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Photo by Catherine A. LoMedico

I first caught Tampa, FL-born indie and alternative pop hybrid Aidan Bissett at his show at NYC’s Racket in the fall of 2023.

It was “Planet,” a then-unreleased song saved for the latter half of the set, that truly piqued my interest. Notable for its hyper fixation on the sonics of early-mid 2000’s alternative rock, namely acts like New Found Glory and Dashboard Confessional, it was later included as the final track added to Bissett’s rolling 2023 project Supernova. At the time, the tune was the most direct and autonomous link to Bissett’s ability to tap into a tenacious sound.

Subsequent gigs at Brooklyn, NY’s Music Hall of Williamsburg and The Fillmore in Philly saw Bissett, a once reserved performer, as slowly but surely flourishing. This could certainly be tied to the repetition of rigorous touring, but is also likely, in part, due to engrossing himself in the world of fashion, specifically with luxury brand Armani as of late, in a way that has similarly boosted the musical and aesthetic-driven palettes of acts like Ross Lynch and Ruel. In this interview, he discusses adopting the idea of “quiet luxury” into his onstage persona, though the breadth of his style choices reflects his desire to challenge perceived masculinity and flaunt a unisex-like portfolio.

shut up and love me, Bissett’s debut album, could be seen as a Gen-Z male derivative of Carly Rae Jepsen’s career-defining EMOTION album. Parallel themes of galivanting around town whilst cheekily playing the field, though not without overt traces of sadness and the unspoken insecurities displaying the chinks in the armor of an otherwise socially prolific individual permeate this project.

Bissett’s goal, like with Jepsen’s for EMOTION, was not to portray his romantic conquests as solely, “Isn’t making out with everyone just so fun and SEXY!?,” but rather to underline the emotional nuances of doing so. 

Songs like “something in the way you say my name,” “are you curious?,” and even “are we in love yet?,” the last of which sees Bissett juggling both his anxieties and impulses, act as purely confessional takes on the physicality and hedonism within romantic relationships under the guise of pop and alternative-leaning marketability.

Additional tracks, such as “reading into it,” “my funeral,” “dance around it,” “ricochet,” “are we in love yet” yet again, and “contact high,” the definitive standout of the project, similarly dip their toes into the physical and emotional meandering, though do not skirmish around Bissett’s intense unease with being alone, veering “off script,” his inability to read between the lines, and, ultimately, his tendency to almost immediately toss traditional dating approaches, and his inhibitions, aside, blurting out an impassioned declaration like “shut up and love me!!”

His hypersensitivity results in vocal performances that are often unflinchingly bold, accentuating his rapid advancement as a vocalist influenced by a number of beloved contemporary acts with an identical fluidity between tenderness and girth. Even so, his most effective performances of the project are those that are stagnant and uniform... those that showcase his restraint in moments of the most vicious cycles of yearning.

OnesToWatch: Supernova was a project you could have done anything to because you were adding to it as it went. At what point did you decide that, for shut up and love me, you were going to go about it in a more traditional, “This is an album!!,” sense?

Aidan Bissett: I needed to get a project like Supernova out to be ready for something of this scale. Supernova was me still figuring out the sound and trying to figure out what I wanted to be. It allowed me to wrap my head around a project with 13 songs. Right after I put Supernova out, I was like, “I feel ready.” I don’t know why I felt that way, but there was a moment I felt like, “This is the time to tell a full-length story that isn’t just a bunch of one off’s.”

What about this record, from your own words [on social media], was “life changing,” or at the very least, formative?

It allowed me to be incredibly introspective. I was going through a lot of emotional changes, socially and romantically, and I hadn’t really understood why those things were going on. I was in a bit of a dark place, so after about three months of writing I was hitting my head against a brick wall. I didn’t really know WHY I was writing, so I had to sit down and be like, “What am I trying to say? What am I trying to convey with this project?” Once I called myself out a little bit, it allowed me to open up the idea of me feeling like I was addicted to finding connection... whether that was with friends or a relationship. That realization really did change the way I perceive some parts of life.

What was your process of calling yourself out?

