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Photo by Lane Buoen

Indie-pop is better for knowing dacelynn, whose lyrics read like poetry and harmonies wrap listeners in a warm embrace. Unfurling their impending EP, nine lives, one introspective lullaby at a time, we seem to get to know the Texas-born, LA-based artist more and more like an old friend with each track. Now, all of dacelynn's nine lives are fully out in the ether, and we wanted to learn more about the simultaneously soft-spoken and cynical songwriter celebrating this pivotal release. So, we invited dacelynn to chat about avoidance, moving in with friends from TikTok, and Costco salmon fillets. 

OnesToWatch: Why do you make music?

dacelynn: I've just always felt such a pull towards music. Since I was super young, I was obsessed with listening to music and singing and even in elementary school, music class was my favorite part of the day. And when I got to high school and they were talking about colleges and stuff, I was like, oh man I just want to do music. I didn’t even know why yet, or how – I hadn’t even started writing music yet – but it was just the only thing I could ever picture myself doing. 

Okay, imagine you've scorned the gods in some fashion. They took all your musical ability and talents away. Could you even have a pivot? Is there something else you might want to do? 


I don't think that there would be anything left for me. If I could not be an artist myself, I would have to still be within the music industry somehow. Whether that's label work or being someone's manager, I need to be connected to it…or maybe setting up live shows? I just need to be a part of that environment. But if I could not write and sing… this is the most and maybe only fulfilling thing that I will probably experience. 

How long have you been writing songs with the intent to share them with people? 


Since 2019, so six years. I was a freshman or sophomore in high school, and I was following that wave of like, dodie and Chloe Moriondo and Grace Vanderwaal. The ukulele, songwriter girls. It was like, oh, I didn’t even realize that this was an option. You can just make your own music, that’s so cool. When I started, I was uploading some silly covers to YouTube, and then I just started playing around in GarageBand and figured out how to harmonize. It was so fun. 

And you went viral a little bit early, didn't you? 

I did. I got really lucky with “'80s makeout session,” which is hilarious because I was just playing around at that point. I was not trying to make a real song. I made this horrible beat, and I showed it to my sister. She was like, “This sucks.” 
I agreed. At that point, I was kind of pissed off. Like I agreed that it sucks but now I’m going to write out of spite. So I wrote a silly little song and put it out, and for some reason, people love it so much. I think that’s really sweet because that’s always what I’m trying to reference, is just that raw energy of wanting to explore music and not take it so seriously and think about how it’ll be received. That’s usually what does the best. 

I'm with you, I think there's something raw about almost meme music. I love when artists send me their demos, and then as soon as it's fully mixed and mastered, I don’t like it as much. Currently you are writing for an upcoming EP. Do you have a songwriting process you consistently turn to? 

Yes. So when I write alone, I just sit in a silent room and type up some poetry in my Notes app, then later try to figure it out. Or I will play the same four chords over and over and over and just say words. I’ll freestyle until something sticks. The words will find me as they need to. But a large part of the EP was worked with cowriters, and so we'll have a little collaborative note and spew things and see what sticks. Like spaghetti, throwing it at the wall. 

How long have you been working with other people? Was it easy for you to collaborate? 

It was not easy at first, because I was entering the music industry as a teenage girl. As a teenage girl, I was like, well, everything that I think is the best. I had a hard time budging on things, and was resistant to someone “coming in and changing it.” So that was really hard at first, but I've been way more open to collaborating over the past couple years.
I started flying to LA just to do writing sessions. I was also finding more people my age on TikTok whose songwriting I loved and really wanted to write with, not even for the songs to go anywhere, but just that I was so inspired and wanted to see their process. So once I saw how great it was to be in the room with other writers and see their processes, I got way more into it. It’s hard to relinquish control at first, but I love it now. 

What do you think is different from your songwriting process then and now, other than otherworldly teenage confidence? 

A lot of my process has changed because there is a lot more pressure, I feel. So it used to feel a lot more carefree and fun, not to say that it's not fun now, but now there's weight on this. I signed to a label and it just feels like a way more crucial point of my career. Before, I didn’t feel like I had to second guess things, and I do now. I feel like I used to write more for fun and now I write for work, but also I write a lot now to process things emotionally and I feel like my writing didn't used to be so heavy. So now it has become heavy. 

So, you got a job that was the only job you were capable of, and then the weight of said job requires that you write music so that you can cope with it… I think you’re right, this is the perfect job for you. 

Let's tackle your single, “moat,” which is already out. Do you have a moat around you? Do you let people in? What's moat about? 


So, I wrote moat after a relationship I was in last year where I could not for the life of me be equally into and commit to the relationship. Not to say that I was cheating or anything, but I was having a really hard time opening up and being truly vulnerable with this person. They just wanted to love me and have it work out, but the more they said that, the more I felt like I needed to get out of it. So, I was sitting with that relationship and thinking, “why did it not work out?” There were a few reasons outside of my own issues, but I realized that it is a pattern in my life. Even just with friendships, I like to keep them at arm's length because for some reason I feel like if I let people too close and I let them fully know me, they'll be disappointed or not going to like what they see. And so the song is about building a moat around my mind, and you don't realize I'm doing you a service by keeping you at a distance. It's hurtful for you now, but it will be less hurtful than you getting too close to this version of myself that is not what I feel is authentic to me. 

