Fall into the comfort and coziness of your surroundings with Bad Snacks as she releases her latest EP, Home Music. Escape into the melodies of warm colors and elegant production from this astounding artist. Through soothing atmospheres, enchanting tones, and serene lyrics, Bad Snacks displays a ravishing batch of tracks with Home Music. All we have to do is allow ourselves to relinquish control and float along to what Bad Snacks has in store!
Make sure to stay with us until the end because The Electric Hawk was able to learn an important lesson through an interview with Bad Snacks to better understand where ‘home’ really is.
“For me, the project really has been just a huge lesson. I’ve come to the realization that home is wherever you are, and that things really are going to be okay.”
Bad Snacks
Enjoy the serenity and coziness of the Home Music atmosphere with Bad Snacks!
Immediately we begin to feel weightless as we step away from our reality. Bad Snacks gives us a sense of security and asks us to calmly allow the flutters to secure us. While the pressure escapes us, we fall into the “trustfall” that Bad Snacks guides us in. The cozy sensations start to caress us as we begin floating through the encompassing array of warmth. Through the sparkling progressions, the descending journey starts to relieve us of the difficulties in our lives. As we slowly transcend, Bad Snacks requests that we press on, for what lies through the vibrant warmth is something intrinsically precious and healing.
Now fully trusting the journey we’re on, we glide through the flirtatious atmosphere, and Bad Snacks asks us to follow the rhythm. “iiwannabe” becomes this dazzling production that carefully teases a sense of beauty that makes us fall through an iridescent spiral. Our heartbeats follow the tempo of the intoxicating drum beats while our heads sway to the serene string symphonies in the background. We can’t help but feel flutters consume us and we fall deeply into the warmth of Bad Snacks production.
Before we start to begin our descent, Bad Snacks captures us in a spellbinding trance of gradients. Through “…anyway” and “alright, ok” we get to fully release our mind into the soothing undertones of the tracks. This time, with no boundaries to restrict us, we can freely dance in sync with the cherub tones, vibrant production, and mesmerizing vocals. Bad Snacks gives the audience a chance to be themselves with no judgment.
Now reaching closure and understanding a new meaning for ‘Home’
Embarking on our return to reality, the overwhelming rush of emotions begins to seep in. Through the chromatic, luscious stuttering production, our mind reminisces on fond memories of expired love. Bad Snacks partners up with chromonicci on the finale of her EP, “like u do,” to display a heartfelt outlet to liberate lingering feelings. The symphony layers between the two, showcasing an honest message of imperfect love that dissolves. In the end, as we feel our feet reach back onto Earth, Bad Snacks delivers us a mending message to remember as we carry on.
Through the entirety of Home Music, the audience begins to relinquish all the constrictions that consume us and prevent us from fully appreciating life. Bad Snacks builds this symphony of up-tempo melodies and serene atmospheres that guide us to our escape. This EP empowers you to fully wander through your imagination and find the shelter you are seeking– whatever that may look like to you.
Through these songs, Bad Snacks evokes the picturesque imagery of what your image of ‘Home’ is for you. Home Music opens the portal to this escape and gives anyone the comforting security that they may be missing.
If you are longing for coziness and ease away from your daunting reality, Bad Snacks delivers a healing journey with Home Music.
In Conversation with Bad Snacks
seradopa: How did this Discord conversation about Home Music even begin?
Bad Snacks: During the pandemic, I was streaming a lot on Twitch and found a really great community that is very global and that continued all the way from when I was living in Oregon to when I stream occasionally. I was making a lot of music on Twitch for a few years, like 2020 through 2022. And because I don’t make music on stream as much anymore, towards the end of that chapter, I started getting into these very cozy house beats– like downtempo house beats. A couple of the Discord members were joking that it’s not quite house music, but it is ‘Home’ music.
I just loved it so much that I made it my Twitter bio! Like, I don’t make house beats I make home beats.
I tend to get thrown in with the Lo-Fi crowd a lot, which makes sense to me even though that was not completely my intention for the entirety of my career because I do make a lot of other subgenres– this is also kind of just my way of leaning into that a little bit.
I do tend to make things a little bit more chill, but I was just trying to write music that kind of rides that line between something comfortable and chill, but also has enough energy that it’s fun to see live!
seradopa: That’s so funny that your Discord basically just made a genre name for you!
