Over the years, both through listening to Carlie Hanson’s music and through writing about it and getting to dig deeper, we have become huge fans of what a one-of-a-kind artist Carlie is. With Carlie’s latest track, ‘too late to cry’ we were off the bat blown away. It takes you on a journey emotionally, with the lyrics and the backing track playing different sides of the spectrum while still somehow being harmonious. And that is the beauty of Carlie Hanson.
We were lucky enough to get to chat with Carlie Hanson all about ‘too late to cry,’ upcoming music, and so much more! Let’s jump in!
Listen to ‘too late to cry’ here!
Hi Carlie! Thank you so much for chatting with us today! To start us off, if any of our readers haven’t done themselves the pleasure of diving into your discography, how would you describe your sound to someone who is a first-time listener?
Hello! Hmm.. I’d say it’s alternative pop. I grew up listening to many different artists. Avril Lavigne, Tracy Chapman, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Justin Bieber… to name a few. So, really, I think what I make is a lot of that mixed together, but of course with my voice and my version of writing. More recently, I take a lot of inspiration from artists like Dominic Fike and Ethel Cain. I don’t know; I’m all over the place!
‘too late to cry’ is your newest track! What can you tell us about this track, and what you are hoping fans take from it?
This track is one of my favorites because it happened in a way that doesn’t happen often for me anymore. Now that I’ve been doing this for a few years, sometimes making music can really feel like a “job”. TLTC was a moment in time when I felt so emotional, and the only thing I could do was just let it out and create, it happened so naturally. To me, this song is about growing and realizing how much life has changed since a few years ago. It’s emotional, but the chorus leads with a positive outlook that you can’t really mope about who you’ve lost or the shitty things that you’ve been through. You just got to keep pushing!
You described ‘too late to cry’ as a song you didn’t think would ever come out, what was it about this track that made you think it wouldn’t see the light of day?
Emotionally, I took the lyrics to a place I was a little uncomfortable with. In the second verse, I’m kind of ranting about how someone close to me hasn’t taken the time to come and visit me, and it’s been years and years since they’ve reflected the same amount of effort that I have put into the relationship. I guess I was just nervous for that to be out there.
One of the first things we noticed about ‘too late to cry’ was that it packed an emotional punch lyrically and then packed a different kind of punch with the beat by not slowing down the track. Was that contrast always the plan when crafting the track?
I love this question! No, that was not the plan. It initially was a slow, emotional, emo feeling, and I was unsure where to take it. When I brought the demo to my friend Slushpuppy, he had the crazy idea to do a tempo change. I was thrown off at first when we tried it, but holy hell, I’m so stoked he thought of that.
You’ve been making music for seven years at this point; when you look back at those early releases, like ‘Us’ or ‘Only One,’ what do you see as your biggest area of growth as an artist?
100000% I will say my biggest area of growth is my Wisconsin album. I think it’s evident that you can hear how much more mature I am in that album compared to the earlier stuff. I do think that there are other songs from earlier projects like on Destroyx4, songs like ‘Stealing All My Friends’ and ‘Love You Anyway’ off of Tough Boy showcase that I’m always evolving as an artist. But hey, that’s just my opinion! But definitely, sonically, lyrically, visually.. everything about Wisconsin really helped put into perspective where I’m going and who I really want to be as an artist.
We know you’re heading on a tour this August! What are you most looking forward to about this set of shows?
I’m looking forward to playing the new stuff, of course! It’s always fun to hear how it all sounds live for the first time. Songs like ‘baby,’ ‘covering faces,’ all the latest music. I also love to talk to my fans at the shows. I’m so curious how they feel about the new stuff and how they’ve been connecting to it. Yeah, it’s gonna be sick.
The first line in ‘too late to cry’ is “Look how far we’ve come and far apart, I hope that you see me,” which you’ve said describes the upcoming EP in your mind. Do you look at this EP as a bit of a reset for you?
100000000%. I feel like this is a little bridge into whatever is next. It’s nothing too serious, all of the songs happened sooo naturally. I’ve been holding onto them for a while, so I’m ready for the rest of these songs to be out there already.
You’ve released a few other tracks this year, were those stand-alone tracks, or do they fit into this upcoming EP as well?
‘nutshell,’ ‘covering faces,’ ‘baby,’ and ‘too late to cry’ will all be on this new EP! ‘Starting Tomorrow’ and ‘Living Feeling Dead’ are stand-alone 🙂
Once again thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! We like to end these interviews by asking what is on the horizon. What can fans look forward to as we venture into the last half of 2024?
Thank you!! More more more more more music. More music. So much more music!!!!
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