Nilsa No One blends grunge-tinged rock with introspective storytelling. With the explosive single “Annihilation,” the project explores self-destruction, addiction, and illusion, wrapped in driving riffs and emotionally charged vocals.
1. After
a lengthy hiatus from songwriting, what was it about that half-asleep voice
memo that made you realize Annihilation was something worth fully developing?
It was just stuck in my head– the bassline I had jotted down in voice memos. I
think that the vocal melody for the chorus was floating around in my head at
that time as well. I take a fairly intuitive approach to song writing, where if
something feels right, then it's right– not necessarily because that’s true,
but because it keeps me from getting stuck in choice-paralysis purgatory.
2. You described the bassline as almost Offspring-esque—how did that driving
energy shape the mood and direction of the song as it evolved?
I told the band early on that Annihilation would have a mid-tempo rock,
Offspring-like energy, especially during the verses. We were able to come into
this song with a certain clarity of vision, which definitely helped move things
along. But also, this song is just notably fun to play, and the energy in the
room lifts a little bit every time we count it off. So I would say that its
driving energy certainly had a positive effect on the mood and the direction of
the song, though I have no idea what it would or could have sounded like
otherwise, because it just seemed to evolve so naturally since we were all
having fun.
3. Hearing Jesse bring the bassline to life seems to have been a turning
point. How did that collaboration influence the final arrangement?
Well, Jesse grew up in punk bands, and I grew up going to his shows, so I owe
him a lot of credit for making this song into what it is, perhaps on multiple
complicated levels. Some of his basslines, especially his Geezer Butler-like
higher register riff during the outro, are highlights of the song to me.
But in general, sometimes my ideas don’t feel certain or real until I hear the
rest of the band play them. One day, after not bringing a new song to the band
for a very long time, as our drummer JJ was packing up at the end of practice,
I was like, “Hey Jesse, will you play ‘do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do,
do-do-do-do-do (annihilation verse bassline)’” and I started singing the melody
over it that I had already written in my head. I remember JJ being like, “that’s
cool!” and in that moment it became a legitimate song to me.
4. On the surface, Annihilation feels like a party anthem—but underneath, it’s deeply introspective. How did you balance indulgence with self-reflection in the writing process?
Balancing indulgence with self-reflection is pretty much the tightrope I walk all day long, so I didn’t have to be incredibly conscious of it during the process. Like I said earlier, I take a pretty intuitive approach to songwriting, so I just kind of see what spills out of me and then refine from there. At first, instead of annihilation, I was singing “nowhere naked.” It didn’t feel like the final lyric, but it had the right number of syllables as a temporary holder. I maybe had half the lyrics written at that point. Then, once I finally found the right word (annihilation, obviously) it was like “ohhh, ok, I get it! This song is about celebrating yourself to death.” And of course, magically, all the other lyrics at least sort of, if not serendipitously, already achieved this effect. It sounds a little hippie-dippie-ish, but when I write it feels like I’m uncovering the message of the song, rather than deciding it. It’s worked for me so far.
5. The song touches on the idea of celebrating ourselves into failure. Was there a specific experience or observation that sparked this theme?
Funny you should ask. I could probably think of many examples of this but the most visceral for me was seeing a bunch of my really very talented friends from when I was younger just sort of prioritize substance usage and never get to where they wanted to go. The irony of clinking glasses to one’s future, when the literal glass itself is what’s inhibiting your progress, has always stuck with me. It’s like cheering on your own failure. I remember there was this one photo of a bunch of us on New Year's one year. Screaming, cheering and clinking glasses at midnight. On the wall behind us there was this giant grim reaper poster, taking up nearly an entire wall and just kind of reaching its hand out over all of us, like “you’ve walked right into my trap.” That’s what this song is about.
6. You explore the concept of predestination—whether we’re statistically bound to certain outcomes. Do you personally believe we can break those cycles?
Obviously I can’t speak as an authority on the concept of free will, but I do operate under the assumption that we have it to some extent. Something I’ve said a lot is that people can change, but most won’t. That’s been true in my experience. Obviously there are causal relationships in nature that are unavoidable, but with the human intellect I do think we can move the needle. I’ve been reading Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and he really made a good argument for that perspective, so that helped to reinforce that idea for me. The song is about giving into the thrill of compulsion and ultimately losing control of yourself completely, which I do also think can happen.
7. Annihilation can be interpreted as an ode to addiction, a toxic relationship, or even societal self-destruction. Did you intentionally keep the lyrics open-ended?
