Annahstasia<\/strong>\u2019s music possesses something tactile, almost palpable. It conjures up the taste of the earth you bring to your mouth despite yourself, the light filtering through trees before a busy day, the soft embrace of someone you had deeply missed.<\/p>\nInterview with singer Annahstasia<\/h2>\n Num\u00e9ro<\/em>: Do you consider your album Tether to be a minimalist record?
Annahstasia:<\/strong> In my world, one of a lower middle-class girl, there are always things everywhere. Objects are piling up, each one telling a different story. So I prefer to speak of \u201carticulated opulence,\u201d because I\u2019ve always found the very idea of minimalism somewhat oppressive. It\u2019s often those with means who can afford to be minimal. Everything exists in contrast to silence. Against total silence, even the smallest addition becomes a form of opulence. Then, that richness highlights the luxury of silence itself.<\/p>\nThe frequent use of guitar arpeggios seems to structure the narrative of your album. Are they essential to translate your emotions into music?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe arpeggio allows me to lay down a musical foundation, a ground on which the story can be built. It\u2019s a technique rooted in West African culture. There\u2019s often a rhythm or a repeated motif, a kind of steady pulse over which a story is told, always returning to that base note, that \u201cdrone.\u201d Most of my favorite songs feature a single guitar note that I keep strumming, resisting any chord changes. It\u2019s my way of creating a sonic palette on which I can build everything else\u2026<\/p>\n
Annahstasia \u2013 Villain<\/em> (2025).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\u201cAt 18, it\u2019s easy for people to tell you what to do. I was writing, they were producing.<\/em>\u201d \u2014 Annahstasia<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nDo you feel like your music evolved from your EP Revival<\/em> (2023) to your new record?
Revival<\/em><\/strong> was my rebirth. That\u2019s when I stepped into my role as a producer, a project leader and guardian of my own sound. I realised that I could do it, that I could create music from the songs I\u2019d written on guitar in my bedroom.<\/p>\nIt seemed that, early on, people tried to force a pop R\u2019n\u2019B image onto you that didn\u2019t quite fit you\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\nThat\u2019s true. I signed with a major label very young. At the time, I had only written a handful of songs. I knew nothing about production or how the industry really worked. At 18, it\u2019s easy for people to tell you what to do. I was writing, they were producing. And since asking a teenage girl to talk more about sex in her lyrics is frowned upon, the suggestion came in a more subtle way\u2026 \u201cYou should write about this person. Let\u2019s explore that aesthetic! Don\u2019t you have a love story to tell?<\/em>\u201d What felt most uncomfortable was the disconnect. I had been sold the promise of being myself, and once I got in, everything about me seemed to become a flaw, as though I were somehow inadequate.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\tThe album cover of Tether <\/em>(2025) by Annahstasia. \u00a9\u00a0Yana Yatsuk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\u201cYou never really \u2018lose\u2019 people. You meet them, and you share a part of your life with them<\/em>.\u201d \u2014 Annahstasia<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nThe main topic of the album is love. Do you think that breakups are necessarily failures?
We didn\u2019t fail, you know? We had beautiful moments, we tried, we learned<\/em>.\u201d As a matter of fact, you never really \u201close\u201d people. You meet them, and you share a part of your life with them. You learn how to love better and how to be loved better in return.<\/p>\nIf a movie about your life were to be made, which director would you entrust it to?
Gaspar No\u00e9<\/strong>, for the way he plays with time. He bends and stretches it. His vision aligns with how I perceive my own life \u2013 non-linear and outside of time.<\/p>\nWhat is the most beautiful word you know?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cPetrichor<\/em>.\u201d It refers to the scent that rises from the earth when rain begins to fall after a period of drought. You can almost touch the word itself, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\nTether (2025) by Annahstasia, available now.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n