The Thrill of No Thrills
Artist Melissa Lamm gives us a look into her mind with her new song
By Surya Vaidy
If I had to describe Melissa Lamm’s music, it would be a cross between The xx, Julia Michaels, and Fletcher, mixing smart, pop oriented lyrics with smooth, chill production. In vein with artists like Lennon Stella, Astrid S, and Chelsea Cutler, Lamm is crafting some seriously good pop music, and she’s got numbers to back it up. Her Twitch channel, where she regularly performs music, has over 6,000 followers. Her songs have racked up over 3,000 plays, with one song, Leaving Soon, reaching over 14,000 plays on Spotify and have been included in playlists by popular curators like Ditto Music and Drunken Coconut. She writes her own lyrics and has played Toronto’s famous Rivoli stage. Clearly, Melissa Lamm has the recipe for success — a fan base, songwriting skills, and she’s comfortable in her sound. With her upcoming crowd-funded single No Thrills set to release on May 15th, I got the opportunity to get to know the Toronto artist a bit better. Though we could not meet in person, she was kind enough to answer some email questions about her music, anxiety, and the importance of No Thrills.
So, you mentioned in our exchange that your new song, No Thrills, was about your experience with anxiety. Was there a specific point where you started writing it?
I actually started writing No Thrills in the summer of 2018. I sometimes work with writing prompts when I’m songwriting, and on this day I opened up my prompt book to a page that asked, “What is the most thrilling thing you’ve ever done?” At that point, my anxiety was at an all time high, and the thought of doing anything “thrilling” like skydiving or going on a rollercoaster seemed pretty laughable. I live in Toronto, and that summer the city was reeling from two really terrible, violent attacks. It was a really awful couple months and it sparked a lot of anxiety in me that grew and grew. I routinely indulged in something called “catastrophic thinking,” which is when you think the worst scenario ever is going to play out for pretty much every situation in your life. I didn’t know there was a name for it at the time, and I mistook it actually for intuition. I was generally just feeling nervous 24/7, and when I saw this writing prompt, “What is the most thrilling thing you’ve ever done?” it just threw me. I just couldn’t imagine doing anything “thrilling” for fun, when just sitting on the couch watching TV could send my heart racing and my mind spinning. In the original writing exercise, I wrote this note, “I don’t really like thrills” which is what inspired the whole song.
I understand that this is a personal song. How are you feeling about releasing it? In your music, are you comfortable being open with your thoughts and feelings?
I’m a pretty reserved, private person by nature. The thought of sharing my feelings and experiences publicly, like in a song, is something I’ve had to get used to, for sure, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be fully comfortable with it. No Thrills is particularly personal, and if I’m honest it’s scary for me to be releasing it. Anxiety is such a personal thing and it’s different for everyone. I’m only trying to represent my own experience with this song. It’s something that is very important to talk about, but something that I take very seriously - I don’t want to say the wrong thing or upset anyone! But all I can do is just represent my own experience and hope it resonates with someone else or inspires conversation.
A lot of musicians I’ve met before have compared their songs to a kind of therapy or healing process for them in times of stress. Do you feel the same way?
Definitely! Through writing I’m able to process my feelings and experiences a lot more. Songwriting requires a lot of reflection, and I think a lot of empathy too, depending on what you’re writing about. If you’re thinking about something you’ve experienced or something you’re going through and you want to put it in a song, then you really have to pick it apart and try to express it in different ways. I think you end up understanding yourself or a situation a whole lot more. With No Thrills, I really had to understand my feelings before I could articulate them. I only got that understanding through a lot of reflection, discussion, and research.
In our exchange, you also mentioned that your viewers helped fund the song. How did it make you feel?
It feels amazing to have so much support! I stream live performances from my home studio to the Twitch platform, and through that I’ve found an amazing community of people from around the world who support me and my music. I feel so lucky just to have them listen, but they really go above and beyond to support my projects and spread the word about my music. I just finished an entire EP that just wouldn’t exist without their support, so I’m incredibly grateful and super excited to finally be sharing what I’ve been working on. It’s honestly such a gift to have that level of support and I don’t take it for granted for a second.
Especially in times like this, with the virus and all, what are your thoughts on how music helps people get through tough times? What are your opinions on live streaming music to share?
Music and entertainment in general is so important in helping people get through tough times, and I think we’re realizing that now more than ever. I really pay attention to the lyrics in a song, and if I’m going through something I’m usually drawn to songs that express how I’m feeling or what I’m going through. More recently, I’ve felt music is even more important as a tool of escapism, as a form of distraction almost. Right now, but also I feel like for several months, there’s just been a lot of bad news and terrible things happening in the world. When I started live-streaming, I avoided talking about the news and all that bad stuff, because the news was getting me really anxious and I really needed that safe space for my own well-being. I know it’s important to be educated about what’s going on in the world, and I am, but I don’t think it’s healthy to indulge in that stuff all the time. It might not affect other people so much, but I need a balance. So when I perform online, I play chill, calm music that I love. In between songs I’ll talk with the people who are in the live chat. I know most of them by their screen-name or actual name, and they become really familiar with each other too which is really fun. Everyone is very nice and friendly. If some people aren’t feeling super great, I think they sometimes feel better after popping in and watching or chatting with each other. I’ve had a few people tell me that my music really brightens their day, or that my upcoming new music is something they’re really looking forward to, which makes me feel so good! I’ve also had a couple people who are essential workers tell me my live-streams help them unwind after a stressful day, which makes me so happy I could honestly cry. It’s not hard to get lost in music, and right now I think it feels good to get lost.
An articulate and gifted musician, Lamm is clearly conscious of her music and its effect. Listening to No Thrills has led me to believe that it's actually quite a thrilling song. Its catchy, upbeat, and the lyrics are refreshing, straightforward, and powerful. It’s a song that brands Lamm as a charismatic and greatly aware musician. I truly enjoyed listening to No Thrills and her other songs. From what I can tell and hear so far, Melissa Lamm is setting herself up to be a star.
No Thrills is an internationally crowd-funded anxiety anthem. The track is co-produced by Lamm and Phil Hotz (Charlie Puth, Hailee Steinfeld, Johnny Orlando). It will be released on Friday, May 15th, 2020.
Stream Melissa Lamm:
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/melissalamm/tracks
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/334LO02AucGEYUBb4Rhx4K?si=nWJYcWLRRnCMJphOWX3NOA
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lammasaurus
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/c/MelissaLamm
Follow Melissa Lamm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissalammmusic/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelissaLammMus
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaLammMusic/