Alexandra Naparstek, a Ukrainian-American producer, goes by the name Soviet Dropout. The eleven-song “don’t forget about me” album, which is their most recent offering, explores gender identity, family, grief, and experimentalism. “don’t forget about me” combines conventional song structures with innovative, frequently perplexing sounds using the contralto voice of Soviet Dropout and improvised production. Naparstek produced, wrote, and recorded every track on the album in their bedroom. Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
SOVIET DROPOUT: I was raised and am currently based in Florida. I started making music from an early age, just messing around with Garageband on my family’s computer. I saw that my older cousin, Gregory, was making his own music and I thought to myself—if he could do it, I can do it too.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
SOVIET DROPOUT: I am entirely self-taught. I went to a high school of the arts so I learned about music from friends, but mainly everything is from YouTube.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘SOVIET DROPOUT”?
SOVIET DROPOUT: Haha so a lot of people have been asking me about my stage name. Basically, I am originally from Ukraine. I was adopted into a huge Greek-Ashkenazi family and because I was internationally adopted and raised in two large cultures, I felt as though I “dropped out” of my own heritage. I think I originally came up with the name when I was seventeen after I made some post about awareness for Crimea and it became TikTok name then my stage name. I used to be embarrassed by this but I’ve since learned not to be, but one of my major musical influences growing up was Kesha. I had a fan page for her in middle school and was just enamored by her message and art. Apart from her, I would say Grimes, Aphex Twin, Fiona Apple, Anika, and Saâda Bonaire are huge influences.
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?
SOVIET DROPOUT: I can’t make a song without a synth. I love sound design and messing with knobs to see what I can make. Often the synths are meant to mimic the feeling of what the song is intended to be. So, let’s use “woman, i” as an example: the opening and through line synth is a bright, high-octave woodwind sound. The song is about being nonbinary but socialized as a woman. People often connect higher octaves and brightness with women, thus the synth mimics that. Other than my synth use, I’d say my improvisation. I don’t write songs with set chords or melodies. Often I just jam out to whatever drum pattern I made and go throughout the entire song improving the music. Then I go back and loop if I want, but most of the time the music is reflective of how I’m physically feeling too, which isn’t cyclical or repeating like a chorus.
5. 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?
SOVIET DROPOUT: Nothing I make is without intention. A lot of my songs are basically diary entries that I’ve turned into lyrics, so when I say “she’s just another woman I wish I was” in “woman, i”—it’s true. That song in particular discusses my gender identity (non-binary) and my dissociation from my femininity. My music and art tell the stories of a 20-something trying to navigate this world whose mind just won’t shut up.
6. 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?
SOVIET DROPOUT: Initially I was making music because I wanted a hobby to be good at, but as I started to seriously write and actually dive into my brain’s insanity, I found that I was writing about things that I wasn’t even writing about in my poetry. Now, my music is a way for me to get rid of my anxiety and just bust a move whenever I’m feeling low.
7. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
SOVIET DROPOUT: My self-doubt and embarrassment. I released an EP called “I contain multitudes of shame” which revolves around all the ways I experience shame in my day-to-day life, from gluttony to doctor appointments. I’m very embarrassed by all the art I make, especially music because it’s so vulnerable and so difficult to separate from the creator. It is my voice and my hands playing and making sounds. Something about that is so scary to me, especially when thinking other people will listen.
8. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
SOVIET DROPOUT: I’m learning how to advocate for myself and my creations. I’ve also learned that I am becoming more patient and comfortable with myself and my mini-milestones. I told myself that I would make a project this year and so far I’ve made two, an EP and LP. I also just reached 150 monthly listeners of Spotify which is huge for me! I cannot fathom 150 people listening to my music. So exciting :)
9. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
SOVIET DROPOUT: I need to be alone when I make my art. I’m very much a fan of Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own”, a book in which she writes that in order for women (and by extension any non-male) to be able to create to their fullest potential, they must have a room of their own. Privacy is very important. So in terms of actual creation, I have to be alone to lay the foundation. I haven’t thought about doing live shows yet. I don’t know how I would approach them or if I feel ready to do so.
10. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
SOVIET DROPOUT: No, I don’t think it’s important. The literary critic Roland Barthes is famously known for his piece “The Death of the Author” in which he essentially says once the piece of work is first consumed, the artist’s intent is no longer important. The piece is now the consumer’s. I apply that to my writing and I also started applying it to my music. I think everyone has different experiences so it would be quite presumptuous of me to tell a listener how to feel about a song. Whatever someone feels is as real as my intent.
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