Contents
story / Bryanna Doe Singerphotos / Shervin LainezSomeone Should Stop Her, the new release from phenomenal lyricist Anna Shoemaker, feels more like reading someone’s diary than listening to an album.“You could say that I’m officially cutting ties with the way I used to be,” Anna sings, over a stripped-down acoustic guitar, in the opening bars of Real Life. From there, the indie rocker takes listeners on a twelve-track emotional journey so imbued with honesty that it feels almost confessional as it contemplates identity, self-improvement, and the breakup that served as a catalyst for that need to cut ties.“A breakup album is the fairest way to describe it,” Anna says. “But it’s also about running away. A big theme of the album is that feeling of wanting to get out of wherever you are. Whether it’s a relationship, a place that you live, or just a conversation at a party that you don’t want to be in. I think Fields especially sums it up,” says Anna, referencing the album’s second track. “I don’t want to be here, I want to go do what I want. And I don’t want to compromise.”Fields, containing the repeated phrase, “Something’s coming over me, and I think I have to leave,” is as much about ending a relationship with a significant other as with a city, or a phase of your life. The ephemeral vocals and not-quite-upbeat-cruising-speed of the track are evocative of jumping in your car and driving somewhere new, in much the same way that formerly Brooklyn-based Anna recently moved out to Los Angeles for a fresh start. Combining this throughline theme of moving forward with some intense lyrical rumination on past mistakes, Fields serves as a tonal “amuse-bouche” to the rest of the album.That may sound as though Someone Should Stop Her is dripping with angst and raw emotionality, and in Anna’s own words, it’s the kind of album written for you to “scream and cry along with in the car.” But at the album’s core lies something more substantial than simply angst. Anna isn’t just dwelling on her negative feelings or rehashing painful situations, she’s pairing them with the kind of mature retrospection–and introspection–that really does make the past worth thinking about. It’s not angst, it’s catharsis.“I think that’s the main way that I’ve evolved as an artist since my last album,” Anna explains. “I’ve grown a lot. I’m less angry now. More reflective, and less reactive.”Anna is referring to her angrier 2022 album Everything is Fine (I’m Only on Fire), which earned her the moniker “Brooklyn’s own Olivia Rodrigo.” Anna laughs and shakes her head when asked how she feels about that comparison.“I don’t know,” she says. “I love Olivia Rodrigo, so I do think that’s cool. But I think that with female artists there’s always this tendency to compare, and it was mostly the angst fueling that comparison. And she and I both sing a lot about breakups, so maybe that has something to do with it. But I feel like everyone sings about breakups, you know?”That is probably true. I’m sure we could all list a hundred breakup songs, and we might even have written a couple of our own. But most of those tracks couldn’t touch the lyrical masterwork that Anna Shoemaker showcases on Someone Should Stop Her.“Songwriting is my favorite part of making music,” Anna explains, reflecting on how much effort went into penning the lyrics of this album. “Everyone was getting a little annoyed with me during the recording process, because I’d say we had to recut something to change one word or a sentence, because something else in a different song needed to make sense. It was stuff that no one pays attention to and would care about, but it was important to me.”“And I’m writing it for me, and obsessed with getting the storyline correct for myself,” Anna adds, elaborating upon why she’s so particular in her lyrics. “Even if I’m writing a breakup song, I’m writing it for myself.”Although Anna clarifies that she didn’t write Someone Should Stop Her as a secret message for her ex-boyfriend, I can’t help but ask whether she knows–or cares–what he thinks of the album.“Maybe he’s heard it? I don’t think he’s obsessed with it,” she answers lightheartedly. “But he can’t be surprised. It’s not like we broke up and then I became a songwriter. If you date someone who writes songs, you’ve gotta be careful, you know?”Hypothetical reactions aside, Anna says the album’s reception has been as great as she hoped. “My outlook when I’m releasing music is that if I feel one-hundred-percent about it, I never really care about the reception. And especially with this album, we worked so hard on it and we were so intentional about every decision we made. I was like, you know what? It doesn’t matter what people think. But it’s been really, really great, which is a relief. As much as I say I’m not aiming for that validation, I’d be crazy if I said I didn’t care.”Looking forward, Anna is most excited about her upcoming tour with Mallrat, which will begin in Dallas in April. She’s also ready to get working on her next album, although she isn’t sure exactly what kind of artistic evolution might be sparked by moving to the West Coast.“I’m excited to write more music now that I’m in LA,” Anna says. “It’s cool being in a new place and exploring a new music scene. And I want to say that I feel a different creative vibe when I’m in a different location, but at the same time it’s like…wherever you go, there you are. That’s maybe the big thing I learned working on Someone Should Stop Her. There’s no such thing as running away from your problems. But I think the final track ends on the same note of positive acceptance I’m feeling now.”Anna references the coffeehouse ballad Wishful Thinking, sharing what she says is her favorite line of the album. “I know like a stone knows a river, I know like a finger on a trigger. I know I can’t call you up, because I can’t be there when it all blows up,” Anna quotes. “I know I can’t be there, but I’m doing it myself.”CONNECT WITH ANNAINSTAGRAM | LISTENListen to Someone Should Stop Here
story / Bryanna Doe Singer
photos / Shervin Lainez
Someone Should Stop Her, the new release from phenomenal lyricist Anna Shoemaker, feels more like reading someone’s diary than listening to an album.
