From playing piano at five years old to a stolen viola in middle school and learning music production in GarageBand, Misty Re: — the stage name for Weinberg senior Misty Roe — seems to do it all when it comes to music.
At 21 years old, the Michigan native is set to release a debut album titled “Take My Body as Your Own” on March 14. The self-produced, self-written and self-recorded album took just over a year to complete and touches on themes of mental health, identity and healing, Misty Re: said.
Two singles, “Juvenile” and “Dream Boy”, are already available on Spotify and Apple Music.
A Chemistry major who performed at “Kresgepalooza 2023: House Party,” Misty Re: said she hopes to connect with up and coming artists in Chicago and stay in the area post graduation while working on her music career. She also plans to take her music to the stage, with a few songs already up her sleeve.
This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
The Daily: “Take My Body As Your Own” is such a striking title. What’s the story behind it?
Roe: It’s a line from “Delirium” — one of the songs on the album — and it just really captured the whole theme of the album, where I feel like I don’t have control … not able to be an active agent in my life.
The Daily: What was the production and writing process like?
Roe: (It) is very much like a diary of sorts — almost like it’s the sonic output of my feelings. I just transmute my emotions into sound in the way that makes the most sense to me. I feel like I have a lot of noise in my music for that reason, to kind of emphasize the complexity and the many ideas that are swirling around within one thought.
All my writing is very linear. It’s very much like a long form improv … done very slowly and just unraveling at its own pace. Sometimes I need to wait a week (or) a few weeks to come back to a song before I can finish the ending, if I don’t really understand where the thought is going, and if I need time to process my emotions more before I can finish writing it.
The Daily: How did you develop the concept for “Take My Body as Your Own?”
Roe: It’s an entirely conceptual album, and the storyline is: When I was younger, I was very discontent with my home life, mostly on my end, from just mental health reasons. I kind of blamed it on all my surroundings, like my hometown, my family, all of that.
I just kind of cast that out there … maybe my parents could have done better. But that wasn’t really the problem. The problem was very much myself … being trapped in my head. And so the album explores, “What if I left home? What if I just completely ran away from home in high school?” And so then the (whole) storyline all came about naturally.
The Daily: How are you feeling with the release of the album in the upcoming weeks?
Roe: I’m super excited for the release of the album … I can’t wait to share this with people … to connect with people over the music and impact people in an emotional way, because music does so much for me — to regulate me, to help me find the strength and courage to do things, to help me fully feel and express all my emotions as well.
I really just want people to have the opportunity — specifically trans women — to experience these emotions, or to let themselves feel in a way that they haven’t necessarily let themselves (feel). I hope to connect with people who have had similar experiences, to teach people about my own experiences, and how they can use (the songs) as an example to be more empathetic towards others, and really just bridge the divide that separates so many people nowadays.
Email: valentinavalcarce2028@u.northwestern.edu
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