“Now that you are a new artist, you basically start from zero, and you don’t expect anything from anybody,” she said.
On the song selection process for the new EP, she said, “I wrote everything and Nick (from ex-Karmin) is very much involved. He is still producing everything. When we started making this new music, we realized that it couldn’t be Karmin. There was that much happening sonically. We wrote six songs and we chose five for the EP. It was a highly efficient process.”
She listed “Gucci” as her personal favorite tune on her new EP. “We modeled the new EP after that song,” she said.
The music video for “Busta Rhymes” was a great deal of fun. “That was so fun because it was so simple. It was me sitting on a couch. It made an easy day for everybody,” she said.
In “Busta Rhymes,” she tried to break the world record of 11.6 syllables per second (which is held by Twista), but she came pretty close with 11.3 syllables a second. “At least I might be the fastest woman,” she said, optimistically.
On the origin of her new stage name, she said, “When I entered this solo artist world, I had a nickname in college. They called me ‘Qveen,’ since a lot of my friends thought I was Russian. It kind of stuck with me. The whole purpose of this project is to empower women to feel like the baddest bitches in the world,” she said. “Herby is the mascot of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, which is where I was raised. I would perform at the halftime for them, so I would get my practice during those games. I looked it up and ‘Herby’ actually means warrior. It was the perfect fit.”
Regarding the digital transformation of the music scene, she said, “I’m lucky. I signed my first record deal when they were still selling CDs pretty heavily. I switched to Spotify and streaming, and I blew up on the Internet on YouTube. I definitely feel like a pioneer in many ways. Nick and I have always been such advocates of the new wave and the new regime.”
On Long Island, they had the good fortune to perform at the Tanger Outlets in Deer Park, where they shared the stage with Nick Tangorra. “We love Nick. He is such a great guy,” she said.
Speaking of Long Island, they had nothing but the greatest words about performing at The Paramount in Huntington. “We have a lot of fans on Long Island. I’m pretty sure it’s Long Island that blew us up.”
Her new EP is available on iTunes.
To learn more about Qveen Herby