SCAD Radio Content Director Ian sat down with Elana of the solo project Party Nails, an indie pop performer with a healthy dose of recent singles.

Ian- You consider yourself an indie pop artist. What do you think are the main qualities that differentiate indie pop from pop music?

Elana- There’s two components to that. I think there’s a genre sound and then a business side. In my case, I fit both roles. On the business side, you’re considered an “independent” artist. Like Chance the Rapper, independent even though his intellectual property isn’t owned by anyone else. That’s my threshold.

Your sophomore album is slated for release early next year. We always ask musicians with an upcoming album to describe it in just one sentence.

It’s called You Don’t Have to Go Home, But You Can’t Stay Here, and I actually think that’s the best sentence to describe it as.

You’re big into Instagram, currently with over 6000 followers and counting. One of your followers is one of my favorite pop stars, Carly Rae Jepsen. Who are some of your favorite musicians that follow you on that platform?

A lot of my friends that I’ve met in Los Angeles, Maiah Manser is one of them, she’s an incredible performer. I’ve been lucky to get to know her… Oh, and Thrill You Kill You! Love Thrill You Kill You.

Is there one post on your Insta that stands out as your favorite?

I like when I’m able to get personal. I don’t really plan it out much. I try to plan it out, and it just doesn’t work, you know? I plan my tour announcements and stuff like that, but beyond that, I go on Instagram to get a sense of what’s going on, or I think “ok, what are the ways I have or haven’t engaged with my fan base. I just try to be engaged and be a good force in that environment… You can’t have a party and be like “Me, me, me!”, you have to be willing to come up with something that everyone at the party is willing to partake in. [My Insta] looks very self-centered, it’s very based on what I’m doing, but what I’m doing is always based on a story that’s worth telling or a piece of me reinterpreting culture in a way that is valuable to other people’s experience.

Two singles you released this year, “Emeralds (On the Razor’s Edge)” and “Take Me Somewhere”, have you on vocals backed by some brisk production. Are you heavily involved in the producing of tracks? 

Yes, I’m a songwriter and a producer. Actually, “Take Me Somewhere” was a collaboration. Someone sent me music that I really liked and I wrote on top of that… Most of the other songs are a combination of either me working entirely alone or something being handed back and forth. “Emeralds” was a song that I started making the production for on a tour bus, and wrote the song once I got home, then took that and finished the production with my friend. I have another single coming out in three weeks called “Cut to Bleed” and that one’s entirely my own production.

How did you get the name Party Nails?

I saw some girls doing their nails when i was looking for a name. I was at a funny party, because it was a co-living space in New York City and everybody living in that space were people from Spanish-speaking places. I was collaborating with a friend of mine from Mexico City, so she and some of her roommates were doing their nails. I suffer from anxiety and wasn’t medicated at the time. I remember being so hyper aware, feeling super awkward watching people interact. I was watching my friend and her friends having this wonderful connection. By doing that, it was a gesture for them to feel good about themselves. Something that people don’t really notice when you go out: sure, there are people who get excited about people’s nails and stuff, but it’s like wearing a new pair of underwear- to make you feel good. That’s worth it to me. I liked that message.

For more on this indie pop artist, you can find her website here.