St Vincent on her creative process, the music industry, and an artist’s responsibility

The first band she formed was with her two older sisters, in which she played the guitar alongside a lead singer and a tambourine player. “We’d just make up songs… We didn’t really have a band name since the only person who ever came to our shows was our mother,” shares St Vincent with a laugh.

From there, music followed her to high school, where she participated in theatre and the Lake Highlands High School jazz band. She pursued her musical studies at the Berklee College of Music, where she released an EP with her classmates titled Ratsliveonnoevilstar. Although she left Berklee in 2004, she would join multiple bands of various genres, often performing on a stage or touring.

In 2006, she recorded and released an EP titled Paris is Burning. The following year, her debut album, Marry Me, hit the shelves and was well-received by many critics for her lyricism, musical arrangement, and unique style. St Vincent continued this momentum when she won the PLUG Female Artist of the Year award and immediately worked on her second album, Actor, which received more attention than its predecessor. 

She began working with some of the biggest names in the industry in 2014, fronting for Nirvana at the 29th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Barclay’s Center, New York. In the same year, she released her self-titled album, which won her her first Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 2015. 

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In 2019, St Vincent performed at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards alongside Dua Lipa, where they performed a medley of her 2017 album, Masseduction, Aretha Franklin’s Respect, and Lipa’s One Kiss. That same night, her title track won St Vincent her second Grammy, this time for Best Rock Song. Later that year, she was recognised as a co-writer of Taylor Swift’s hit song, Cruel Summer.

She would continue these strings of collaborations in 2020 when she was credited as a guitarist on Texas Man and as a co-writer for Young Man by The Chicks. With the release of her sixth studio album, Daddy’s Home, St Vincent would win her third Grammy in 2022, once again for Best Alternative Music Album.

St Vincent’s talents aren’t limited to the musical space as she made her film directorial debut in 2016 with the woman-directed anthology horror film XX. In 2020, she wrote and starred in The Nowhere Inn—a psychological thriller-comedy mockumentary about Clark and Carrie Brownstein making a documentary about St Vincent’s career. The film came with its 19-song soundtrack, which she had written and produced.

Her creative process when it comes to composing is one of randomness and spontaneity. Often sitting down at her wurlitzer, she sings her raw thoughts and emotions into a microphone and sees what sticks. Another creative pastime is plugging in all her drum machines and bass synthesisers to create live electronic music as she dances alone in her studio for hours.

“I usually find out how I feel and what I think when I just open my mouth and start throwing ideas against a wall… If you’re stuck as a songwriter, it might mean that you have something really important to say. So stick with it,” says St Vincent.

Being an artist in today’s music industry isn’t an easy life to lead, according to St Vincent. It’s not simply about trying to rise above the competition to make a name for yourself, it’s also about having something to say.

“What’s most important is to try to be an artist that’s tuned into the actual experience of being human in this world—to help communicate the complexity of that experience… We have a lot of uncertainty going on right now, and that’s the time when artists have to step up the most. We can’t afford to go into a hole and hide, we need to be reminded of our collective humanity,” St Vincent tells Tatler.

For her latest album, All Born Screaming, St Vincent will be on tour in 2025—ending her Asian leg with a visit to the Philippines. Her concert at the Filinvest Tent, Alabang, marks her debut in Manila and will feature her new songs, such as Broken Man and Big Time Nothing, as well as her greatest hits like Roslyn, which was heard in Twilight: New Moon.

“I feel so honoured to have an audience in the Philippines… I remember playing in Singapore in 2010, and Filipinos flew in to see me. That means the world to me, and I can’t wait to bring this kind of rock and roll there,” says St Vincent.

St Vincent’s Manila debut will be on January 8, 2025, at the Filinvest Tent in Alabang. For more information, visit Karpos Live’s social media pages.

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