Exclusive Interview with 'PIPELLA'

The second single from asexual artist PiPEllA, “Life As A Movie,” was released on October 25 across all streaming services. The concept of turning dreams into reality—like seeing your favorite movie come to life—is at the heart of this fantasy-inspired, cinematic folk song.

PiPEllA created the song with the Urdu word “goya” in mind and was inspired by some of her favorite scenes from fantasy movies. Goya, which means “as if” when translated literally, is more frequently used to imply that a story is being told so skillfully that it feels as though the listener is truly a part of it. She wanted to create a song that explored what it might be like to romanticize one’s own life in the same way that one might a fantastic film. This song was originally written by PiPEllA for an on-campus music competition held by Disrupcion Records at the start of 2021, where it finished in the top 10.

The project PiPEllA: The Worlds Traveler, which she has been planning for the past year, will be led by “Life As A Movie.” The protagonist of the story is PiPEllA, who uses a portal she found in the woods to travel to new worlds and records songs about all of her adventures. With 11 tracks and a waterfall release, this project will feature POV-style storylines that will be shared across the artist’s social media channels. Through this project, she hopes to encourage the ASPEC community to see themselves as the protagonists of their own stories. Check out the song “Life As A Movie” and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

PIPELLA: I’m originally from Houston, Texas, but I’ve moved around quite a bit in my adult life which I think has definitely affected my music. I started writing music very young, but didn’t start actually pursuing a career as an artist until halfway through studying to be an artist manager at Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain. I wrote and recorded a demo version of “Life As A Movie” for a songwriting competition and I knew I would never be satisfied being anything other than a singer.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

PIPELLA: I have always been surrounded by music. I started in choirs when I was in elementary school and kept going until I was in my second year of college. I was also in Drumline and learned piano for a few years, but what actually trained me more than formal music lessons washy family’s love of stories. We all like to read and we all love fantasy, so I think that really influenced my ability to write interesting and meaningful lyrics. Most of my family also love music and have very different tastes from one another so I learned about a lot of different music styles at a really young age.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘PIPELLA’?

PIPELLA: My first musical influence who has stuck with me to today is Hans Zimmer. Every score he has written is incredible and for a long time I wanted to follow in his footsteps as a soundtrack composer. So tied into that I would say my first “artist” inspirations would be Bryan Adams, Phil Collins and anyone else who added lyrics and vocals to the most incredible soundtracks. Then Cody Fry hopped on the scene and I knew the direction I wanted to take musically. I am also extremely inspired by Kpop and the way groups can bend genres to fit their narrative. I have been a fan of groups like Stray Kids and Seodo Band since they debuted and I’m continuously finding more groups that have become instrumental in helping me figure out where that middle point is between indie rock vocals and dramatic cinematic instrumentation.

PiPEllA has actually been my nickname since I was little. My siblings gave me the nickname as a combination of Disney characters that they thought fit my personality: Pip, the chipmunk from Enchanted, and Cinderella. They’ve called me some variation of PiPEllA since I was about 8 years old and when I became an artist, I just felt like it really fit my vibe, which is very magical realism inspired anyway, and PiPEllA feels like my most authentic self.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

PIPELLA: My music is meant to make you feel like the main character. Sometimes you’re the main character of an action movie, a romcom, a fantasy film or a horror movie, but it’s always meant to be empowering and dramatic. I like to add a lot of key changes and interesting elements so every song feels like it has its own story. There’s usually strings, because who doesn’t love a good cello? And I LOVE a good dramatic drum beat. My sound is cinematic in a million different ways

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as Cinematic ROCK?

PIPELLA:

I definitely copied a lot of trends as I was trying to find my sound. For a while I thought that was what I was supposed to do, so I went through a whole pop punk faze. I tried to be Stand Atlantic and Terror Jr and Hot Milk (who are all incredible, don’t get me wrong) but I realized that I needed to look for what I loved, not what I thought was cool or hip. I went back to what inspired me musically and I watched SO MANY FANTASY MOVIES and SO MANY DREAMWORKS MOVIES but what actually helped me realize the kind of artist I wanted to be was after listening to One OK Rock’s Eye Of The Storm album. It was powerful and dramatic and anthemic. That’s what I wanted, but in a fantasy way. And I wanted to tell a story with it. I wanted to build a narrative, the way Kpop groups do (if you don’t know about Kpop group lore – start with ATEEZ. It’s iconic). So I started trying to combine all of those things and I started calling it Orchestral Rock. Then I decided Cinematic Rock made more sense because I am literally trying to create a combination between the arena rock style and the adventurous soundtracks that make my heart soar. The more I dig in and build this pseudo-genre the more I realize that it always existed, it just didn’t have a name.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?

PIPELLA:

Music is an incredible tool that can be used in cross cultural communications. I believe that music can be considered a pure form of communication that rings out through time and space. It shows our views and our thoughts in ways that other things can’t. I believe that music should challenge political regimes and question social constructs as the artist and the listener see fit. Personally, a lot of my music is based around my experiences as an Asexual individual and as an advocate, I do think it is important that my music be a source of education and open the doors to further conversations about the Ace community. With every song and story I tell, I am trying to show different sides of what it means to be on the ace spectrum and the complexities of our community.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

PIPELLA:

I love every moment I get to spend making music and it really does make my life feel full and happy. But am I as fulfilled as I hope to be? Not yet. I am currently working on the biggest project of my life to date and we are just at the start, so I do hope to one day reap the rewards of all of the hard work I and my amazing team have put in. I am still at the beginning of my journey so I am looking forward to all the ups and downs that life has in store.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

PIPELLA:

I am very lyrically driven. I almost always write the lyrics first with a simple melody to make sure it flows. I always have my notes app open because I could get inspired at any moment, by something someone says or a sudden feeling I get hit with. Then I will take my lyrics and simple melody to one of my 4 or 5 regular producers and we will work together to form a final product. I do have a cowriter, Suzanne Yada, who I worked with on a song that is coming out in January called “Afterglow” but that was my first cowriting experience outside of my family.

My first collaborators were my siblings. My brother is an incredible pianist so he would come up with an instrumental line and my sibling, Dannie, would help me finish out the lyrics or we would start from scratch on new ones.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

PIPELLA:

I’ve had an interesting life, let’s put it that way. I grew up poor and my home life wasn’t easy. I’ve had different mental illnesses since I was very young, including OCD and Anxiety which made my approach to life different from those around me. But I channeled it all into lyric writing. Musically, I’ve had a lot of false starts. The hardest moment was deciding to scrap an entire album that was nearly done, in favor of starting over again from ground zero.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

PIPELLA: The proud moment of my music career so far was hosting ‘All Kinds of Ace’. It was an Asexual Awareness event featuring myself and a few other ASPEC creatives in Nashville that happened on October 25 of this year and doubled as the release party of my new song Life As A Movie. The show was a huge success with a great turn out and it came together beautifully. That moment on stage performing, it really felt like everything clicked and we were taking steps in the right direction.