Exclusive: Tygriz Unveils The Emotional Journey Behind “Stupid Parties”
Tygriz opens up about the contrasting experiences that inspired her latest release, “Stupid Parties.” The song reflects a deep sense of alienation felt amidst the superficiality of party culture, rooted in a personal episode where the artist felt isolated and undervalued at a large college party. Despite the crowd, a profound loneliness engulfed her, painting a stark contrast to an earlier, more genuine experience of connection.
The song, written, produced, mixed, and mastered entirely by Tygriz, although rewarding, proved challenging in the technical aspects, prompting her to reconsider handling every facet of production in the future. As listeners find echoes of Alessia Cara and Taylor Swift in its melody and narrative, she hints at a shift towards R&B and hip-hop in her future works, where she finds the expressive freedom to weave intricate, emotional narratives.
“Stupid Parties” reveals a deep disconnect with the party culture while emphasizing the yearning for meaningful connections. Can you share a personal experience that inspired this contrast and how it influenced the emotional journey within the song?
Of course. I remember my first college party ever was at the University of New Hampshire. I had a blast at my first party because I was with my best friend, Kaela. Fast forward a few years later, I went to the biggest college party I’ve ever been to, which was at UCLA in California. I met these foreign exchange students at a smoothie shop earlier that day who had invited me to come to their party.
Because I didn’t know anyone in LA at the time, I decided it would be a good decision to go, to make friends. I ended up going alone, because I had no one to bring with me. When I got there by myself, I saw the girls who invited me. When I walked up to them to thank them for the invite, they acted like they had no idea who I was and were treating me as though I was inferior to them.
I later learned each of them had over 100,000 followers on Instagram and I only had 10K at the time, so I guess they thought they were better than me? I felt really uncomfortable at that party, because I didn’t know anyone and I went there in hopes of making friends, but everyone there was just trying to get drunk and high, and I’m not really into drinking or smoking that much.
I felt super lonely being in a room crowded with people, and it was a really uncomfortable experience that changed my perspective on parties in general. Just because someone has a smile on their face doesn’t mean that they’re actually happy or having fun.
Considering that you have written, produced, mixed, and mastered “Stupid Parties” entirely by yourself, how has wearing all these hats influenced the final outcome of the track, and what were the challenges and rewards of this comprehensive creative process?
When it comes to actually composing the track and producing it, that’s where magic happens for me. So ultimately, the music itself, and finally getting the song out after being on hiatus for 3 years, feels rewarding. I feel a weight off my shoulders. However, when I got to the mixing and mastering aspect, I definitely struggled and I don’t think it’s something I will ever do again. In my home studio, everything sounded amazing before dropping, but after releasing it, I noticed a bunch of technical things I needed to fix. Shout out to distrokid for audio swapping!
Moving forward I’m happy with making the art myself, but engineering…let’s just say I’m on the search right now for my match.
In what ways did your influences, including iconic artists like Eminem and Beyoncé, inspire the narrative and musical composition of “Stupid Parties”?
So I wouldn’t say Eminem or Beyoncé particularly had any influence on this track for me in my creative approach. I don’t think I was thinking of anything or anyone in particular when I made it. I just had the whole song in my head after I played a few different notes on my piano and it all hit me at once. However, a lot of people have told me the song reminds them of Alessia Cara or Taylor Swift, which is dope because I never really tried to make it sound like anyone in particular and I love both of them as well.
You’ve hinted at an upcoming track inspired by your difficult childhood. Could you give us a sneak peek into the thematic elements and emotional tone we can expect from this new release?
Yes. That song is going to blow up. It’s basically about growing up as the black sheep and scapegoat in a narcissistic family dynamic. I’m not going to name names, but there were certain family members in my life that were horrible to me and used me as an emotional punching bag for their own internal issues. I think it’s something a LOT of people can relate to unfortunately and I think a lot of people will connect with it on a deep emotional level.
How do you envision the visual representation complementing and expanding the narratives of your songs, especially a powerful anthem like “Stupid Parties”?
I see the music video being very intense, bright, and kind of sad. It’s about a lonely introvert who is trying to fit in with the extroverts at a party, and gets pressured into doing a bunch of things they don’t deep down want to do, but they want to look cool, so they do these things anyway and ultimately end up hurting themselves in the process. It’ll be really colorful, and have a solid storyline that’ll feel like an episode from the show Euphoria with Sydney Sweeney and Zendaya.
If you could choose any artist to collaborate with on a remix of “Stupid Parties,” who would it be and why?
Steve Aoki! He would make a FIRE EDM remix to this song.
Having self-taught piano, beat production, and songwriting, how has your musical style and content evolved over the years, and where do you see it going in the future?
In the past I started with rap music, strictly rap and piano, but as I got older and experienced life, that transformed into pop music, because some people got in my head and told me that since I’m a white female, I should focus on only pop music. I don’t know why I took their input at the time but I did, and spent most of my time making pop music even though it’s not in alignment with who I am deep down. My soul feels the most connected to r&b and hip hop, and I think it’s because I feel like those genres give me more freedom to actually tell a story, whereas pop feels a little bit more confined to me. So the future will hold way more r&b and hip hop, maybe with hints of pop in there.
Listen to “Stupid Parties” here:
