Chloe Borsody
I’m happy to share this brand new interview with singer/songwriter Chloe Borsody. She released her latest single “When I’ve Got The Gun” in January and it will be a part of her upcoming EP Dogwood.
Originally from Northern California, the folk artist revealed her debut single in 2023. Promising songwriter and artist, Borsody has so much more in store for us. I cannot wait to hear more this year.
“When I’ve Got The Gun” is out now !
Hi Chloe, how are you? What's your story?
Hi there! I’m doing well! I’m a folk/indie singer-songwriter from Northern California. I’ve always loved all kinds of art, and loved the process of creating. As a kid, I had this little keyboard my grandma gave me and I didn’t know how to play, but I would spend ages messing around with it and tapping out little melodies or trying to learn songs I knew. In middle school, two of my best friends and I would sing together all the time and eventually I wanted to learn to properly accompany myself. I taught myself the ukulele when I was about 12, and quickly decided to move to guitar. It was always just for fun until I got to highschool and my music teacher asked if I had any interest in songwriting, and from there I was obsessed with it.
What did you grow up listening to?
I grew up listening to a lot of different kinds of music depending on who I was around. With my parents I listened to a lot of Linkin Park, Sheryl Crow, Fleetwood Mac, Train, Lenny Kravitz, and Coldplay. One of my oldest friends Emily and I listened to Green Day, P!nk, The Beatles, and Cake religiously whenever we hung out. My aunt and I listened to Rihanna and Charli XCX every car ride.
When did you start writing songs? What made you want to write in the first place?
Other than writing little songs the way kids do, I didn’t write much until my freshman year of highschool. I started writing with intention my sophomore year. I was learning from my highschool music teacher who had worked in Nashville as a songwriter. Initially I wanted to write because it felt natural, and it was somewhere to put anything that was happening in my life. The process was cathartic, and I was able to connect with myself on a different level, even though I didn’t really know what I was looking at yet.
Do you remember the first song you've ever written? As a songwriter, what lessons have you learned since then?
The first song I ever wrote was on a road trip home from my great-grandpa’s house. I was probably 8. It was about having fun, and I think the melody changed every time I sang it. When I wrote it I was just a kid being a kid, which is so funny to think about now that I’m trying to make a career out of songwriting.
When did you realize you had to become an artist and release your original music?
I realized I wanted to be an artist when I was on the plane on the way home from a trip with my parents. As I’m writing this, I realize that a lot of my realizations happen during in-betweens - on airplanes, or in car rides or while I’m taking a shower. Anyway, I had been listening to a lot of Lady Gaga and was so inspired by her artistry. I even remember writing myself a note on my phone about it, which feels kind of silly, but it’s so cool to look back at now. It was such a cool feeling to have this epiphany that there wasn’t anything I loved to do quite like music.
Who was the first person to ever believe in you professionally?
My family has always supported and believed in me, but my highschool music teacher, Steve Potter, was the first person to believe in me in a professional sense. Frankly, he believed in me more than I believed in myself in the beginning. I can’t picture finding my way to music in the same way without his dedication, positivity, and trust in me the whole way.
"When I've Got The Gun" is your latest single - what's the story/inspiration behind this song?
I was home from college for Winter break a couple years ago and I had been thinking a lot about power dynamics and the way they function. There are so many different ways people hold power over each other, whether it be executives in the music industry, or in relationships, or in society. In my life I’ve often found myself feeling torn between being peacekeeping and forcing myself to be heard. The “gun” is speaking up, it’s making someone listen.
Could you describe the songwriting/production process for this single? When did you start working on it? Who helped you create it?
