Juice Webster is living in our kind of fantasy. The Melbourne-based singer/songwriter has recently released her second album Kind of Fantasy, produced alongside Grammy Award-nominee Simon Lam. The record is a beautiful example of the evolution of Juice's stellar songwriting, as she crafts a cohesive album around themes of hope, perspective shifts, and of course, fantasy. Ahead of shows across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, we spoke to Juice about the making of the record:

So tell me about the beginning of making the record. Was there a moment you can pinpoint where you knew you were making another album, or was there a catalyst for it?

Yeah. There wasn't a specific moment. I think the way that I write is I just write, and I'm not a super disciplined writer, so I don't sit down and decide, like, it's time to write a new album or a body of work. I was just writing songs for a little while. The creation of this whole record was actually quite bitsy, almost, because I had written a few songs that I really loved and was feeling really motivated. I was like, "Let's just get in the studio and record these ones."

Then it took a little bit longer than I had anticipated to write the next batch, and by the time I'd finished that next batch and we recorded them, the sound had changed a little bit. So we had to go back to those first songs and bring them more into the world of what we were sitting in now. I think that's why the record does have quite a lot of variance to it. It took us a little while to bring it all together. There was a point where I was feeling a little less sure about it. I was like, "Ooh, I hope this doesn't sound..." I wanted it to sound cohesive, and we worked to get it there.

How do you feel now that it's out in the world?

I feel really good. I'm really proud of it. I think because it didn't come together super easily, I feel more proud of it because of that. We worked really hard on it, and I think it says everything that I want it to say at this point in time.

How does Simon help shape your sound?

He's my partner, and we've worked together a lot. I love working with him because there's so much that doesn't need to be said. I think he's so aware of my tastes and what I'm inspired by.

I feel like he's sometimes even more aware than I am of what's inspiring me. He's able to bring something into a session or a song that I love but haven't been able to find the words for. It might be an element of a song that I'm listening to a lot, but I haven't figured out exactly what it is that I love about that song. He's really good at finding those things and identifying what I'm inspired by. I love that aspect of working with him.

Did you have particular sonic references going into it? Were there artists or sounds that you were inspired by, whether consciously or not?

I'm sure there was a lot of unconscious inspiration. I think I try not to actively reference anyone in the recording process because I don't really want to sound like anyone else. But I think there are definitely elements of a lot of different things. I like to think that my music probably sounds or takes after some of my earlier references in life. I had quite eclectic references growing up. I just listened to a lot of different types of music because of the stuff my parents or my siblings were playing.

I do think the album has elements of a few of those artists, like Avril Lavigne, but then also Sufjan Stevens. Some more modern references might be someone like ML Buch. I love her. I put one of her songs in the same playlist. For the song I have called "Keep Warm", I think there are elements of the way that sounds that I was probably drawing on from some of ML Buch's stuff. There are definitely unconscious references in there when I think about what I've been listening to or what I have listened to.

Cool. Is there a song that you are particularly proud of?

I'm really proud of all of them, but probably "Kind of Fantasy", I think.

It's my favourite.

Yay!

Why are you particularly proud of that one?

I think that it says something that I was struggling to articulate for a long time. It really captures this feeling that I've been feeling for ages but wasn't able to put words to, just because I don't think I fully understood it.

Sometimes I'll feel really irritable or frustrated or just really down, and I'm not able to figure out why. When I finally wrote the lyrics to that song, which came to me not all at once, and particularly the chorus came to me over a bit of a longer period of time, I think once I felt like I got that chorus, I was like, "Oh, I feel like this is really articulating this exact type of frustration and irritability that I experience sometimes."

Which rising Australian artist are you excited about right now?

I would say Hannah McKittrick. She's fucking incredible and just such an artist. I'm just really inspired by her. She's a friend of mine, but I'm also deeply inspired by her music. When I hang out with her, I'm inspired by the way that she sees the world and thinks about the world, and the things that she's inspired by. I just feel like she expresses herself in every way she can, whether it be what she's wearing or, I don't know. I just find her to be really inspiring.

I know that she's been working on new music, and I just think it'll be incredible. Yeah. Back her to the ends of the earth.

It seems like you've cultivated a really great creative community in Melbourne.

Yeah. I think some of my favourite artists are in Melbourne, or they're my friends, and so it sounds cheesy, but I'm so blessed by that.

Listen to Kind of Fantasy HERE.

@juicewebster