August 17, 2023 at PDT
Head Noise
Tia Gostelow refers to her third album as a journal. “It really feels like it’s following the ups and downs of my life over the past three years, and the things that have gone on with friends around me as well,” the Queensland-based Luma Luma singer-songwriter tells Apple Music. “It’s probably the first time a record has felt this personal.”
Taking its name from a lyric in the song “I’m Getting Bored of This,” the title Head Noise reflects the anxiety Gostelow deals with on a daily basis, a mental state that at times leaves her lying in bed unable to sleep, fixating on conversations she had years earlier. “Head Noise is a really great way to sum up everything on the album,” she offers.
Working with producer Chris Collins, who encouraged Gostelow to incorporate instruments such as saxophone and congas into the song “Spring to Life,” the album is a smooth, woozy, harmony-laden indie-pop affair, with Gostelow’s vocals front and center, raw and unencumbered by effects. Read on as Gostelow talks through Head Noise, track by track.
“Nothing Else Matters”
“The song was really inspired by this experience I had when I was in New York [with] my mum. I’m a sucker for a psychic, and we ended up getting our cards read. At the end of my reading, the fortune teller was like, ‘Your chakras aren’t aligned, and it’s gonna cost you $700 for me to realign them for you.’ I thought, ‘I’ll just keep them, thank you very much!’ We went to Nashville and I was like, ‘I really want to write a song that’s got “fortune teller” [in it].’ The song ended up just being a nice little love song about sticking with someone through everything, but we ended up getting ‘fortune teller’ in the chorus and I’m so glad.”
“Spring to Life”
“It’s about being fresh out of a breakup or out of a situation where you’ve been seeing someone, but it’s more about the battles you have with yourself going through all of these emotions. Sometimes it can be really hard to remain a good person while going through that. Breakups can bring out a pretty horrible side to us. But it’s mostly about just trying to be a good person, and trying to not treat the other person like shit. And also realizing that you’re probably better off out of this relationship because you really weren’t being yourself.”
“Killing You”
“It touches on the topic of being unsafe as a woman and the things that can happen to us when we're walking alone at night. It really made me reflect on when I was 18. I moved to Brisbane by myself, and I remember living alone and being scared that someone was going to break into my apartment. And I worked at [venue] The Triffid as a glassy [glass collector] so I’d be finishing at three o’clock in the morning, and I remember walking back to my car and always having my keys in my hand because I wasn’t sure if someone was going to be following me. It really made me think about all of these little things that I do subconsciously.”
“Dumb & Numb”
“This one was inspired by watching people close to me in relationships that just weren't working out. It’s like watching something kind of fall apart and being sad about it for them. It’s just another breakup song, but from the perspective of wanting to shake my friends and be like, ‘You’re so young, you do not need to worry about this at the moment.’”
“Why Did You Leave?”
“I lost two friends last year to suicide. And it was pretty much the first time I’ve ever had to deal with any kind of death close to me. It was a song I felt I needed to write. I also wanted it to be a song that my friends could find comfort in. It definitely was a way of grieving a bit. I still have to pick my days when I can listen to the song.”
“Sour”
“I randomly had this memory of being backstage after a show that I played. This guy there, I had no idea, was flirting with me, hardcore. My friend was like, ‘Tia, do you see what’s happening here? He’s flirting with you, what are you gonna do about it?’ I was like, ‘What?! No! I’ve got a boyfriend.’ I just felt so embarrassed that I did not pick up on any of the clues or any of the hints. I was mortified. But I thought that’d be a funny starting point for a song. We ended up embellishing the story quite a bit, making it really fun.”
“Early Twenties”
“It’s literally about all the things that I’ve been going through for the past three years. The whole purpose of this song is either to let people who are in their early twenties know that it’s OK to not have everything figured out, or even to just remind people that might be in their thirties or forties of a time when they were still figuring themselves out. So I think this is a song for everyone.”
“I’m Getting Bored of This”
“This is mainly about having anxiety; anxiety after drinking. It’s crazy the head noise and the anxiety that comes from [having a late night] and the snowball effect after it. If I have a big weekend I’m so out of it all week, I just don’t feel right, and then it affects everything else in your life. The song was me dealing with those anxieties and the head noise and everything that comes not just from drinking, but life, and trying to get yourself out of that.”
“Dog Eat Dog World”
“When I wrote ‘Dog Eat Dog World,’ we’d just come out of COVID. I felt that I was on this rise and then everything stopped. I don’t know if I’m back to where I was. I think sometimes it can feel like a failure a little bit. And also, TikTok, social media, it’s just not who I am. I’m a very introverted person. I don’t love sharing my whole lifestyle online. It feels like the music industry is constantly asking me to do it. It’s about that constant push and pull of knowing how much you want to give and how much you don’t.”
“Like You Better”
“This was written with Ali Barter and Garrett Kato. I was envisioning looking at myself in the mirror and talking to myself. It’s about reflecting on myself and the decisions I’ve made and wanting to be happy with who I’m looking at. It’s good to reflect on who you are sometimes and be like, ‘OK, do I really like what I’m doing right now? And do I really like who I am right now? Is there anything I could do better?’ I think that’s important.”
10 Tracks
