Having received acclaim from the likes of the New York Times and queer publication them, and collaborated with big names such as Hayley Williams (Paramore) and Julien Baker (boygenius), Nashville artist Becca Mancari has just released their latest album, Left Hand. Rippling throughout with a beautifully heartfelt emotion and twinkling musicality, it offers a dreamy and gently empowering reflection on queer identities and our relation to the natural world; a shimmering and relatable ode to being your true self.
We caught up with Becca to discuss their new album, processing past trauma, being a queer artist today, and more. Have read below, and make sure you check out the exquisite new album!
Hi Becca, and welcome to Get In Her Ears! Are you able to tell us a bit about how you initially started creating music?
I actually started at a very young age! I felt safe when I was making music, and I always loved how the act of writing music helped me really feel connected to myself. I had so much fear as a young kid, and this helped me not feel alone!
I really love your dreamy, twinkling musicality and emotion-rich vocals, but who would you consider to be your main musical influences?
I think the emotional music came from listening to Sharon van Etten, and then I also used to listen to mewithoutyou, and they helped me explore my religious trauma.
And how much would you say your religious upbringing feeds into what you now create?
I think that it really helps me see how it matters to find your own way, and to not be in a group think. The good parts that I received from my upbringing though were that I learned how to really be around so many different kinds of people. I learned how to love myself, with or without the love of religious people, and I am thankful for the chance to grow even deeper in love with the world around me! I fought for that hard!
You’ve recently released your new album Left Hand, which is very exciting -congratulations! It seems to reflect a lot on your childhood and family, are you able to explain a bit more about this?
I only started to fully process all of what happened to me as a kid recently, but it’s so important for me to keep healing and being in therapy! I started therapy in late 2020 and it was the first time that I had ever been in it, and it really did save my life. But for me, I process my feelings through music – I finally do feel like this is my last record about the past, and I am really looking forward to what’s next.
And you also seem to draw inspiration from the natural world in your writing – how does this normally come about, and how do you feel it links to the emotions you’re expressing throughout the album?
I grew up in a tiny town with only about 800 hundred people, so nature was such a big part of my childhood. I feel like I get physically sick and definitely emotionally unwell if I am not in nature. So, I really wanted to honour what nature does for us all on this record, and also talk about how important it is for us to protect her!
It seems like you went through quite a difficult time after the release of your last record (The Greatest Part, 2020), was the process of creating this latest record a cathartic process for you? It certainly seems to emanate some really comforting uplifting energy and queer joy!
Yes, this record really did bring me to the next level of self love and self acceptance! It’s been a really long journey for me in this way, and I am so glad that you feel the queer joy on this album! I make music for everyone, but especially the queer community!
After initially starting the studio session to record the album with a producer, you then made the decision to produce the album yourself. What lead to this decision? And how was the process for you?
The process with that other producer was so terrible that I left it feeling like I needed to make a change to really start learning how to produce on my own! And thankfully my longest collaborator and dear friend Juan Solorzano was ready and able to co-produce the record with me, and it ended up being a record that really changed my life. I was on a path that was not really the right one, and by making this record myself I really feel like it changed the whole course of my life.
You’ve collaborated with various other artists on the album (including personal favourite Julien Baker!). How did you decide on who to work with for the album? And how did the collaborative process go?
So, living in Nashville for so long it was just a natural thing to make friends with other artists, and I feel so lucky to be able to collaborate with them on their music as well! We just end up working together because it’s fun and easy. With Julien, I knew that she was getting into engineering, and so I was like hey “Jb, do you want to engineer your own vocals?”, and she was just super down for it!
You’ve played a lot of exciting live shows over the last few years, including one with Hayley Williams (Paramore) in Madison Square Garden, and sharing a stage with the likes of Sheryl Crow and Brittany Howard at Nashville’s LGBTQ+ benefit Love Rising. How were these experiences for you? And is there a particular show you’ve played throughout your career that stands out as a highlight?
I really appreciated Hayley asking me to do the Love Rising show because that show really meant so much to me and the community that I am in. It’s always really nerve-racking to be asked to play someone’s music with them because you want to make sure that you do it well, but H is just one of the best people I know, and has always made me feel seen and supported!
As a queer person making music today, how do you feel the industry is for new artists at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the last few years in its treatment of gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ artists?
I do think that there are way more opportunities for us than there were, but it’s STILL such a struggle and the industry is still geared to cis straight white people. So, my true hope is that the industry changes completely from the ground up! As queer people we are still fighting for our lives, and so I really hope we are not only respected for our music, but also that our lives are protected.
As we’re a new music focused site, are there any other upcoming artists you’re loving right now that you’d recommend we check out?
Bloomsday! They are a great non-binary queer band out of Brooklyn, and they are opening a bunch of dates for me!
Finally, what does the rest of 2023 have in store for you?
Tonnes of touring all over the United States, and then making a plan to come to the UK and EU early next year!
Huge thanks to Becca for answering our questions! We can’t wait for them to come over to the UK sometime soon!
Left Hand, the new album from Becca Mancari, is out now via Captured Tracks. Listen / order here.
Photo Credit: Sophia Matinazad
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