Q: First of all, congratulations on the new album! How are you both feeling now that This Will Make Sense In The End is finally out and people can hear it?
Christian: Thank you! It’s a strange feeling it coming out so quick after handing it over – I’m used to a year or so of promo. I’m excited to find out what people connect with, especially the songs that haven’t been singles.
Natalie: I’m relieved to have it out. Although the release itself was fairly speedy, I always prefer releasing things as close to when we wrote them as possible so they still feel emotionally close to me, and had been a few years since we started working on it! It embodies quite a different version of me than I usually show in my songs, so I was keen to have that out in the world so it felt shared and not hidden inside.
Q: Natalie, a lot of the album explores dating, love and figuring yourself out as you move through your thirties. Did writing these songs help you see those experiences differently?
Natalie: These have often been my go to topics for writing, as I am such an overthinker and like to use writing songs to try and make sense of life, however this particular time felt different, and very powerful. This album marks the period of time between two long term relationships, and particularly after an extremely sad break up that left me not ready to move on to anything long term again for a while. Having that pre-acceptance that I was dating in order to explore my connection with others, and to learn from and appreciate the differences in all of us, meant I had a temporarily alternative perspective on it for a while. I was meeting other people in similar periods of their life, and experiencing what it was like to connect without the expectation of a future. I found it fascinating how that allows you to really appreciate things about a person that you might otherwise not get to if you were always looking for your 100% compatible life partner. I have such fond memories of friendships formed, of helping one another through a patch of life and then sadly saying goodbye. Writing these songs helped me gain some closure on that fond sadness, as well as moments of anger, frustration, and noticing how I’ve changed as I’ve moved into this decade of my life. It’s hard to let people go when you’ve had a beautiful connection, no matter how short your time was, and I’m really glad this album was a chance to stamp those memories in time.
Q: Food and eating pop up in so many interesting ways across the record. Where did the idea of using food as a metaphor for relationships and emotions come from?
Christian: You can be dealing with something quite uncomfortable, then there’s an image that’s funny or almost absurd, and suddenly you’re hearing it differently. It also gives the songs connections that you start noticing across the album.
Natalie: I’ve probably been subconsciously waiting my whole life for a chance to put my love of food into lyrics! I don’t know how it began, but after writing Lemon Aid with its mentions of ‘sweet to sour’ and ‘strawberry friendships’ I just got hooked on the idea. If there’s anything I think about as much as music, it’s food.
Q: Your single ‘Picnic’ takes something as simple as a daytime picnic and turns it into a playful look at modern dating. Was there a particular experience or funny moment that inspired the song?
Natalie: The idea came from my literal experience during that time. I met a fellow outdoorsy, nature loving person who’s immediate suggestion was ‘let’s go walking in a random place we’ve never been and find somewhere to have a picnic’ – in fact this was a second date so I knew I wasn’t going to be murdered. It was a fairly short but very peaceful companionship, and I think this inspired the first lyrics, before they merged into a more overarching view of dating. I loved that day out, and love that I’ve captured the essence of it in song.
Q: Christian, bringing Natalie into Girlhood seems to have changed the way the project works creatively. What was it like going from working remotely with different vocalists to having someone in the room to bounce ideas off?
Christian: It changed how attached I was to my own ideas. When you’ve spent ages building an instrumental on your own, you can start treating certain parts as essential. Then someone comes in with a vocal or a guitar part and you realise the song could work completely differently. Natalie’s a ridiculously talented songwriter and classical grade musician as well as a singer, so everything is open for discussion. That’s been really healthy for me. You have to be willing to let a good idea change.
Q: The album moves between sunny indie-pop, soul-inspired samples, R&B, and more stripped-back moments. Did you have a particular sound in mind when you started working on it, or did things develop naturally as you wrote?
Christian: I had instrumentals and sounds I was excited about, but I didn’t know what the finished album would be. Early on, I was enjoying making things without worrying too much about where they belonged. Once Natalie became involved, the writing gave those ideas a direction. Some tracks could carry quite a lot of production, while others needed space for her voice and guitar. I wanted us to be able to follow that without worrying whether every song fitted the same description.
Q: I read that the album was originally called ‘Yuck’ during much of the writing process. What changed along the way, and when did you realise This Will Make Sense In The End was the right title?
Christian: It was called Yuck right up until handing it over, basically. It came from the food-related language and the actual connotations behind them, as well as the bigger picture. It also just sounded cool to me, and evoked a lot of imagery. We ended up with the other title because it felt more reflective, which is truer to the album.
Natalie: When it came to deciding the final title, it was so important to me to find something that encapsulated the journey of the lyrics. I love how it’s both a statement and also like an affirmation you’d say to comfort yourself. But also how it promises that once the listener has got to the end of the album, all of the stories and chaos they’ve just heard will come to a moment of resolve and reflection – that they were all worth experiencing.
Q: There are quite a few different moods across the record, from the more playful moments to some deeply personal and reflective songs. Was it important to keep that emotional journey when deciding the tracklist?
Christian: We decided to put the tracks in order of their writing, so the narrative is a straight flow throughout what was going around Natalie during the process. I think I swayed quite heavily into that idea because this is the first Girlhood album that had this deeply personal, diary-like soul.
Natalie: Honestly I didn’t even realise they were in the order of writing! Although I was writing the lyrics I think Christian was constantly connected to the story of the album, whereas I was just happy to be releasing all these emotions and making super fun songs, and I lost track of the linear aspect of it a little. I did give some feedback on the starting song of the album, but overall Christian felt strongly on the order so I let him choose the rest. I think I would’ve tried to mix it up more with the more upbeat poppy ones scattered across the journey, to keep ‘interest’, but I love that he stuck to his gut about the emotional flow.
Q: Girlhood has been through quite a few different chapters since the early days as Elephant. Looking back at everything you’ve experienced, what does this new chapter mean to you both?
Christian: Elephant was actually a separate band I was in before Girlhood, although some of the music I was working on afterwards fed into the first Girlhood album. There’s definitely a connection.
With this record, it’s exciting to feel that I can still be surprised by the project. I’ve been making music for a long time, and meeting someone whose ideas make you want to get straight back to work is a lovely thing. Natalie’s brought so much of herself that I hadn’t heard in her solo stuff to this album. I’m interested in what we can make together from here.
Natalie: Girlhood has been an outlet for accessing aspects of my confidence, humour, and sensuality that I hadn’t really had a chance to before. It just felt right to be a little bit brazen, cheeky and exposed. Having it out in the world is both relieving and nerve-wracking, as it does feel extremely personal, but also liberating!
Q: Finally, now that this album is out in the world, what’s next for Girlhood? Are you hoping to take these songs on the road, or are you already exploring new ideas?
Christian: Both, hopefully. I’ve been looking at ways we could perform the songs as the two of us, with room to change arrangements and play around with them live. That’s quite exciting because it gets me thinking differently about the music again. We’re also starting to think about what we might explore on another record. Nothing properly mapped out yet, but there’s an appetite to keep going.
