The 8-track EP takes listeners through the journey of love, loss, and growth she has experienced over the last two years. Beyond The Stage Magazine sits down with OSTON to chat about her new release.
BTS: Congrats on your EP release, Am I Talking Too Much? — Who/What inspired this project?
OSTON: Ahhh, thank you!! I couldn’t be more excited to finally have this piece of me out in the world. “Am I Talking Too Much?” was the first song I ever wrote for this project. The idea behind the song came from a date I was on a few years back where this guy I really liked looked at me and said, “Wow, you sure talk a lot, don’t you?”. I thought about this comment for a while because, yeah – I do talk a lot – but that’s part of what makes me who I am. I like to ask questions, get to know people, and create long-lasting connections with those around me. That moment for me was really the basis for this whole project and how in these songs, I decided I wanted to challenge people’s thought processes and the way we view the sort of mundane structures of society.
BTS: You “pre-gamed” your EP release with a couple of performances at last weekend’s Lollapalooza in Chicago. Tell me what it was like to be there and perform in front of a crowd again?
OSTON: Uhhh, it was crazy. I flew out to Chicago to open for Omar Apollo at the Metro for a Lollapalooza aftershow (which in itself was crazy enough – definitely one of the cooler shows I’ve ever played). So, when I got the news that we were asked to play the Lake Shore stage as part of the official Friday lineup during Lollapalooza, I definitely produced an audible scream. My whole team was out in Chicago to see their other artists play the festival, so we all got to experience my first ever festival together in my old city. Plus, it was one week before my EP dropped! That was a huge celebratory moment for me and my team.
BTS: Take me through the process of writing and creating this EP.
OSTON: A lot of the songs on this project were written in my absolute favorite way – just Drew, the executive producer of the EP, and I sitting at the piano or starting a drum and synth idea from scratch and seeing how it made us feel. That was how my songs “Hurt Like___,” “Sour,” “I Think You Should Leave,” and “last time pt. ii” were created.
Most of the other songs were written throughout the past two and a half years with some of my favorite collaborators, including lixa, JORDY, and Mr. Popular. Then, I brought Drew those tracks later to finish them off and make sure they fit in with the rest of the project!
BTS: Did you take a different approach to writing and/or creating this record compared to your debut EP Sitting At The Kids Table? What has changed since that 2019 release?
OSTON: Writing Am I Talking Too Much? was a completely different process from creating my first EP. Because a lot of the writing and production happened during the lockdown, I was able to sit down with my producer and really hone in on exactly what sonic, lyrical, and visual elements I wanted to represent in this chapter of my life.
BTS: You’re headed on tour supporting JORDY soon — What are you most excited about? What song are you most excited to perform live off of the EP?
OSTON: The first time I ever met JORDY was opening for him at a show in Milwaukee. Now, he’s one of my closest friends and collaborators, and it feels like a true full-circle moment that I get to support him on a tour.
Lollapalooza weekend was the first time I’ve played any of the songs off of this new EP, so I’m excited to get more and more used to doing them live and making them my own in a live space. I’m also pretty sure that JORDY and I will get to play our song “Tomorrow” together live, which is one of the most special songs that we’ve ever created together. 
BTS: Which song(s) means the most to you?
OSTON: It’s too hard to pick just one, so “last time pt. ii” and “Sour”.
BTS: Tell me about the making of your music video for “Hurt Like___”.
OSTON: Each of the music videos I’ve made for this project was directed, filmed, and edited by my friend Brad Wong (look him up if you’re in LA – he’s wonderful). The first three videos we created were based on my own concepts, but for this song, Brad came to me with the idea of having a sort of fever-dream moment and going back to a place where I used to spend a lot of my time with someone I loved. In this case, it was a tennis court. I got a bunch of my friends together and we spent two days shooting this really interesting, blurry, drunken concept that now stands as the music video for my song “Hurt Like___”.
BTS: What can fans expect from OSTON post-sophomore EP release for the rest of this year heading into 2022?
OSTON: I’m just so ecstatic to finally have this EP out, and I think I’ll be living in this moment for quite a bit. A goal of mine is to give me more credit for how hard I work and to celebrate all the little successes along the way. This project has been in the works for over two years now, and finally having it out in the world feels so amazing. I’m going to focus on that feeling for a while, and see where the rest of the year takes me in terms of writing inspiration.
Check out the official tour dates for The Mind Games Tour below.
Tickets are on sale TODAY here.
September 26 — Delaware — Firefly Festival
November 17 — San Francisco, CA — Brick & Mortar
November 19 — Los Angeles, CA — The Echo
November 20 — San Diego, CA — Casbah
November 27 — Chicago, IL — Lincoln Hall
November 30 — Toronto, ON — Drake Hotel
December 2 — Boston, MA — Brighton Music Hall
December 4 — Brooklyn, NY — Elsewhere
December 7 — Philadelphia, PA — Kung Fu Necktie
December 8 — Washington, D.C. — Songbyrd
December 10 — Atlanta, GA — Masquerade
December 13 — Nashville, TN — High Watt
Follow OSTON: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
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