Uhm... [Leans forward] a lot of crying. A lot of late nights. The reevaluation part of it was really important because it was me realizing, “Maybe I need to find people who CARE. But, before I can do that, I need to be ok with being alone.” I was so afraid of being independent. Being in my house alone freaked me out. I needed to learn how to love myself a little bit more before I could find, and give out, the energy that is required for a healthy relationship or friendship.

Have you always struggled with being alone with your own thoughts?

[Ponders] I don’t... I don’t... I don’t think so. Maybe a part of it was that I struggled toward the end of high school, socially, and I think that’s where it started. I was missing out on a lot of things... it’s an insecurity of watching life go by and not being able to share it with anybody. Since then, I feel much stronger, and I love my independence.

Did you feel like you were missing out on things because you were working? Or were you avoiding being a part of certain situations?

I think a bit of both. Work definitely took me away from being more social. On top of that, I didn’t mesh socially... the group that I was around in school wasn’t the right fit, but I was still trying to find a way to fit in. I think there’s a group for everybody in this world.

Is being involved in the fashion industry another way you’ve felt like you could fit in with a different crowd?

100%. The people I’ve found I fit in with the best are the ones who are nonjudgmental. Fashion is so playful and detail oriented. You can wear anything you want and feel confident, but you don’t have to stick to the same fashion every night you go out. The way that you dress is a part of your artist identity. You can be who you want to be and mess with your personality.

How would you perceive your style?

It changes, because lifestyle is very different from when I’m filming a video or onstage. The artist side of it is definitely a little higher fashion with flowy silhouettes and trousers and more muted colors. Nothing too in your face. I want it to feel like “quiet luxury,” and also have a bit of a rock star edge. A lot of the quiet luxury stuff is a bit muted, but it’s elegant and elevated. If it’s not taking away from who I am onstage, while still elevating me. Daily life stuff is vintage jeans and leather jackets... more laid back. it allows me to separate the two characters.

How did you choose between “are we in love yet” and “ricochet” to kick off this new ‘era’ from a sonic and visual perspective?

They’re both the most radio friendly and dancey songs on the project. I love them both equally, but I kept going back to the fact that “are we in love yet” was the first song I wrote for this project, and I wrote it eight months before I wrote anything else, so I was way ahead of myself in terms of how I wanted things to sound. I built the rest of the album around that song sonically. I wanted everything to sound cohesive. I didn’t want it to sound like a bunch of different singles. I worked with Andrew Welles, who did songs like “Bloom” and “All That I’m Craving” from Supernova, a lot, and wekept that at the back of our mind... we thought, “How do we pay homage to this song while also creating something that feels different and new?”

How much are you playing [physical instruments] on this album?

Quite a bit! As much as I can. Andrew is an incredible guitar player, but as much as he’d allow me, I’d be up in there. When I bring demos into sessions, I create things in this room [his bedroom] and bring them into sessions and be like “let’s build this out.” I’m producing those demos on my own, so all the guitars in there are mine. It helps me put my finger on it.

“contact high” is my favorite...

Oh, I love that. That’s awesome.

It reminds me of The 1975’s “Robbers” and a little bit of “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes).” Were those, or another song by them, your reference point?

The 1975 is definitely a big reference point. All the bands that they pull from too, whether it be LCD or The Blue Nile...

Blur...

Yeah, absolutely Blur. There’s so many great bands that Matty has talked about in interviews that I now love. They’re always a band I look at and think, “Wow, I love these sounds. How do I make this my own?”

You show a lot of vocal restraint on that song by staying within your lower baritone range when you could have easily jumped up the octave. Why do you think that that restraint was necessary to maintain all the way through?

I didn’t want it to feel performative. That track is very... [pauses to find the right word] it’s a moment of longing. It would almost feel fake if I was doing all these runs and being performative. I wanted to convey a message that felt as real as possible. One of the ways to do that was to keep it restrained. 

When you’re in the mindset of that song, you feel a little limited... a little small, because you’re not experiencing the love or connection that you want. We thought the best way to do that would be to stick in that range.

