November 2019 Monthly Mix
Illustration by Malaika Astorga
Our November 2019 Monthly Mix curator is Anna Dellaria. Originally from San Francisco, Anna is an LA-based pop artist. Coming in swinging with her confident, fiery lyrics, Anna’s upbeat songs are the kind that you sing as loud as you can in your car.
Our Creative Director Malaika Astorga got to know a bit more about Anna and her creative inspiration.
Malaika Astorga for Pink Things Mag: Hi Anna! Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do.
Anna Dellaria: Hi! Thanks so much for having me! Really appreciate it. I'm a Pop/R&B Singer-Songwriter from The Bay Area (Northern California) and am currently based in LA. Most of my time is spent either creating, performing, or talking about music.
Pink Things Mag: You’ve talked about writing songs and working on your music between college classes. How have you managed to balance your creative process with daily life?
Anna Dellaria: Honestly, every day is a different balancing act. Maintaining independence as an artist — you end up wearing a bunch of different hats. You having to shift your mindset and work depending on the day, or just external circumstances that come up out of your control. I think the key to a creative balance is not compromising the moments of inspiration. If I feel something urging me to go sit down at my keyboard and sing, I'll stop whatever I'm doing to prioritize that. My love for writing and singing is how I'm able to tolerate the craziness that comes with a career in this industry. If I let the daily grind take over, and am ultimately unable to do the thing I got into this for — then what is all of it worth?
PT: Your previous releases have focused on pushing back against the expectations of others. For example, your ability to pursue music so passionately despite growing up in a non-musical household. What are some of the ways that you keep yourself inspired to keep going?
Anna Dellaria: Music has always had this biological reaction sewn into me. Whether or not I was good at it, there's always been this spark inside that has a constant hunger to be fueled by music. Whether writing, singing, listening, or performing, it just feels like this necessity that's built into my spirit, like drinking water or eating well. You can avoid it or have stretches of time where maybe you forget to drink water cause you're so busy, etc. Ultimately your body will say, "Ay you really need to hydrate right now before you can keep going.” That's kind've what making music is like. Even when life gets crazy, this deficiency starts to build inside and I know that once I start to sing or play, everything will realign.
PT: What has your experience been like with music scenes in both San Fransisco, and Los Angeles? How are they different, and how have they helped you grow as an artist?
Anna Dellaria: They're very different! I grew up in a suburb just outside of San Francisco, and although music is heavily appreciated, the actual music scene was a bit subdued. If you had a show and really wanted to get people out, everyone took it seriously. Across the bridge, the vibe was always very warm and welcoming. A bit more creatively spontaneous and impromptu when you'd sit in on an open mic or hear people in Berkeley free-styling over a loop.
LA is very high strung. I like to think of it as passively anxious. Everyone is hustling, but we all play it off so cool that it kind of has this strange unspoken competitiveness and edge to it. I value that edge as I've grown into an artist because it forces you to ask yourself, "Who am I as an artist and what do I have to offer?” The Bay Area is just so warm that I think it's easier to float around and not really have to contemplate specific identities about your music, which is awesome when you're just trying to figure out how making music works.
PT: Last but not least, what does pink mean to you? How does it relate to your music, and to you as a person?
Anna Dellaria: To be honest, for years pink had a bad connotation to me. Growing up with two badass sisters and a superwoman for a mom, I grew to know women as strong, intelligent, fierce people.
In contrast, pink was always the color people would use to associate with "silly, whimsical, and weak" women. Somehow I grew to resent that stereotype and therefor the color, largely because I was uncomfortable with my own femininity since I never identified strongly as a "girly-girl" or a "tom-boy" (those were the only options).
Today, I've come to love the color. I love pinks and purples and have almost reclaimed it for myself in being this multi-dimensional representation of women. It's a soft color that holds a lot of power and that incredible complexity is pretty inspiring as I've gotten older.
PINK THINGS MONTHLY MIX
Listen to the full playlist on Spotify here.
1. Swsh – How You Feel
2. Anna Dellaria — Baggage
3. Lizzo – Like A Girl
4. Hurray For The Riff Raff - Paèlante
5. Anna Dellaria – Choose Me
6. Donna Missal – Keep Lying
7. Jazmine Sullivan – Bust Your Windows
8. James Blake — Retrograde
9. Still Woozy – Goodie Bag
10. Goldmine – Kimbra
Anna Dellaria