Q&A: Austin’s Rising Star Barb on New Single, “beside you (so boring!)”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY FAITH LUEVANOS ☆
HAILING FROM AUSTIN, TEXAS, SINGER/SONGWRITER BARB – has been making waves with the release of her latest single, “beside you (so boring!)”. In her new emotionally charged indie-rock anthem, Barb invites listeners into the raw and vulnerable intricacies of a modern-day situationship. The track encapsulates the push and pull of an addictive yet hollow love, displaying the ache of yearning for something that ultimately leaves you unfulfilled.
Beginning her career after a successful open mic night, Barb has continued to learn and grow within herself and her music, turning humble beginnings into a promising musical journey. From being self-taught on the guitar to touring with the band whose music was the soundtrack to her formative years, she has seen impressive growth over the years. Barb’s music is a window into her soul - honest, raw, and unapologetically real. Now, all eyes are on Barb as she continues to release relatable music as a rising queer artist.
Luna had the opportunity to chat with Barb about her musical career in Austin, what cinematic couple her new single would be the anthem for, her career highlights, and more. Read the full interview below.
LUNA: When did your relationship with music begin?
BARB: For most of my life, music acted as a soundtrack. It wasn't until I graduated college that I think I was looking for something to fill my time. I'm a very ambitious person, and I was a good athlete for 10 years. I was really dedicated to a sport. I really enjoyed learning and getting better at a skill and taking it to the next level. After that, I went through a lot of life changes. I went through my first queer breakup and I was getting my first job. I think there was just so much going on, a lot of change, that I started learning how to play guitar. I was writing songs as a way to learn music. Eventually, I was kind of like, “Okay, well, this is kind of fun. Maybe I'll learn how to play a cover or something like that.”
The first song I ever learned was “Dunno” by Mac Miller. I played that and my roommate took me to an open mic night and made me sing. I was so shy and so embarrassed. It was some little pub that was 30 minutes north of Austin, so nowhere anybody that would know me would recognize me, but there were just so many people who came to me like, “You have a very lovely voice!” Everybody was just so supportive. I'm used to the competitiveness of sports, but it's just really cool to see everybody kind of do their thing. I didn't really expect it to be something that I enjoyed doing so much now, but I really enjoy the growth. I practice guitar a lot, I'm learning how to produce, I like to write everything myself. I had more of an ear for it than I thought. It's just really cool to see how far I've come in two years.
LUNA: Austin, Texas is such a musically rich city. How do you feel living there has helped your growth as an artist?
BARB: Immensely. Even in college, I went to so many live shows. I remember there was this band that came through on tour when I was a junior in college. They're called Private Island. They're from Southern California and they're one of my favorite bands of all time. Fast forward, I just opened for them on four of their tour dates this summer. I think Austin is such an epicenter. You can probably ask any musician who tours, and Austin is usually people's favorite city to stop in on tour simply because people come out to the shows because they're live music fans. The way the crowd engages and is dancing and excited to see you and be there? There is never a moment of judgment. I think people are just so excited to see people share their art and their craft. Austin is truly, I think, the live music capital still, and I think there are a lot of really great bands here.
You know, we got to do this tour with this band that I’ve followed for five, six years before I even played a guitar, before I even touched a guitar, and I got to open for them. And now one of the singers produced this song that we're going to be talking about. That's insane to me, like a weird universe type of thing. Being in Austin is the center of any of that happening.
LUNA: You recently released your single, “beside you (so boring!)”, which discusses being involved in a love that is addictive, yet hollow. Can you dive deeper into what the song means to you?
BARB: It's based on being in a situationship with somebody that you can't be open about it with. I think my situation was unique, but there's a universal feeling of like, “I'm not feeling seen.” I wanted to really capture that feeling of like, “Is this worth it? Is it worth the high of getting to love you and getting to be with you? Is it worth the fact that I’m realizing that this probably isn't going to work in the long haul?” I really wanted to put my subtle queer lens into it too. There's this thought of like, “I can already see you moving on with somebody else.” Then, in the final bridge, I changed the lyrics to this idea of, “But I also could have seen you with me. I could see it so clearly with me because we did that, we were together.” I really wanted to have this big moment of “I'm yearning for you, and I want you, but I can't have you in the way that I want.” It has that double meaning of, “I want to be beside you, but also, who's to say if anything's going to happen? I think if it’s going to change, it will be based on you.”
