INTERVIEW: Taylor Moss on new single 'Chaser': "I just want my music to make people smile. And if I've done that, then I've done my job."

Taylor Moss recently released her second single of 2021, ‘Chaser’. It is a wonderfully smooth, mellow country-blues-pop song with a beat that gets more and more insistent as it goes on and Moss’s nuanced vocal which goes from mellow to husky in a heartbeat. “‘Chaser’ is all about finding light at the end of the tunnel,” she says. “Someone might leave a bad taste in your mouth, but you can always have a sweet chaser to wash it down. I think most people will find my song relatable, we’ve all had a bad shot with someone!”

Moss first released music aged just 15 with the single ‘Stuck In My Head’. Fully independent and self-funded, Moss is coming off her most successful 12 months yet, with her previous two singles, 2020’s ‘Ain’t No Girly Girl’ and ‘You Ain’t Getting A Song’ from earlier this year accumulating close to 2 million combined global streams to date. She has seen support from Spotify and Apple Music in the US, with her music finding its way onto some of their most high profile playlists. With empowering lyrics and music that is really relatable, Moss is entering the most exciting era of her career and we recently caught up with her to find out more.

Hi Taylor, such a treat to talk to you today. New single 'Chaser', what a tune! Are you excited to have it out?
I am, I'm really stoked. It's got the the country pop elements and there's some cool reference tracks behind that as well. 'Heartless' by Morgan Wallen and ‘Like I'm Gonna Lose You’ by Meghan Trainor.

It’s got your beautiful tongue-in-cheek playfulness that you always do so incredibly well. What was the inspiration?
We've all had a shot with somebody that didn't turn out quite as planned, and you obviously need a chaser to wash it down, which is the alcohol metaphor. I had a lyric written in my phone ‘I need a chaser’ for like three years and I was trying to find like the best way to write it, and for it to be relative to people but also still be my story. Andrew Swift and I co-wrote in the first national lockdown in 2020.

Lockdown was quite grand for you because you also wrote 'Ain't No Girly Girl', which was your lockdown smash. Can you talk me through that track as well?
Going into lockdown obviously sucks, and we're still going through it. It's a never ending battle right now. But I’ve been working so much, I've been doing so many gigs, I haven't had any time to be creative. And lockdown actually allowed me to have some creativity and some space to do that. So I just contacted a bunch of friends and I was like, ‘let's write!’ I pretty much had to write every single day in the first initial lockdown. The idea behind 'Ain't No Girly Girl' is I'm not a girly girl at all. I love to go fishing, I love to go camping, I drive a ute. And just because boys technically do those things, girls can do it too. Girls can get their hands dirty.

On that note, is there a general perception around country music that there is very much a gender divide? It's either rhinestones or Blundstones - do you find that's the case?
Yeah, definitely. There's a couple of things I could say like. You've got Luke Bryan with the song 'Country Girl (Shake It For Me)', and he's talking about a country girl shaking it for him. And then you've got a feminist song that came at a similar time by Maddie and Tae and called 'Girl in a Country Song', and one of the lyrics in their song is 'my money maker never made me a dime'. It's quite tongue in cheek saying, Luke Bryan sang ‘shake it for me’, well my ‘money maker’ never makes me any money - my voice does.

Beautiful. I want to know your musical journey, not just how it shaped your childhood, but who were those sheroes that you listened to and looked up to?
I grew up listening to so much music. I have a few influences like Keith Urban, but more relative to now I love Paramore, I love Hayley Williams and Ingrid Andress. I'm heavily influenced by so much music, but as a kid, all I wanted to do was play music, my parents put me in guitar and piano lessons from when I was like six. All I wanted to do is do music. And my parents were like, ‘cool, if that's what you want to do, we're gonna encourage it’. I left school when I was in year 10 and I went and did a dual diploma in music and music business, and went on to do a Bachelor of Music. So I knew exactly what I wanted to do from a young age and my vision and my goals have never stopped.  

