FEATURE: Spotlight: Deb Never — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Deb Never

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THIS Spotlight feature…

concerns the magnificent Deb Never. Already known to many people, she is someone who is making remarkable music. Perhaps, one of the most influential artists in the world right now. There are so many people who want to work with her. I will come to a review of her new E.P., Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, in a bit. I want to source some interviews before then, so that we can get a clearer picture of a remarkable songwriter and artist. The Los Angeles-based wonder is someone primed for a long career and huge things. The first interview I want to bring in is from FADER. They spoke with her in 2019. We discover what her childhood and young life was like:

“Growing up, Deb Never had such severe social anxiety that, in her words, she “couldn’t speak.” At McDonald’s, her Korean immigrant mother, who barely spoke English, would have to order for her. When teachers called on her at school, she would shake her head silently until they moved on to another student.

“I used to wear this green puffy jacket that was almost like my safety blanket, even in the summer,” the singer-songwriter tells me over a bowl of pho on a fall afternoon in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. “In class, I wouldn’t take it off because it would make noise, and I was scared that people would look at me. I looked like a South Park character.”

Looking at the Never seated across the table, it’s hard to believe I’m talking to the same person. Effortlessly cool in chunky silver jewelry and a loose grey crewneck that shows off the self-designed tattoos on her arms, Never is a fast talker with an infectious laugh. Talking to her feels like chatting a new friend at a party — not a Brockhampton collaborator and Dominic Fike tourmate who dropped one of this Summer’s best EPs, House on Wheels.

The daughter of a Korean Presbytarian pastor and a nurse, Never spent much of her childhood moving around the Pacific Northwest with her mother, who tried to make ends meet while her father did missionary work in East Asia. Never would sometimes join him — doing stints in China, Malaysia, and South Korea — she but only felt more isolated each time she returned to the U.S.

“Growing up poor and seeing my mom struggle and the way people treated her, and understanding why I had to stand in lines every Friday at a women's shelter, I felt at such a loss,” Never explains. “I was always super embarrassed. That's the one feeling that I really remember growing up.” As she entered her teens, the embarrassment turned to angst and frustration. “A lot of things just added up. I had a lot of bad influences around me,” she says, preferring not to go into more detail.

By the time she hit 15, Never needed a way to let her feelings out. She began writing songs at her mother’s home in Washington, having taught herself guitar on a stolen church band instrument in South Korea. “It was just a pivotal moment in my life where the only solution was just being in my bedroom,” Never explains. “That was the only way I could speak.”

Never started playing in bands and hanging around house shows in the suburbs of Spokane, but she always kept her personal work to herself. In search of a fresh start, she decamped to L.A., working day jobs and occasionally modeling while writing songs at home. It wasn’t until last year, at the behest of friends, that Never’s songs finally made their way from the makeshift recording studio she’d set up in her bedroom closet to SoundCloud”.

Creating bold, original, experimental and wonderful Pop music (if that is the right genre?!), Deb Never is forging her own path. It is no surprise that she has already amassed a dedicated and loyal fanbase. Her music is instantly arresting and stunning. I will come to an interview from TEETH that was conducted earlier in the year. Deb Never was asked whether London was influential regarding her new music:

“What are you listening to right now?

I’m actually listening to a lot of nostalgic music lately, honing back on the younger days. Not that older songs are better, but when something is timeless there is something to learn from that. I hate saying this because it sounds cliche, but a lot of Radiohead. It’s just timeless. But it changes day-to-day, I’m also listening to some newer artists, there’s this artist Rahul I love his song “Anecdote”, and my friend Jaxxon D. Silva

Did you find music or did music find you?

It was all really organic, but looking back I think I always secretly and subconsciously wanted to make music. When I was little, my brother would play the violin and I’d take it into the closet and play it like a guitar. Even in first grade, when we were doing Blue’s Clues style art projects, I made a guitar with a tissue box, rubber bands, and a paper towel roll. Then growing up, I would look up music videos and watch them and really study them. I just thought I really enjoyed music but I think subconsciously, I really wanted to make music. It wasn’t until I first laid my hands on some instruments that it kind of came naturally. I made music, but never took it too seriously because I was scared, it was my own little secret. I was always naturally drawn to it.

Do you think London played a unique role in influencing your new music?

Yeah, definitely. I think the thing that cities bring in general, is energy. Beyond the environment, beyond weather, beyond the architecture of things, I really think it’s energy. I think when you go somewhere where people are creating things for no other reason other than to just make dope shit and come up with new things. There’s nothing to prove, it’s just so raw and I think that energy in London is something that I really drew a lot of inspiration from.

Anywhere that’s a contrast to where you normally live, anything that sparks being uncomfortable because you’re completely switched out of your element, to me is important to the creative process. That’s just how I like working, I think being uncomfortable brings out growth and fresh ideas because you force yourself to think outside of your comfort zone, use different sounds, you’re working with different people with completely different tastes. All of that accumulated is super inspiring. I need that sudden switch.

I feel like collaboration is central to a lot of your work, how has working with specific people and friends impacted your work?

That’s also why I got super lucky in London is that I had a friend out there, Michael Percy, who also worked on this track who I felt super comfortable with. I feel when you’re comfortable with someone and you have a good working relationship or have similar creative ideas, you can bring new things out of yourself and that was the thing with him, I felt comfortable enough to be able to try different things and dive into different sounds and learn. So I got lucky with that London experience with Lava, Michael, and Jam being there”.

