Stacey Ryan on bobs, record-label splits and emotional growth

Putting herself on the internet’s radar with a viral clip of her open-verse challenge, Stacey Ryan has since perfected her soft-pop sound. She’s recently played her first show in Brazil and has a US-Canada tour slated for later this month. But the latest manifestation of the LA-by-way-of-Montréal artist’s talent is in her melancholic debut album, Blessing in Disguise. A mixture of romantic anger and reflections of past lives, the album — released shortly before Ryan’s twenty-fifth birthday — tells a story of youthful uncertainty. But, throughout the eleven tracks, it builds up to one of the most pertinent revelations of the artist’s mid-twenties so far — the realisation that it is, as Blessing in Disguise’s concluding track professes, actually ‘Good to Be Alone’.

We sit down for a Zoom call with the artist across an eight-hour time difference and a surprising hairstyle change (newly-chopped bronde locks, usually hidden behind Ryan’s emblematic black wig).

Hi, Stacey!

Hi, HUNGER!

I feel like I’ve seen so many pictures of you with the black bob, this is strange!

We actually cut my hair to a similar length around [the time of shooting the Blessing in Disguise promotional pictures], and ended up putting it all under the wig anyway! But I like that my real hair matches my artist hair now.

The look perfectly matches your new album. How did you decide to make this your first full-length project?

The album is the culmination of a journey. I was signed to Island Records and around a year ago we split ways. [With Island Records] I’d had a whole other album in mind that we had already written, and were almost ready to release. That split was a huge change in my life, and I started writing music from a different perspective, experiencing something for the first time. I was going between, Oh, this situation is beating me down, or, Oh, this guy is being dumb, but now these songs are a testament to how I grew emotionally. It is the most perfect first project that I could have made and I’m so proud of it. 

It’s very coming of age.

I love that, it really was coming of age.

During the year away from your old writing, where did you find new inspiration?

Raye was my most-listened-to artist last year, so that definitely shaped the sound of the album a lot, alongside my all-time inspiration, Amy Winehouse. I feel like I pulled a lot from her — not only her style, but we sampled the drums from ‘You Know I’m No Good’ on ‘Sweet Talker’. Raye also sampled them before, so we’re this trio just picking from each other’s inspiration. I also love jazz and taking influence from the music my dad showed me, such as Michael Jackson and Bill Withers.

The first single on the album, ‘Montréal’, is full of nostalgia and homesickness. What do you think makes this the standout track?

 In my mind, moving to LA was the only direction my life could go in. I had the funds and I had an incredible support group that really knew me, which made leaving Montréal so much easier. Every time I get a text from my mom, or I call my brother, I realise how lucky I am to have those two home bases and to feel pulled between them. I feel like that is a good problem to have. ‘Montréal’ is kind of my ‘New York State of Mind’. The thing that really ties me to Montréal is the people — I miss the places where we used to hang out. Even when I drive by the grocery store that I used to work at for five years (while I never want to work there again), it’s still nostalgia. Your hometown never really changes, so it’s very bittersweet.

Looking back to how this all started, how important has using social media been on your journey as an artist? 

Social media was where I started to share my creations for no reason other than sharing them. I started posting videos on Facebook for my friends and I think that grew so much without even me really seeing it. Even before the open-verse challenge and the viral moment, I was pretty consistent with trying out trends, especially as it was Covid and we all had so much time.

Do you think your relationship with social media has changed since you started uploading videos? Has it become more of a chore?

I can say that, one hundred percent, I wouldn’t have been able to have propagated myself so far without TikTok. I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you today. At the same time, it is now a completely different platform and a much harder market, and you definitely feel so much pressure to perform. I had to remind myself why I was doing this — not thinking whether I’m getting as many views as I was before. I have to ask myself, Who is watching and who is commenting? And re-align myself to what really matters.

Listen to Blessing in Disguise here.