Amazing. You are a self funded independent artist, which is incredible. There must a lot of benefits to that but it also must bring a hell of a lot of challenges. Can you talk me through some of those challenges you found?  
Absolutely. Being self funded is really tough. I'm constantly working my butt off and every single cent that I make I put into my music. If I added up all the money I've spent, I would probably could have bought two or three houses by now! My parents have been so encouraging, they haven't been like, ‘Oh, you know, you should stop spending money on your music and you should buy a house’. Trust me, there's definitely challenges, but I'm really passionate about it. Obviously, I want there to be an end goal one day and if there isn't, I can always say I tried my hardest and I did my best. I just want my music to make people smile. And if I've done that, then I've done my job.

All your songs, they hit moments of hurt, they hit reflection of bad times, but you look on them with almost a grateful, lighthearted nostalgia. Was that something that you gravitated towards when you were younger listening to music? Or was it something that was missing, that you always wanted to experiment with?
When it comes to how I write, and what I want to say, and what I want people to hear is it's pure personal experience. Without pain, there's no growth. In life, we do have to experience some form of some sort of pain or heartache, to grow as a person and to figure out who we are. You know, I'm 26 and I have grown so much from even 12 months ago. We're constantly growing as humans every single day. And if we don't experience growth, then I feel like we never experienced anything.

The country music scene in Australia is massive and for a long time, it was people's dirty secret. Whereas now people are openly expressing their love for it. I always hear from artists that it's actually such a welcoming community in Australia. Can you talk a little bit about your experience within the country music scene, particularly as an independent female artist? 
The country scene, you are right, it is quite welcoming. And everyone knows everyone. We are very, very supportive of each other, too. The difference between country music, say, 15, 20 years ago as opposed to country music now, is there's been artists like Shania Twain and Dan + Shay that have made country music popular. Country music has always been liked by a niche category of people, but now it's becoming more popular. They’re just such ear worms and country music is honest, too. People love honesty.

Throughout your career, you have toured a lot. What is it about playing such fun songs live? That must just be something else.  
Absolutely. I'm very lucky to be in Brisbane right now, I've had a bunch of shows and a bunch of full band slots recently. It's been so liberating. It's been incredible to play all of these songs live with my band, my set is quite rocky too. As a female artist, I want to be rock this stage because I can. I literally have no words, performing live is literally the best thing you can ever do.

And lastly, ‘Chaser’ is out now, what else is coming up for you?
Alrighty, I wrote a song with my best friend and I've had this idea for a while to write a song called 'Get It Girl'. The meaning behind this is I always say to my girlfriends, 'get it girl'. Girls only seem to get it, so it's a song to your best friend talking about how they completely understand your toxic relationships, your family politics, they'll literally pick you up off the bathroom floor of your crime but they'll also be the cheerleader in the front row of every crowd that you sing in. It's a real girl power song. It's to all of my girlfriends and every single female in the world. I just want them to feel inspired, empowered, and understand that we are all here for each other.

That's incredible. It's your country pop Spice Girls song, Now that you've opened up that I want to ask you more. Do you think that's something that comes in waves where it's goes through these stages where women can't publicly have each other's back? Or did you just ride it, do you know what I'm sick of these dudes I'm going to sing for my girlfriends, this is the real love song?
A bit of both. The thing about having a really amazing friendship and a relationship with a female, like your best friend or your mum or your aunt, or even just a little girl who's a massive fan of you music. There's no expectations as a female, we just get each other you know. I was having this conversation with my best friend, I was like you are literally my soulmate, you are literally the person that I need in my life forever and I don't need you to fulfil me in any other way, except with your presence and with your soul. That's kind of more what it's about. One of the lyrics is 'maybe my boyfriend's are the heartache fun and lonely nights and maybe my girlfriends are my soulmates’. Yeah, we ride or die.

‘Chaser’ is out now.

To keep up with all things Taylor Moss you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.