Unveiling indie-pop artist, Carter Vail

Interview by Sydney Hise

Photo by Andre Bernier

Since making his debut in 2018, indie-pop singer/songwriter Carter Vail has quickly gained traction online following the pandemic. With a combination of comedy, music, and a bit of fun, Vail soon found himself with 277K followers on TikTok, over 50K on Instagram, and a rapidly increasing number of streams on Spotify. Now, with this newfound cult following on social media, Vail is back with another dreamy single titled, “Nancy Again,” and I got to catch up with him on this latest release, his favorite Wes Anderson film, and how the internet has impacted his career. 

PLEASER: First off, I just have to say, I didn't realize that I was interviewing the guy who I saw on my TikTok "for you" page all the time until like two days ago. And then I looked at your TikTok and I was like, I've seen this guy all over the place. Your TikToks are hilarious. 

Carter Vail: Thank you so much. I'm so glad you liked them! 

The "shirt tucked into your pants" was very funny. That's like peak comedy. 

CV: I'm so glad you like it. I get, uh, very mixed reactions from like, my hometown. Like, people are always like, “Okay, I guess like that's what you do now”. And I'm like, “I don't really know what I do now”. 

Yeah, I do that. And then also make music– 

CV: Yeah, exactly. It's very confusing, but it's a lot of fun. 

I'm sure! How has life been recently? 

CV: It's been pretty fun. I'm currently gearing up for a move to LA. I live in Nashville at the moment. So it's, it's been fun and a little stressful trying to figure out, uh, like all the dynamics that go into that, going into a new city, but putting out music is super fun. So in general, life's been very good. 

Have you been happy with the reception of your new release? 

CV: Yeah. Oh yeah. People have been, I think people have been liking it, or at least the people that don't like it haven't been telling me that. 

It's a fantastic song. I think, you know, as somebody who has seen your TikToks on just like my, for you page and then listening to your music, it's a very different dynamic, but it's, it's super cool to see what kind of music you're creating, if that makes any sense. 

CV: Well, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's, it's, uh, it is super different. And part of the, I think, confusion is a lot of people go to the, like my Spotify page and, and they're like, oh, I can't wait to hear the like goofy songs he does. And it's like super, in my opinion, serious music. Maybe some people still think it's funny. And I think that there's sometimes like a little bit of like a "wait, I don't get it". Like, "why is this different?" But I mean, I just feel like it's fun to make all sorts of different kinds of stuff. 

Oh, for sure. For sure. Can you tell us a little bit about the production or the writing process of this song? 

CV: Yeah, absolutely. Production wise, I do all the production and mixing in my bedroom. Cause I think that's the most fun and least expensive way to do it all. And so with this one, I'm playing all of the instruments except the drums and the drums are being done by my good friend, Garrett Fragle. I started writing it on a vacation. I, I went up to Maine at some point and it was a terrible vacation because it was just raining and we were out in the middle of like nowhere- I'm sure Maine is very, very nice in parts, but the part we were in was not nice. So we just had like a lot of time and I, I ended up bringing my, like, laptop and starting this demo and this song just kind of came out because I had so much, free time. And then I got back to Nashville and we got into our home studio and started kind of figuring out what different parts could go in. I'm really excited about the production of it because like this song in particular has a bunch of like pretty weird buried elements in there. Like there's a lot of like banjos that are happening and uh, like I think there's a mandolin at some point. It's kind of just a mishmash of like, I had a lot of spare time, so like let's track every possible instrument that we have around. 

Is there a favorite part of the production that you have, like any hidden element that really stands out to you? 

CV: This isn't a super hidden element, but I think my favorite part of the production is the response vocals that are happening. In the verses, there's like the normal verse melody happening. And then these background vocals that are kind of pitched up and distorted and really weird sounding go, "I don't wanna be better off without you". I think that those response vocals- like having secondary melodies happening in these songs is just a really cool, uh, way to tell a story. 

Absolutely! Is there a movie that you could see this song in?

CV: A movie that I could see this song in? I mean, my favorite director is Wes Anderson and so like–

I have a Wes Anderson tattoo!

CV: From any particular movie?

From Tenenbaums, I have Margot's like chopped off hand. 

CV: Yes! Yeah. Um, okay. So I have on my guitar, I have Richie Tenenbaum.

Oh my God. That's amazing!

CV: And I don't know if you've the like TikTok things and just in general, uh, I always wear the headband, which kind of started as an homage to Richie Tenebaum and ended up just being something I do all the time. I've been wearing it for every music thing I've done for the past, like six or seven years. So I'm a huge Royal Tenenbaums fan. And a huge Wes Anderson fan. 

