Q&A: Moody Joody Shares Their “Fantasyland” with Life on Jupiter
WRITTEN BY GINGER
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Photo by @kylierebeccaa
Nashville-based pop trio Moody Joody, which consists of vocalist/guitarist Kaitie Forbes, vocalist/keyboardist Kayla Hall and multi-instrumentalist/producer Andrew Pacheco, is reformulating the sound of indie synth pop with their new single “Fantasyland” off their new album Plain Jane, which comes out on October 30. The band has continuously been rolling out songs from the album, such as “Average Joe,” which comes out this week and past songs from their Suburbia EP.
The song is inspired by a conversation with Hall and her therapist after her therapist mentioned she was “living in a fantasyland” from an on-again-off-again relationship.
“I was like, let me write that down really quick,” Kayla states. They then wrote the song with Scott Harris, who has worked with Dua Lipa, Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber.
Since the band’s formation in 2020, they have successfully released multiple EPs, performed at ACL, opened for The Maine, Smallpools, MisterWives and most recently ARIZONA on their respective tours, as well as performed at their first headline show in New York City in July.
Life on Jupiter had the pleasure of chatting with Moody Joody on both this single and their upcoming album. Read our full conversation below.
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LIFE ON JUPITER: Kayla, could you share more about the inspiration behind the song after the conversation with your therapist?
KAYLA HALL: After my therapist mentioned the keyword “fantasyland”, I really honed into the dynamic of that particular relationship and its elements such as lying to oneself to save the connection even if it were all just in my head. Having the theme allowed us to bring in some dream-like elements into the song so it was a really fun experience to capture that emotion sonically.
I read that Andrew splits the songs into “Moody” and “Joody” depending on the vibe;, where would you consider “Fantasyland” to be, given that it does cover the mourning of the relationship as well?
ANDREW PACHECO: I would consider it to be “Joody” because energetically it is so upbeat.
KAITIE FORBES: Even the moodiness behind it is “Joody,” like dancing while you cry along to it.
Ahead of the upcoming album, how do you all feel now that it is all coming together?
HALL: The most rewarding has been seeing the album come together cause we have talked about it for so long. The moment we had every song written and everything was in order it felt so surreal and we’ve finally done it.
FORBES: We’ve been talking about this album since the start of the band and it’s been a crazy evolution of Plain Jane from being an idea to us brainstorming it together into individual tracks and choruses. Now seeing it all come together has made us go “Wow!” because we’ve made a body of work we are so proud of with details we managed so meticulously. From little details, like how Andrew supported with the instruments, to us figuring out the track list.
Now it’s in the hands of the universe and we hope it resonates and helps heal people or just becomes part of their everyday life.
PACHECO: I’m most excited for people to just listen to it from front to back and take in that whole listening experience.
Speaking of experiences, what has performing live in different formats taught you?
FORBES: As an opener, our goal is always to bring in a lot of energy to have the audience get ready and into the mood, so sometimes we don’t get to show the softer moments as you would in a festival setting or headlining. But it has been nice to introduce ourselves to other people who would have never come seeking our music.
I remember when we were performing for ACL, Role Model was performing on another stage nearby and we would see people walking past our stage and pausing to listen to us.
PACHECO: We approach every show with the same mentality: we’re going to play this set because it’s our show, so let’s give it our all, even when we were headlining, because you never know what you are going to expect for that night until you get on the stage.
Do you guys have a pre-show ritual?
HALL: We do have a chant.
PACHECO: That is based around Kayla’s stuffed animal that travels with us on tour. He’s become our mascot; we just huddle around him before we head on stage.
HALL: His name is Mr. Weiner and he’s a wiener dog.
FORBES: He is a big, big part of the band lore and he’s with us in the van.
HALL: On stage rarely, but occasionally.
What is your “Fantasyland” right now?
FORBES: Mine would be touring in an arena.
PACHECO: My fantasyland would be people loving this album and getting to play these songs live.
HALL: Getting eyes on the album.
The album Plain Jane tells a tale of leaving your hometown and finding the most authentic version of yourself. Were you able to find that version of yourself?
HALL: We had this concept for six years and so much of life has happened since then; we’ve grown so much individually but also as a band at the same time, so, when you look at what has gone on in our lives or things that we’ve drawn on even before those six years have shown up in this album.
Coupled with being women in our 30s, I had to learn what it’s like to show up with bravery and embody every part of ourselves and be able to step outside and say, “Here is who I am, and I’m proud of it!” so there has been that evolution throughout the process.
FORBES: I second what you said and I feel like it’s coming to us at the perfect time as well, because I believe we had to go through the life and experiences necessary for us to get to a place to put this album out. The stars have aligned.
