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Photo: Nicki Fletcher

We are always asked what makes an artist one to watch, and as with everything subjective, we are often left with muddled and incomplete answers. Unlike algorithms or AI, we struggle through our decisions much like Heather Russell, an artist who arguably has been putting out music for a decade, via various celebrated music shows, but never got to knock down the voice to her level. Now that's changed. With the release of the first undefended EP, Russell comes into her own in a way that feels both beautiful and purposeful. Instead of speaking on her behalf, as has been done too often in her career, we let this spritely singer dig into her own work in her own words.

"Say Hello"

“Say Hello” has two distinct layers. The first is very of the time, very 2020. The pandemic created this sudden, massive physical separation amongst human beings and with it, a fear of getting close to one another. While precautions were necessary, seeing the panic in people’s eyes as you walked into shared spaces like the subway felt so intense. I wrote “Say Hello” with optimism in my heart, a little reminder that we need to keep our hearts open, even in times of isolation. On a more personal level, this song was an affirmation. I was ready to open myself up to life’s magical moments, instead of feeling trapped in my own life and an unhealthy relationship. 

This song really helped me solidify my sound in a lot of ways. I write theatrical pop that’s high drama, high passion, and I don’t care who knows it! The vocal delivery is all about making you feel the feels. I did dozens of vocal takes to nail these super high, sustained notes. At that octave, I’m absolutely trying to make your soul react to mine! It’s all very intentional because I wanted this optimistic message to spill out in a powerful way. Luke Atlas came in to co-produce and took the drama to even crazier heights and it’s exactly what I wanted. 

"Otherside"

“Otherside” is a song I’ve been subconsciously writing since I was 18. A family member was suffering from severe depression at the time, and in their darkness, they attempted to take her own life. Luckily or fatefully, I was there and able to get them help before they passed on. The experience led to an incredibly positive life change for them and a new, glorious outlook on existence, but thoughts of the great beyond really stayed with me after that experience. When I was 20, I found myself in my first big romantic relationship, one that was challenging with unwieldy highs and lows that ate at my confidence and slowly stripped away my essence. Post-break-up, feeling an intense fog in my soul, I sat down at the piano and sang “I’m on the road to the Otherside” without even thinking. The words and melody just flowed through me. I kept playing and I saw all these simple, but amazing flashes of things worth living for—road trips, the feeling of the sun on your face—and it pushed me toward healing. What waits on the other side of mourning and darkness is an infinite abundance of magic and we all get to experience it. This song is particularly special to me because it’s my soul journey and also kind of everyone’s. 

This song is super piano and keyboard-heavy. I played around with dozens of sounds until I found one that just made me feel joy. I was looking for the sonic embodiment of getting to a place of true uninhibited healing and magic, but with rich, eerie undertones that expressed the process. I was looking for sounds and layers that felt like an emotional call-and-response to the vocals. My demo was recorded through a headphone mic I bought at 7-Eleven, but when I brought it to my producer, King Henry, he instantly heard my vision. He elevated the song by tracking bass in real time, dialing in this stripped down drum beat, and layering in ethereal synths. I think I tracked vocals two hundred times because I wanted them to be perfect. 

"Shouldn't"

Love is a really powerful drug, especially the first time around. I spent three years in a pretty vicious cycle with an ex. We just didn’t work together, but there was an intense codependency and unfortunately, we were somewhat addicted to hurting each other emotionally because it was a familiar pattern… the highs, the lows, the blowout argument, the breakup blues, the reconciliation… just over and over again. After maybe the 100th split and so many late nights ignoring advice from friends, I just looked at myself in the mirror and finally fought the impulse to make that call and start from the top again. I made it through that one night, and then another until I was clean of it. That first night though, instead of dialing that phone number, I opened up GarageBand on my iPhone and started singing, “Been wanting to call you, but I shouldn’t. I wanted to love you, but I couldn’t.” 

The night I started writing this song, I was definitely in a high drama era. My emotions were so heightened and raw that I wanted production that matched my internal monologue. Of course, ‘80s synth and power ballads came to mind. I passed the demo over to “Downtown” Trevor Brown and Zaire Koalo of The Orphanage and they took it to a whole new level. They changed up the drums in a way that really picked up the track and reinforced my original vision unexpectedly. It was a total gift to see their experimentation and creativity breathe freshness into the song!

"Don't Wanna"

A lot of my songwriting comes from personal experience or intention setting… like “I want to write about how it feels to move on or fall in love!” But “Don’t Wanna” was just plain ol’ fun. I was listening to random R&B beats online and I came across one that made me so happy. I fell into a wormhole, tinkering around, humming melodies, grooving in my chair, reminiscing on some of my fave pop/dance tracks from the early 2000s and the song just sort of wrote itself through pure delight. 

Timbaland really blew my young mind with his Justin Timberlake collab “My Love.” The crazy synth? I’m still obsessed with it. I wanted to bring that same punch and edginess to one of my songs. When I passed the track over to Dominique Sanders, he added finesse to the beat and it instantly HIT. Then he added this outro with a lofi drop that’ll make you swoon. This was one of the first songs I tracked my own vocals for, too, so I’m particularly proud of it. 

"Fade"

This song is particularly near and dear to my heart because I wrote it with my dad! I grew up writing and singing with him, but once I hit my teens I fell into the habit of creating alone in my room trying to find my own sound. When I was 19, I was at my dad’s house and I saw this napkin with lyrics written on it. It was the first verse of “Fade.” They instantly spoke to me and just like old times, we sat together writing and singing over a little digital keyboard. It was such a beautiful moment of abandon, creating and singing in harmony with my dad. There’s even an Instagram video of us singing it archived! When it was time to start writing for Knock, that recording came out of the vault, and with a few more years of life lived, the second verse and bridge really flowed out of me. It’s about surrendering to the journey, accepting fate, and finding those precious moments of positivity. 

I’m not going to lie, I might have been watching “Stranger Things” when I finished this demo, so echoes of that soundtrack and the theatricality of synths were in the ether. I really stacked the vocals on this one and wanted really moody, exciting harmony arrangements. I co-produced with Aaron C Harmon, who really helped build up the bass to drive intensity. There’s a literal fade of vocals (and track) coming out of the bridge that makes the song extra dynamic and maybe a little self-aware, too.