Songs like “are you curious,” “obvious,” and “something in the way you say my name” ARE very performative, especially on the vocal end. Those songs require equal levels of humility, maturity, vocal conviction needed to sell the stories you’re telling, which, on some occasions, are humorous and playful.

How do you think you enhanced those ideas from the songs that also attempted to do that from your previous project?

There are a lot of different sides to the idea of connection. On one side, it IS playful. Like, “I loveeeee wanting to be in love and go around and kiss a bunch of people.” Once I figured out what I wanted to convey, it allowed me to dive deeper into that and not just be like, “I wanted to write this because it’s SEXY.” There’s a reason behind it... and I hope you can feel the authenticity even if it’s a playful song.

Is it easy to go around LA and, as you said, kiss a bunch of people[Aidan laughs], then go home and write songs about it? It has to be pretty... plentiful.

Plentiful, yeah. I’d say that’s the right word for it. Easy? I don’t know about easy. Everyone has a different mindset about it. Sometimes you’ll have a two-month phase where you’re like, “I just wanna kiss everybody!!” and you can definitely find that here. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t done that... gone and experienced the city. But is it something I find EASY? Not necessarily. It freaks me out a little bit. I’m always like, “I like this! Eh, I did that, and now I wanna find my wife.”

Is the next one going to be about you settling down?

That’d be CRAZY. I would love to write a monogamous album, because that would be I finally found someone I really love.

At 23 years old or whatever you are...

22! Not there yet.

I feel like “Planet” was the beginning of this period of playfulness not just in your writing, but in your performance. What’s it like to write melodies that take you up to places you hadn’t been before?

It was realty challenging, honestly. You’re right... “Planet” allowed me to challenge myself and be more playful. It’s a very vocally taxing song. Figuring out how to do that in a healthy way, but also in a way that makes sense without me being super performative, was a hard balance. Sometimes you’ll go into a session and be like, “I wanna do THIS!,” and then you DON’T. That’s not how it works. The pieces need to fall into place. I think it all goes back to what you’re trying to convey. If you come in saying, “I want to do this,” but don’t know HOW you want to do it, it’s going to be really difficult. It forced me to come in with intention.

You go into a session wanting to do something, but you don’t do it because you CAN’T do it, or because you don’t know how to?

More because you don’t know how, or WHY, you want to do it. A lot of the time, if you’re doing something “just because” as an artist, it won’t connect because you don’t know why you’re trying to do it.

Was the reference point for this project, across the board, 90’s alternative?

It was definitely 80’s and 90’s centric. There’s something about the rawness of those band sounds that I really gravitated to. From an artist standpoint, I wanted to lean into that... to give myself the opportunity to try that rougher garage band sound and see where it took me. I’m really glad I did, because it’s a great jumping off point for wherever I want to go next. Maybe the next one will be a poppier album. Maybe it won’t. Who knows?

The last three tracks here are the most introspective and the most nullified. How do you find your way through them?

I didn’t want the project to end on a happy note... to be like, “And NOW I’m ok and I feel great!!” When you are being introspective, it’s not like that. It’s more of “How do I fix this? Where do I go from here?” I felt like that was the most genuine way to end the project... those moments of looking inside and being like, “Oh man, I have some things I have to work on.”

The term alternative is so broad now. Is that why “bloodtype, the most ‘alternative’ and experimental sounding song here, is so haywire?

That was LITERALLY the last song I wrote for the project. I went into that session knowing it was going to be introspective, and I wanted it to be THE realization. Because it was the last one, it gave us the opportunity to be even more experimental... to figure out how we can convey that even sonically, to make it haywire. I wanted there to feel like there’s tension in it... a rollercoaster of emotion. So, it allowed me to dig deeper rather than just writing another guitar ballad.

Do you have any ideas of what the visual presentation will be like for tour?

I plan on playing the full album and adding some easter eggs in there. The most important part is the way the music is conveyed, how we structure the songs together, and how I work with my MD to make it feel like a real live experience. I don’t ever want to just replay the songs. I want the fans to have an experience and to have the songs they latch onto in a way that feels elevated rather than, “I could have just listened to this on Spotify.”

Listen to shut up and love me, out now: