Fame Is A Bedroom?
Oh, I think I’ve changed immensely. I put that EP out when I was twenty-three. So a lot of life has been lived. And I think that I’ve written a lot of songs in between. So I think my ability to enunciate my sonic experience is stronger. I think that I’m just maybe a better writer now. I think Threads is still one of my favourite songs. But I think ultimately I’m a better writer. So I think that maybe it’s that. You grow with your experiences and your real life experiences.
What do you want to transmit with this metaphor of Fame Is A Bedroom?
Well, to me, Fame Is A Bedroom is all the conversations I’ve had in private. I think of my bedroom as a safe space. I think of you leave your identity, relationships, everything at the door and you shut it and you’re in your bed. I think of all of these, the Fame Is A Bedroom is the act of a farewell. It’s, you know, the loss of these important relationships, my life and past versions of myself. So I think that it’s about like the intimacy of sisterhood, the distance of fame, trusting a very private relationship when it feels like the whole world’s watching. It’s in reference to being twenty-six and realising you don’t always have to be tied to somebody else’s identity. So it kind of means all those things. And it also means like everything that I carry, it’s not necessarily just about identity. It’s everything that I carry after formative relationships end in my bedroom.
Did you write poetry before becoming a singer, and how did you transition from poetry to songwriting?
Well, I wrote two poetry books before this and I did some little readings and little tours and live poetry readings in New York. My mum’s a poet and she, you know, we grew up writing poetry together. So I would say I’m a writer first and foremost, but I would say that it’s just the medium that changes, whether it’s songwriting or, you know, journalism or whatever it is. It’s writing.
How did you balance your poetry writing with your music career?
I don’t know, I just did it for fun. I was just like, I loved it and it was fun. And I always knew that I think I had to write those books in order to become a songwriter. I think that poetry to songwriting is inevitable. So I also didn’t want to put out any music until it was good enough. And you really have to teach yourself how to actually write songs. So I don’t feel like I had to balance anything. I think I just had to learn how to actually write music that wasn’t bad.
You are from New Zealand, but your sound and narrative is always related to these huge US locations like New York, West Coast, LA. In which ways have these big places contributed to the way you inhabit yourself as an artist?
So it’s a really good question. I would just say that, you know, I moved. I obviously really love New Zealand. I feel so familiar when I go home. I learned to write music in America. And I feel like I found my creative voice here. I have a song called Hometown, which is about missing New Zealand, on my first record. But I would say that I just attribute it to writing about real life experiences. So I attribute these coasts in New York and LA to memories currently. That’s kind of why I referenced it so much because the subject matter that I’m writing about in these songs are happening in New York and LA. So that’s why, all these things have happened there, to my young adult self. I think of New York and LA and I attribute it to finding my songwriting voice, not necessarily my writing voice, but maybe more like the maturity of songwriting in the U.S.
Which authors, artists, or themes inspired you most when writing Fame Is A Bedroom?
I mean, there’s so many, it’s one of my favourite questions. I would say that I was really, really inspired by Mk.gee. He just actually produced some of the new Justin Bieber record and is one of my favourite artists. Also I really love Holly Humberstone and listened to a lot of Fleetwood Mac just because that’s what my parents listened to back in the day. I like a lot of Gracie Abrams and Tame Impala. I mean, I have a big Spotify playlist, you know?
Which song on the EP is your sister Lorde’s favourite, and what does she think of Fame Is A Bedroom?
Well, I haven’t played all of it to her. I’ve played Up In Flames, Idol, Sail Away. I don’t know if she’s heard Grace — that’s a hard personal song, but I feel nervous to hear it. Weirdly, I think she really likes Sail Away. She was like, it’s really 90s to her.
And which song of Lorde’s Virgin is your personal favourite?
I would definitely say my favourite song would be Shapeshifter. I think it’s incredible. I also love Favorite Daughter, David and Current Affairs. But my favourite is Shapeshifter. She always knew that was my favourite. I would always beg her to play it for me. And I’d be like, send it to me. I have to hear it.
How does the Shapeshifter theme connect to the narrative of your EP, and how do you relate to it?
I really like that question because I really related to Shapeshifter a lot because I feel like in a sense to be a songwriter, to be an artist, you are a shapeshifter. You know, you are drawing from your real life. I’m branching out. I’m really kind of carving out my own identity. I think I related to that also because I’m a Scorpio. You say that because I do sometimes feel like a shapeshifter in my life in a sense, like to be an artist is so all‑consuming. And you just live and breathe it, you know, and every single person that’s in my life never knows if they’re going to be in a song. And I think, you know, shapeshifting into feeling like into different rooms, into different identities. And this record really is about essentially finding my own, really my own voice, my own identity.
As an artist releasing your second EP, what space do you hope to carve out for yourself in the music industry?
I’m really interested in this left‑leaning pop. I’m very interested in the Holly Humberstone space, with lots of guitars. I really wanted to write what I listen to. So that’s what I feel like I’ve kind of done more so. So with that, I would say really special live shows, some fast stuff, but a little slower. I think that I’m not too worried about what space, I think what will naturally come to me will be my own Indy space.
