oh! The Many Lives of Juliet by Anja Kotar
Been following Anja Kotar’s journey as an artist over the past year and loved every new music release she put out over that time. Felt very honored to discuss her new song “The Many Lives of Juliet”, the making-of and her new project; an album of songs inspired by book titles she encounters in bookstores.
Bonnie Orbison: What’s your name, pronouns & birthday?
Anja Kotar: Anja Kotar, she/her, May 25th
Bonnie: Who is your legend?
Anja: My parents! :)
Introduce yourself a bit / tell me about your journey so far as an artist / what did you already release?
I was born and raised in a tiny, chicken-shaped (haha, true story!) country of Slovenia. I grew up as a classical pianist and as cheesy as it sounds, I always knew that I wanted to be a musician. When I was 14, I moved to the Bay Area in California with my family - younger brother and my parents. Since my beloved upright piano was still traveling behind us on a container ship, I didn’t have any of my standard Chopin or Mozart sheet music to play, so I would spend lunches in my conservatory’s practice rooms, playing around on the piano. That’s how I wrote my first song - it was based on a burgundy red lipstick I saw at Sephora and 15-year old me of course very aptly titled it ‘Burgundy’. :) Since then, I got my Master’s in Music Production from Berklee and starting making music in my bedroom. During the Covid years, I released an EP called ‘Songs From Isolation’ that serendipitously brought me my most streamed song, ‘Tuscany’ (a little ditty about daydreaming of driving a Vespa through sunflower fields in the Italian countryside hehe). In 2022, I had the idea of creating a musical version of the calendar - releasing one song per month, named and themed after that month. I also used that project as an opportunity to bring in some of my music background so I interpolated classical pieces in these song (for example, the July song’s pre-chorus melody is actually from Georges Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ - Habanera). I am also a full-time, professional hopeless romantic so in 2023 I decided to fully embrace it and wrote an album of love songs, inspired by the magical, butterflies-in-your-stomach, fairytale love stories found in romcoms. And that brings us to 2024 and the ‘At The Bookstore’ project - an album of songs inspired by book titles I encounter in bookstores. I first got the idea for it when I was playing an acoustic show at a bookstore in San Francisco’s Italian North Beach district back in September. As I was waiting for the show to begin, I was walking around the bookstore and browsing the bookshelves - turns out looking at aesthetically pleasing book covers and titles is incredibly inspiring so I decided to turn it into a whole project. :)
Describe your new song The Many Lives of Juliet in three words.
Main character energy. :)
Tell the story behind the song. What inspired it?
It was inspired by a book title I saw - Evelyn Skye’s ‘The Hundred Loves Of Juliet’. I never read the book, but loved that the title alone held an entire universe of meaning and stories. As I was writing it, the song turned into an ode to being a woman and all of the contradictions that come with it. One of my favorite lines from the song is actually a repurposed and decontextualized Muhammad Ali quote: “floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee / she’s tame as a river and wild as the sea”. I had that quote written down in my notes for years but never quite found a way to incorporate it. I always thought it was so interesting because it captures such juxtaposing qualities, yet it's something so human - we are full of contrasts and it's exactly these contradictions that make us who we are. I wanted the story of Juliet to be the same way, not a one-dimensional character like "strong" or "fierce", but wide-ranging and all-encompassing, like people are. :) When I was writing this song I was thinking a lot about my mom and her mom (my grandma) who both look very feminine and delicate, but are insanely tough and strong. Even the cover of the song has the little bow on top of the title (to reference the lyrics "she's a rebel in disguise / couldn't see it if you tried / it's so neatly wrapped inside") which I think is kind of a cool play on the idea of stereotypical girly aesthetic that can slyly hide an ocean of wilderness.
How did the process of writing and making this song look like and how long did it take?
I wrote the chorus for the song in the week after I first saw that Evelyn Skye cover at a bookstore. Since I write all my music by myself, I have the luxury of taking time to process things before settling on a final melody or lyric line. My favorite way of working (and one that I think brings me the best results) is sitting with a certain idea for a while, listening to it in different environments and giving it a mini test of time and moods. That usually means I write the first verse, pre and chorus (lyrics and melody) and have it recorded as a voice memo on my phone with me playing on the piano. I listen to that clip for a few days (sometimes weeks) and brainstorm on where the overarching story will go. Once I have things worked out in my head, I finish writing it and repeat the same process for the production. :) I like to have at least the fundamental elements of a song’s production figured out in my mind before actually sitting down and opening Logic to work on it. With Juliet, I had the idea of making everything feel like someone power-walking down the street so everything in the instrumental is sort of working to enhance that. I also thought the character of Juliet had some very Jane Austen-esque qualities so I thought it would be fun if I paired this very modern synth sound of the track with some classical music strings arrangements and melody fills to give the song a bit of a Regency Era flair. Once I finished the production demo, I sent out the tracks to some incredible musicians that I’ve been working with for a couple of years now who recorded elements of the song live: Victor Balconi (bass + guitar), Chris Hill (drums) and Yoed Nir (strings).
What are some favourite lyrics you’ve ever written?
Oh man! I think that would have to be the bridge of my song ‘September’:
if life is an ocean wave, I’ll stand on the shore and wait
panoramic point of view, it paints a different kind of you
and nothing’s permanent but change, waves never crash in the same place
there’s really not much you can do but marvel at the residue.
For someone who is a lifetime student of accepting change, I think this bridge will always hit home. :)
If you could send the songs to any artist (dead or alive) knowing they’d listen to it, who’d it be?
Lady Gaga!! I admire her work, abilities and range deeply and would probably absolutely lose it if she heard something little old me made!!!
Any honorable mentions you wanna make? Anyone you wanna credit on this song?
Yes! Noah Taylor who mixed and mastered the song (and Trevor Quinn who was the mix assistant on the song). I think the mix and master side of music can often get overshadowed because people don’t understand just how vital these components are to the final version of the song you hear.
Where can people find the music/social media/website?
You find cute sweaters, stickers and mugs on her shop: