24 May 30th-June 5th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | tour the next day and feel like I could just like go through the motions and do it and enjoy it, which used to not be the case. But I feel fortunate enough that I’ve been able to do so much touring since it’s picked back up post-COVID. It almost feels second nature to just be on the road all the time.” She’s obviously quite the student, however, and Upsahl knows that not every show is built like the one before. “It definitely is an art, especially opening or playing festivals,” she said. “For headline shows, everyone is there ‘cause they bought tickets to see you. So they probably know the words and it’s going to feel good and the energy is going to be high the whole time. But when you’re opening, more than half of the crowd has no idea who the fuck you are and you literally have 30 minutes to win them over and be like, ‘Please be my fan.’ It’s a very strange experience.” Luckily. there’s one solid rule to always keep in mind regardless of the venue. “Ultimately with live shows, everyone who’s there wants to let go so bad and wants to rage,” Upsahl says. Fostering said intensity, though, isn’t always easy, especially when you’re about to return for a hometown show. Because despite the many miles under her belt, Upsahl is very much a hometown girl, and that carries with it some added tensions. “It scares the shit out of me for some reason,” she says of local shows. “I think it’s just because I feel such love for Phoenix and I’ve played in Phoenix so many times growing up at these tiny venues. And so getting to come back, my whole family’s there and my friends from high school are there, and it just feels so nostalgic and so wholesome. But for some reason I get so nervous because it’s like I want to make Phoenix and my family proud. I always get the most nervous for hometown shows.” But once the show’s over, there’s still plenty of work to do for Upsahl. That includes finally getting to completing the follow-up to “Lady Jesus.” “I’m actually wrapping up writing my next album, which I’m very excited for,” she says. “I feel like I didn’t quite see the point of working on an album unless I really had a concept and I wanted it to all feel very cohesive and feel like it was bringing people into a world. I don’t think, creatively, I had that in me after ‘Lady Jesus,’ which is why I did those two EPs. Now, I’m in album world, and it feels so fucking good.” She adds, “I feel like I’m such a different person now than I was when I did ‘Lady Jesus,’ and so it’s just been the coolest process. I’ve been locking in with this one producer named Khris Riddick-Tynes; we’re doing the whole project together. I’ve just been so inspired just in between little tours and just spending all my time in the studio. We don’t know when we’re releasing it, but the plan is soon.” However long it takes, though, it’s already likely to be a version of Upsahl we haven’t seen just yet. Regardless of how that “person” might appear, it’ll be the most essential parts of Upsahl. Namely, the emotionally potent, highly inventive artist who doesn’t so much keep changing but evolving into something ever more impressive. “I mean, it’s my album, so it’s obviously all over the fucking place,” she says. “But I think the through-line is ... I feel like in the past, like with ‘Sagittarius’ and even with ‘Lady Jesus,’ the whole theme for me felt very fiery and dark and aggressive. And I think now I’m in more of a cold, icy sort of era. And that’s kind of the world I’m trying to bring everybody into as well.” “The music has been so fun and very playful and really energetic and funny. And then there’s also obviously some very vulnerable parts that scare me to share with the world. I’m in my blue era for sure,” she adds. UPSAHL. In support of Madison Beer. 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 31. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St. Visit thevanburenphx.com. Taylor Upsahl at McDowell Mountain Music Festival in March 2016. (Photo by Melina Dellamarggio) Homecoming Queen from p 22