Bad Snacks: There was that and also Mid-Fi, which is like– it’s not Lo-Fi, it’s not Hi-Fi, but it’s Mid-Fi!
seradopa: How would you feel if once Home Music is released, it just becomes a genre officially?
Bad Snacks: I would totally love that! I mean, Home Music is a cheeky name for things that kind of already exists. Like, there’s Knxwledge and I love Knxwledge, and he just put out another mixtape on Bandcamp. That kind of stuff totally falls in that vibe–not that he would he would never call it ‘home music’.
But you know, there are so many artists that are making really cool, vibey music that’s house adjacent, but it’s not super high up in your face. It’s just like, you go and you vibe!
seradopa: I noticed you said you’ve realized that “home is wherever you are, and that things are really just gonna be okay” when you were creating this project, what helped you come to that realization for yourself?
Bad Snacks: Everything had to fall apart. For me, to reach that realization, I have moved a lot in my adult life. I’ve moved nine times in the last seven years, across four states and two coasts. They were big moves for me on a personal level. How do I reconcile my want to pursue music, which is the great passion of my life, with my want for a comfortable life that’s close to my family, right? And unfortunately, those two things are not super compatible in my life. And I tried making all of that work and tried to reprioritize, and then, in my attempts to do so, it kind of all unraveled and fell apart.
The first track is called “trustfall” because I wrote that when everything was unraveling [and] it just felt like this big soaring thing that my heart just needed at the time. You know, there’s this funny thing that I think myself and a few other creators often experience, which is that sometimes what’s happening on a personal level gets reflected on the inverse through your art. I know people who make the happiest-sounding music that are struggling. And then I also know happy people who make the saddest music and in this way, I wanted to maintain all this control– just clawing for some semblance of control, and ended up just kind of making a bunch of chaotic sounds in the process.
But I think it balances out, you know?
The realization of “home is wherever you are,” was just a proof of concept at a certain point, you know? I was very transitional, I didn’t have an address for a couple of months in the fall because it didn’t make sense to get a new apartment while I was going to be on tour. My stuff was all over the place. And fortunately, I have a really great support system [in] a couple of different states. It just forced me to just really adopt the whole thing of I am just where I am right now. You know?
seradopa: What was the hardest track to write in this project?
Bad Snacks: The most challenging was definitely “like you do” because it’s by far the most emotional one. I was going through a pretty significant breakup at the time. That breakup was that relationship, [the one that] was my anchor to where I was at the time.
One of the great fears that I had of losing that relationship was not knowing where I was supposed to be after that. Physically not knowing where to go, you know? Do I stay in Boston and continue teaching at Berkeley? Even though I can’t afford to live in Boston by myself? Or do I move to Maine, where my folks live? Or do I make the trek back to Los Angeles and try again? In a way, that facet of everything overshadowed a lot of the actual intricacies of that relationship and why it dissolved.
Bad Snacks: “like you do” was finally acknowledging those intricacies I was so propelled by fear at the time. There was a lot more closure in there, so a healing experience! I wrote the first verse and chorus, and then I was struggling to finish it.
In a way, I almost felt like everything that I needed to say, I already said in that first verse and chorus. I’m a person who talks a lot, but I just felt I had already said everything that I needed to. But obviously, it would make more sense for the song to have this second verse and a second chorus. That was when I enlisted help from my friend, chromonicci. He just happened to be going through a similar thing in his life so he was picking up what I was putting down. We wrapped that track up so fast, it was crazy!
seradopa: Did you have tracks that almost make it into this project?
Bad Snacks: I had a few that almost made the cut. There was a little bit too much resistance coming from them. And I’m hoping they see the light of day at another time. But, coincidentally, that’s actually how “…anyway” ended up on the EP! I envisioned this being a five-track EP, and “…anyway” was something that I had in the vaults!
I was doing a DJ set for a friend– it was his show, and I was DJing on the back end. And because he’s one of the funniest people that I know, I was like, I better have one hell of an intro for this set. I had this disco beat and I found this insane Joe Biden quote that every time I hear it, it just gets me– it’s so funny!
That was what I used as the intro to the DJ set.
At the time, there were no verses, it was just instrumental with the Joe Biden quote.
