The debut album from mazie, ‘blotter baby’ dropped in February and is a sonic journey through decades of psychedelic rock that’s influenced the Baltimore native. Covering topics from a coming-of-age heartbreak and sapphic love, mazie describes the journalistic record as her “biggest investment into songwriting,” stating, “Every song I’ve ever made has actively been a reflection of me being in my life – all of the songs were me sitting in the studio unpacking my life at that exact moment.” She says of the writing process for blotter baby, “During this album, I was never writing a song just for the sake of writing it.” The psychedelic pop sounds that mazie has collated is organic to the 23-year-old artist uses psychedelia as a therapeutic practice, explaining, “I use psychedelics to connect with my humanity and personal psychology. I feel as though my relationship with psychedelics has emboldened my understanding of intersectionality, strengthened my empathy, and all around made me a better and more understanding person.” mazie, born Grace Christian, studied classical and jazz singing from an early age, experiencing her online breakthrough with 2020’s “no friends”. Moving to Los Angeles with her producer and other musical friends from Baltimore, mazie would continue to focus on music and see her profile elevated with her debut EP ‘the rainbow cassette’ that became what she calls “an ode to an ending of my childhood.” One of the songs featured on the EP, “dumb dumb” would elevate mazie’s profile even higher. The track was written the day after the Capitol Insurrection and has garnered over 65 million streams having been used in countless videos on TikTok as well as having been used as a protest song in Russia and Ukraine.
mazie spoke with B-Sides host Pete Mar about her debut album, ‘blotter baby’, how she developed her sound performing at underground parties in Philadelphia, the visual aspect of her music and more.
