[Exclusive Interview] Anna Dellaria On Baggage & Being a Boss Lady
“Roll with whatever is authentically you”
The young pop singer/songwriter addressed being open to trying new things and experimenting with oneself during our interview, and after the giant jumps she has taken to get to where she is, it seems like she’s an expert when it comes to taking those leaps of faith on oneself. That is what she did and has been doing since moving to LA several years ago. As an undergrad at USC, she pursued music diligently but her passion didn’t stop there as she meticulously wrote music day in and day out, sleeping in practice rooms sometimes. For Anna, whose life has taken many turns and who has faced multiple trials and hardships, being out here in LaLa Land pursuing her dream is all she could ever ask for. Growing up in a household that was more or less broken and fueled by abuse, music was her outlet. With her exceptional sisters and powerhouse mother, the women persevered through the obstacles together. Anna’s world brightened up when she went off to study at USC's Thornton School of Music. After all of the hard work she put in, her debut single, "Sudden", produced by Brian Jones (Vampire Weekend, Gwen Stefani), was welcomed with praise from DJ Booth, The Four Oh Five, Indie Shuffle, and more. Soon followed the placement of her song “Bolder” in the finale of TVLand’s "Younger," which then led to partnerships with Shazam and Apple Music for a formal release of the track.
With her recognition came opportunities to sing during a national campaign aired at the 2018 Academy® Awards and recent releases being featured in various TV/film placements with networks such as HBO and Nickelodeon. When her single "I Choose Me" hit 6 New Music Friday playlists, she donated the proceeds from the single to Girls Inc., a non-profit which empowers young girls with resources to mentorship, health care, and education.
If you were to search her music now, the current music catalog consists of a lot of power tracks, where she demonstrates strength and confidence, educating us all on self-love and self-discovery. Admittedly however, the artist has noted that the music she is about to release will show a darker side of her, one that brings to light a lot of the troubles she faced and continues to toil with today.
After having bumped into Anna multiple times at local events, I decided it was time to sit down with her to hear her story from her. We sat down at Bluestone Lane, as she wore a colorful, color-blocked, corduroy jacket, with her hair perfectly draped down her shoulders. She gave me a wonderful smile that was humbled by life and excited to talk about what she loves most.
I ask her first how she got started in music to which she responds how she had been singing since she could remember. “I started seriously remembering that I was singing when I was about 6 years old.” She mentions hows she used to have one of those Toys R Us pianos and that’s where her motivation began. ”I would just mess around on it and then slowly I would just start kind of making up melodies of my own. That was always the thing I wanted to be the one singing my own thing even if I didn’t know what I was singing…And soon I was putting on shows when I was 7… So, by the time I was 10, I was writing melodies.” She described to me the stage she had made herself, the kind that was made of cardboard panels and had a curtain attached to it. “That was my whole kingdom.” She smiles reminiscing on the memory. “My sister would come and sing harmonies with me, and I would make tickets to sell and perform for my grand parents and uncles and aunts.”
“Wow, so you were made for this industry!” I replied, thinking of how cute it would be to see baby Anna in her element. “Haha, yeah, I really was trying” she laughs in response.
“I think I was motivated by this [music] and it was the thing that allowed me to process how I’m feeling an emotion. So, that’s been an amazing gift that I’m thankful for. It’s an amazing feeling. As I grew up, I started narrowing down singing more than dancing and acting because it started with me wanting to be on Disney channel.” We chuckled at the all too-relatable reality of all of us at that middle-school age wanting to be on Disney Channel.
“I tried classical lessons—I hated it. Again, because I didn’t want to play others’ music, I wanted to make my own. So, I taught myself piano and started writing songs and in middle school, I had 4 or 5 songs that were like my little EP that I never shared…high school no one really knew that I sang and then I got into USC.” You could feel the excitement and pride still oozing out of her voice when she mentioned going to USC for music. Up until that point, she had gone to a Conservative Catholic school that she very honestly hated and had been privately training herself in music. “In high school, I had a voice coach—She was the one that said you can really do this and this is how you’re going to do this. I didn’t have the tools…But it’s really cool to have someone who believes in you.”
A narrative that I was very familiar with, Anna elaborated on how her mother, though very supportive always of Anna, was very much not happy at the thought of her pursuing music as a career. However, after many years of not giving up at it, her family has now come to be very encouraging of her life path.
I asked if Anna ever had any sort of mantra or saying that she ever thought of to which she answered: “That’s the motto for me: life is too short to not chase what you love. This is what I’m meant to do.” She follows up by also deepening the thought saying “It’s a blessing and a curse in ways because I’m obsessed with it, maybe unhealthily so.” But we know she wouldn’t have it any other way.
