OSTON
Los Angeles-based artist OSTON is a songwriter at heart, remedying the ups and downs of new cities and complex relationships by writing. But a funny thing happened the moment she made a point to stop caring about what other people thought: the songs started getting even better. Her latest single “Lie About You” was one that felt even too personal to release, until she posted about it on TikTok and it began to resonate with others in a big way. Take a listen to that single “Lie About You” that just came out today, and check out the interview we did and the playlist she put together for us below.
Photo courtesy of Lauren Nieves
INTERVIEW
Interview by Bridgette
February 17, 2021
OSTON, welcome! I’m so excited you’re here and that your new track “Lie About You” is out today. Congratulations!
Thank you so much! I’m so stoked and I’m really excited to be here so thanks for having me!
I would love to get into “Lie About You”! I know you’ve spoken a little bit about it on social media, but I’d love to hear more about the inspiration and process behind it.
This song came about in a super strange way. It’s not something I’ve ever really experienced before, which I think is cool. I was thrown into a writing session with these two guys that I had never met, I just heard “Oh, they’re super nice people. They’re cool.” It was at the beginning of the pandemic, so I was still doing a couple in-person sessions with select people. I went over to their apartment and kind of started talking about some stuff I was going through. I didn’t wanna write a sad song, like I went into the session being like “Let’s write something happy,” and then i started talking, and it just did not go that way at all. We kind of just wrote “Lie About You”, it came out super quickly, cut the demo, and that was that. I didn’t feel like it was something I was ready to put out or that I wanted to put out. I showed my friends and they were all like, “Why? Put it out!” I just wasn’t ready, so we moved forward with my project and with making a bunch of music. Actually, the same week that I was supposed to release the first single off my EP, I decided to put “Lie About You” up on TikTok just on a whim, thinking, “This is fun.” The next morning I woke up to a viral video, to people asking me “You have to put the song out.” Once I saw the reactions to it I kind of didn’t really have a choice and was like “alright, let’s push the other song and let’s get this done, and let’s put it out.” And here we are.
You’ve spoken about feeling hesitant to release this track because it’s so personal but the reaction you were getting from people relating to the song actually drove you to release it. As the songwriter, how does that feel? Almost like it’s not just your story anymore?
It feels really, really weird, and kind of surreal. I think for a long time, I actually was writing songs putting myself into this character position where I didn’t really have to get super vulnerable. I think a lot of my first EP that I put out was me just being like, “How do I take pieces of my life but make it so not personal that I’m not afraid to release this?” And that’s one way of doing it, but as I’ve grown and come into my own with my writing, I have started breaking down that wall and being really brutally honest and writing things about actual experiences and actual people in my life. And it’s terrifying. I think the songs are getting really good, like every time I listen to them it’s really emotional and I love it, but it’s really nerve wracking being like “Okay, I’m literally taking a piece of my diary and I’m gonna post it on the Internet for people to just pick apart,” It’s scary.
Has the actual process of songwriting changed since you decided to stop playing that character and break down the wall?
Actually, yeah, I think my songwriting process has evolved a lot over the years. When I was in Chicago — I was there for about five years for school — I was doing a lot of writing to pre-existing beats or things that producers would put together like the four bar loop, and then I’d go in and write something on top of that. I think that works for a lot of people very well, but I found that for myself personally, starting from bare bones, nothing. and building it up makes it that much more personal. So I’ve been doing a lot of writing one-on-one with other songwriters and producers where we start with the bare bones guitar or just very simple piano and then pick every single piece of production to place around it. It feels a lot more personal and unique and me.
I know you’ve been really active on TikTok especially. Does it feel easier to talk about these songs now that they feel a lot more personal, or does it feel like TikTok is a good vehicle to communicate that?
TikTok’s crazy, dude. I was one of those people that was like, “I don’t need TikTok. I’m just gonna keep doing my thing.” I got a TikTok because I think it’s amazing and I scroll through all the time through hilarious videos, but I think I was too scared to post anything because I was like, “Okay, well what if something starts doing well and then I can’t continue with it?” And I’m actually experiencing that right now. I had a viral video, and then everything else I post after that, I’m scared that it’s not gonna do as well. But at the end of the day, TikTok is what it is; it’s just a platform where people are trying to find cool videos and meet new people and I’m trying to treat it that way. All it is is this really cool networking tool where I can post anything that I want and someone somewhere will attach on to it. I’m gonna try to just roll with that and not put so much pressure on it, because it can be a lot, it can be overwhelming.
Right, but the worst that can happen is you get some new fans!
Totally. It’s just really hard not to put so much pressure on it because it is something every single person in the industry right now, especially A&Rs, are all like, “You need to be on TikTok!” Which is very true, but I’ve been trying to just not care so much. It’s been working a little bit, I don’t know, we’ll see. Who knows.
I wanted to go back to the songwriting a little bit because I love how you’re saying that these tracks are a lot more personal, and I think you can hear that in the songwriting. “Shrug,” for example, tells a really authentic story of someone being in an unfamiliar place and just trying to find their footing. I’m curious about what the process of writing that one was like for you?
(Laughs) I love that. Actually, that song is exactly what I was saying about going in and writing to something that already existed. I had a session planned with my really good friend Nydge and we were planning to start something from scratch, but he played me the beat that he had already made that was “Shrug”, and I was like, “What the hell is this? This is so weird, this is so cool.” Our friend Kim Vi, another writer who was also there, we started just talking about how I had just moved to L.A. and I felt very out of place. I always say the story of that song comes from me going to a bar in West Hollywood wearing ratty jeans and dirty sneakers. I walk in and there’s this group of girls that gives me a huge up-and-down because they’re wearing Louis Vuitton and Gucci and they look so beautiful and I was like, “Uh, hello.” So we were kind of just laughing about that experience and turned it into this song about not always being able to fit in with everyone or please everyone but just being like, “I’m gonna be myself and if you judge that I’m gonna have to just shrug it off.” That one came from something that already existed, but I think I was able to still make it my own. It’s a fun one. And you’re on the artwork!
