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Rowdy, savvy and anticipatory of our political state, Cleo Reed has released a revelatory album Cuntry, a sophomore effort that takes a sour notes of history and repurposes them with mellifluous effect. With sweet melodies, quick-to-sway choruses and thematic attention rarely tackled in music these days, the gravitas Cleo has delivery on Cuntry is remarkable, a statement piece against a backdrop of weak gestures. Cleo truly is an artist whose talents are too numerous to list, but the effect of their indelicate honesty in song is a purse of songs that reveal themselves better with every listen. Too curious not to ask the artist themself, we caught Cleo in NYC on their rooftop for a chat:

OnesToWatch: Why are you an artist?

Cleo Reed: Well, I live as an artist because it gives me a sense of personal autonomy, freedom of expression. I work as an artist because it's collaborative and joyous and challenging in the ways that I like. 


Could you do anything else if you weren't an artist? Could you be happy or satisfied in an equal measure doing something else? 

Um, yes… no. I think I have other things to offer outside of making art. I’m a decent friend and a good connector of people, a lover of history. I love reading, so I could probably do something else, and it could still be somewhat creative. Maybe I'd be teaching history or something. 

Diving into your sort of songwriting process a little bit, how long have you been writing songs? Especially with the intent to have an audience for them. 

I started writing songs when I was 12. I won a guitar in a raffle when I was eight and started just writing for myself in a journal entry vibe. There was a community arts center in D.C. called Bloom Bars. I'm also from New York, but I was living in D.C at the time. Bloom Bars held open mics once a week and my mother encouraged me to go. She was just like, you should start sharing your songs, it's time for you to start sharing your work. I didn’t understand why, and she was just like, so you can see how it feels and see how it goes and see if people like it or don't like it. It was an interesting concept as a kid for me to wrap my head around building a performance practice.
So I did that open mic every week for almost two years, honestly. I would write a song, try it out, write a song, try it out. Every week for two years when I was 12, until I was like 13. And then I moved back to New York. 


Since you've been writing and obviously with some intensity for a while now, do you have a process? Is there a methodology that works for you to spark the songwriting process? 

On a conceptual note, my method of songwriting is to just kind of read the room. What is calling me, what's urgent, what I’m feeling… to start, I have to understand how I’m feeling, which honestly, can be very challenging living in a city. Sometimes it requires me to travel and remove myself from being here, 'cause it's my hometown and I have a lot to answer to here. But, I’ve started to do some really deep listening, in the street or from a film, and putting that inspiration into a note word bank. Usually I can start to write songs off of that bank of ideas or titles that I have. That's how I built this record. I don't have to have that technique, but that is the technique that I used for this record. 

When you need to separate yourself from the city and go find some space to songwrite, where do you go? 

In the past three years to finish this record, I went to a few places. I did some residencies. I went to Wyoming, for a residency called UCross. So it was a historic stay in a cabin. Stared at deer in the middle of the night. 
I lived in New Orleans for six weeks to study clowning, went to a lot of burlesque shows, went to a lot of clown shows. I spent a significant amount of time in Atlanta, and every time I went there to visit my aunt, I worked on the same two songs, which ended up being Americana and another song. I went to Gainesville, Florida. I went to Jackson, Mississippi. Montgomery, Alabama. Went upstate to Hudson, a couple times. Went to Baltimore. Traveling just became a part of my life, especially in 2023. I just decided that every three months I was going to go somewhere. I went to Europe, I went to Prague. That was cool. I went to Berlin, I went to Paris… 

So that brings us to your album. 
I love the art direction, obviously very purposeful. What is this album about and what does it mean to you? 


I see Cuntry as a time capsule meant to articulate what is happening with us as laborers in the world today. I've been thinking about Spectrums of Ecstasy and some of these texts that I used to read when I was younger, and they say your first sentence is your best sentence. 

Quick summary. I love it. How old are these songs? 


The songs are three years old. Past three years of work. I have one song on there that's super old, but other than that, it’s the past few years. 

And if this record was to have the desired effect for you on the listener, what would that be? 

I just want people to be able to live with it outside of me. I want it to be bigger than me. I don't really care about my role in the work once the work is out. My role in it now is just a conduit for the work and the creative messaging. Because it's about a time and place and not romance or personal strife, it feels a little bit more that I had a baby and now people just get to do with it what they will, raise it into the thing that they need for themselves. So it's different than other times when I have written songs very much about me. These songs just don't feel like that. This album also couldn’t have come out at any other time, and that kind of specificity aids in the timelessness that I really wanted for the record. So I hope that people can just live with it and take it with them where they need to. That's my desire. 

Do you feel, as an artist, that there's a responsibility to point out the less desirable things within our ecosystem that we either happily ignore or maybe deliberately misrepresent? 

I think that under capitalism, there are several kinds of artists that we see. Every artist wants to make a living wage. So, what we do to get to that living wage is up to us. And if people are making art from a utilitarian or commercial standpoint to make a living wage, I would never judge them. Even if I have created this monstrosity of theory and ethical criticism and all this shit, it doesn't matter. I’d never judge someone because it is unfortunate that artists cannot make a living wage. And that is where my focus lies, not in whether or not someone is using their art to critique the fact that we are not making a living wage. I think that is up to the artists, and I think that is a choice. We all have our role. I personally feel like the historian, the documentarian. Other people are the feel good, the entertainer, the fun loving… 
If we're having a conversation about people not living in their role and following what is true to them, that's a different conversation. But I think if I'm answering your question about whether or not artists have a social responsibility, that is my answer. 

Very thoughtful. Appreciate it. Going to pivot a little bit to some personality questions. 
What do you do to relax? 

Artificial turf, bouldering on the roof. What else do I need to relax? Get off my phone. That is the number one way that I relax. I'll drive to the beach and leave it in the car. 

Where do you boulder? At a gym or do you just go out in nature? 

Yeah, out in nature or, I go to a gym out here in the city. I have a whole crew, friends who are also artists that I climb with. That’s nice because their schedule is similar. Makes me feel seen. 

If these good friends you have showed up at your place and they're all hungry, what kind of meal would you whip up for them? 

I'm buying a whole chicken.
I'm gonna name it. I'm gonna cut it into eight pieces, and I'm gonna roast it in the oven with whatever vegetables and herbs I have in my fridge. And then the sides are up to them, you know? Some people want rice, some people want brussels sprouts. Some people want cornbread… it depends on the flavors and the palate of the friends, but definitely getting real country and cutting the chicken up into several pieces, for sure. I'm taking the guts and making broth. 

I could see that winning everyone over. If you could go back in time or not, and perform with anyone dead or alive, what would your dream lineup be? 

There's so many talented people in the world. I think I'd have an everybody festival. It would be worth it to see everyone on stage at once. 

I’d love two different recommendations from you. First, a non-music one. A place to visit, a book to read, film to watch, etc. 

I love the book How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind by La Marr Jurelle Bruce. 


I read that one last year! I’d also love to know who your OnesToWatch are, so artists on the rise that deserve more flowers. 

I really love Maiya Blaney right now, and I love their album, A Room With a Door That Closes. 

Are there any affirmations, advice, anything you want to end on a sign-off? 

I'm just thankful.