I wrote the song in December of 2022, and on the same day I wrote it I hung out with my friend Colin to share the music we had been working on. I showed him When I’ve Got The Gun, and he really enjoyed it. I sat on it for a while and actually hadn’t planned to release it until he reminded me how much he loved the song about a year later, and I decided I wanted to put it out. We started recording it in Winter of 2024, and my lovely friends AJ Jones, Rianna Kopcho, Simon “Shell” Safran, Ashleigh Wulf, and Indigo Ansin contributed with engineering/production, acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, and vocal arranging respectively. I had two of my oldest friends, Sophia Weissinger and Anna Mortensen, record background vocals for me, and a friend I met through the Boston house show scene, Lucca Chantre. The project was mixed and mastered by Cody Doss (flipturn, Piff Marti, King Complex) in Dolby Atmos, and I can’t imagine the project coming together in the same way without his expertise and care for the tracks.
What did you feel when recording "When I've Got The Gun"?
The project was recorded over a few months, but mostly I just felt excited to be recording it. Studio sessions are always such a blast, even when there’s a lot to get done in a short amount of time or things don’t go to plan. Seeing the way your favorite players interpret your art and infuse it with their own sound is such a unique feeling. All the sessions were with friends, and we recorded everything at AJ’s house so we were just having a good time together.
What's your favorite lyric on this song?
My favorite lyric is probably: “A few glasses of gut rot and you’ll speak with your fists, I must have been in the way, I must have been lost in the way that the glass flies.” I love to use the same word twice in a line, and give it a different meaning the second time. I think the lyric gets across the helplessness and confusion that can precede speaking up for yourself, or taking action.
What do you want people to feel when listening to this single?
I think this song is applicable to a lot of different situations. It feels like frustration, and being pushed right up to the edge. I want people to feel heard more than anything. Everyone has had a situation where they’ve been pushed too far and have to decide what the next step is. This song metaphorically takes you to an extreme, that I hope feels cathartic for listeners.
What can you tell us about your upcoming EP Dogwood?
Dogwood is a four-song EP that spans loss (of love, loved ones, time, power, memories) and the process of trying to digest and understand the world around you. The project reminds me of one of my favorite Mary Oliver quotes: “In the beginning, I was so young and such a stranger to myself I hardly existed. I had to go out into the world and see it and hear it and react to it, before I knew at all who I was, what I was, what I wanted to be.” Dogwood feels like miniature anecdotes inspired by the experiences of learning who and what you are.
Some of the lyrics hint at the way the expectations we have from a young age morph and change with time and experience, and how we can get a little jaded from this constant shifting: “I used to think that you would send me signs, I used to have something that was mine.” When I was younger, my grandpa died and I still remember what it was like to experience the grieving process properly for the first time. I grew up surrounded by vineyards and I used to explore and walk around outside, literally looking for signs that he was watching over me or still there in some way.
Could you list a few records that influenced the music you are making today?
There are countless records that influence the music I make, whether they are in my genre or not, but a handful are: The Dangerous Levels of Introspection album by JP Saxe, Bruises Off The Peach by Ryan Beatty, Cactus Tree by Joni Mitchell, It Ain’t Me Babe by Bob Dylan, the record album by boygenius, August by flipturn, Simulation Swarm by Big Thief, is there still a light on? by Adam Melchor, and any song ever by Ken Yates or Noah Kahan. That was not a few, but it still barely scratches the surface of all the art I love and am inspired by.
In your opinion, what would make the world a BETTER place?
I think that seeking to understand people who are different from you, no matter what that looks like, will always serve to make the world a better place. Especially right now, it’s more important than ever to focus on gaining new perspectives. Intentionally looking at people and ideas through lenses you’ve never looked through is the only way to broaden our collective understanding and to help each other grow.
What are your goals for 2025?
In 2025, I plan to move back to California, but this time to LA. I’m super lucky to be heading there with some of my closest Boston friends, some of my favorite co-writers/collaborators, and to be closer to family. I want to create more art, release more music, play more live shows, and meet new people to collaborate with. Primarily, I want to keep myself open to everything that the experience will have to offer and learn as much as possible while finding my community. This will be the first time I’ve been out of school and I know that will be a big shift for me, but I can’t wait to see what this shift will mean in relation to my creative process.
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