Harpist and singer Stephanie Babirak chatted about her new single “Hey Cain,” which is from her sophomore studio album “Rotten Fruit.”
On the idea for her new single “Hey Cain,” she said, “It came out of trying to make sense of a kind of betrayal that is especially disorienting because it happens under the guise of love.”
“I framed that experience through the story of Cain and Abel, and also found myself thinking a lot about the First Corinthians verse, ‘love is patient, love is kind,’ because real love doesn’t always feel anything like that in practice,” she elaborated.
“Sometimes what’s painful is not just being hurt, but realizing that someone’s idea of love is fundamentally different from your own,” she noted.
“The lyric ‘you’re so impatient, so unkind, your love don’t look like mine’ really became the center of the song for me,” she added.
Music and songwriting inspirations
Regarding her music and songwriting inspirations, she shared, “A lot of my writing comes from real life events, but also from old stories and the way certain emotional patterns just keep repeating themselves.”
“There’s that line, ‘there’s nothing new under the sun,’ and I think that’s part of what I’m always drawn to. People have been dealing with betrayal, longing, grief, guilt, love, estrangement, all of it, forever,” she said.
“I’m also always trying to make a place for the harp in the indie rock world, because I think it gets boxed in as this very classical, angelic instrument when it actually has a much wider emotional and sonic range than people tend to assume,” she elaborated.
“A lot of my writing is about seeing how far I can stretch people’s perception of the instrument,” she added.
Taking on the harp
On taking on the harp as a musical instrument, she said, “My mom, actually inspired me to take it on! I had been playing piano since I was very young, and by the time I was a teenager I think I was getting a little bored just playing piano.”
“My mom had a harpist at her wedding and loved it, so she suggested I try it, and I was obsessed immediately,” she admitted. “I love how beautiful and strange the harp is, both visually and sonically.”
“The sound doesn’t feel like it’s coming from one place, it kind of surrounds you. I do not, however, love dragging it around New York City. Zero stars,” she said with a sweet laugh.
The digital age
On being an artist in the digital age, she stated, “It feels complicated. On one hand, there’s more connectivity than there ever has been, which is amazing.”
“On the other hand, it can feel like in order to be successful, we all have to be ‘content creators’ instead of musicians, and I do think calling everything ‘content’ can flatten the experience of making art a little,” she said.
“There’s a difference between making art and constantly documenting yourself making art, and I think artists feel that tension pretty acutely right now,” she said.
“I’m grateful for the access and reach, but I also think that it is increasingly difficult to create something that feels real and honest without immediately wondering whether it can be turned into a good 15-second TikTok clip,” she explained.
Advice for young and aspiring artists
For young and emerging artists, she said, “Ask for help. It’s a tough, gatekept, and often pretty opaque industry, and getting support from friends, colleagues, and people who’ve been doing it longer than you has been one of the best things I’ve ever done.”
“I also think it’s really important not to let your desire to get your music heard start to poison your actual love of making music,” she noted.
“The business side matters, unfortunately, but it can’t be the only thing in the room. Protecting your relationship to music itself is everything,” added.
Success
Regarding her definition of the word success, she revealed, “Success can happen in a lot of different forms and on a lot of different scales, but I think for me it really comes down to freedom.”
“Freedom to create, freedom to make mistakes, freedom to keep evolving and not get trapped in one version of myself forever,” she said.
“Obviously I want the work to connect and I want it to reach people, but if I can build a life where I get to keep making meaningful work on my own terms, that feels like success to me,” she acknowledged.
Closing thoughts on the new single
For fans and listeners, she expressed, ” hope it makes anyone who is feeling grief feel a little less alone. Grief can be so all-consuming, and one of the strangest things about it is how invisible it can be from the outside.”
“A lot of these songs live in that space where something has ended, or changed irreversibly, but you still have to go on living your life. If the music helps someone feel even slightly more understood in that, I’ll be very happy,” she concluded.
To learn more about harpist and singer Stephanie Babirak, check out her official website and follow her on Instagram.