(Laughs) Yes! For those of you listening, there are actually two photos of me on that cover art. (Laughs)
(Laughs) That was such a funny little experience.
That song definitely has a special place in my heart. So speaking of that theme of being in a new city, you’re currently in LA, but you’re not from there.
Right, I’m actually originally from Park City, Utah. And then I made my way out to Chicago for college; I was there for like five years. I just recently made the move to L.A. right in time for the big world-changing pandemic that we’re currently in.
Great timing. (Laughs) Has this experience of moving to a new city affected your songwriting or your process as an artist at all?
I think it has. I think songwriters, as a unit, have all been going through a big shift because we’re going from in-person sessions and developing such a deep connection with people and being able to pause if you’re stuck and go get a drink or get a coffee and talk, to being forced to sit in your house or your bedroom and look at someone through a computer and deal with the lag of Zoom. I think we’re all collectively trying to figure out how to still be creative during this weird shift. I think for me, the environment of L.A., there’s just something about how even though I’m in my apartment, there’s an air to the city. I know there's so much creativity going on and it inspires me to wake up every morning and work, even though it can be really difficult. I know that as soon as the pandemic is over, this is the place that I absolutely want to be doing this in every day.
Some great opportunities have come from being in L.A., like you being on Songland a few months ago.
(Laughs) Yeah!
Please tell me about that. That was amazing!
That was a super whirlwind. That’s like the perfect example of being in the right spot at the right time. I was literally walking down the street from my apartment carrying a bunch of groceries from Ralph’s, and I got a FaceTime call from my friend who’s in Korea. She’s in Korea doing K-pop, so I was like “Why is my friend calling me? It’s the middle of the night over there.” She was basically like, “Hey, do you wanna be on Songland?” I was like, “Huh?” She was like, “Do you wanna be on Songland tomorrow?” and I was like, “HUH?” (Laughs) So I got a call from the producers and they said there's this artist who is performing their song tomorrow, but they really want a girl to come in and help out. So I learned the song in the night, showed up on set the next morning, sang it to my absolute idol Julia Michaels, and then I left. Then I was on TV, and it was very strange.
That was so awesome. I was just watching the show and then Ryan Tedder was just like “this is my girl OSTON and she’s gonna sing this track.” How amazing did that feel in the moment?
(Laughs) It was funny because I didn’t tell anyone about it. I don’t think I was supposed to anyways. I had a lot of people texting me saying, “Dude, my mom watches that show, and I was at my mom’s house and you came on TV. Thanks for the heads up!” I was like, “I don’t know.” (Laughs) It was a fun little one-off thing. And it was right before the pandemic hit, so it was the last cool performance thing I got to do that wasn’t from my bedroom, so it was really special.
So you were saying you were originally going to start a new EP cycle before you decided to release “Lie About You”, so you do have plans to release another EP or a larger body of work in the future?
I absolutely do! For the last year and a half really, I’ve just been writing and trying to figure out exactly what I wanna say and what I’m talking about. Kind of like I was mentioning, I’m learning how to break down that wall and be like, “No, you need to be vulnerable and you need to be honest because that’s how you connect with people and that’s how you change people’s lives and outlooks on certain things.” So I’ve spent a lot of time really honing in on that, and now I have a bunch of songs that I’m ready to just rapid-fire put them out this year. So there’s definitely gonna be a lot, a lot coming from me very soon.
It seems like once you decided to really be more authentic and be yourself, everything came easier to you. Is that how it’s felt?
Definitely, yeah. I think it was a lot of me being in my head. If I’m being completely honest, I spent a lot of time worrying about not wanting to offend anyone. I didn’t want to swear in my songs because I don’t want to offend anyone in that way, and I didn’t want to talk too deeply about personal experiences. But kind of like the song “Shrug”, I looked at myself and was like, “You know what, you can’t please everyone, you just can’t.” No matter what you say, there’s gonna be people that aren’t gonna agree with it, so as long as I’m not being an asshole, I’m gonna be myself.
That’s such a good message. I think that really comes through in the music, so congrats to you.
(Laughs) Thanks!
And congrats again on the release of “Lie About You”. Most of all, what do you want people to take away from this track?
I think for this song, specifically, it has such an in-depth message about going through a relationship and not allowing yourself to be treated the way you deserve. I was in this relationship where I knew it wasn’t good for me and I wasn't being authentically myself. I stepped away from the relationship and kind of gained back my confidence in myself and who I am at the core. I think the message of this song to a lot of people that have already been replying on TikTok is like, “Yeah, I went through this really rough relationship, I wasn’t myself, and now, looking back at it, I’ve grown so much and I’m happier now.” So I hope people in bad spots can listen to this song and gain the courage to realize that they’re badass, they deserve better, and walk away from it. Or if not, at least they can listen to it and seek some comfort.
Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with those listening? Anything else you’ve got coming up?
Yes! So my song “Lie About You” is out now, it’s on all the streaming platforms, you can listen anywhere. I also have a whole EP of music that’s gonna be coming out very soon, so look out for that. All my social media is @ostonmusic, like Boston without the B. I’m really strange on the Internet if you wanna check it out.
OSTON, thank you so much for coming in! It was such a pleasure having you.
Thanks for having me! It was so much fun!
This interview originally aired on The New Afternoon Show on WNYU Radio with Bridgette Kontner on February 17, 2021.