Anna of the North discusses her newest album, Crazy Life.

Shot and written by Sophie Gurwitz

Who would you say is your biggest musical influence or inspiration?

It’s hard to say but there is definitely a lot of 80’s music from when I was young. My dad is a musician so he played a lot of that music in the car and in the house. My dad played James Taylor a lot too, but my first favorite artist from when I was little is Celine Dion. I listen to a lot of music. I really love The 1975, The Japanese House, and Blood Orange. All and all everything I’ve listened to has come out in my songs. 

You recently released a single with Gus Dapperton, can you tell us a little about that collaboration? 

It was actually his original song, and then I heard it and wanted to feature in it. I got to put my words on it and boom, here we are! I really like him, he’s such a cool guy and a great songwriter. 

What is your dream collaboration?

I’ve featured on some of Tyler the Creator’s songs, so my dream would be to have him on one of mine. 

You’ve played a few music festivals recently, what’s your favorite thing about performing at/being at festivals?

I think for me in general it's meeting the people. You meet a lot of people there that I wouldn’t necessarily meet at my own concerts. I love seeing the crowd and seeing that people who have maybe never heard of me before are kind of like “ah shit that's nice!” I feel like making people happy with my music is one of my favorite things. 

How would you describe your music?

I would describe it like melancholic and nostalgic, but with a happy tone to it. 

We’re here for the release of your new album, Crazy Life, can you tell us a little bit about it?

It's been over three years of writing now, so there were a lot of songs, and I don’t know how these specific songs made the album. I look at it the same way I look at friendships, some friendships come and go, and there's some that stay and you don’t really know why. That's just how it is with my songs. I can write a song that I think is really cool but maybe in 2 months it's not and I just lose interest in them…. That sounds like I’m a really shit friend but you know what I mean! I’m fond of the songs that made it there. There's a lot about what I’m thinking like about big things but also the small things just lying on the couch not being able to do anything. Like those small weird little things that are big for me. 

If you could support any artist on tour who would it be and why?

Celine Dion so I could sit front row at every show. 

What is your favorite song you’ve written and why? 

That is hard cause I feel like some songs fit me better. There's a song we just played live called Listen. I thought that was pretty cool live. I think I have favorite songs live and favorite songs on record.  

Listen to Crazy Life here.