French Toast is part of ANNNA’s EP’ Mortgage on Toast’. A song as sweet as its opening filtered synth line. Fresh and upbeat with velvet vocals, some cool vocal chops, a deep organic groove and a fun clip, to go with! Read our interview with the Amsterdam-based artist below.
Describe your sound in three words please!
Synths Bass Questions
In which state of mind do you imagine people might listen to French Toast?
As you could judge by the music video, me and my fellow collab artist on this track, Bastian Benjamin loved to listen to it while driving in the car. There’s something about being on the road or just standing still in the parking lot while turning that volume knob close to the max. So this one’s made to empower people in these crazy difficult times and just dance on our own in our living rooms as much as we can.
You sure have chosen an imaginable way to release the track French Toast, while driving through a car wash. How did you come up with this idea?
Of course during these last months we all have seen very little people. Basically Bastian Benjamin was the only person I saw in a long time and since he had to take a long car drive to get to my studio, we always ended up listening to the demos in his car after our sessions. I had this whole release concert plan in a super nice place in Amsterdam pinned down, however, that wasn’t possible. And so I came up with another idea-how about we do it while driving? Or, even better, driving through a carwash?
You are a singer and you also run your own clothing line. You sound like quite the busy bee. Could you describe a typical day and how do you bring these two (fashion and music) together?
Thank you for the compliments first of all, but not only I have my clothing line as an artist (merch) but I also am the founder of māsa.organic: a 100% organic peace silk company. It might seem like a lot haha, but somehow all these three τhings come together in music and make me who I am. But alright, let’s go to the point of the question. Here goes my day:
– Wake up, exercise, run while listening to a podcast, dance a little bit
– Make one hell of a cup of coffee
– Start with the email + socials
– Then start up / finish up a song production (I’m the most productive until 2pm)
– 2pm, this is mostly the time when I’m confused on what the hell am I doing
– here so I decide to breathe some fresh air, go for a walk
– Work on my other two businesses (clothing and Māsa organic)
I wish all my days were this nicely structured of course, but I’m trying to x
Although young, you enjoy a lot of recognition! What do you think is the biggest challenge for an emerging artist and what kind of advice would you len to fellow singers?
The balance between what you’re supposed to do and what you actually enjoy doing. There’s so many opinions, so many different listeners out there that often one get’s confused on where he/she is headed. That’s also the same with me. Especially after all my concerts being cancelled, you start to question what your purpose in music is. So I’d suggest to stay strong, believe that VERY SOON we’ll be able to dance with each other again and just keep on making the stuff that you want to listen to yourself.
Where do you draw your inspiration from and especially during the lockdown?
There are just so many artists out there who inspire me: Stromae, Toro Y Moi, Sam Smith, Lizzo, Angele, Disclosure, you name it. Artists who tell a story are the ones that inspire me the most. Actually the lockdown has inspired me to write so many lyrics. I’ve also done so many collaborations with DJ’s so I kind of feel like all this work together has inspired me to do even more in different genres.
What is your favourite album of the past year?
I know it’s a very big one but “After Hours” has just been on repeat in my headphones this year.
Tell us something about you that not many people know!
I like my tea cold. I know, I know a lot of people will be shocked, but it’s true. It’s just better that way.
Thanks ANNNA!
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