Who is she?
Before her current incarnation as a purple-haired, Grimes-endorsed alt-pop maven, Hana was plain old Hana Pestle, from Atlanta, singing cutesy acoustic ditties in bookshops and farmer’s markets in her new home of Montana. Inspired by her drama teacher dad, and living off money from busking and teaching younger kids the guitar, she set off for LA aged 17 at the behest of a couple of producers who’d seen a video of her playing. She fell into a style of music she wasn’t massively enthused by and toured some undesirable parts of the US, eventually playing over 600 shows, sometimes at college campuses to a handful of people.
That all sounds quite bleak. What happened next?
Around 2013 she met producer and now boyfriend Mike Tucker (aka Justin Bieber collaborator BloodPop) and, inspired by his pep talk, had a musical epiphany. Rather than just constantly performing songs she wasn’t really feeling, she decided to rip it up and start again, teaching herself production and crafting a suite of delicate electro-tinged songs inspired by a recent cataclysmic break-up. The first track to appear under this new guise was the BloodPop collaboration Clay, a gossamer-light electronic bubble that quickly bursts into a glorious headrush of a pop song. Lyrically it’s about rebirth and rebuilding, while its cavernous, empowering follow-up, Avalanche (“get my shit together, know that I can be the one to say no”), uses the title as a metaphor for elegantly steamrollering your way through life’s obstacles.
That’s all very well, but what’s this we hear about her famous fans?
Hana’s at the forefront of a new wave of alt-pop performers – including BloodPop – bleeding into the mainstream world, spearheaded by long-term friend and fellow pop experimentalist Grimes. In fact, Grimes is such a fan she took Hana out on tour with her, utilising her as a support act and part of her band. At a couple of gigs - including a show in Atlanta at the same venue a young Hana saw her first ever concert (Spice Girls, FYI) – Grimes even put her centre-stage for a run-through of Clay. Meanwhile, the usually eloquent Lorde breathlessly described Clay on Twitter as “too shimmering and beautiful for words”.
What else inspires her songs?
Nature (dramatic landscapes, inclement weather etc), anime, films (specifically Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which she’s seen three times, and The Revenant) and, as she told Interview, self-empowerment: “I want to convey positivity and strength for everyone”.
Is there an EP?
Yes. It’s called HANA and it’s out on Friday.
