WTRGRL
LA-based Swedish-Mexican-American producer, drummer, singer and songwriter Chloe Saavedra (also ½ of Chaos Chaos band AKA Smoosh), is breaking out with her first self-fronted project, WTRGRL. In the upcoming single, ‘Heroine,’ Chloe collaborates with Oakland-based, UKG-influenced producer, Clearcast to create a song about embracing resilience in the face of adversity. “I wanted to extract the healing effect that ambient music has and to inject that into club music”, she says.
“I initially called it WTRGRL, because I love water, I love the expansiveness, and the feeling of possibility it gives me. But I also think I wasn’t ready to make a project under my actual name, that felt too scary/close to home”
Chloe, let’s start from the very beginning of your musical journey. You started making music during your childhood. Tell us about some pivotal moments of all these years that perhaps you’d like to share? What has changed so far?
Wow! I’ve been playing drums since I was 5 years old, then performing live and touring since I was 12, so my entire life has been intrinsically tied to the music industry. Pivotal moments are: When I got a drum kit at age 5. When I left school to focus on music solely. When my parents separated and my mom took me and my sisters to Sweden. When my label and management team dropped my band, I was 14. When my sister and I decided to continue making music independently of a label, I was 15. When I first started making enough to live off of music alone, I was 21. When I made the decision to take a break from my band with my sister, Chaos Chaos, I was 26. When I started drumming for Caroline Polachek, I was 27. When I started focusing solely on my music career (WTRGRL), it was this year. Pretty much just recapped my entire life hahahah.
The first time I heard your music was on KEXP radio back in 2012. With your rich background on drums, singing, writing, you have finally come out with your self-fronted project ,WTRGRL. What took you so long and how does it feel to release the music video Heroine. How was the process like and why you chose this name?
To be totally frank, what took me so long was codependency. I didn’t realize how dependent I was on my relationship with my sister, Asy, to have an identity and a sense of purpose. We had been making music together since I was 5. I truly didn’t know how to live my life independently or how to have my own goals and dreams. For some of these reasons, pursuing my own project has forced me to find that independence. Around that time I started making my own music and worked with my friend, Zhone, on co-writing/co-producing songs for the project. I initially called it WTRGRL, because I love water, I love the expansiveness, and the feeling of possibility it gives me. But I also think I wasn’t ready to make a project under my actual name, that felt too scary/close to home. I may end up changing the project to my name, we’ll see. The Heroine music video initially was an idea inspired by The Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” (my favorite music video ever), but the idea evolved into something else and I love it!
Chloe, please take us through the process of DRIP1 that is coming out on June 30th. How did it come to life, what was the inspiration and the overall influence? Please describe the mental and emotional state you held for it.
I’ve actually had a fully finished album for quite some time now, I want to release it as soon as possible. DRIP1 is a portion of the album. I’m a bit OCD and I like the organization of sticking to a theme. I named the album (release date TBD), Dripsody. I named it after one of my favorite early experimental electronic pieces by Hugh Le Caine, where he recorded water droplets sped up and slowed down on tape and spliced it all together to create a MASTERPIECE. I don’t use that word lightly, the piece is a masterpiece. My inspiration for the music is Max Martin, Timbaland, the idea of “Pop Opera” whatever that may mean, collage, dom energy (Heroine) and sub energy (Scream).
Your music is a balance of ethereal pop and hardcore electronic music. I want to know about the importance of underground club music and the role it plays for you and your work. What inspires you to keep experimenting and finessing your craft each passing phase?
I love experimental production like SOPHIE, Aphex Twin, and death’s dynamic shroud, because it is a sort of competitive thing in my mind of using the newest tools or your own homemade tools to push sound and create what has never been heard before. Also, I love pop music, I love how it evolves alongside the human collective consciousness. I love how pop is inherently simple but very hard to perfect because it requires being tapped into the personal level and the collective conscious level while using pop song structures with production that feels new and exciting. I’m a competitive person, and I love the constant challenge of it.
The ‘Scream’ music video directed by Caris Kuhn delves into your experiences with anxiety and finding refuge in your partner. You are portrayed as a forest enchantress performing a ritual channeling all things fantasy in the video with references of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lord of the Rings, Shania Twain, and Lenny Kravitz. How did this concept come to surface? Is this your personal state of mind that you are exuding here?
I wanted to straddle beauty and eeriness in the video and filming in the redwoods seemed like a perfect backdrop for this. The song Scream was written during a time I struggled with anxiety, and I found it interesting how calm and comfort, and chaos and fear of the unknown can be quickly changing states of mind, the video parallels this in a more spiritual way.
You also announced a “Scream (Live with Orchestral Ensemble)” version. What’s the story behind this one?
I’ve always wanted to do an orchestral arrangement of a song and Scream felt perfect for this. I have so many incredibly talented friends who are musicians that made it with me!
First starting with instrumental and now cultivating multiple avenues with electronic music producers, please talk about the new territories that you are beginning to play with. Any fun stories from the process of such multiple commands on your tools?
Interesting question! I’m exploring sound design and playing with people’s expectations. I want to make music with as much open space as the song allows (while keeping it pop), and with some sections/vocal runs intentionally out of tune, to play with the expectation of a listener to hear perfection. Dissonance can really tune the ears because you hear how it deviates from the key it’s “supposed” to be and having a lot of space in a song allows the listener to have more of an active listening approach which I love.
Working with Chaos Chaos along with your sister, besides the performances and tours and multiple other shows like Caroline Polacheck, What is it that you’d like to share with us on the subject of evolution of music and its growing spectrums of taste and genres. Speak on the role of music for your very own growth for that matter, what is your relationship with your own creation?
What I’ve learned is to embrace everything that I’ve thought was weird about me. I used to try to change or hide those things to be more like examples I had seen, but now I’m focusing on leaning into those aspects of who I am, like incorporating drumming into my live performance, embracing my low androgynous voice, and showing more of my sporty side. It’s not because those things are actually weird, it’s just because that is who I am, and I want to be true to myself with this project. I think all humans should do this because ultimately that will just pave the right path for yourself that is unique to you.
Last but not least, anything you’d like to talk and share regarding this special time? Any message perhaps?
I’ll leave you with something my friend Peter told me that I love. He said, the most superhuman thing someone can do in 2023 is be human.
interview JAGRATI MAHAVER
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