Kailee Morgue - Sound In The Signals Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Kailee Morgue. We discussed how her upcoming album, ‘Girl Next Door’ fell into place, songwriting, recording “End Of My Life” and filming the music video for it, creating the artwork for the album, releasing the album on vinyl, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Hey! Of course, I’m super excited to chat!
You recently announced your new album ‘Girl Next Door’. Can you tell me about the writing and recording process for the album?
I began writing this album about a year ago, it kind of accidentally fell into place! I was just reaching out and seeing what inspired me and what I wanted to say and ended up having all of these songs that seemed to all have a similar feeling and tone!
I know the last time we spoke you discussed how “Loser” was written a few years ago. How many songs on this album were saved for the full length?
Loser is actually the oldest song on the album! Everything else was written within the past year or so, I wasn’t necessarily saving them for an album as much as waiting for the right moment to put together a project that felt true to me!
Can you tell us about the easiest song that you wrote for the album and on the other hand which one was the most difficult to complete?
‘End of My Life’ was probably the easiest process because it was inspired by a book so I didn’t feel like I had to look so far inward to write it, but it turned out being one that connected with me deeply. The longest process was probably Loser, that song had seen so many different production iterations, I actually completely redid the vocals and rewrote lines 2 or 3 times!
You released “End Of My Life” with the album announcement. It’s the first song on the album. Can you tell me about writing that song specifically? When you finished it did you know it was going to be track one and how you introduced fans to the album?
That one was so fun to make in the studio, the producer Keith Varon and I were just trying different ideas and we wanted the hook to be big but simple! I didn’t know at the time it would be the first track of the album but listening to everything after the fact, it seemed like the song that really embodied the feeling of the project and felt like a great opener!
You also released a video for the song. It has a great late 90s/early 2000s vibe with a horror movie twist that looks like a music video version of something like ‘Scream’ or ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’. Who came up with the concept for the video and do you have a favorite scene from it?
My boyfriend ‘Ricky Himself’ and I were actually discussing it casually and I told him I wanted it to be a horror themed video based on the title and the feeling of being afraid of getting old! He wrote the treatment that night and just said “what if it was a scary movie revolving around a birthday party” to literally and metaphorically address the song lyrics and it just fit so perfectly! My favorite scene is definitely the dragging scene in the end.
Will we hear more singles before the album is released? What can you tell us so far?
There’s two singles left! One of them is actually a collab so I’m super excited to share the track and get back to my roots with the dark pop vibes!
Looking at the tracklist the closer, titled “Sellout”, jumped out at me as an interesting title. Can you tell me a little about that song and what we can expect lyrically and musically from it?
I had the idea of writing a song called “sellout” for a few years based on the ‘Reel Big Fish’ song and one day when I went to the studio it kind of clicked into place! It comes from less of an edgy/angsty attitude, if anything it’s more of a love song to my boyfriend telling him not to give up on music and that our dreams are still worth pursuing. I wanted the listener to feel that hopefulness too.
The album artwork is awesome. It’s one of my favorites of the year. I read that you based it off ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’. What made you want to use that concept and how did it all come together?
I used the Buffy SFX on the cover because the title itself was supposed to be ironic and about me struggling to put on this perfect face and be the ‘Girl Next Door’ when underneath that mask I’m a mess and I can’t get it together. So the makeup to me felt like a way to play on the title without having to explain it. The girl next door is kind of strange and scary.
Did it seem like a lot of fans noticed that you tagged Sunnydale High School when you posted the artwork on Instagram?
A lot of my fans definitely picked up on all the references, I’m lucky to have a super engaging fanbase and it always feels like they’re into the same stuff I am!
You’re releasing a vinyl pressing for the album. Can you tell me about some of the packaging you have planned? How important is it to you to have your music on a physical format like vinyl, cassettes, or CDs?
This will actually be my first physical release ever in my career! So it was super important to me to take my time with the designs and the ideas, I can’t design personally so I was sending sketches and mock ups to the designers until the vision came to life and I’m so excited for everyone to see it!
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity! GIRL NEXT DOOR OUT ON 10/28
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