When it came her to music writing process, she revealed that there really was no fine cut formula. “I’d say it varies, but majority of the time melody comes first. So, whether I’m in the car driving, in the shower, or actually sitting down writing, it’s a feeling more than it is ‘I hear these notes’. I want to groove right now, I feel good right now, I feel happy.” From that is where Anna derives her inspiration to continue the song. “So, whatever that is, I then pull the lyrics. Whatever the mood is, conceptually I kind of try to orient the melody and the harmony around a story, this unfolding of a lyric or concept that comes. The only other way that I do it, for the more serious songs where I have something on my mind and I need to say it the lyrics come first and then the whole melody progression comes after that.”
I noticed that her music is driven by upbeat tempos and high energy rhythms, and so I asked if that was a reflection of her current state of mind or if that was the kind of music she wanted to convey to her fans overall.
“It’s kind of just what I put out so far. It’s awesome that people are feeling empowered from it, but a lot of the stuff that’s not released is not darker but addresses more serious topics, which I’m so excited to share that part of myself. So, it just happened that the more up-tempo, empowering ones have come out. But it definitely is a significant theme that I hold—it’s your classic cliché ‘light in all of the darkness’, but a lot of my background just growing up is built in a lot of darkness, and like some weird trauma, and crazy stuff that happened, and I think the beauty of life is surviving that. Like I love looking around and thinking how everyone here as survived something, whether it’s small or big.” She looks around at our surroundings, at the people in the coffee shop and the people walking by us on the busy street. She returns to us and continues, “I think that’s the beauty of the story—Talking about the highs and lows and not just the highs, which is why a lot of my songs address the self-deprecating sides of “I’m really insecure, so I compromise myself assuming it will make me more likable or whatever’, but then realizing you have to be yourself. Even if I’m not, I know I got to try.”
I then ask, “do you have a routine that you stick to when you get up on stage?”
“Before getting on stage, I just try to remember why I love music…I self-talk myself “I love this” and try to visualize when I’m alone at home belting my ass off and when it feels like magic…”
What is one word you’d use to describe yourself? It didn’t even take Anna a minute to come up with “Anxiously Weird”. She elaborates, “I’m just really quirky in a weird way—lots of scattered thoughts caused by my anxiety.”
What’s your beverage of choice?
“I’d probably be a cheap mix drink. Something quirky and has a lot of personality, but my go to would be diet coke or straight up Tito’s”
“What’s your DETOUR?”
“I love cycling—spinning—primarily classes that are motivated by tunes.” She loves the adrenaline rush you get from pushing a second farther and it helps her cope with a the anxiety and depression she endures at times. “And dogs, I’m obsessed with dogs.” We laughed at how she is similar to Doug from the Disney movie UP as she will stop mid-conversation to point out a dog from afar. She told me she used to foster dogs for Dogs Without Borders for a little while too!
Anna is undoubtedly a busy woman, and taking on music as both the artist and the manager has only increased the work load and schedule. She gave me the run down on what the hardest and best parts of self-managing are as the artist as well. “Let’s start with the best. I’m in control—I want to know what’s going on and I want to know how things are being represented.” She goes on to say that music is so creative and having someone else who doesn’t understand that is difficult so being her own manager allows her that creative and artistic freedom. And in a day and age where personality is now just as important as the music, she calls the shots as to what she shares with her fans. She likes knowing how she is represented, and she likes being able to speak to someone whether for business or non-business related purposes. She gets to collaborate with who she wants as well. She has an amazing team she says of women who help her out as well. “Women just get shit done.” She says smiling.
Some of the down sides though include it being a lot of work. “It forces you to separate yourself from the music…” which as a creative is very hard to do or something you’re not willing to do. It’s a lot of focus on the fans and want will engage them, how you will pitch this song, and other random administrative roles artists would rather not be doing, but understand the necessity of them all.
As a power woman herself, I asked if the reality of female competition in the artistic arena was real, to which she admits, “it’s hard out here, we’re all trying to do the same thing. We’re all smart, we all know what’s going on, we all have that competitive edge.” We both agreed though that in roles like behind-the-scenes and on sage, the industry is very predominantly men. “I try to hire females as much as possible…it’s about bringing women up.” However, in reality, Anna recalls how a lot of the times she is performing with other female acts, it’s a lot of caddy ‘who are you’s’ and ‘are you better than me’s’. There’s a lot of proving yourself involved, but a goal of hers is to create a space where women can share that feeling of being badasses. I’d love to see women bringing each other up. I call it ‘vibing someone out’. Instead of an initial reaction of ‘what does she have that I don’t’ or ‘I’m better than her’, I want to look at her and be like ‘you’re a fucking badass‘. We’re pitted against each other constantly and shrink ourselves”. She brings attention to an example of when artists are forced to quarrel because of society, such as Cardi B and Nicki Minaj.
