Running Through The Night with SARIKA
Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with enigma and songwriter SARIKA who recently released her newest single "Nightrunner."
Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with enigma and songwriter SARIKA who recently released her newest single "Nightrunner." Additionally, we talked about men fearing her, apples, nepo-babies, and so much more!
1. Mustard is grateful and appreciative to have you join them at On The Shelf. How are you doing today?
Excited and grateful to be interviewed by Mustard! Thanks for having me!
2. Mustard wonders if you could share more about the time you blew up a car while driving? What spells did you enact as a witch to survive?
Of course. Despite my many positive qualities I do suffer from unbridled road rage which in my case manifests as pyrokinesis. On the day in question, I mistargeted my rage and accidentally set fire to my own car instead of my enemy’s (see attached photo). Luckily I sold my soul years ago and cannot be killed. More on that later.
3. Fish want you and human men fear you. Are you often approached by fish? Why do human men fear you?
Yeah, you make a comment about having a crush on Gill from Finding Nemo ONE TIME and suddenly the whole ocean is in your DMs. It never works out… they all take “take her swimming on the first date” way too seriously.
As for human men, I don’t know I think it’s just the curse of being a super intimidating alt girl (5’3.5” with a nostril piercing and 2 invisible tattoos approximately 1 square inch each)
4. In your Spotify biography, you confess to being an industry plant. When did the industry first approach you? How do you protest against the system?
They called me on the phone about 2 years ago and told me I could sell my soul in exchange for 1 million devoted fans, immortality, and limitless sex appeal. Clearly, I accepted. But then my team told me I had to be more “relatable” to audiences so I started manipulating my social media and streaming stats to be lower to show that I’m really just like you all. You’re welcome.
5. You self-identify as an enigma. What are some qualities and traits of an enigma? Can any human be an enigma?
Absolutely. Just remember that mystery is a state of mind. Haters will say things like, “But Sarika, you constantly post on your Instagram story to update everyone about the most mundane details of your day and speak every thought that comes into your head almost instantly. How can you claim to be enigmatic?” Ignore them. They don’t know anything about you.
6. In addition to being an enigma you are a girl and her keyboard and tripod and jean jacket and purse and phone and lipstick and water and tea and apple slices and
platform boots and tooth earrings and
7. Mustard wonders what is your favorite type of apple? How many apple slices should a human eat?
Honeycrisp. Probably about 4.
8. In an interview with Section 36 Music you mentioned majoring in economics and psychology. If you could write a song about any economic system, which would it be and why?
Communism, so I could rhyme “commie” and “mommy.”
9. Sara Bareilles, Olivia Rodrigo, and Post Malone are some of your influences. Which songs by each do you consider essential listening?
“Many the Miles” and “King of Anything” by Sara, “all-american bitch,” “lacy,” and “good 4 u” by Olivia, and “Stay” and “Circles” by Post. (It might come as more of a surprise that he’s one of my major influences but listen to “Stay” then my song “Speedboats” if you’re interested.)
10. Mustard wonders what is your creative process?
My writing process is very non-linear. Writing a song is almost like a puzzle for me–I start with some randomly shaped piece that pops into my head, usually a non-edge piece, if you will (a line of melody and lyrics that I imagine going in the middle of a song somewhere), then I have to build around that in my head to construct a full section of a song with actual meaning. I rarely think of the concept of a song first, and when I do it’s a lot harder for me to finish it–more often I think of some random chunk of words and melody that sounds good, then decide what meaning I should ascribe to it based on that. I tend to be loyal to certain vowel sounds over semantics, but of course a good writer should be able to balance both.
11. You mentioned as well in your interview with Section 36 that you would love to open for some established local and touring acts. Who are some artists you would love to tour with?
Oooh! This is definitely a more far-off aspiration and not exactly what I was talking about in that interview in terms of shorter-term goals, but I would eventually love to open for Ella Jane or Jensen McRae, who are both super talented, make folk-pop music kind of similar to mine, and have built their fan bases through social media. I really enjoy both their songwriting and draw a lot of inspiration from both their music and the way they promote it.