“You could say that I’m officially cutting ties with the way I used to be,” Anna sings, over a stripped-down acoustic guitar, in the opening bars of Real Life. From there, the indie rocker takes listeners on a twelve-track emotional journey so imbued with honesty that it feels almost confessional as it contemplates identity, self-improvement, and the breakup that served as a catalyst for that need to cut ties.
“A breakup album is the fairest way to describe it,” Anna says. “But it’s also about running away. A big theme of the album is that feeling of wanting to get out of wherever you are. Whether it’s a relationship, a place that you live, or just a conversation at a party that you don’t want to be in. I think Fields especially sums it up,” says Anna, referencing the album’s second track. “I don’t want to be here, I want to go do what I want. And I don’t want to compromise.”
Fields, containing the repeated phrase, “Something’s coming over me, and I think I have to leave,” is as much about ending a relationship with a significant other as with a city, or a phase of your life. The ephemeral vocals and not-quite-upbeat-cruising-speed of the track are evocative of jumping in your car and driving somewhere new, in much the same way that formerly Brooklyn-based Anna recently moved out to Los Angeles for a fresh start. Combining this throughline theme of moving forward with some intense lyrical rumination on past mistakes, Fields serves as a tonal “amuse-bouche” to the rest of the album.
That may sound as though Someone Should Stop Her is dripping with angst and raw emotionality, and in Anna’s own words, it’s the kind of album written for you to “scream and cry along with in the car.” But at the album’s core lies something more substantial than simply angst. Anna isn’t just dwelling on her negative feelings or rehashing painful situations, she’s pairing them with the kind of mature retrospection–and introspection–that really does make the past worth thinking about. It’s not angst, it’s catharsis.
“I think that’s the main way that I’ve evolved as an artist since my last album,” Anna explains. “I’ve grown a lot. I’m less angry now. More reflective, and less reactive.”
Anna is referring to her angrier 2022 album Everything is Fine (I’m Only on Fire), which earned her the moniker “Brooklyn’s own Olivia Rodrigo.” Anna laughs and shakes her head when asked how she feels about that comparison.
“I don’t know,” she says. “I love Olivia Rodrigo, so I do think that’s cool. But I think that with female artists there’s always this tendency to compare, and it was mostly the angst fueling that comparison. And she and I both sing a lot about breakups, so maybe that has something to do with it. But I feel like everyone sings about breakups, you know?”
That is probably true. I’m sure we could all list a hundred breakup songs, and we might even have written a couple of our own. But most of those tracks couldn’t touch the lyrical masterwork that Anna Shoemaker showcases on Someone Should Stop Her.
“Songwriting is my favorite part of making music,” Anna explains, reflecting on how much effort went into penning the lyrics of this album. “Everyone was getting a little annoyed with me during the recording process, because I’d say we had to recut something to change one word or a sentence, because something else in a different song needed to make sense. It was stuff that no one pays attention to and would care about, but it was important to me.”
“And I’m writing it for me, and obsessed with getting the storyline correct for myself,” Anna adds, elaborating upon why she’s so particular in her lyrics. “Even if I’m writing a breakup song, I’m writing it for myself.”
Although Anna clarifies that she didn’t write Someone Should Stop Her as a secret message for her ex-boyfriend, I can’t help but ask whether she knows–or cares–what he thinks of the album.
“Maybe he’s heard it? I don’t think he’s obsessed with it,” she answers lightheartedly. “But he can’t be surprised. It’s not like we broke up and then I became a songwriter. If you date someone who writes songs, you’ve gotta be careful, you know?”
Hypothetical reactions aside, Anna says the album’s reception has been as great as she hoped. “My outlook when I’m releasing music is that if I feel one-hundred-percent about it, I never really care about the reception. And especially with this album, we worked so hard on it and we were so intentional about every decision we made. I was like, you know what? It doesn’t matter what people think. But it’s been really, really great, which is a relief. As much as I say I’m not aiming for that validation, I’d be crazy if I said I didn’t care.”
Looking forward, Anna is most excited about her upcoming tour with Mallrat, which will begin in Dallas in April. She’s also ready to get working on her next album, although she isn’t sure exactly what kind of artistic evolution might be sparked by moving to the West Coast.
“I’m excited to write more music now that I’m in LA,” Anna says. “It’s cool being in a new place and exploring a new music scene. And I want to say that I feel a different creative vibe when I’m in a different location, but at the same time it’s like…wherever you go, there you are. That’s maybe the big thing I learned working on Someone Should Stop Her. There’s no such thing as running away from your problems. But I think the final track ends on the same note of positive acceptance I’m feeling now.”
Anna references the coffeehouse ballad Wishful Thinking, sharing what she says is her favorite line of the album. “I know like a stone knows a river, I know like a finger on a trigger. I know I can’t call you up, because I can’t be there when it all blows up,” Anna quotes. “I know I can’t be there, but I’m doing it myself.”
CONNECT WITH ANNA
INSTAGRAM | LISTEN
Listen to Someone Should Stop Here
Listen to Someone Should Stop Here
The post ANNA SHOEMAKER: A POET IN A MINISKIRT appeared first on LADYGUNN.
