Q&A: Chloe Southern on “Power Trip,” and the Importance of Recognizing Your Worth
WRITTEN BY ADDIE WILLIAMS
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Photo by Mer Marcum
On her second Americano of the morning in an eclectic coffee shop in Brooklyn, New York-based singer/songwriter Chloe Southern opens up about her newest single, “Power Trip.” Southern’s discography is brimming with vulnerable lyricism and unique guitar tunings. Every lyric, both witty and cathartic, makes listeners think twice.
Drawing inspiration from powerhouses like Amy Winehouse, Chloe Southern is not afraid to be honest in her songs. When emotions get tough to describe or when something is hard to discuss, Southern takes this as an initiative to dive deeper, writing about the messy and difficult sides to life as a young adult.
“Power Trip” and its accompanying music video were released at the end of March. The track dives into the complexities that come with acceptance of cards you’ve been dealt, as well as the frustration of the way women are treated differently from men in both the music industry and in life as a whole. Read our full discussion on “Power Trip” below.
LIFE ON JUPITER: Was there an initial lyric, chord, or experience that prompted the start to writing “Power Trip”
CHLOE SOUTHERN: Around New Year’s of 2024, my sister was out of town, and I was staying at her apartment in the East Village. This was a weird time for me, post-college, as I was figuring out both my friendships and myself. I came across two chords, and the first verse pretty much wrote itself. I could not finish the song for a long time, though, as I kept trying to write a third verse and nothing felt right, but I just kept coming back to the song. Then, last year, I went through a crazy breakup and friendship breakup where I lost the two of them to each other in a way, and it reignited the same feelings I felt when I first started writing the song, allowing me to finish that third verse. I find it crazy how songs can take so long to finish; three minutes of sound took almost three years of life to happen. “Power Trip” serves as vignettes of the last three years of my life, dealing with my relationship with myself, my relationships with other people, and the outside world.
Do you have any favorite lyrics in “Power Trip”?
SOUTHERN: So many, I’m going to have to say my top three.
Leanne says she’s here to talk but I’m scared I’d be worse for it, you should hear these songs. I think this is a really interesting line, as it’s about the idea that songwriters think that if they are mentally okay, they will never write a good song again. We love to exploit good things and pick out any hurt to make art out of. Everybody always says that when you go through something bad, at least you’ll get good content, but I’ve always been annoyed by that sentiment, so I thought I would play with this idea a bit.
One of the more personal lines in the song is Is this what it’s gonna be like, avoiding mirrors and avoiding landmines? For a year and a half, I just didn’t look in a mirror, and it goes with the idea of women never feeling like they are enough and constantly viewing themselves through the lens of other people. Being a woman, your body is always being looked at and analyzed top to bottom, and anytime your body changes, you’re hyperaware of it. In that time when I was in a crazy relationship and had a messed up mindset, any change in my body I immediately viewed as a failure. It made me sad to finally recognize this and made me wonder if this really is how my life is always going to be, always having this feeling that everywhere I go, people are scrutinizing me, and I never feel like enough, and I can’t even look at myself in the mirror. So that’s a special line for me, as I don’t feel this way anymore and feel for that girl who did feel this way, writing “Power Trip.”
Since we are talking about lyrics, I have to say that I love how the only repetitive lines in the chorus are Is this what it’s gonna be like and I did it like a man, as I love playing around with words. In the last chorus, I say I am someone I know that I’d like, and I think that’s a really powerful sentiment of self-acceptance, especially as I never thought I would get to that point after everything I have been through.
What made you decide to set the music video on a farm?
SOUTHERN: “Power Trip” and “Lightning Rod,” (the song that came out before it), were always meant to live together as an A and B side as I see them as two songs of the same feeling: “Lightning Rod” is about the serene, hopeful side of acceptance and “Power Trip” is the angry, resentful side of acceptance. I felt like the choice to be in nature surrounded by animals and dirt allowed me to have an alter ego. In New York, I do not get as much time in nature as I wish I could, so having this entirely separate “stage” to play around on was so freeing and awesome.
I made the video with my friends Breanna Lynn, Myles Caba, and Shay Tiger, and it is truly my prized possession. I would save it from a burning building if I had to; I am just so obsessed with it and I cannot believe it is mine.
Can you talk a bit about your experience in the Brooklyn music scene?
SOUTHERN: I went to school for music, and the pipeline for music is New York, LA, and Nashville, depending on your genre. I really wanted to live here because of the live music scene. My dad is from New York, so I spent a lot of time here growing up. There is nothing else like the art that comes out of New York. Brooklyn and New York have always had an underground scene, but now it just has a scene of its own without relying on Manhattan, and I am obsessed with it! There are just so many amazing artists that have come out of here or are coming out of here and a lot of them are my dear and close friends, so I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
I love how “Power Trip” unveils the pressures of being a woman in the music industry; could you speak a bit on that and any advice you have for young women in the industry?
SOUTHERN: I didn’t realize how many of my influences growing up were men and just how many men I was around all of the time, especially at school. I felt like they had the freedom to say and do whatever they wanted artistically, and I always envied them for that. I felt like I had to keep things tidy and I couldn’t talk about crashing out and the dirty, messiness of life, as no one would want to hear about that. Then I reached a point where I realized I want to exist within that freedom that I’m watching all of these dudes exist in, and they don’t even have to try for it. Once I started writing and being artistically free, even though it was really scary, I felt so much more tapped into what I wanted to say and be. There are an extra hundred obstacles that women in any industry face that you don’t even realize are obstacles, and there’s this extra level of having to prove yourself with every single thing that you do. Every sound guy assumes you know absolutely nothing, every engineer is always surprised when you can speak their language, and it’s important to have the level of confidence and delusion that a lot of guys in the industry walk around with because no one has been telling them to question their feelings and their thoughts and themselves for their whole lives. My advice to young women is this: Don’t listen to any idiot telling you you’re not enough for this world because if you feel like you have something to say, that’s the most important thing. Sometimes when I’m caught up doubting myself, I think, ‘If I were a dude, would I doubt this?’ and usually the answer is no, because all the insecurities are coming from voices that are not my own, but rather people who have put those doubts in me. We are not born with self doubt, we are not born with internal criticism; those are voices that have been put in us, and it’s important to have conversations with those voices and ask them where they are coming from.
If you were to give an elevator pitch on your music, what would you say?
SOUTHERN: Sonically, it’s hot and bothered Slow Pulp, or if the films Blue Valentine, Manchester by the Sea, and Goodfellas had a baby.
Can you talk a bit about your upcoming plans now that “Power Trip” is released?
SOUTHERN: I am in the process of making an EP. I don’t know if “Power Trip” and “Lightning Rod” will be on it as they seem like their own separate world, but the EP will be four to six songs, so there will be more music soon in the next couple of months.