The moment that local hyperpop singer Mel 4Ever started writing music, she knew she wanted to be naked on stage. “It’s not like I’m super proud of my body,” she told me, “but, it’s like, if I get naked and show you the intimate, embarrassing parts of me, then there’s nothing left to hide.”
So getting naked isn’t exactly something literal – although sometimes it is – but it’s a feeling of catharsis. When I asked Mel what made her start writing music and performing, she paused and smiled.
“Every time I get asked that question, the answer just gets longer and longer,” she said.
Songwriting and performing started as a way to blow off steam during a difficult time in her life; “I was dealing with sobriety and maintaining stability and also trying to honor my gender journey and my trans-ness, and I just kind of was combusting. So as I was combusting I was writing down these thoughts and feelings.”
She wrote down things like: “Big tits to match my ass,” now the lyrics to her single “Big Tits (Whoopsie)”.
“I know that’s a very provocative sentence,” she admits, “but that was honestly super authentic at the time.” Soon Mel realized that these journals weren’t just thoughts and feelings, they were songs.
“Internet Crush” is the latest of these and if you haven’t listened to it yet, be prepared to have it stuck in your head. Mel got the idea for the song while in Nantucket with a friend, feeling out of place and, well, looking for a hookup.
When she got back to Brooklyn she took what she’d written to friend and collaborator Tor Miller and together they put the record together. When she played it live at at an EP release show in November, it was such a hit that she performed it twice.
So, whatever “getting naked” means to you, Mel wants you to feel it.
“We all have a lot going on,” she said, “so I use music to helicopter-lift me out of that, take me to the clouds, at least for two and a half minutes, and have this release.” And while “Internet Crush” may just be a catchy song, that doesn’t mean the feelings are any less real; “Internet Crush is literally about obsessing over a guy who doesn’t wanna fuck you. That’s not, like, super sentimental and heartfelt but it’s definitely a feeling,” Mel says.
“Internet Crush” and Mel’s EP “Tranic Attack” can be found wherever you stream your music.
Images via Mel 4Ever.
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