Words By Zach Collier
Photos By Anna Azarov
Album Art
BIZZY’s new single may be called “Tastes Like Shit,” but it certainly doesn't sound like shit. On the contrary, it makes a really strong case for why we need a rock renaissance – and soon.
“Tastes Like Shit” features beefy guitars and chill, narrative-driven verses that then explode into vocal doubling in the chorus that feels epic and anthemic and angsty and raw and cool.
The song's lyrical concept is really novel. It explores the idea of what it's like to finally have your heart broken after a very fortunate streak of having dumped more people than have dumped you. If only we could all be so lucky.
BIZZY the artist is angsty, sassy, attitudinal, thrives on drama, and is a little bit of a contrarian and a provocateur – all without sacrificing genuine emotional connection. “Tastes Like Shit” and other songs in her discography (like the infectious “Default Setting” and “Spinach In My Teeth”) are evidence of that.
But BIZZY the person? I hope I don't ruin the tough-girl facade by revealing this, but I find this fact about BIZZY one of the most saccharine qualities about her: she's a pastoral princess of sorts.
“Honestly, I spend the majority of my time out at the barn,” she reveals to me over the phone. BIZZY hails from Maryland but is currently living and working in Nashville.
“It's so fun because I just get to like go out and frolic with horses and little miniature donkeys and pretend that I'm like a little farm girl for the day.”
Growing up, her grandfather had a farm. Her parents made her take just enough lessons to not die on a horse, but she was never an equestrian or rodeo girl. Still, the experience was formative and left a meaningful impact.
“This current opportunity kind of just fell in my lap,” she explains. “I was over at one of my best friends’ house in Nashville. It was her childhood home. And her mom was cooking us dinner and we were just chatting and she was like, ‘I injured my shoulder. I really need a ranch hand.’ And I was like, I'll do it! I love that stuff. I love the outdoors in general. It’s where I need to be for my mental space.”
That was three years ago, and she’s been doing it ever since. It helps keep her centered and grounded. It gives her time away from work, time off her phone, time to focus on what really matters.
“It lets me see that people live and they don't do music and it's not their main goal and focus, which has helped me a lot, I think.”
This was something that I was not expecting at all after hearing her body of work. Songs like “Out Loud” rely on this really edgy modern alt-rock sound. But when you really think about it, I think this calm, pastoral center is what makes BIZZY’s music work. It’s brazen, but never offensive – even when the language gets loose and the vocals get sneery. That sweet core really shines through on the verses and gives her an attitude budget for hard-hitting hooks in the chorus.
That strong core at the heart of her songwriting is what makes “Tastes Like Shit” equal parts tragic, relatable, funny, savage, and deeply human. I ask BIZZY where that comes from.
“I think honestly it just comes from a deep well of emotions,” she says.
“I'm very highly sensitive and for a long time in my childhood, I tried to fight that and be the kid that was like, I'm so tough, I don't give a crap. But now I'm like no, I give so many craps. I think honing and diving into that has shown me I can use that to my advantage as an artist. Realizing that that's a tool has been really cool.”
Her creative director helped her see that her music is either really sad or super hype. “That's honestly kind of my life,” she laughs. “It's very up and down and the highs are really high and the lows are really low. But I think that that's kind of where I pull from. That deep well of emotions and everything that I go through is so dramatic in my mind. It could be the smallest fight and I'm writing a whole album about it.”
Fortunately (and unfortunately), BIZZY’s songwriting is 100% authentic. That means “Tastes Like Shit” isn’t fiction.
“Yeah, this one was real,” BIZZY laughs. “I wrote it with Jules Paymer in LA. I had just gone through a breakup and it was kind of the first heartbreak, which is so interesting because I had dated someone previously for like years and years. And at the time when we broke up I was like, oh, I'm heartbroken. Whatever. But I guess I just had never felt these real feelings for someone until later.”
She pauses for a moment, thinking through things before proceeding. “I dated this guy for two months. TWO MONTHS. And he shattered my little heart. I was devastated. It was this slap in the face. Like, oh, this is what it feels like when someone just wrecks your world and doesn't give a shit about you. I'm not this terrible person, but I have been on the other side of it where I'm like breaking up with the guys and I'm like, eh, I don't care. And I never give them a second thought.”
“I don’t think I'd ever been on the receiving end of that. And it was like such a humbling moment. Having someone break up with you and then treat it almost like it's like a grocery list. He was like, okay, we're over. Now I need to buy bananas. It was a taste of my own medicine.”
Capturing this really unique feeling of suddenly having your karmic debt come due led to some interesting choices during the recording and production process. While recording vocals, BIZZY came out of the chorus and sang the melody to the guitar lick. “I just kind of like riffed it and we were like, oh, that's sick,” she recalls. “And so then we layered this guitar on top of it. So part of it is my vocal and then part of it's the guitar. It just made it a whole little thing.”
This choice makes every aspect of the song feel deeply personal. It reflects BIZZY’s internal songwriting ethos. “If a music career never works out, I'm still writing music in my little bedroom,” BIZZY says. “Music is never gonna not be there. It’s always been a discovery of my emotions and what I'm going through.”
Keeping things like that has helped BIZZY connect with the world around her. She believes that, at least on a deeper level, we’re all going through the same things – just in different scenarios.
“There’s only so many feelings, so I find if I write as honestly as possible, it translates to other people and helps them. When I write a song, it encompasses what I'm feeling. It truly is a weight off my shoulders. I leave a session or my room feeling so much better. So I think it will always be like therapy.”
She says she wishes she was a little more altruistic in her songwriting. “I wish I could say that I'm a good person that's trying to solve the mental health problem,” she laughs. “It was never like that. It was very selfish to start songwriting. It let me figure out what the hell is going on in my brain. And then I was like, oh, this is fun.”
Regardless of the motivation, listeners will find catharsis with BIZZY’s new song. “I'm always bitching about my exes and how they're the worst. And I think this is the first self-reflective song I've put out in the sense of a breakup,” she says. “I want people to be able to scream and be like, fuck yeah, like I feel this. If they listen to the lyrics, I think the message is just like, damn, you're not the shit and that's okay!”
“It’s good to have the tables turned on you because it's humbling. It makes you more of a person.”
If you’re in need of some good medicine, make sure to follow BIZZY on Instagram for new releases, which will drop periodically throughout the rest of the year and into 2025. For now, turn up “Tastes Like Shit” and become more of a person. You’ll be glad you did.