Cool. Is there a specific like Wes Anderson movie that you think this song would be in? 

CV: Um, I, uh, I guess Darjeeling Limited. Okay. Uh, I would love for it to be in that one. Although at the same time, I think the soundtrack to that movie is so perfect that it's like, you can't replace it. Like if there was another scene that, that a song could be thrown in. I'd love for this song to be in that. I'm so glad you're a Wes Anderson fan.

Nobody ever understands my tattoo. They're always like, why do you just have a hand with a finger chopped off? And I, yeah, I never have the energy to explain it to people because people just don't get it if they don't get it. 

CV: Oh, absolutely. I've written two songs about that, maybe three songs, about that movie. 

Are any of them released?

CV: Computer Love Song, it's it's off my EP called The Interstellar Tennis Championship.

How does this release differ from your previous songs and albums that you've put out and released? 

CV: I like to think they're all getting better, but I suppose that's a bit of a subjective thing. That's more of a theory than it is a fact. I like to think that like, the production quality keeps getting better and the mixing keeps getting better. I kind of like treating releases, just like, it's just a part of the thing I do. I don't put too much weight on like, oh, this one's the big one because who knows what the big one is, you know? I like this song a lot. It meant a lot to me when I was writing it. And so I kind of feel like I've already, I've already gotten the thing I needed to get out of it. And that was like in creating it. It's like it's already a success for me because heck yeah, the song is done and it's out there. Um, so I don't know how much it differs, I think I just like it more than my other music, but maybe that's just because it's most recent.

It's awesome that the most current thing is your favorite and that the next most current thing will be your favorite. And that's an awesome way to have a career because then everything is exciting!

CV: It would suck if like, the first thing I did was like my favorite thing always. And I was just like, "oh no, I can't beat the one thing, I can't live up to the one thing that I love so much".That would be a tough way to make music. But thankfully, I don't think of my stuff like that. 

Excellent. Where do you picture people listening to this song? 

CV: I think that all of my music and this song in particular, I like to think of it as like driving music, like music that is being played in the car, on like a California highway with the windows rolled down. Like that kind of thing. That image is always my favorite music-listening-to moment. So if anyone's on the highway right now, I hope they're listening to it. 

That is definitely the feeling that it evokes like a hundred percent! So, you've had a few TikToks go viral, how has this impacted your music career? 

CV: Hmm, that's a good question. Uh, TikTok is really weird for a lot of reasons, but I think that the going viral thing... I've had a couple of TikTok videos do really well. I don't know what the translation to people like listening to my real music is like, I don't know how many people see one of these videos and go, "alright, now it's on to ‘Nancy Again’. I know it's become a much bigger part of my day to day because now sometimes, I do ads on TikTok and that's a wonderful thing for financial reasons. And also like being able to do like the, the stuff I'm doing on TikTok is still music. And so in that case, like, yeah, it's made a huge impact on my music career because it's like a bunch of people are able to find my funny music and I love making that stuff. It's been, it's been fun. It can be stressful sometimes. Cause you have to put out stuff all the time, but yeah, super positive. 

That's all you can ask for! Alright, can you describe “Nancy Again” in one word or phrase?

CV: Uh, oh man. That's a tough question. That's so hard. Honestly I'm kind of blanking on that. 

Is there like a feeling that it evokes other than like the highway thing, is there like a color scape that you see? 

C: Yeah, I think, I mean, I'm going for nostalgia in a lot of this stuff. So I think nostalgia would be the thing I'm looking for the most. All of my music is written about experiences I've already gone through. All of this stuff, especially this song, is like looking back on either like, "Oh, I wish I was back in in those times" or "dang, I wish I did those times better". Um, and I think that's a really powerful feeling and this song is that. Yeah, I guess nostalgia.

And my last question for you, what are your plans for the next three months, six months, and then a year. Do you have any goals or milestones that you're really excited about? 

CV: I have, um, I think three more releases happening in the next - in three months I should have either one or two songs out. Yeah, two songs out. I should have two songs out and I'm super excited for both of those. Um, I'm hope to go on tour again within six months. And in a year? World domination, I'm hoping to be omnipresent, omnipotent, uh, omni-all-of-it.

World domination. You'll rule everything, excellent. Then everyone will just feel excited and nostalgic all the time. 

CV: Yep. Yep. When they're not excited, they're gonna be nostalgic. And when they're not nostalgic, God damnit, are they excited.

“Nancy Again” is available on all streaming platforms now!