If I may be a bit self-indulgent, I like to think of them as more muti-layered than open ended, because ultimately, all of those are examples of the same thing– self-defeat by one’s own hand through compulsive, repetitive cycles that bring short term excitement but inhibit long term fulfillment. The line “The hand is too strong,” dually represents both one’s own hand, and the hand of the so-called “puppet master” pulling the strings. The line “I want to live in the place we imagined / I think I’m dying to make that happen,” describes the phenomenon of injuring one’s real self in order to support an illusion– whether it's the illusion that another dose of whatever drug is going to make things better, the illusion that an abusive relationship is going to improve, or the illusion that running the planet into the ground with reckless production and consumption is somehow going to turn out sustainable and happy. The second half of that line is a bit tongue in cheek in that it's supposed to make you think of the casual phrase “I’m just dying [for a soda, or whatever]” but then stop and think, “wait, no, what if [whatever it is] is actually killing me?” It plays into the fun side of the song, the excitement of wanting something and setting forth to attain it– while simultaneously commenting on something as serious as death.
8. Sonically, this track marks a shift toward heavier rock and grunge influences. What drew you to revisit that 90s-inspired sound?
At risk of sounding like a broken record… It was intuitive. I didn’t sit down and say, “I’m going to write a 90s-inspired song.” The first couple seeds of song ideas popped into my head and I built it from there, and then realized it reminded me of a 90s song… a very specific 90s song. I was worried it sounded like one of the really popular Nirvana songs, but then later at a coffee shop I heard Celebrity Skin by Hole and realized that was the one. I figured that was more socially acceptable to accidentally rip off than Nirvana, but, I digress– the point I’m trying to make was that it sounding 90s was news that came to me after it was finished, and I made a concerted effort to make sure it wasn’t too 90s.
9. Your debut EP leaned into neo-soul and psych-rock textures. What inspired this transition into distorted guitars and more aggressive vocal delivery?
A combination of things. I’ve been playing casually in a metal band called Flesh Nektar with some friends for the past couple years, so that was definitely helping to nudge me in that direction. Also, I’ve been revisiting a lot of heavier music I used to listen to when I was younger. I feel like the softer stuff, for me personally, was a bit of a stepping stone until I had the confidence to just lay down a riff and be like, “hell yeah.” I feel like that takes a certain level of confidence and comfort, especially for a simple riff. I was hiding a bit behind pretty sounds & complicated chord progressions, personally. My voice teacher, Erik Landry, also taught me how to (finally) belt, so that was a major development.
10. The dynamic contrast between softer, conversational verses and belting choruses is striking. How do you approach vocal storytelling in a song like this?
Thank you! For whatever reason I’ve always just naturally had a dynamic approach to vocals, that’s been a thing since my earliest songs. It’s the long lost inner theatre kid within me breaking through the surface and putting on the dramatics. As you’ve probably gathered by now, I don’t have the most systematic approach to songwriting, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. I do, however, like to assume a character in each of my songs and sort of adopt the unique personality of each narrator, which helps guide my choices. Characters tell stories– and those stories tend to ebb and flow through different emotions, rather than stay level or neutral.
11. As an artist not “bogged down by genre,” how do you decide when it’s time to pivot stylistically?
I think you probably know what I’m going to say by now: I don’t, lol.
12. Annihilation feels like the beginning of a new era for you. What can listeners expect from this heavier, grunge-leaning chapter of Nilsa No One?
I don’t knowwwwww! Hahahahaha. But I do have some ideas. For a long time I was convinced that I was going to get really good at the robot & make electronic pop music as a parody of modern celebrity. I still want to do something with that idea, and I feel in my soul that the robot is part of my path. But, I’ve also really been enjoying doing this whole rock band thing and part of me really wants to keep leaning into that. It’s a bit of a scary time, in a way, because I’m about to be effectively caught up to my backlog recording wise for the first time ever with the release of the Annihilation EP, and I’m not exactly sure where to go. I just need to keep playing around and see what comes up, and a big part of that will be getting my home studio fully functional so I can mess around more. I’m really inspired by Bjork right now, and want to see what I can do with a blend of electronic and organic sounds, with, of course, the forward vocal approach that she and I share. I’d like to do something in which it makes sense to play solo shows as well as full band shows, so that I can tour more. But that kind of contradicts the rock band ethos and energy. So, short answer, I don’t know. Long answer, that.
What I do know for sure is that I’m going to keep making music, and that the next stop is a full-length LP & I’m excited to see how things evolve.
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