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Photo by Jenna Houchin

corook has done it again and somehow, they’ve become even more relatable. A master of the muse with a PhD in emotional comedy, corook’s new EP How do I relate to you? is a treasure chest of depth and joy. From bops to blues to songs that will inevitably serve as the pregame to the family function, corook traverses the spectrum of the human experience and prints it in song. 

How do I relate to you? brings a playfulness we’re familiar with in corook’s music, as well as a musical craftsmanship that we’ve come to relax in. On what is ironically their latest viral hit, “Scooby,” corook sings about our participation in the spiral and unrelenting weight of society. Then there’s the title track, whose subject we’ve all had to negotiate with: we may share a last name or a wedding party with some, but there, all resemblance ends. On “It’s only the rest of our lives,” corook reflects on the expansive love they have for their partner Olivia Barton (a brilliant songstress on her own path). Sure, they can rhyme and spin clever lines like candy for our neurons, but the true magic in this EP is the lack of a punchline. Because we’re not looking for answers, we’re looking for someone to relate to. 

We had the opportunity to chat with corook almost exactly one year ago at our OTW Pride showcase and needless to say, they had a lot to update me on. Enjoy our full conversation below and get the full scope of what it’s like to be corook: 

OnesToWatch: I'm so happy to talk to you a year later.

Oh, wow. Was that really a year ago?

Last time we talked, you had just proposed.

Oh yeah. I know. And now I'm married.

How's married life?

It's fantastic. It's, like, the same thing, but better. You know? It's just kind of how it goes.

It's adorable, especially with the song “You get me, babe,” it’s giving quintessential couple. Is there a collab on the horizon? Last time we talked, there was like a laundry song…

Oh, yeah, wow. We have a lot of songs together. I think someday we'll release a whole EP or album together, but I think it's gonna take some time. Collaborating together is such a sensitive thing, and really fun, but I also think that both of us really want to be individuals as well. 

She's doing her own music, right?

Yeah, she has her own project. She released an album last year, and then she also has a project with Annika Bennett. They're like a duo. They're best friends. It's like a best friend band. And they go by whale songz. It's really, really good. The songs are amazing.

I heard you had another song go viral. I'm so sorry. What was that like?

That is so funny. It was different. Every time it happens, it's different. This version of virality was a lot better than the last one, you know, but not as potent as the one before that. And this time I think a lot of people were drawn to the truth of the song, and that felt really good. It made me feel like, wow, I must be doing something right to be getting attention for telling that kind of truth, because I couldn't fathom telling that kind of truth a year ago. "Scooby" wasn't supposed to be a single. But, I hadn't posted for a while, and I was like, I gotta just get back into posting, try some things. I'm not sure what to do. I guess I'll just play the songs. The first one I posted was ‘Scooby,’ and that video got, like, a million views in a single day. So it's just like…okay, people really wanted to hear this, you know? Which felt really good.

There's so many different issues that we can focus on but is there a specific place or cause or issue that you do put your energy into? 

I'm just always trying to keep my ears open to what will liberate the people of our country and our planet, you know? Because it's so confusing. We're fed this information that is just so damning to the other side that it's hard to look past it…or just constantly villainizing the red side or the blue side, but it's just not about that. It's about the higher ups, So I'm just constantly finding ways in which I feed that system - whether it's what's on my plate, or recycling, or where I buy my toothbrush from, or my toothbrush is made of, or who's making it? Like, all of the above. Like, it's just…it's all wrapped up into the same thing, you know? So, that's a pretty long winded answer to say: all of it.

Was there a moment that inspired “Scooby?” How did the song come about?

I was listening to a song by Ben Folds, "Rockin' the Suburbs." It's a crazy song. He's basically making fun of himself for being this white guy singer that doesn't feel like he has enough of a career yet. He's pointing out all of his privilege. And I just think that's so radically cool. And I also just love the piano and the synths and everything, so it felt like a really fun song to show the two guys that I've been working on the project with, Kevin and James. 

After listening to that, we just kind of got into the room and started playing that piano riff, and started talking about all the things that are making us completely insane lately. The dichotomy of, like, “My neighbor is getting deported, and so I pull out my $1,000 iPhone.” You know, it's just, like, who made that iPhone? Who's profiting off of that iPhone? It's just like a huge unraveling. And I think that all the events around Minnesota. And the really amazing people there that got together and resisted ICE there. It just truly changed something in me and showed me that radical change is possible with community, you know?