And so I revisited it. I wondered if I could put this together and throw it in. Because at the time, Home Music, although touches on very serious topics, was still very camp. It’s literally called Home Music and the album artwork is my legs flailing out of a disco trashcan. Sometimes I do tend to get a little bit caught up in things a bit too serious. So I thought, this would be the perfect little in-between break for the EP. Like okay, we’re not taking ourselves too seriously here!
Even when writing the verses, they came from this stream of consciousness– [this] ‘I’m on the dance floor’ type of mindset where I’m not trying to write prose here, especially because of the Joe Biden quote– the whole thing is so stupid, which I love!
seradopa: You touched on it a bit with your art but I was intrigued by the art direction and meaning behind the creative decisions with the artwork throughout this EP launch!
Bad Snacks: With this new chapter, I wanted to go for something that was totally cohesive down the line. It’s funny because I never really liked the colors pink or orange. And when embracing those colors, it really is embracing this new chapter. With the album artwork, it’s just funny because it came to me in a vision.
A disco trash can with legs flailing and it was funny!
It actually did become a point of contention in my last relationship. I am healing from a back injury that I had a couple of years ago, and I went to my partner at the time and told him the vision, that we needed a trash can, and I was going to need help getting in headfirst. He wasn’t going to cosign on that. He would say, “That’s going to be so bad for your back and I don’t want to be a part of it.”
And I told him, “No, you don’t understand I’m doing this with or without you.“
When I came to Los Angeles, my best friend and I tiled an entire trash can. It encapsulates a vibe that I really love– just like, it’s still dance, it’s still disco. Also, there’s this ‘air of trash’ around it, which I always joke about Lo-Fi. The thing with Lo-Fi, is you don’t need expensive gear because it’s all supposed to sound like trash anyway because of the low-fidelity style recordings.
It ended up being a funny story because we decorated the trash can. Then we brought it in for this shoot that we organized with our friend. We found a way to get sandbags into the trash can. Then I was doing headstands for the next half an hour– it was such a workout. But I did it! And I sent over the picture! There was nothing that was going to stop me!
seradopa: Any reasoning for choosing pink for the main color palette?
Bad Snacks: Part of my purpose, especially in the music industry, is redefining what femininity means and what pink can mean. Simultaneously, there was a little bit of this synesthesia element to it, where it was just when I think about the colors that make sense. This is also kind of why it ended up being the collection of songs that it is! Pink is a color that makes sense for all of these tracks. There’s not a single one of these tracks was a dark blue or red. Those colors don’t make sense for those tracks, but pink made sense for all of them!
seradopa: After reading through your background. What do you believe has been changing for the better in this industry? Or what do you believe needs to be improved?
Bad Snacks: A lot of things. I started touching on it previously, just the aspect of being a woman in the industry specifically producers and engineers. A good chunk of my audience comes from music technology, reviews, and demonstrations. It’s an incredibly male-dominated field for sure. What’s changing for the better is that many initiatives are helping demystify what is historically known as technical concepts like engineering isn’t just like a boy sport. There can be women in the engineering seat and producers can look like me.
There are a lot of initiatives that are doing that: We Make Noise previously Beats by Girls and Femme House. I just did a bunch of workshops with them for LP Giobbi. When I was working at Berkeley, there was an air of trying to encourage that too. Both with the new faculty that they were hiring and with the initiatives they had to make music technology accessible to more women and femme-identifying people.
That being said, things that I would love to see improve, that my friends and I and my peers talk a lot about, are that there are a lot of initiatives that help women get into music, but there aren’t a lot of initiatives that help women stay in music.
seradopa: Last question, describe your perfect cozy day in?
Bad Snacks: I love cooking! I’ve been having fantasies of spending a Sunday making a really intense slow-roasted dish. The idea of cooking all day, and then throwing something on. I’ve been wanting to watch the new Miyazaki movie, but Miyazaki movies are always such a good go-to. So, doing that and eating something that I spent all day making–
Also, I have an amazing bathtub in my apartment.
I am the queen of baths– they’re like the best thing in my opinion!
Want to discover what ‘Home’ means to you?
Find your own sense of comfort with Bad Snacks and her latest EP, Home Music, below! And be sure to catch the elegance of Bad Snacks at Solshine Festival & North Coast Festival!
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