What inspired the two singles - Paradiso and Lone?
Rhyan: Paradiso is probably one of the only songs from the record that was completely written during quarantine. It is kind of totally about the pandemic. It’s this imaginary place I kept thinking of as I was writing the music- this dystopian, paradise. This time in our lives has been so challenging and so incredibly hard to process. From the actual pandemic, to social injustice beginning with the George Floyd protests, to the election, to the protests, the folks dying in masses every day, and normal life stuff - and how we are kind of just supposed to keep going without pause? The 24/7 news cycle - the constant refreshing of our twitter and instagram timelines. It’s so overwhelming. Paradiso is about that. We unfortunately live in a world where on one end, there are folks going out and fighting against folks dying by the masses and on the other end, you have people who are upset that Disneyland is closed. You have people losing their jobs and their houses and getting sick and don’t have healthcare but you also have people complaining about how much they miss traveling or vacationing or any of that superficial sh!t that doesn’t even matter. Paradiso is about that.
Lone is a sad boy song. Lone is about the feeling of not being enough, never being enough, and making peace with that. I know I’m conventionally not a lot of things. I’ve dealt with a lot of bullsh!t while playing shows in spaces and Lone was me having the chance to vocalize how fed up with it I am. It was my attempt to make the most “pop” song I could imagine filled with words as sad and lonesome as I could make them. It is completely inspired by all of my failings working and existing in the music scene- not being femme enough, not being masculine enough, not being queer enough, not being good enough, not being fun enough, not being anything really. I’m kind of making fun of myself and all of my hard work because as the lyrics say, “all I’ve wanted - won’t be enough.” I know that in order to do better I might have to tweak a few things whether that’s my music, my image, my self but it’s not like I would be happy about it anyways. While it’s me feeling all of these soul crushing feelings, it also keeps me in check in acknowledging how all of these things that put me into a corner, also make me, me, so f!ck it.
What were some inspirations for OFoS? Other artists, films, anything.
Rhyan: So many incredible inspirations!!!! Literally the color Blue for some reason. Jorge Luis Borges and his book Ficciones, The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, the film Phantom of the Paradise, Ennio Morricone’s entire discography and his death, conversations with friends, and Halloween. My dog and my cat.
Catherina: The existence of light within darkness. Phantom of the Opera (the biggest sad boi scorpio king), glitter, complexity, how layered everything is… EXISTING - what it means to exist in both an existential and just beautiful way. Since I mostly just perform live, I feel like I’m a little bit disconnected and I definitely have an outward view of the album. This is mostly what I’ve gotten from it when working on the artwork and channeling energy while performing.
What's next for Todavia?
Cat: I hope live shows one day. I miss being sweaty and stressed with my friends and strangers. Maybe I’ll take the time we have to really work on some set design, because why not. We also just wrapped up a beautiful benefit festival which has been a lot of work and as great as it’s been, we are very excited to rest. As far as that, we’re hoping to put together more of these events in the future to help support different organizations and causes in the future. Oh! We do have plans to finish a short film that gives an intimate look into the record and all of its intricacies. So, I guess just continuing to create as much album related art as possible (whatever that means.)
Rhyan: Yeah, I have a friend that I’ve been looking forward to working with for years. We are set on working on a short film / visual album of the record. Each track will have it’s own unique story line, but this is really wishful thinking with the current state of things. Right now, we are working on doing live sets at home. We are always coming up with a new project that is almost always kind of impossible but that somehow we manage to DIY and figure out. I can’t wait for live shows to come back and see friends and play with friends again. I love the whole live streaming thing, but nothing feels better than getting hot and sweaty in a dark room playing to a bunch of folks.
