Susannah Joffe Talks New Single “Texas Baby” and the Heartbreak of Homesickness

The now Brooklyn-based dreampop artist has a complicated relationship with home.

PHOTOS BY DANA TRIPPE

Despite 1,752 miles of distance from her home state, Susannah Joffe can still recall the warmth of the Texas sun and the memories she made beneath it.

In her latest single “Texas Baby,” released Feb. 27, Joffe confesses that despite how many times that sun has burned her skin, she still yearns for it. The song is a cathartic admission of a love-hate relationship that continuously leads her back to her southern roots. For Joffe, Texas will always be home. 

The single also marks the beginning of a deeper, more intimate project, she said, in which she infuses her songwriting with experiences that are deeply personal yet ultimately universal.

In a video interview, Joffe opened up to Pleaser about the song’s two-and-a-half year completion process and the inspiration behind it.

PLEASER: Happy almost release day! How are you feeling about having a new song out in the world tomorrow?

SJ: Once you listen to a song over and over and over and over again for like six months, by the time it releases, I'm like, “Damn, I hate this song.” Objectively, yes, I love it and I'm really excited for it to be out, but I don't know if I can listen to it again because I've been working on it for so long.

You were teasing it for a pretty long time too.

SJ: I started writing it two years ago and randomly revisited it six months ago while going through my SoundCloud, but I feel like the song's been around for so long. I'm like, “Oh my God, it's finally out.” My song “Call Me Pretty” was the same thing. I'd written it a while ago and kind of put it on the back burner and forgot about it. Then I revisited it a year and a half later. I rewrote that song five different times, but with “Texas Baby” I kept the original lyrics and melody from when I wrote it two years ago and then changed the production completely.

You said “Texas Baby” is ultimately about someone or something you keep coming back to, even when it breaks your heart. What emotions do you associate with that process?

SJ: There's an element of grief in writing about my relationship with home. I love it, but I'm also really hurt by it. It's like grieving the version of home that I grew up with,  that rose-colored, everything-is-perfect world, and then having to reckon with that not being true as I got older. It’s about going back to something when things aren’t how you remember them, and then feeling betrayed. Obviously, there's love and warmth in going back to something familiar, but there are also painful memories. Being back in a childhood home is being surrounded by all those memories. In Texas, every time I go back I'm reminded of the evil shit going on there. It feels like such an abomination to the version of Texas I have preserved in my mind from when I was growing up. So, there’s some happiness, some sadness, grief and anger.

I definitely hear heartbreak in the song, but also some hope and optimism. What musical elements and instrumentation did you use to evoke those feelings?

SJ: I definitely wanted a very nostalgic synth lead to take over the outro of the song. It's kind of like a church organ throughout. There’s this subtle percussion that's almost in the background the whole time, which you kind of feel rather than hear. It's keeping the song going and adding momentum without driving it. “Texas Baby” has layers and layers and layers and layers of instrumentation that you can’t really hear. That’s a big part of it, and it goes with the sentiment of the song. I really wanted the ending to feel like there was a light from heaven shining down on you and gave you this come-to-Jesus, "holy f*ck” explosion of feeling, like the little pot where you keep all your feelings cracked open and spilled out. The song starts off pretty dry and grounded in reality, but then the reverb gets more intense throughout, and as it goes on, it becomes this fantastical production.

The outro is a true showcase of your vocals.

SJ: I'm always doing these opera vocals as a joke with my girlfriend. I'll just be walking around and, without noticing it, I’ll start doing my opera voice. And then I thought, “I should do my opera voice on a song,” because I have so much fun doing it as a meme, so why not actually get operatic with it?

When you think about performing “Texas Baby” live, does it scare you to think about pushing yourself vocally in that way?

SJ: I sang “Texas Baby” on the King Princess Europe tour, and every time the outro was coming, I was like, “Am I about to f*ck this up so bad?” But it's kind of like…even if the notes are a little wonky, the vibe is so there that I don’t even care. But playing it live was so helpful in terms of learning what worked and what didn't. Afterward, we went back and redid a ton of the vocals, added more drums and added more claps because people loved doing claps and singing the chorus with me live.

PHOTOS BY DANA TRIPPE

You’ve got South by Southwest coming up March 12. Performing the song live in Austin, where you’re from, will be a huge experience. How are you feeling about that?