“If your life took another direction, what do you think you’d be doing?”
“I don’t know what the position would be like… I was raised by a single mom and two sisters who are badass, but my whole life has been priorly women who have gone through really tough shit and are amazing, and I think I would love to help empower other young women who are looking for ways to find themselves and process whatever it is that they’re going through…So, to clarify, it would be more like mental health services combatting depression and anxiety and also trying to get rid of the shame associated with that. Like being emo and depressed is cool when you’re in middle school, but when you get to be a “grown-up,” the stigma around it gets weird and it’s not cool. What I would love to do is primarily help young women and youth in general understand that it’s ok to need certain things and to help them prep to watch for the signs; ‘this is when I need to spend some time with myself’ or ‘this is when I need to reach out for help.’ I don’t know what that looks like but something in that world.”
“If you could collaborate with anyone who would it be with?”
”I can’t avoid the first thought that comes to my mind, Beyoncé, but I think I would be unconscious…” she laughs, but in exasperation even thinking about the thought fo being in the same room as Queen Bey.
“Now if you could perform anywhere, where would you choose?”
“First one that comes to mind is the Staples Center.” She thinks for a moment, and sighs quietly “I can’t believe I’m going to tell you this. When I was at USC…I think it’s really important to not let the world and society shrink down your dreams…” She starts to get a bit tongue tied with her words, and then takes a breath to restart her thoughts. “When I first got to LA, I thought I’m going to do this and no one is going to stop me. And I think it subconsciously manifested a lot before I even had the music ready, which I’m so grateful for and I didn’t get anything turned down—there’s no side story to that except for that that energy is super powerful and I think over the years it kind of degraded or got corroded by the industry being like ‘you’re amazing, but who are you?’ It’s very ambiguously manipulative. But before all of that, I would drive to the Staples Center and sit outside of it at night after some crazy long classes, and I would just look at the Staples Center and think ‘one day I’m gonna be on that stage’. I’ve never told anyone that.” She looks at me now and in her eyes I see all the vulnerability, hope, and drive.
Now, knowing that women played a huge role in her story, I wanted to know how her sisters helped shaped the woman she is today. “My sisters have shaped everything about me, like above and beyond. We went through some really rough stuff. I had a really abusive biological father who really tried to break us — he, in his way of doing that, ignited this bond between the three of us—this unbreakable thing. Like we have the typical ‘you stole my shirt’, but at the end of the day, they’re each so different, and they’ve all demonstrated strength in truly unique ways that have informed how I go about persevering in my own life, which is really special.”
Anna has one sister who is 5 years older and one that is 18 months younger. “We all have very different struggles and very different life paths, like extremely different. And it’s very interesting to see how we have the same heart and use it in very different ways.”
“Tell me more about your recent release ‘Baggage’, what was it all about?”
“It’s driven by this constant story…It’s based in culmination of different instances of the same thing happening over and over again. I tend to let people in my life and they are really drawn by this ability to share everything with me and dump their issues on me.” She goes on to explain how in those moments she’s not sure what she should do, and the fact that knowing this ‘thing’ is making them very anxious takes a toll on her own mind. “I took on all these issues, but then they start having this whole other thing in their life that they are then gone, but I am still left worrying for them.” The track is clearly a confessional piece that brings up a situation that happens too often.
What would you say is the best advice you could give someone?” I asked as my final question to the young artist who has already gone through so much and might have some light to shed.
Very thoughtfully and seriously, the she replied, “experiment with who you are—I think so often we’re told to be yourself. I still don’t know who that is for me, I’m evolving and I’m fluid, and tomorrow I’m going to be different than I am today and in 5 years gonna be different than I am today. There’s all this pressure to be yourself be authentic, but I think there’s a lot of people are scared of that because it’s like what if you don’t know who you are yet? Yes, represent yourself authentically and take note of the things you like and don’t like, but go try shit and redefine yourself as much as you and roll with whatever feels most authentically you.”
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Thanks, Anna. It was amazing to finally sit down with you and just chat it out, and I can’t wait to hear the new material!
Be sure to follow her on social media now!