Enfnts Terribles

How have the first months post-pandemic been now that you can finally meet the people who listen to your music?

Savannah: Honestly, it never felt better. We’re able to finally hit the road, put the faces to the names, and finally meet the kids. We’ve grown so much since we last spoke. We made new music, and we went through stuff. We changed and evolved. Right now, we’re in a very fun place and are happy to be on tour to meet everyone.

Brandon: I was just going to say: thinking about where we were when we spoke last … it’s completely different in every aspect of Sav’s and my life. We moved out, got our own place, built our own studio, and made new friends. It’s wild to see what changed in a little more than over a year.

Did the connection with your fans change because you’re able to get out there again?

Brandon: We started BETWEEN FRIENDS on the internet exclusively. We never played shows or toured up until the last couple of months. This is our first time—sort of—stepping out into this world. Two nights ago, we played in Chicago, and I was so overwhelmed by the energy of everyone in the room. I also said that it was insane to finally meet everybody after being together on the internet for so long.

Savannah: It’s like you’re online dating. You wonder what they’re really like or if they really like me. It’s so charging to feel these things when you finally meet them. We really want to meet, hang out with, and play for all our fans/friends all over the world. It’s really exciting that we’re finally able to do that again.

You recently released your new project CUTiE. How different was it to release a project post-pandemic?

Savannah: It was very different for us. With the mixtape, we were stuck in our studio, and we wanted to try out different ideas. It felt very natural creating this random stuff, and we were putting it out immediately while making it. We fell in love with CUTiE so heavily. We wanted it to be very grand, but we realized it was another part of our brain: the fantasy world of BETWEEN FRIENDS. Now, we’re working on something else, and it’s like the real life of BETWEEN FRIENDS with the stuff the kids will relate to like heartbreak.

Brandon: When we last spoke, we expressed that we don’t ever want to be boxed into anything. As creatives, our biggest challenge but also the most fun part about our job is trying to figure out what we’re doing next. We put out we just needed some time together, and that was like: “Hi guys, this is what we do.” The mixtape was more: “This is us in our room, our studio, and this is what it sounds like.”CUTiE was more like: “Here’s this fantastical world that we want to create.” The next thing we’re making is more like a diary, which is cool.

Savannah: We’re constantly trying to reinvent ourselves and try new things to see what works with our fans. We’re playing a lot of the new music on this tour that is unreleased. During our first show in Chicago, we wanted to see if they fuck with it, and it seemed good. It’s a really fun journey.

Years ago, you had to audition on X-Factor or American Idol to get a record label. Did TikTok spark a new creativity among artists?

Savannah: I think it just gave people the green light to do and try whatever they wanted. We have little sisters and watch them grow up in this environment where they’re like: “I can be myself 100% 24/7, and I don’t give a shit.” That’s different from how we grew up, and we were like that anyways, but there was obviously pressure to be a certain thing from fans, friends, and family. Kids now are more unapologetic and just listen to the music they want to, wear their hair as they want, etc.

Brandon: The only way we discovered new music was through the radio or MTV. Before I got a computer or an iPod, you just got in the car and saw what CD mom and dad had or whatever was on the radio. Our little sisters are playing Crystal Castles and Soulja Boy, which they discovered on the internet and TikTok. They can choose whatever they want to absorb and like. That’s very different from even an age gap of eleven years of what I had at their age. It’s freeing and the future.

Savannah: We’re absolutely down for it. We think it’s sick, and we want to be part of it.

Is there a specific artist that inspired you to make music and perform?

Savannah: What we said before: our parents are huge music lovers that they kind of raised us on so many different genres. We would listen to ’90s house music, pop, R&B, rock & roll, etc. The spectrum of all these things molded us into what we like. Gwen Stefani was and still is huge for me; Fleetwood Mac taught us to harmonize and be good writers. There are tons of influences.

Brandon: Truthfully, and it will sound very tacky, my biggest kick in the ass to make music is YouTube. When I was interested in producing, I went to YouTube and looked up how to do it. I’m a student of YouTube. When we decided that we wanted to make music, I would just YouTube everything.

Savannah: And I did the same thing with making music videos. I didn’t know how to make music videos, but we didn’t have any other choice. Also learning how to perform: I would study all the artists I am obsessed with to see how they did everything. I was just in my bedroom trying it out. That’s a very good case of our generation because we’re having everything available at our fingertips.

Pictures and interview by Maxim Meyer-Horn