Now, I feel like a therapist. That's not uncommon behavior. But where do you think it comes from? 

I think that I am in my early 20s and I have no idea who I am right now. And so to be in any relationship and have them build out their future around you, it’s really scary. This relationship took place when I still lived in Texas and I could not picture where I was going with my life yet. I didn’t want them to build their future around me because I didn’t know my future yet and I couldn’t say for certain I’d be there. But also, I am just growing and changing all of the time and moving here has changed me a lot. And so I have a hard time feeling like people are getting to know me when I feel like I still have not gotten there myself. I don't know fully who Dacelynn is yet. 

Tell me about your upcoming EP, Nine Lives. Have you lived Nine Lives? 

I feel like I have lived nine lives since. 

It feels like you might need nine lives to get to know you. 

I think it might take nine more. 18 lives. I did name it that because it feels like I've lived so many lifetimes since I've begun writing the EP because it's been over the course of almost two years now. I just feel like I’m in the part of my life where I am ever changing. Each month I almost feel like I’ve grown exponentially. And so it's a nice little collage of music. Some of it’s from my first sessions in LA where I'm still crashing and burning through the process of working with a producer in a studio and other writers. Each song is so vastly different from the next, because it’s me trying to figure things out stylistically. But also, the meaning of each of the songs is so different from one to the next. I released “Russian Doll,” which is about compartmentalization. When I wrote that and realized the imagery behind it, I realized I was really drawn to that idea of the versions of yourself within you. I wrote about my past, future, and present self. That really struck me and inspired the EP title. This EP is so many different versions of me, nine different versions of me. 

So, if I do my math, some of these songs were written while you were still in Texas?
The rest here? 

Yes. I think only a couple have been written since I moved out here. “Moat” and “Russian doll” were the ones that I've written in the past year. I moved out here in August last year, but I was flying to LA for sessions. 

How do you edit into a collection of songs?
Do you have dozens and dozens of songs you need to narrow down, or were these 9 songs the ones you had? 

It's definitely changing, but before I moved, it felt way more limited. I was very uninspired at home, so I wasn't writing a bunch. And then I would come to L.A. for a week and I'd have a session every single day and that was all that I had to pull from. But now that I live out here, I'm writing almost constantly and I'm consistently keeping 10 or 15 songs in cycle that I feel really strongly about. I’ll sit with them for a few months to see if I still think they’re really good, but I’m not as precious as before. It also felt like I had to put out every single thing I worked on in sessions when I was flying out because every trip was so damn expensive. Now, I’ve definitely got more wiggle room with the process. 

You were mentioning – and I think this is very natural for being young – getting to know yourself as an individual. Does that reflect in your music? Do you find there's an evolution in the sound of your maturation? 

I feel that as I’m finding myself more and I'm finding my taste and my style, it is starting to reflect more. Like, I think that “moat” is one of the first songs I've released where I can say with full certainty that I love this song, front to back. It feels like a true reflection of the kind of music I like to consume and instrumentally, lyrically, vocally, something I would like. I love that song and I think that it's because I have spent so much time with myself figuring myself out. 

You've expressed a little anxiousness and anxiety about how the songs will do, which I think is totally natural. Do you have goals or expectations or is it more just fears? 


I think that you're reading me super well right now. I have a hard time being a goal-oriented person. I'm achieving goals, for sure. I just never set them. I have a hard time being a dreamer because there's the chance to be disappointed if you set your expectations high. I’ve just kind of floated through this journey. My roommate is amazing, I admire them so much because they’ll sit down and list out all of their goals and have all these vision boards, and I’ve never thought like that before. It would probably help, too. It would give me a clearer pathway, but also I enjoy the process of creating music so much that I will be fulfilled no matter what, even if I don’t end up in massive fame or wealth. I just need to create music. So that is why I do it. It would be great if it was sustainable and I didn't have to worry about being able to afford my rent at the end of the day. I would love to still be successful. But I don't know, I've never been one to really set huge goals. When I'm asked about my goals, I just say I would love to tour and not go into massive debt and have people continuously show up for me and experience the music with me. 

If you were one of your audience members listening to this future EP, what would you want them to feel? What is the best case takeaway? 

I would hope that they feel represented in some way, because I know that when I was writing some of these songs, I felt truly like the only person in the world that could feel the way that I was feeling. You know, I’ll listen to other artists’ music and wonder how they got in my head, I felt so seen. I would hope that I could be that for someone. It’s hard to have some of these feelings. A lot of the themes, like in “russian doll” and “moat,” they’re personal and kind of depressing and it’s hard to feel alone in that feeling. So I would hope if someone listens and relates, that they feel they’re seen. 

