LETTING GO
A CONVERSATION WITH IZZY REIGN
Some people often think about how to reach their dreams, while others live in their dreams. For artists like Izzy Reign, a special kind of fearless style and creativity radiate from her presence, where her dreams have always bled into reality. With a lust for the macabre and an even deeper attachment to creating unique soundscapes that transcend the barriers of metalcore, Izzy Reign has been in the business of telling stories about one’s mental struggles set behind an atmospheric cathodic background, colored with accents of cyberpop, alternative pop, hard rock, metal, and metalcore. If there is anything her few singles have proven is that there is no limit to where her creative visions begin or end. With an album release slated for 2025, Reign has never been more at the top of her game, as the anticipation for her new album continues to grow.
“I guess, in a sense, it comes from different things. The actual writing process versus what I am writing about, for this album in particular, was based on very particular battles that I dealt with in my brain or things that I don’t like about myself. I turned them into a musical representation of those things but made them into bigger situations for each song. It’s sort of like pre-therapy, you know?” she laughs. “Lyrically, that’s where a lot of this stems from, and I wanted to encompass either the actual emotion that each song is about, or I wanted it to be polar opposite. I kind of wanted to “Sweeny Todd” the vibe, if that makes sense. For instance, “Pandora’s Box,” the latest release, is a super club banger; it’s exciting, but itβs actually a depressing song,” she laughs. “I just wanted to embody a lot of these emotions throughout it, and how it would connect with you more, rather than it just being a cool song. Whether it’s how the specific soundwaves, like panning, or those little fun tricks I threw in there can affect your brain, or if you connect with it lyrically, cool,” she smiles.
As a prime example of how far a rock artist can push their sound, artists like Izzy Reign are not above luxuriating in their own soundscapes. Without exception, Izzy Reign is becoming one of the most creative talents in the neighborhood of multi-genre metalcore, taking part in spawning, shaping, and redefining what such a genre can be if the mind sets itself free of the barriers that constantly hold back many artists from stepping out of their comfort zones. And yet, acknowledging such facts reveals somewhat of a double-edged sword. Stay in your lane; it’s safe; step beyond the wall of tradition, there’s every danger of your music not being cast out into the suburbia of odd and often underrated artists. If there is anything to say about Reigns’ style, it’s that it’s anything short of ordinary. From these aggressive textures that seem to circumvent through a voltaic, alternative/cyperpop cadence, her creative muse has led to a pretty successful start in the music industry.
PURCHASE/STREAM “PANDORA’S BOX” VIA BANDCAMP
“The actual studio writing process is just myself, that starts with all the stuff, then I work with John Eberhard and Nick Matzkows. John is the main writer for everything. He’s incredible at what he does, Nick is the vocal engineer, mixing, mastering, and all that good stuff. All the final touches. He does do some postproduction too. But this is the team I work with,” says Reign. “I definitely tried to make each individual song off this album very different from one another and take concepts musically from other areas of my life that I either grew up on or listen to right now. I tried to take a lot of different genres and crammed them into one experience where it didn’t sound like chaos in the wrong ways. As a whole, I wanted to really dive into the cyberpop realm of things. I listen to a lot of K-pop,” she laughs. When I started listening to it, I thought it was the coolest thing I ever heard in my life. So I tried to take certain elements from different styles or weird influences that most people would not really guess or know from the bat. Imogen Heap is a big influence on me vocally because she really steps out of the box of things. Weird timing or inflections, or other strange harmonies. “I strive to integrate unconventional elements, beyond the genres I work in,” she beams.
Bundling genres and influences can be very tricky to pull off without coming across as “trying too hard” or like you have gone off the rails unless you have a great understanding of musical balance and counterbalancing. Considering how well-known bands like Bring Me The Horizon have done this, this strategy is not entirely novel. However, for mint artists like Izzy Reign, such clear references to and shadows cast by these titans of metalcore only serve to highlight the fact that, despite her relatively recent rise to fame, the musician already exemplifies many gifted qualities that contemporary metalcore acts ought to aspire to. Heavy, hugely atmospheric, and full of melodic and dynamic prowess, Reign is an incredibly powerful and boldly atmospheric artist who demonstrates the endless possibilities that arise when one lets go of constraints.
“This has definitely been one of the most difficult,” says Reign. “Difficult in the sense that I did write an album in about a month-and-a-half timespan. That was crazy and chaotic. However, that is just one small part of this process. But we did it, and I love every song. It was big pieces from everyone who all chimed in at the time, but I think for me, the biggest challenge for me and anything else I have done in writing was making it so personal. A lot of my previous stuff is very inspirationalβabout moving forward, despite the struggles and obstacles you have in front of you. Putting out all of those things, hopefully, people can connect to it and help them be able to admit things about themselves and go forward. But it was helpful to me personally. I got it all out, even though it was really difficult. There is unquestionably a difference between this and everything else I have done before. Before I was just trying to write cool songs, this is something more realistic and genuine.”
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