Interview: Glenna Jane on her new releases “Juno” and “Two Years”
New York based indie-pop artist, Glenna Jane, has a knack for turning life’s tougher moments into beautiful, deeply-personal songs. Her upcoming EP Kid is an emotional reflection on adolescence from the story of queer becoming in “Juno” to the unraveling of a summer fling in “Two Years.” Drawing from a wide sonic palette, Glenna Jane refuses to be boxed into any single genre. Instead, she creates soundscapes that feel as vivid as the memories that inspired them. We had the chance to talk with Glenna Jane about the new EP and her creative process behind writing it.
SOUND STAGE: Tell us a little bit about who you are as an artist.
GLENNA JANE: Imagine the girl next door was an indie-pop star. My music is a memory box from your childhood bedroom that's full of polaroid pictures, karaoke slips, ripped out diary entries. Just little memorabilia that showcases the glimmering truths of growing up.
SOUND STAGE: Your music totally gives that vibe. I really love this early 2000s vibe that your songs have. Especially your song, “Juno.” It makes me feel like I'm inside of an early 2000s rom-com. I feel so nostalgic when I'm listening to your music, but also really excited because it doesn't really sound like anything I've heard before. When you're creating, do you have a specific goal or feeling you're hoping to give listeners or something you're hoping to get out of it yourself?
GLENNA JANE: I feel like when I make music, especially during the recording and production process, I always start with such nebulous, amorphous ideas for the sonic piece of the song. When I went into the studio for “Juno,” I remember telling my producer Ben, “I want this to sound like a 2000s rom-com.” Like a coming-of-age teen rom-com. With Kid, I didn’t want to be tied to any sort of genre or specific sound. Just because I felt like my coming-of-age, which is what Kid reflects on, was so messy. But also really beautiful. I wanted the project to be cohesive, but I really wanted to play. Like for “Juno,” I wanted the song to feel and sound like it was a 2000s rom-com whereas for “Two Years,” I wanted it to feel and sound like delusion. I remember I wanted the bridge to sound like everything was like crashing down.
SOUND STAGE: I honestly had to take a pause listening to that bridge for the first time.
GLENNA JANE: It's such a sad song. I think it can come off as hopeful when you read it on paper. But when you have such ugly sonics, it distorts. With Kid, I just wanted everything to reflect the very specific feelings and experiences encapsulated within each song. Each song is so different. “Juno” is about queer becoming, and “Two Years” is about a summer fling turned four-year situationship. The next song that I'm coming out with is about family, my hometown, and feeling both relieved and grateful but also guilty about moving away.
SOUND STAGE: Though “Juno” and “Two Years” sound very different, they both sound like you. You have this unique sound and voice that makes it work so well. Can you talk us through the creative process on “Two Years?”
GLENNA JANE: I've been nurturing Kid for two years now. I wrote everything off of the EP from 2023 to 2024. Then all of 2024, I was recording, producing, mixing, and mastering the project as well as creating the visuals. With “Two Years,” I had reconnected with someone who I always thought was my right person, wrong time. I was having to reckon with this reality that time was reconstructing my memories of him and our relationship. I felt so empty after. It was everything that I was hoping it was not going to be. I wrote, “I miss that summer we did it in your car,” and then it just sort of flowed.
SOUND STAGE: Almost like a diary entry?
GLENNA JANE: Exactly. I try not to question my writing. I write like I'm writing in my diary.
SOUND STAGE: I love the imagery in your lyrics, especially on “Two Years.” The whole time I’m listening I feel like I've lived this before. Do you ever feel nervous about being vulnerable in your songwriting?
GLENNA JANE: I just try to let go. I'm cognizant of the fact that my music is connecting with people. That’s definitely a by-product. I think first and foremost, music to me is therapy. I grew up in choir and musical theater–music was so central to my life. It’s always been a way for me to wear my heart on my sleeve when I usually don’t. I'm a Capricorn, so I immediately have my walls up. I don't think I grew up in a feelings-positive household. Music became the only avenue for me to explore my inner world.
SOUND STAGE: I think honest emotions in your songwriting is what makes it so beautiful and relatable.
GLENNA JANE: Thank you! Sometimes I do get scared. I get scared when I write about my family. My next song is such an honest song about my upbringing and the people that I love the most. It's always scary knowing that the people I write about can just listen.
SOUND STAGE: I want to ask you about this line, “Driving in Silver Lake, Brooklyn's not much of a change. It doesn't feel the same, but I'll see you in two years again.” Can you explain to me its meaning?
GLENNA JANE: Every single moment in the song is something from the beginning of the relationship. They’re all memories from when I was 20 and wrapped up in this ephemeral summer fling. The beginning was in Silver Lake. We had gone to Amoeba Music on one date, and we explored Little Tokyo on another date. When we reconnected two years later in New York, I think I tried to recreate those moments. We went to Little Tokyo in the East Village, and then we went to a record store in the Upper West Side. But it just didn't feel the same. It was so apparent how different we were and how different our relationship was.
SOUND STAGE: It was just never gonna work.
GLENNA JANE: Yeah. That was something I was parsing through a lot when I was writing the song. There was a moment when I was writing when I was like, “Was it all even real?”
SOUND STAGE: Oh, man, you totally feel that in this song, too. I think that's why it hit all of us so hard when we were listening to it because that's such a universal experience.
GLENNA JANE: Right? I was literally crying my way through writing it. But I'm trying to honor those feelings I had when I was 20.
SOUND STAGE: Did you have any specific influences for this EP?
GLENNA JANE: I think I'm inspired by artists’ ethos of music making like Dijon's organic production and SZA’s unflinching honesty when it comes to the lyricism. I'm inspired by the way people make music rather than their specific sound. Sometimes I am a bit of a maximalist, and I feel like that's something I've taken from Moses Sumney.
SOUND STAGE: I love the maximalism of your editing. That was something I noticed immediately. I am usually one that hears the sound of a song before I hear the lyrics and your sound just immediately clicked in my brain.
GLENNA JANE: But I still like to be very intentional. And I'm sure you could figure out who I listen to from what I make. However, I feel like there's this propensity for musicians to attach themselves to an artist that heavily inspires them, and I just want to be me.
SOUND STAGE: But that's why I was so attached to your sound because I haven't heard anything like it before.
GLENNA JANE: Oh, thank you! That makes me feel really good.
SOUND STAGE: What can fans expect from you in the future?
GLENNA JANE: I have a second project in mind. I haven't gone into the studio just yet. I'm taking it slow. My plan right now is to release the EP and play shows!
SOUND STAGE: I'm so excited to hear new music and the full EP!