On How do I relate to you? the title itself feels really timely for what you're talking about. Community is more widespread than ever. We have access to people that are so different from us. But like you said, we're all, at the same time, fighting and judging each other. What does that question mean to you now? 

It's kind of like...how do you know me? People come across me all the time, in so many different ways. Usually on their phone, but …there are people commenting saying, ‘my kids sang your song at their choir in elementary school.’ And then there's Republicans saying, like, ‘I voted Trump three times and I relate to this.’ How are all of these different kinds of people making their way here? I think I've always felt that way. I don't understand how a song can go beyond my scope of understanding, you know? I feel like “Scooby” is so clearly an anti-system liberal leftist song, you know? But there's people coming from the far right saying, I relate to this so hard. I feel like there is just this wraparound that happens whenever we get so separated. It's just like a huge circle and the farthest sides of the right and left are just hopefully going to come together and break this crazy system that has a choke hold on all of us. 

What do you feel like people will learn about you on this album?

Probably that I'm pretty pissed off. I don't think I've really leaned into that quite yet. But I’m pretty angry with the way the world treats people like me and people that don't fit into the white nationalist viewpoint. It just really pisses me off because we're all human beings. And a lot of the time, these rules or injustices are made in the name of a God that truly said to love each one of them. So it just pisses me off. It sounds like I'm more Christian than most people, you know what I mean? It's like, how is it that I understood that?

Why do you think queer people and you specifically understand that “God” objective?

I think that people under oppression learn that lesson a lot quicker than people that don't experience oppression for who they are. It's really sad. But it also has opened up my experience of being an oppressed person as a trans person. It has opened up my heart tenfold to people that are different. You know? So my experience of it is way better than whoever's mad about who I am.

I can hate you and what you think as much as I want, but if I actually want change to happen, I have to be open to you.

And it's really hard work. It's really hard to do. But I do think it's the only way to create lasting change, just to connect.

I agree. Thank you for talking about all that. So "Kleptomaniac" is a standout for me and there's a story about the blinds…is that a true story?

Oh, yeah. My little sister is so fucking funny. She's hilarious. If anybody else had said it, I might have been like really offended but it came out of her mouth so quickly and obviously, like I said, she was drunk. And I know her heart. So I knew exactly what she meant.

When it comes to reclaiming your power, in moments like that with other people who maybe don't understand, is that something that comes naturally, or did you have to grow into it? 

I think I have no choice. It feels like I was born into a spirit that is just so obviously different. And also so obviously wants connection and wants to connect. And so that requires either isolating so I never get hurt or figuring out how to breathe through the pain and put myself out there, you know? 

What's one piece of advice you'd give to your younger self?

Dress how you want. I feel like I'm reclaiming so much of my childhood self with the way that I'm dressing lately. I grew up with my mom dressing me and it was mostly dresses or girly clothes. Very pink, very, you know…and I was just different. I wanted to wear boy's clothes. I wanted to wear baggy jeans and a tie dye shirt and a backwards cap. I feel like this whole project, I've slowly started making my way back to how I wanted to dress as a kid. corook in general. I've slowly kind of shed that skin and I'm finally in a place where I'm like this is the truest I have been yet. 

How does it feel to be your truest self right now?

So liberating. I think trans people are the embodiment of liberation in society. Going so far out of our ways to be exactly who we know in our minds and bodies and souls that we were meant to be in the face of so much opposition is exactly the radical change is necessary right now to show other people that liberation is possible. 

Do you get online hate?

All the time. 

How do you deal with it? 

I deal with it by mostly turning off my phone and reminding myself who I am. Usually through a friend or an activity that I know makes me feel like myself, like making music or playing guitar, drawing. Any of those things. Or just expressing the feelings to somebody - whether it's my wife or a friend. 

I think telling people about these ugly things you think of yourself, it kind of just makes it scatter immediately the second it comes out of your mouth. You're just like, that's such a weird thing to think about yourself, or who is saying that? And why are they saying it? What's happened to them? It kind of just dissipates the more you put it in the light. 

Listen to How do I relate to you? below: