Tell us about yourself, Taylor's version.
Taylor: I'm from Willsboro, Pennsylvania, a tiny town in North Central PA. Growing up in a town where we had to create our own entertainment, I discovered my love for music. I learned to play guitar at 14 through YouTube videos. Alongside my best friend Kelly, we formed a little acoustic band, performing at talent shows, and in college, started a YouTube channel, recording cover videos using just my iPhone propped up on my dorm room windowsill. My dream was to break into the music industry, so I kept posting videos and continuing to work while I supported that dream. I worked at Bob Evans, Applebee's, and Texas Roadhouse for several years before I had my breakthrough.
How did your breakthrough come about?
Taylor: My breakthrough came when a video of mine went viral around the time Taylor Swift released "1989." This caught the attention of someone from Nashville connected to Universal, who was venturing into artist management and development. After several attempts to contact me, I flew out to Nashville, where I began recording my own songs.
From there, everything started to fall into place, leading to where I am today.
Taylor: I was a country artist for four years, and decided, you know, that really wasn't for me.
But I got a lot of really amazing experiences out of that and got to build a really amazing fan base from the country world.
Luckily they've stuck with me and have followed me over into this transition and it's just been… it's been amazing and now we're getting to play our own shows and I get to work with you guys. So that's so cool!
Taylor: I'm super, super inspired by the nineties and early two thousands music. I'm such a sucker for nostalgia, especially in music. Whenever I listen to bands like The Goo Goo Dolls or MatchBox 20 or even like, I always say this, I'm a huge fan of Butt Rock. I know a lot of people don't love that, but I'm very inspired by bands like Stained and Puddle Of Mud and The Verve Pipe and Vertical Horizon. I really crave that nostalgic, late-nineties vibe. That's like all I listen to. To be completely honest, I haven't listened to a lot of newer music; I kind of like to do that because I feel like it fuels my writing process, and I think that it brings out a little bit of a different element to my own music.
I love writing things that maybe people feel like they've been heard before, but in a new light, you know, and it was really fun, especially when I was doing the covers because I kind of got to take those songs, put my own spin on it. So that's definitely like the inspiration, you know, like Alanis Morrisette and Michelle Branch, very much like Jane, I don't know if you remember her at all, but like, that's kind of the vibe that I was going for in the music that I'm super, super inspired by even still to this day.
So, the goal is to bring back that nostalgic vibe but put my own spin on it and make it something new and fresh. That’s what's inspired this new music and this new era.
Amy Lee is one of my biggest influences; vocally, she literally taught me how to sing when I found Evanescence. I remember, like, where I was the first time I ever heard, bring me to life on the radio. When I was a kid, I grew up moving around a bunch. I'm from Wellsboro, but my family moved to a ton, and we lived in a suburb of Seattle for like 7-8 years. And that's where that music taste came from. I found that music because it was so prominent out there, like the rock and grunge scenes, and that particular genre of music is really big out west, too. So it was cool to dive back into all of that and those inspirations!
Taylor: Oh, gosh, I feel like I try to keep a pretty good routine.
Sometimes it's a little bit different. I like to be active, depending on where we are.
We usually stop at Planet Fitness in the morning, and I love waking up. I always have a coffee! You're not supposed to drink caffeine, but I always have a coffee! It's like my morning ritual: wake up, have a coffee, and go to Planet Fitness.
I love to get a workout in if I can. Sometimes, we're in a crunch for time, but I'll go in, and I'll shower really fast! Then, I'll have a nice spa moment, like pretending I'm at the Marriott or something.
I just pretend like I'm somewhere tropical or something, get my shower, and try to remain really positive throughout the day. I like to take it pretty easy. I do rest a lot up until VIP, but I'll venture around depending on the cities.
In Seattle, I love to go out and venture around there, especially if it's a city we've never been to before. We always like to make a point to go. A little group of us will go, and we'll go get a popular food spot, or we'll go get a coffee somewhere that's a more local favorite spot.
So we'll do that, and then I'll just rest up until VIP, and I'll be very, very chill during the day.
I do my little routine. On this last tour, I brought Palo Santo and Sage, and I got crystals out. I was like, yeah, we're just going to be very relaxed. Because our show is so high-energy, I like to save as much energy as I can to play the live show, but I try to make it feel like I'd be at home.
Everybody on our team, like my tour manager, is very outgoing and makes it a point to say, " Let's go for a walk,” “Let's make sure we're getting fresh air, we're breathing, and we're experiencing the cities that we're in.”
But then, you know, I'm also like, okay, I'm going to chill, and it's really good. It's a really good group of people who are all together and kind of balance each other out, and we enjoy each other's company, too. So we like to spend much time with each other during the day. It's honestly great.
Flipturn Performing For Their Home State Stop On Tour In Florida
Taylor: Gosh, it was during our L A show.
My guitarist Ricky is, if you ever watched him play live, he's very, very, very energetic.
And he spins a lot and he's flipping his guitar and he's an amazing performer.
Well, our photographer Ellie, him and her were not in sync that day.
And he was spinning and he hit her and she fell during one of our songs
and I think it was actually during coma. So I was like facing everybody, It's like where I'm not really moving around. So like, I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me and Ricky was spinning away and just playing his little heart out and accidentally hit Ellie. She flew backwards and I didn't know until the song was over and he was like “Oh my God Ellie, I'm so sorry!” So that was, that was kind of chaotic. We were all like, “Oh my god, Are you OK?”
Making sure that she wasn't concussed or anything like that. But that was kind of funny little funny moment that happened. In true her fashion, she was just like, I'm good, you got back up and she was like,” I hope I got that on video because that perspective would be really funny.”
Taylor On stage In Pittsburgh
Taylor: Bracelets are a big thing during my tour. I started off making bracelets for my fans and it would kind of be like a thank you and they'd say “Stay Emo” on them. When it was time for our headlining tour, I wanted to make everybody bracelets and stuff like the first stint, and then I realized that making many bracelets is really hard. I would love to do it, but we try to make it special in other ways now.
But they started making bracelets for me, which has been really awesome.
And so, that was like a really big thing during the tour, and I remember during one of the shows, I'm in my own, like zone, and fans were throwing things on stage. So I don't really, like, think about, oh, going and grabbing it. So they'll toss it up on stage, and sometimes it catches you off guard. I haven't gotten hit with any of them before. But I did get hit in the face with flowers one time. They hit me in the face and went everywhere and I was like, what was that?
But I have gotten a couple of weird things like this super, super talented girl makes teeth replicas. She makes like teeth and so she handed them us! And to be honest, for the longest time, I thought they were real and then Ricky was like, oh, no, no, no, she makes them.
I've got teeth, to say that I've gotten a deer bone before, but it was cool because she takes these bones and repurposes them to make hairpins and stuff.
Lyn and her Band Mates Gearing Up To Go On Stage in Detroit
Taylor: I value merch design in general and like quality. We try to make it with fans' tastes in mind, too. I sing a lot about mental health, and many my songs can feel very daunting, dark, and sad. But, although I struggle with anxiety and depression, I love vibrancy, and I love being happy and feeling good. So, despite having the songs and the lyrics be, you know, maybe a little bit on the sadder side, we wanted to have vibrant merch that made people feel good. So, on this last tour, we picked yellow. I love yellow.
This new era just feels very bright, and the songs—you know, each song has its color scheme.
And so I just wanted to bring that to life with the Merch. So, the color is just pouring out of you.
Taylor: I always get merch from the opening acts and stuff like that or other bands I'm with.
We got a hoodie from World’s For Cinema, our opening act. It's my favorite thing ever. I was wearing it earlier. We try to get pieces from every tour we're on and support the other acts we're with. So I have merch from every band that I've toured with.
Honestly, I know how hard it is, and when you're grinding the way you are, sometimes it can be: You gotta pay the bills, pay for the gas, and ensure everybody's eating.
So I support that way, and I always wear all the merchandise.
Taylor: My own coffee. I'm a big caffeine drinker. I've been really trying to cut back on that, but I think my drink of choice I always get in the mornings I love to have: It's a Brown Sugar Crumble by Green Mountain, I'll make that, and then I'll top it off with a brown sugar creamer and it is so good. So that's like my signature, which I have every day! It's like what I'm drinking now from my Halloween mug.
Yeah, that's my drink of choice, or it would be like a lemonade.
Fans Cheering on Flipturn at one of her tour stops in Charlottesville
Taylor: The only thing I can think of right now is with arms wide open by Creed because we would all sing that all the time. Like we joke about it, and we sing “with arms wide open.”...
So Ricky would sing it, and I would sing it, and then any time I was sound-checking, I'd sing it. So that would probably be our theme song.
Taylor: Well, we are leaving for the UK next week. So that's really exciting!
I've been wanting to play. There's this festival called Slam Dunk that I've wanted to play for years and years, and I've watched so many videos of artists playing it. I've, you know, seen so many flyers, and I'm like, I want to be on that, and we're finally getting to do that, which is really exciting. I love going to the UK. It's like, I try not to get too ahead of myself.
I'm getting to do so many amazing things right now, and I'm just kind of taking it all in and taking it one day at a time. I really appreciate it as we've gone because, like you and I talked about earlier, it's been little stepping stones, and each stepping stone is to something bigger and more amazing.
And so, obviously very excited for the fall tour with Dashboard and Boys Like Girls. I'm such a huge fan of theirs.
But, you know, eventually I love, you know, to maybe open for Taylor Swift or something one day!
And just the fact that I get to, you know, we just hopped off of a headlining tour that was like, pretty much sold out is crazy and, you know, just being able to share my music with fans and this new project of music that we've been working on, I'm so proud of and getting to put that out.
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