Before performing an opening set with bands Shallowater and Skirts, Georgia Britt discussed her latest album Flowers for Myself and her trek through the local music scene.
After working on music for the longest time, Dallas-based singer/songwriter Georgia Britt released her project to the world titled Flowers for Myself in 2023. Compiled of 18 melancholic yet heart-wrenching tunes, Georgia Britt sits down with Off Record to discuss the album in detail, including songwriting process, breaking through a male-driven scene and her steer in a new direction.
Off Record Blog (ORB): Nice to have you back in Houston – you graduated from the University of Houston last year, and now you are making music! How did that whole process come about?
Georgia Britt (GB): It all started at Coog Radio [at the University of Houston] whenever I met my old bandmates, and it spurred from there. Unfortunately, COVID happened and f***ed everything up. Throughout the whole pandemic, I was in my room writing and taking that time to write songs, which is why I have so many songs! Right now, it’s all about sharing it to the world and getting people to hear it. I hated my music at some point, but then I realized that I just needed to believe in myself!
ORB: This album is whopping 18 songs! You mentioned you wrote some of these songs during the pandemic, how did you come up with a way to bring all of these songs together? How did you formulate the order of the album?
GB: There are songs on the album that I’ve written a long time ago, and I have even more songs that didn’t make the album! I just picked the ones that I genuinely liked and fit with the album’s vibe. This album is mainly about self-love, growth and finding myself – with that, the songs I chose really encapsulate that and shows how my experiences have changed me in the end. At the end of trying to release it, it truly felt like the end of a chapter, even though I’m still working on sharing that story. My goal is to share my experiences that other people can relate to.
ORB: Instead of keeping your past bottled in, it’s awesome that you choose to share it. You said you had a project before you went solo, how does that differ from what you are doing now?
GB: I was very in the indie scene, I listened to a lot of Mind Shrine, Boy Pablo, Lunar Vacation and many more. As I got more into the Houston music scene, and I realized it was way more grunge, punk, rock – people have so much anger here and I felt it when I moved here [from Dallas]! Once I got into the punk scene, that’s when I shifted my own sound to a more rock + alternative style. For my live shows, I’m trying to navigate that sound more. My album has that singer-songwriter style and is on the sad side, but it doesn’t translate how I feel when I play live. It’s interesting because my past is sad, but now I want to play those sad songs with more upbeat moments and have a good time with a fast-pace. Live music is fun to be more lively – if I ever got to the point where I get to play with a band and working with other artists, I’ll have more liberty to do what I want on stage. I don’t need to have my guitar on stage, now I can dance around and sing!
ORB: You say you want to play with more grit, what songs from Flowers for Myself would you say are your most angsty?
GB: Definitely “Away,” which is a song with the message “I don’t need to be around you, I don’t need you in my life, all you did was bring me down.” I’ve had a bad experience with a partner that didn’t support me the way they need to, and this song was that. Another song is “Anymore,” where it’s about preserving your energy and I express that I don’t take sh*t from anyone anymore! It feels like these songs express how I’m independent, which is a major theme within the album. What gave me more confidence is that I produced the album completely by myself, I did the cover art and the marketing for it. Which ties in to what were talking about about the local scene, which is super male driven.
ORB: The scene is definitely male-driven, but we gotta break the boundaries!
GB: We do and I’m trying! It’s something I see often as I’m trying to break through the scene, but the women that are currently in the scene truly inspire me with my work. I know what they are going through, and I can relate. I’ve been talking a lot to Marley Moon, and we have A LOT of similar experiences and themes.
ORB: What other female-fronted bands or female artists do you look up to? Can be wide-range or local.
GB: Definitely Indigo de Souza, beabadoobee and Snail Mail, I just adore women who are playing an instrument and singing. I always see them and think to myself, “I wanna be like them.” Sure, they might have males in the band or running the sound, but it’s the woman who’s up there doing the thing. That was something I didn’t do myself, I had a lot of producers and mixers reach out to me, but I wanted to do all of this myself, even if it isn’t the organic or studio quality sound. The best way to describe the album is RAW.
ORB: Even then, the album sounds amazing in terms of quality – you created true, crisp, sad music all on your own. You did it all on your own!
GB: Thank you! And it was a learning experience, I self-taught myself everything. That’s why it took me so long to believe in this project, because the confidence had to come from ME.
ORB: As you mentioned, you also did the album artwork! What was the inspiration for that?
GB: I really love the eyes because it symbolizes perspectives and this album really changed the way I see the world, especially in this world where things are supposed to be done a certain way. If you aren’t recording in a studio, you’re doing it wrong! With the flowers coming out of the eyes, it’s supposed to symbolize seeing the world with new light and a new way of viewing music and art. I was also messing with the colors, and blue really resonates with the melancholy feelings that are heard within the album. I know it’s sad, but there are also a few tracks that are empowering and it all works together. I don’t want people to think that I’m a sad person overall though (laughs), that’s just how the songs came out! Music is my outlet, so my feelings transgress. I have to let out the sad somewhere, somehow. It’s like my diary – I take my personal experiences and put it in a song rather than sharing other people’s experience.
ORB: Do you have any plans to release more music in the near future, do you have songs on the backburner?
GB: I do! I have a lot of songs in the works – it’s very sporadic. I’m heading in the direction of grunge-rock, and I really want to go in to that space! I think of the artists I mentioned earlier and I think to myself, “how can I differentiate myself from them?” This is also more of a needed sound, in my opinion! I’m not trying to go in to this genre because other people are doing it, I’m doing it for myself and my growth. We’ll see! I just want to be that artist that people say “didn’t she write sad songs? Now she’s grunge? Okay!”
ORB: A lot of artists tend to do that because it’s a great way to keep people’s attention!
GB: Exactly, and people will say “oh I liked your old stuff!” but in reality, my stuff is going to continue to evolve! Things tend to sound.
ORB: This was such an insightful conversation. Before we wrap things up, we always like to ask random questions. Today’s random question – what are your top 5 songs that have been heavy in your rotation as of late?
GB: Oh, man that’s tough. I can’t think of anything at the top of my head right now, but I promise I will send you these songs later.
[Britt sent over her top five songs later that night: “Where is my Dini?” by Ovlov; “Trace Me Onto You” by Title Fight; “Your Face” by Wisp; “Kicker” by Alex G; and “Inside Out” by Duster]
ORB: Do you have anything else you wanna tell readers + fans?
GB: I would just say stay passionate on what you want to do. It might get tough at times, but at least you are doing something you genuinely like doing. Do something because you love it, don’t worry about money (laughs). Art is very fluid and not secure, but keep at it and see what happens. The more you put yourself out there, the more people you meet that are like-minded and will support you every step of the way.
You can listen to Georgia Britt’s latest project Flowers for Myself on all music platforms.
Connect With Georgia Britt On Instagram | Facebook | Youtube
(NOTE: ALL OF OFF RECORD BLOG INTERVIEWS ARE MINIMALLY EDITED FOR LENGTH)
Keylee is a full-time music journalist/photographer from Houston, Texas. She has received a B.S in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as an M.A in Mass Communications from the University of Houston. As an avid concert-goer and movie fanatic, she aspires to create her own path as a content creator by bonding with others over the power of local music and media. If she isn’t listening to her favorite band Paramore, you’ll catch her hanging out with her brothers or playing with her husky Luna.