If you could construct your most ideal and perfect show with any other performers in any place, what would that look like? 

I would love to be in a lineup with Faye Webster, Adrienne Lenker, Lomelda, Daffo… I love these artists so bad and if I had an excuse to perform with them every night and then get to see their set every single night, that would be just incredible. 

What would the dream venue be? 

Somewhere just nice and pretty. A nice little view. 

I would suggest looking up The Gorge. Okay, now let's pivot to some more fun questions. If your roommate comes home after a hard day of vision boarding and is hungry, can you whip something up? Can you cook? What would it be? 

I can cook one thing really well, and I cook it almost every single day. I make my salmon and broccoli dinner. 

Well, what's the recipe? 


You take your Costco, thawed, frozen salmon fillet. Been there before? You put some olive oil on it, some salt, pepper, garlic seasoning. I put some red seasoning… paprika? Air fry that for 10 minutes and in the last four minutes, I throw in some broccoli. I'll throw some tomatoes in the air fryer if I feel crazy. A slice of sourdough bread, buttered up. I'm not supposed to really eat gluten, but sourdough is so good.

If you could travel to any place to do anything, do you have a dream vacation? 

Man, see,
I haven't really traveled much. I grew up in Texas and we didn't really leave Texas often. And so all that I know is home. But I would like to go somewhere that doesn't resemble Texas in the slightest.

There's a lot of that. What's the best thing about Texas? 

I like that my family's all in one spot. I like that I can go home and I can see them all. I didn't have the best experience with Texas.
It could have been worse. But I am a gay woman at the end of the day with pink hair. And so if I walk into a Walmart, I'm getting looked at – not for a good reason. Kids were kind of interesting in school. I wasn't super out, but once they caught word that I was gay, I was definitely treated in a not great way. It just wasn't the best environment for me, but it's weird now that I moved to LA, I find myself having some Texas pride because I'm like, “These damn Californians…” 

I think you learn to appreciate where you're from much more when you leave. What's the worst idea you've ever had?

The worst idea I've ever had? I go to crazy places in my head right now. Maybe the worst idea that ended up being the best idea is that I moved in with someone I barely knew that I met off of the internet, which sounds like the worst idea you could possibly have. I met my roommate by scrolling my TikTok For You page and I was like, I love your writing. 
And they said they loved my writing, let's write together. And so we did, and I crashed on their couch a couple times and then we moved in together. It ended up being the best decision I've ever made in my life. My worst idea was probably thinking it was a good idea to drink a Dr. Pepper every single day of my life until I was like 19 years old. I didn't drink water. My mom definitely fed into it. We were all just like super soda addicted. I was like, mom, imagine, I could have been like 5’6", if you didn't give me so much damn soda. All the caffeine definitely stunted my growth and I wish that it didn't have to be this way. 

Shots fired at mom. Last couple of questions. I would love a few recommendations. First, I’d love a non-music one, and it can be anything – place to visit, something to read or watch, thing to do, etc. 

It's so hard to do something non-music related.
It's all that I do. I go for walks, but only around my neighborhood. I can't tell them that. 

Yes, go for walks. 


Okay, go for walks around my neighborhood. Honestly, though, that is the best part of my day, just unplugging for a second and walking around my neighborhood. I feel like a dog. You know when you walk your dog and it finds a treat on the ground one time, and then every single time it walks, it goes back to that one spot and looks for the treat. That's me, but with flowers and this specific bush that had a butterfly one time and now I always look to see if it will be there. I just like to take in how weird all the greenery is because Texas has so many different plants. California feels like a crash landing on some foreign planet with all the different succulents and stuff.
It's unlike anything I've ever seen and I feel like every single time I walk, I see something new. I’m so amazed by that. I think it’s beautiful. 

Do you have a routine? Do you go for a walk in the afternoon, a set time, or is whenever you need it? 

Whenever I can make myself get up off my ass. Or if I realized that I've been scrolling for too long or if I've just been sat answering emails, I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna get a blood clot and die so I should stand up and walk around. 

Do you leave the phone behind? 


I wish that I could, but I think I would freak out. I like to listen to music while I walk. Sometimes I listen to my own masters to see if they sound good or I try to get into some new albums. 

On that note, what are your music recommendations? Who are your OnesToWatch? 

My music recommendation is Hudson Freeman. Have you heard him recently? He has this riff that's going massively viral, but I knew him a few months before that, so… 
He has this song, “If You Know Me,” and it's just so good. Actually, “I'm Most Me” is my favorite. He's an insanely talented musician and he's been super inspiring to me recently. 

I would like to end on your words in any fashion. So, it can be advice, what you would say to your younger self, some wisdom, it can be anything you want. 

I would just say, take it easy. It can be to my past self. It’s also to my current self. And anyone listening. It doesn’t have to be so hard. Find a way to make yourself comfortable in any situation and I think happiness will find you if you let it. It’s a constant thing to work at, but if you feel like there’s room to grow, you can grow. 

Lovely. Thank you so much for your time. 

You’re the best.