I am keen to get to a review of Deb Never’s E.P., Where Have All The Flowers Gone? It is a wonderful work that has won some incredible reviews. There is another interview that is worth quoting from. NME spoke with Deb Never recently about her work on the new E.P. and the sort of lyrical themes that permeate the tracks:

“Her first collection of music since 2020’s self-released ‘Intermission’ – the palette-cleanser she created during quarantine – this dreamy, eight-song set showcases Deb’s unique melodic nous, melding coruscating guitar lines with skittering, hip-hop-influenced beats. Though less lo-fi than 2019’s predecessor-proper ‘House On Wheels’, there’s still an intimate, almost homespun quality to the production, which was created with a team including Jam City (Kelela, Troye Sivan), Hoskins (Partynextdoor, Khalid) and Jim-E Stack (Bon Iver, Empress Of), as well as regular collaborators Michael Percy and Luke Wild. As Deb puts it: “I wanted to keep that seeming façade of simplicity, but to incorporate little sounds that made it feel bigger and more cinematic.”

Work on the record began last summer in London, with Deb eventually finishing up the EP in LA earlier this year. “There’s so much talent in London, and such a sick sound – it’s inspiring,” she smiles when summarising the three-week writing trip that wound up lasting five months. Spiritually, London felt like a good fit too: as well as being home to close pals like Lava and Jack Latham (Jam City), the British weather also transported Deb back to her upbringing in Olympia and Spokane, Washington.

On a broader level, the change of surroundings proved vital as a means of combating a particularly crippling case of writer’s block. “I went to London, came back here, went on a road trip,” she recalls of her struggle. “I tried not sleeping for days just to see if that delirium would pull something out of me. I’d smoke weed, and then go completely sober… Anything to stir myself up. Finally, the information just hit.“

This sense of unease permeates the EP’s lyrical focus, which frequently feels lovesick – most notably on songs like ‘Sorry’, ‘Someone Else’ and ‘Sweet & Spice’. “I’m a hopeless romantic,” Deb concedes with a laugh. “Though the feedback is I’m not a very expressive person in real life when it comes to love; it’s like there’s a wall there.” Why might that be, NME wonders? “I don’t know,” she grins. “That’s something that I’m gonna have to maybe unpack with a therapist.”

That sense of yearning is captured by the record’s title, which was originally inspired by the eerie stillness of lockdown life in LA. “I remember looking out the window, watching the streets empty in the sun. And it was like, ‘Oh my god, the world is so beautiful. So why do I feel so terrible?’”

At her lowest point Deb felt utterly unmoored emotionally, an experience she discusses on EP standout ‘Disassociate’. “That [habit] comes from the many times in life where I felt like I didn’t belong, so I was disassociating,” she explains. “There were no Asians around where I grew up and so I was like, ‘OK, obviously I look different’. On top of that, we spent a year in Korea when I was 11, and I didn’t fit in there either because I don’t speak Korean. And then add to that me being queer… there were so many things that I felt like worked against me; I felt like a fucking ghost.”

Growing up, music provided a much-needed means of escape, with the then-teenage Deb teaching herself guitar and immersing herself in hip-hop by big radio acts like Lil Wayne and the darker beats of Three 6 Mafia and Tommy Wright III. A career in music was never a serious option, however. “I grew up broke, so we come from a place where it’s about survival, you know? And so music is always gonna be a pipe dream.”

While creatively it’s been a steady ascent ever since, listening to a record as utterly filler-free as ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ does feel like Deb Never has shifted gears, and that we’re witnessing the arrival of a star in real time. So, to the great and good of the music industry currently clamouring to work with her: form an orderly queue – you could be waiting a while”.

Just before wrapping up, DIY sat down and reviewed Where Have All the Flowers Gone? I have listened to the E.P. a few times, and I keep finding myself amazed by the impact the songs have. Even someone who has never heard of Deb Never will be affected:

“Continuing her ever-building buzz and expanding on her trademark sound of slightly moody lo-fi alt-pop, if you were unsure about Deb Never’s star quality, newest EP ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ Will push away any doubts. Building on the captivating emo-rap-esque sound evident on 2019 EP ‘House on Wheels’, this project feels bigger and bolder than before, with Deb feeling more confident and firm in her footing this time around. From her drawling vocals on soaring opener ‘Stupid’ which - like all the classic anthems - flows from an acoustic chilled beginning to a thunderous climax, it’s clear Deb means business, and she continues to dazzle across the eight tracks. More delicate moments like ‘Someone Else’ which seems crafted for a coming-of-age indie flick still pack a punch, but ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ blossoms in its vibe-fuelled moments. Jim-E Stack-featuring ‘Sweet & Spice’ glistens with its sun-soaked backing, while ‘Funky’ does what it says on the tin, and ‘Coca Cola’’s pulsing beat will have you instantly moving along. Propelled by Deb’s magnetically cool smooth vocals throughout ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ finds the LA artist in full bloom”.

Go and follow Deb Never if you are not aware of her. She is a remarkable talent that is going to go very far. I am excited to see how her career blossoms. With a new E.P./mini-album in the world, there is so much excitement and buzz around her. One of the most inventive and striking artists of the moment, the fantastic Deb Never is someone you…