SJ: I'm kind of scared, but I'm playing it for the first time in Texas at a showcase where I'm opening for Lola Young. It’s on the ACL Live stage, which was so iconic to me growing up and such a big deal. I saw Rosalia there, my friends went to see Harry Styles there, so that’s gonna be really insane for me. My entire family is trying to come to every single one of my South by Southwest shows, which is semi-impossible because I'm playing like eight of them in four days.

You grew up in Austin and you now live in Brooklyn. Obviously, you still feel connected to Texas, but has moving to New York given you a deeper sense of appreciation for your home?

SJ: The sweet and special parts of Texas really stick out to me now that I live in New York, like the nature, the people and the little phrases that I grew up hearing my mom say that no one else has ever heard. It’s an entirely different world from Brooklyn. And it's so special, even with all the sh*t that comes with it.

You also write and release songs with your dad. Did he contribute to the writing process of “Texas Baby”?

SJ: He didn't. We co-wrote “My Football Team” and “Deer in Headlights,” but I wanted to write this one on my own, just because my writing was becoming increasingly personal. My style was also becoming something I didn't know if he could relate to. He’s more of a traditional folk singer-songwriter, and I’m trying out new stuff, so I wanted to do it on my own. But writing those other songs with him was so fun.

With your more eclectic taste, I'd assume you have a bunch of different genres and artists you listen to for inspiration. What musical influences are you drawing upon right now?

SJ: It changes every week. When I was making “Texas Baby,” it was the Beach Boys and “Pet Sounds.” Angel Olsen has also been a really big inspiration. And Wolf Alice has also been huge for what I’ve been working on. Those are the big three right now. As I find my sound more, I’m figuring out how to make all those influences blend in a way that feels cohesive. That's honestly been the main struggle with all the songs I'm working on.

What did you mean when you said “Texas Baby” is a part two of the song “Die Your Daughter?”

SJ: It’s a part two in a sense that it's an extension of “Die Your Daughter”’s commentary on grief, family, home, changing dynamics, etc. And the video is also an extension of the “Die Your Daughter” music video, which will make sense when it's out. You have a very young girl wearing the same thing in the “Texas Baby” video and there are family cast members in it as well. So it all just feels like it's like part of the same world and continuing the conversation of family and home and self. I’m drawn to those themes and building my aesthetic world around them.

Do you tend to draw more on emotions, experiences, or fantasy scenarios as inspiration for your songwriting?

SJ: I think the last EP, Cult Leader, was less personal and more about creating a vibe. I drew inspiration from aesthetics to help guide my lyrics. And I think what I'm working on now is a lot more personal and a lot more like the Your Mother's Name EP. It’s all grounded in my experiences and trying to come to terms with my agency as a person in the world as I navigate emotions and relationships. It feels a lot more vulnerable than my last EP. Your Mother's Name was so personal that I had almost run dry by the end of it. It was just so intense. Writing “I’d Hate Me Too” was really a labor of love. All those songs are so emotional, and I kind of wanted to have more fun for the next EP. I was f*cking around, like, “I’ll make a country song, I'll make a pop song, I'm just gonna have fun.”

I really looked back at the songs that meant the most to me and that I had the most performing. It turned out to be the ones that were real and vulnerable, because that’s what people connect with the most. Those moments you share with people live are just so special.

How does “Texas Baby” set the tone for what’s to come?

SJ: I’ve been trying to figure that out too, because there is such a range of vibes on what I’m working on now. I think the vocal performance is really consistent, but there's a lot more instrumentation like trumpets, organs, lots of synths, guitars and shakers across the board. Honestly, the main thing is that most of these songs don't have a traditional song structure, in the same way that “Texas Baby” doesn't. That's the big thing, these songs are a lot more experimental. There isn’t a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-whatever structure. They’re more orchestral. And on another note, a lot of self-reflection has gone into the songs I'm working on right now, quite a lot, and they feel really honest and personal to me, but also universal. And I think I like them the most out of anything I’ve worked on.

After “Texas Baby” drops, you’ll play South by Southwest in March and a headlining show in Brooklyn May 27. What else can you share about what you’re up to next?

SJ: We have the music video for “Texas Baby” coming out soon, and I’m writing and directing the music video for the next single and shooting that in Austin. I’m really excited for that because I went to school for film, so I’m excited to flex that muscle.