PIXIE MCCANN: “I MAKE MUSIC THAT SOUNDS LIKE MY MIND”

Photo Credit: Lara Laeverenz

Following a sold-out debut UK headline tour, BBC Radio 1 support and a breakthrough year, Pixie McCann returns with ‘It’s Pixie’ — a fierce, unfiltered takedown of losing yourself in the pursuit of someone else’s approval. We sit down with the emerging artist to talk self-worth, rage, making “weird music for weird girls” and keeping things human.

There’s something deliciously confrontational about Pixie McCann’s new single, ‘It’s Pixie’. A sharp departure from the dreamier, more ethereal edges of her debut EP Indigo, Vibrant and New, the track is an electrifying burst of unfiltered anger, confronting the humiliating lengths we can go to when trying to feel wanted by someone who makes us question our worth. Raw, restless and unapologetically direct, it’s Pixie at her most exposed — and perhaps her most empowered.

Released via Black Butter Records, the single arrives at the end of a landmark year for McCann. Following a sold-out first UK headline tour, BBC Radio 1 support, a Maida Vale session and a performance at All Points East, the singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist is quickly carving out a world entirely her own. Her sound — a curious, captivating collision of ethereal vocals, immersive live-looping and unconventional production — refuses to sit neatly within any one genre, instead reflecting the wonderfully unpredictable inner workings of her mind.

Having explored unhealthy attachments, nostalgia and the pull of the past on Indigo, Vibrant and New, McCann now turns up the volume on her anger, delivering a song that feels less like an introspective confession and more like a confrontation. With a distinctly self-aware sense of humour and an instinctive approach to music-making, she continues to embrace the strange, the vulnerable and the gloriously unpolished.

As she prepares to join Paris Paloma on her The Fatal Flaw Tour across the UK and Europe, we caught up with Pixie McCann to discuss the inspiration behind ‘It’s Pixie’, the liberation of making music without rules, her whirlwind year and why, above all, she wants everything to feel more human.

1. Your new single, ‘It’s Pixie’, explores the lengths we can go to when trying to feel wanted by someone who makes us question our worth. What inspired you to write about this experience, and was there anything about putting those feelings into a song that helped you see them differently?

I wrote the song about a specific relationship with a man who was incredibly traditional and old fashioned in his values. (He got angry when I beat him at pool). I found myself manipulating and bending myself to fit into his ideas of me. It was so lame. I’d never do it again (hopefully). And if I do, I’m sure my friends will use this song as a “look what happens”.

2. Your debut EP, Indigo, Vibrant and New, explored unhealthy attachments, nostalgia and the feeling of living in the past rather than the present. How does ‘It’s Pixie’ build on those themes, and does the new single represent a more direct or unfiltered side of yourself as an artist?

‘It’s Pixie’ came before the EP. It’s certainly less filtered though. I would say the EP is rage on a bed of magic, whereas this song is direct in its anger. I’m telling someone something. To his face.

3. You’ve described your music as “weird music for weird girls”, and your sound combines ethereal vocals, live-looping and unconventional production. Where does your experimental approach come from, and how important is it to create music that feels entirely your own rather than fitting into a particular genre?

It’s important to make music that feels like me ! I make music that sounds like my mind. I don’t really overanalyse it. Like genuinely, try and ask me what genre my music is and I literally can’t. I kind of just always go off of what I feel. I have no technical knowledge and I think that’s been really liberating, I think I approach music like a child and I’m really grateful for that.

Photo Credit: Lara Laeverenz

4. You recently completed your first UK headline tour, selling out every date, including London’s Hoxton Hall, after an incredible year of BBC Radio 1 support, a Maida Vale session and a performance at All Points East. How has stepping into the spotlight this year changed your relationship with your music, and what has the response from audiences taught you about the community forming around your songs?

It’s all been incredibly exciting and wild, but I’ve really tried to keep my relationship to music exactly the same. At the end of the day, wherever the song ends up (on the radio, or played on the stage at All Points East), they all start in my garage in my junk journal.

5. You’re about to join Paris Paloma on her UK and European tour, taking your music to new audiences across the continent. As you close out such a significant year with the release of ‘It’s Pixie’, what do you hope this next chapter will look like, and are there any new sounds or ideas you’re excited to explore in your upcoming music?

You know I’m not entirely sure. I want everything to be human. More and more human.