12. You also mentioned you would love having one of your songs placed in a movie or TV show. Which TV show would you love to have your music featured in?
Back in high school I wrote a song based on the show You so it would be super cool to be featured in that (although the upcoming season is going to be the last one so it’s not looking too likely, but that’s okay). The Sex Lives Of College Girls would also be suuuper fun.
13. Last April, you released your EP "Right Place, Wrong Time." Could you share what it was like to put this EP together? What are some examples of being in the right place at the wrong time?
Making the EP was very therapeutic. I was working on it all of that winter while I was super seasonally depressed and basically the only thing I would look forward to was going to the studio (it was also my first time getting any sort of professional recording and engineering done on my music so that part was exciting for me). The songs were written at pretty different points: “Talk About It” is from high school, “What Have You Done” was a COVID project my freshman year of college, “Speedboats” I wrote sophomore year and was insanely proud of (it’s still one of my personal favorites), and I actually wrote “The Moon” senior winter right before recording the EP just because I needed a fourth song for it. This is really out of the ordinary for me–I usually take really long to write my own music then sit on it for a while before sharing because I’m an overthinker–but I honestly didn’t intend for “The Moon” to be a super attention-grabbing song, more just a pretty filler song to wrap up the EP nicely, so it came together really quickly and easily. Of course I still like the song, but I was kind of surprised when that one quickly became most people’s favorite, and it’s actually about to overtake “Speedboats” as my most streamed song on Spotify any day now.
The title Right Place, Wrong Time came from a lyric I liked in “Speedboats,” which I wrote about the experience of having multiple ‘homes’ but never fully feeling like I belonged in any of them–when I was at college I felt disconnected from my college friends and missed my home friends, and vice versa. Being in the right place at the wrong time could also mean: getting fast food in a college town on a game day; taking public transportation at the same time as someone trying to partake in the Tube Girl trend (sorry I’m behind the times); being in literally any bar or club past 3 AM (sorry I’m a sleepy girl).
14. Mustard wonders if we can talk about talk about it?
No.
15. You followed up this EP with "California King." Did the subject of this song end up becoming your California King?
Sadly no. He didn’t like that every time I performed that song I introduced it by saying it was about a mattress.
16. Alternatively, how does one become the king of California?
It’s a very nepo-baby dominated space, but much like my recruitment to the industry plant role, they’ll call you if there are any openings. There’s no prerequisite except being a himbo. Good luck boys!
17. Mustard would like to wish you congratulations on your newest single "Nightrunner" which is about an on and off relationship. At what stage of the relationship did you write this song?
During divorce court. I lost custody of the kids, but on the bright side the judge said the song was dope as hell.
18. "Nightrunner" marks a new genre for you musically. Can fans expect to hear more from you in this genre?
So I’m notoriously bad at understanding genres and categorizing songs into them, but I’d say “Nightrunner” is folk/country-folk and the songs I’m planning on releasing next are more… pop rock? But similar elements for sure! And who knows, I definitely jump around a lot genre- and style-wise and rarely know what I’m going to write next, so there’s a good chance I will write and release stuff more like “Nightrunner” eventually.
19. Someone invites their friend to see SARIKA live. What four words best describe your live performances?
Silly, sexy, s’cunt, sarikalicious.
20. Do you have any upcoming shows?
Yes, some friends and I are playing the Cantab Underground in Cambridge MA on Thursday March 7th! I’ll be performing with a full band and rocking the heck out. I’m also doing a solo set for a mutual aid benefit show on Sunday February 25th, reach out to me directly for the address/more information!
21. Mustard is curious what SARIKA has planned for the rest of 2024?
I have a few more singles lined up to release that I’m really excited about! And I shouldn’t reveal too much about this yet but… there may be some exciting firsts in the works for this year, such as (hypothetically perhaps for example) my first ever music video, and first ever music festival set!!
22. Where can readers listen to your music?
On any streaming platform their hearts desire! Links can be found at songsbysarika.com/music :) thank you readers and Mustard!