By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Meet Honeyyycrush aka Alexandra Antonopoulos

Alexandra is a Brooklyn-based musician who started her solo project in 2022 after a lifetime of longing to write songs and make music. Her music has been described as having a "glittering Southern Gothic edge," and in this interview, she talks about her influences, songwriting process, and shares some fun facts about herself. Teasing the content of the interview, we'll find out if Alexandra would rather know the history of every object she touches or be able to talk to animals.

A self-portrait by, Honeyyycrush

Would you rather…

know the history of every object you touched or be able to talk to animals?

Talk to animals. Knowing the history of every object would probably break me psychologically.

Some questions with honeyyycrush

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. Can you introduce yourself and your project honeyyycrush?

Of course. I’m Alexandra Antonopoulos I started the solo project Honeyyycrush in 2022 after a lifetime of longing to write songs and make music. I got my first guitar in December 2020, started learning to play and learning to write songs at the same time. This year, I’m starting to play live and it’s been the most rewarding and exhilarating experience. Tough as well because it’s all new to me and that comes with a certain amount of self-doubt and struggle but ultimately it feels like I’m finally doing what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been a singer since childhood, and in 2021 my first book of poetry was published. Honeyyycrush feels like the culmination of all the work I’ve always wanted to do and I’m really happy to be doing it. I write, record, and produce my music from my home in Brooklyn, NY and I have an EP coming out this summer called Milk Teeth.

Are you better at thumb wrestles or staring contests?

Definitely not staring contests because I always laugh. I get the giggles like crazy all the time.

You've described your music as having a "glittering Southern Gothic edge." What does that mean to you, and how does that influence your sound and style?

There are a lot of themes in my writing that fall into what I think of as part of the Southern gothic aesthetic in art and literature. I really dig into my body when I write, and a lot of imagery that comes from it is either morbid or unpleasant — a lot of teeth and flesh and dirt and blood and grotesque stuff. There’s a magic realism element too, with either personified objects or other abstract ideas like that. My mom is from Appalachia and we spent a lot of time there when I was a kid. Plus I grew up in rural South Florida and I’ve always thought there are a lot of parallels between the places. I didn’t realize how much those worlds influenced me but it’s come out in the music as kind of a dark and thick and kind of humid sound that I try to balance it with gentle, high guitar countermelodies or strings; a mix of the gothic aesthetic and the shimmery. I also love a fuzzy, overdriven riff and there are folk elements to the acoustic stuff I write. It’s just the best way I can describe what I make.

Where are you when you come up with your songs? In the shower? On the train?

The best thing I ever did was get a guitar because it gave me the power to finish a song. When I was a kid I used to think I could never write music because I *would* come up with songs in the shower or out walking by myself but without anything to give it structure it was just some words with a melody. I couldn’t do anything with that, it would become this ear worm fragment that I would feel stupid for making up and I’d get discouraged and forget about it. I write when I’m sitting with my guitar and then I just go until it’s finished. Sometimes I change a word here or there later to clarify the point I’m making but it’s usually what I write in that one sitting. Or I write chords and make up the words at the mic. Honestly, those songs are always my favorites.

Can you tell us a bit about your songwriting process? How do you approach writing lyrics and crafting your music?

I always listen to the song I’m writing to figure out what it’s about. I’ve found that when I give myself an assignment like “I want to write a song about XYZ” it doesn’t work. If I want to write about a topic, I just give myself space and time to listen to myself play chords until something sounds right or pick out a riff and let myself hum along. A lot of my process is just listening to what my mouth says or what my hands are doing. Like I said, sometimes my favorite songs are the ones where I go up to the mic and just talk to myself. I have a song coming out soon called Stars and I improvised it at the mic. I started singing about this night that I ended up in a pretty bad state on the west side of the city by the Hudson river and I don’t know why my brain went there but it was exactly what the song needed. I think I write the best when I get out of my own way.

What is your least favorite chore?

Washing dishes.

Your vocal style is very distinctive and powerful. How did you develop your singing voice?

I’ve honestly just tried to shed a lot of the “good” habits ingrained in me since childhood. I grew up in chorus and musical theater and the sense of what is “good” or “beautiful” sound really warped my ability to find my own voice. I want to make sounds that express the emotion I’m feeling, and that’s not always beautiful. I’ve got a song I’m working on where I’m singing through gritted teeth because that’s what the song needs. It's about tension and repressed anger so I had to feel that while recording it. It's really really important to me to make my point, not wrap everything up with a pretty bow, but that’s something I’ve had to work at being comfortable with because of the training I had as a kid.

If you could create your own Ben and Jerry’s flavor, what would it be?

Half banana, half birthday cake ice cream, slivered almonds, dark chocolate, rainbow sprinkles. I’ve thought about this a lot.

How do you feel about the reception to your latest single “I Want It To Be Light So They Can See We Disappeared”?

I’ve been really pleased with it! It was one of those that came together really fast, lyrically and the demo I had a really clear vision on what I wanted it to be. Working with Dune Altar to get it out has been great so I’m really proud of it and hope it continues to reach people Ultimately, the most important thing to me is that I’m proud of the work I’m doing and that I’m getting better as a songwriter and better at arranging, and I was really proud of that one. It got picked up on a CBS show too, which was an amazing bonus.

What kinds of places do you like to take people with your music?

That’s a really nice question. I want them to go within themselves, I think. I write to explore the parts of myself that I'm ashamed of or that I turn away from and I think we shouldn’t hide from those parts because we’ll only further reject ourselves if we do that. You can’t accept just some of yourself, you have to accept all of you or you’ll always be running from the versions of you that you hate. We’re all trying to find peace with our own motivations and desires and if my journey to do that can be part of a listener’s journey to do that for themselves, that would make me very happy.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Thank you for the really thoughtful questions! I have an EP coming out this summer called Milk Teeth and I’ll be releasing the title track May 26! It’s got killer drums, a lot of vulnerable vocals and some really personal lyrics and I’d love it if people gave it a listen. It’ll be out on all streaming platforms and honeyyycrush.bandcamp.com is always a great way to support directly.