Anna Shoemaker lived her best life on tour with Mallrat
We caught up with the Los Angeles folk-pop singer as she wrapped a series of intimate acoustic shows.
In February, Anna Shoemaker quietly released one of the year's standout folk-pop records. Someone Should Stop Her, the Philly singer-songwriter's sophomore album, is 12 resonate songs soundtracking a young woman's discovery of who she is outside of a long-term relationship: a process that's less Eat, Pray, Love and more a prolonged, at-times regressive, spiral session. Songs like "Fields," "Game of Thrones," and "Miniskirt" hit hard with their balance of breezy guitar melodies with vocal coils of pent-up energy — and how unfiltered she gets with her thoughts: "It's either quitting you or having a kid, and I can't do that," she confesses on "Gas Station Parking Lot." As an uninvested third-party listener, even I can't help but sometimes wince at the rawness of her lines.
The pain of Shoemaker's record has however blossomed into a new chapter of her career. Following its release, Shoemaker moved to Los Angeles (and by the looks of her Instagram is thriving) and bagged the opening slot of Mallrat's latest U.S. tour. Over the month of May, she performed acoustic renditions of these songs to audiences across the country, one of them being a packed Brooklyn crowd at Elsewhere on May 9 of which I was a part.
Ahead, we caught up with Shoemaker about misunderstood lyrics, music she's been listening to, and the perfect Kacey Musgraves song. She also shared some exclusive photos from her tour.
What’s your sun, moon, and rising sign, and which is the most accurate?
Leo sun, Pisces moon, Gemini rising. I’m a Leo through and through for better or worse!
What was the first CD/album/vinyl that you ever bought?
Ashlee Simpson's Autobiography.
Explain a lyric of yours that you think people don’t really get.
In "Fields" I say, “gonna leave this city even though it’s me” and now I think maybe that comes off meaning “I’m gonna leave the city even though I love it and it’s my city.” But I mean “I’m gonna leave this city even though the problem is me.”
Name the last three songs you played/streamed.
"Jackson" by Lucinda Williams
"Colorado" by Greg Freeman
"Us" by Gracie Abrams feat. Taylor Swift
What would your job be if you weren’t making music?
A teacher.
What’s a song that you’d want to cover and why?
"Slow Burn" by Kacey Musgraves. It’s the perfect song.