LUNA: Do you have a favorite line in the song?
BARB: Two sections really hit for me. I like the opening lines of the song, because I think that paints a picture of exactly the headspace I was in when I wrote it, which was, “Go around the block before you drop me off, say you love my smile, but only in the dark, but I'm the one you love, the one you're kissing on, if it were up to me, you wouldn't give me up” I just wanted to paint the picture of what it's like to be sneaking around with somebody. The other part of the song that parallels that would be the little bridge before the final big outro, which is, “Another day bearing weight on the sideline, another day I'm not beside you” I'm painting all these feelings of like, “I'm being hidden. There's some sneaky stuff going on, and I'm not feeling very confident about the situation, but here I am still sad about the fact that I don't get to be beside you.”
LUNA: When you think of the song, can you name a couple in a movie who this would be the perfect anthem for?
BARB: My goodness, this is a great question. I'd say any of those couples or relationships where there was some sort of circumstance that prevented them from being together. Short answer, Call Me by Your Name. That book, that narrative in general, this whole yearning of that time. I wanted to incorporate the queer lens of them not getting to be together, whether it's because of the time period they were in, or maybe familial backgrounds, or whatever it is.
LUNA: Amazing choice! So, you’re completely self-taught on the guitar. Besides the open mic night you mentioned, what was the push to learn that instrument?
BARB: I got a guitar for my birthday when I was maybe in middle school or high school, and I just never touched it. I think I wanted to be good at whatever it was I was naturally probably better at. So, I stuck with sports because it came so much more naturally to me. I don't know if you ever felt this way growing up, but I feel like if you couldn't hit the high notes, you couldn't sing. If you didn't naturally have an ear for music, you couldn't play music. Either you had a gift or you didn't know sh*t, right? I started playing guitar, and I was just kind of learning about things like writing and singing - very simple stuff. Over time, I started realizing patterns and things were making sense. That gave me enough confidence to want to keep going. I joined a band for a little bit and got kicked out because I wasn't good enough at playing keys, because I didn't play keys, and I also wasn't that great at guitar yet.
It was funny though, my bassist ended up leaving that band and came with me to my band. He’s still with me to this day. I got to do my project from then on. I realized, if you put time into anything, you can get good at it. I firmly believe that. You know, there's a lot of women in music and guitar specifically that I really look up to. There’s a very open community between girl guitarists where they’re trying to lift each other up and prove that there is space. And it's not just because we're a girl or we're just the girl in the band. We work hard at that sh*t and we know what we're doing.
LUNA: Definitely, just give people credit where credit is due. What are some of your favorite moments in your career so far?
BARB: Playing my first sold-out show, which was at Mohawk in Austin. I remember playing that, and that was super, super special. This tour we did this past summer with Private Island and Pink Skies, that was really special, because Private Island was genuinely a formidable band in my high school and college experience. So I think getting to play with them, and now getting to work with them is special. Then, getting to play at The Drop-In which is this big outdoor venue where in the summer, the whole Austin skyline is behind you. I got to play with a five-piece band. Everybody in my band is a close friend, which is special. And then, I got to play my first music festival in San Diego, and that was a pride festival, all queer artists. It was so dope and so fun.
LUNA: Those are such cool milestones. Who are some of your musical inspirations?
BARB: In my early career, I feel like I really channeled a lot of 80s rock, like The Cars, Foreigner, and The Romantics. I play their song “Talking In Your Sleep” live. I think of Stevie Nicks and Paramore. Any frontwoman is impactful. A lot of Fleetwood Mac growing up too. Oddly, I think of pop punk, pop rock kind of stuff. Yellowcard was one of my favorite bands growing up. With this song specifically, I think of The Neighbourhood, The Aces, The Beaches, and Fletcher. I wanted to incorporate some queer artists that I look up to as well in terms of the direction of the sound.
LUNA: 2025 is almost here. What are some of your New Year’s resolutions?
BARB: I think being more vulnerable in terms of my music and even something as simple as what I post, you know. I think being vulnerable with my art and the direction it's going, putting it out. I have a lot of music that I've wrapped on, or I'm close to. I think just not being afraid to put out whatever feels authentic to me. I've put out stuff that’s kind of like spacey indie rock or beach rock, and now this is all very much pop. And then hopefully, you know, kick ass at these shows we have coming up in Texas.
