Interview with Teen Idle

By Deaglan Howlett | Posted Thursday, September 30, 2021

Teen Idle is the moniker under which Sara Abdelbarry writes, records and performs her own music. Since the release of her first EP in June of 2020, she has released a handful of singles, and even performed her first show this past August. When I saw Teen Idle, I was enthralled by the atmospheric guitar playing and mood she set with just her vocals and a guitar. Since her recordings include some more studio work, I recently asked Sara about her project, her recording and songwriting process. Thanks again, Sara! 

When did you first start writing your own music?

I’m pretty sure I wrote my first song when I was 15. At the time, I was taking lessons at Lakehouse Music Academy in Asbury and being introduced to and surrounded by so much music. Plus, most of my teachers were in touring bands of their own, so being in such a creative musical environment like that definitely sparked my interest in songwriting. I also owe a lot to the show American Idol, which I used to watch all the time with my family and cousins, for introducing to me a lot of classic ‘70s and ‘80s artists which piqued my interest in songwriting.

Who were your influences when you first started and how have they changed?

My biggest influence was and will always be Fleetwood Mac. All three songwriters in that band are impeccable, the production is intricate and smart, and the songs are super emotional in the best way. I know people who listen to my music might not hear Fleetwood Mac as an obvious influence, given my music sounds quite different from theirs, but I think each member of that band influenced my approach to writing music in a big way: Stevie’s lyricism, Lindsey’s production, and Christine’s melodies and affinity for jazz chords. Sometimes I’ll write something and feel later on that band was a subconscious influence, even if just for the groove and feel of a song. I find myself drawn to the dancy nature of many of their songs in my recent songwriting.

If we’re talking direct sonic influences for my releases as Teen Idle, that’s all over the place just like my music taste. For my first EP and most of the stuff I was writing at that time (2018-2019), there’s a heavy shoegaze and almost slowcore-ish influence. At the time I was really into bands like Beach House, Alvvays, and Slowdive, so the music bears a slight sonic resemblance. That kind of reverb-drenched, dreamy sound with shrouded vocals suited the subject matter I was writing about at the time, like heartbreak, so that just happened naturally. Now, though, I don’t really have an interest in that particular shoegaze sound anymore and want to focus more on lyricism and letting vocals shine. The new stuff definitely still has a ‘90s type influence and dreamy guitars, but I’d say recently I’ve been influenced by artists like Mitski, SASAMI, Japanese Breakfast, and Sharon Van Etten. 

How did last year's lockdown affect your songwriting if at all?

In the beginning, around March, I was super productive and even managed to curate this pandemic compilation with the intention of donating the money to COVID-relief efforts. I ended up getting artists from I think 10 countries on it, made some new international music friends, and contributed a song I wrote at that time, called “When Yr Gone”. That was probably my favorite stretch of the lockdown, if one had to choose. But towards November, I stopped writing songs entirely or even listening to new music really, which wasn’t intentional but just happened. I’m usually always writing and interacting with music, so it was a super weird and depressing time for me. 

Like a lot of us were, I was feeling very down about the fact that I couldn’t be out in the world anymore. I like to be out and about, I like to travel and explore, and I’m a pretty social person who loves to meet new people and go out, so I feel like that part of my life was stolen away, making it hard to feel inspired. My writing typically comes from real life experiences, encounters, or other people’s stories I hear, so in a way I didn’t feel I had anything to write about. I was also more focused on maintaining my mental health than songwriting at that point. It was difficult to get myself out of that place mentally because I felt like I was in a hole for so long. I’m so glad that stuff is all over, and that my mental health is back to being as good as it used to be now that normal life has basically resumed. I did end up writing one or two songs I’m very proud of last winter, so I do cherish those.

What is your songwriting and recording process like?

This will probably be a long-winded answer — usually I’ll start a song with guitar or piano. I’ll usually be noodling around on either instrument, or on rare occasions the bass too, sometimes with the intention of writing a song if I’m feeling a certain way, other times just fiddling around. Then I arrive at a progression I really like and make sure to record it on my voice memos. Once I have that basis, I’ll keep building on the progression. When I feel that I have something there, I’ll start singing random words over the instrument to figure out where I want the melody to go. I’ll work on the melody for each part of the song, sometimes starting with the bridge, sometimes starting with the verse. It also varies because sometimes I’ll have an idea for a bridge that I want to write with strings in it or something and then build the song from there. 

As for lyrics, a lot of the time I’ll keep some of the random words I was singing while figuring out the melody, or just use words that rhyme because they match syllabically. Then once I know exactly what I want the song to be about, I’ll chip away at the lyrics, usually writing them all at once or over a span of a few days. I usually will refine the lyrics until I feel like they get the message across exactly how I intended. 

For production, that doesn’t happen typically until I have a finished demo of a song on guitar or piano on Voice Memos. I have the structure of the song laid out in a demo, I’ll start building it in Logic from the ground up. I like to start with the bare bones: drums, demo vocals, and then guitar and bass. From that point, it happens rather serendipitously and without explanation. I address each part of the song — verse, chorus, bridge, very likely cinematic outro — separately, working to make each part flow into the other and match the emotions the song conveys. I play and record all the live instruments at home myself, except drums which I let a very talented friend do in a separate studio, and use analog sounds with a combo of virtual instruments, synths, and weird Logic presets and effects to get the sound I want. Songwriting is more calculated, whereas in production I feel like it’s more divine intervention, where I let myself go wherever the song takes me. Sometimes I come across sounds I never expected by making mistakes or putting effects in a chain that engineers would scoff at. Then I do a rough mix and send the songs off to a mixing engineer because they do that better. 

What does your project name mean to you?

Teen Idle is a name I had in my back pocket since freshman or sophomore year of high school, I think, after I saw a Marina and the Diamonds song with the same name. I never even listened to the song, but I remember thinking it was an amazing pairing of words, so I never forgot it. I always kind of knew I wanted that to be my band name if I had one in the future. But now that I think about it, I was kind of an idle teenager; not by design, but I didn’t go out of my way to get good grades in high school, never studied, and never really went out either because I was super shy at the time. So the name for me reflects how I was a late bloomer in life, basically blossoming in and after college and coming into my own then.

What is your favorite song you've written? Why?

This is hard to answer, so I won’t answer directly. I think out of the stuff I’ve released, I’m pretty proud of “Dreaming” because it was the first song I ever released. And it was written rather randomly after jazz practice in college one day, but I’m proud of the lyrics and how the song builds based on the same chord progression. I am also really proud of “In the Morning” because I think it’s the most different from the songs on the EP, and “Sometimes” for the build up to the outro at the end.

Plans for the future?

I’m hoping to keep playing gigs in the area and NYC, building my audience locally, and just continuing to release albums I’m proud of and show my growth in my craft.

I just also started producing for other artists, so I‘d like to keep doing that as well as write for more artists I believe in, maybe even producing full albums for artists. In the long term I’d definitely love to write the score for a movie soundtrack, or have a song be in a TV show or movie. I also have some future plans to start a record label.

You can keep up with all things Teen Idle here and listen on Spotify here !