Remix Chats to Country Music Star, Alana Springsteen

We sit over a glass of iced matcha, already bonding over a shared love for caffeine and country music. I was on my third cup of the morning which was met with “I don’t discriminate!” This was Alana Springsteen. “I love how laid back Kiwis are,” Alana says, dressed in a loose-fitted flannel shirt, embodying the Kiwi way before she even knew it. Springsteen (not related to Bruce might we add), at the age of 23 already exuded knowledge of life's many values, as well as a deep appreciation for her craft. “It truly is mind-blowing to come to a brand new country and see so many people already singing so many words of my songs - I already feel like I've found a little community here.” 

Country music as a whole is a genre you either love or hate, and whether you stand on the left or the right, it’s only true that it can be described as music in its purest form. “Music is all about being my most authentic self, and it’s one of the few places where I’m able to do that. Music gave me an outlet to get these feelings out that I couldn’t get out anywhere else,” says Springsteen. Off the back of her brand new and very first full record release, ‘TWENTY SOMETHING,’ the songs tell stories that deserve talking about. “Your twenties are raw, vulnerable, messy, chaotic, beautiful, all wrapped into one.” Cue me violently nodding in agreement – we can all relate. “I felt like I had to do it justice. I wanted to not only capture my experience but speak to a lot of other people’s experiences in their twenties.” 

Alana landed her first record deal when she was fifteen years old, and as my eyebrows raised with this achievement, we also touched on other incredible highlights over the years, including working with industry legends from Luke Bryan to the almighty Chris Stapleton on her new tracklist. “He’s somebody I’ve looked up to for so long, and his artistry is just so authentic,” Springsteen says on Stapleton, “I wanted the person who played the guitar in the song to be unique and able to add a lot of character to the part.” The rest was history. 

Image via Instagram @Alanaspringsteen

As our coffee date draws to a close, we turn off the recording and discuss in detail life back home. As a novice country music listener myself,  I picked her brains on the genre's apparent inner politics, including the fact that country music itself covers an incredibly vast amount of derivative forms from bluegrass to Texas country - sometimes the battle of the sub-genres tends to come out. Alana’s music is a testament to the meaning of country song and dance, a beautiful immersion of the genres and a love letter to the authenticity of country music. 

@alanaspringsteen