Lizzy Young Shares “Everything Is Beautiful”

From Paris (France) to New York City, Lizzy Young emerged on the scene in 2020 with her debut CooCoo Banana, a visual album of 10 tracks confronting mortality. The selection of songs and accompanying videos presented Lizzy’s poetic and often darkly humorous take on low-fi pop, written, performed and produced by herself. In celebration of the upcoming release, Not that Bad, Lizzy has just unveiled a new video for the track “Everything is Beautiful.” Lizzy explains: “Everything is Beautiful reflects the intangible in life, the little things we overlook and the big things we take for granted.”

Lizzy’s second album, Not that Bad, out December 9th, is centered around the experiences of women; “This album is my love letter to everyone who identifies as a woman,” says Lizzy Young. “I find it complicated to be a woman, even in 2022, and I need to talk about what I know best.”Not that bad is not only an empowering tribute to women, it is also an album that at times captures the heady pulse of a night out;“something that people would want to play in a sweaty club,” she says. “ A little different from what I’ve been hearing the last couple of years. Something that fits the times: dark, groovy, slightly funny, and a little apocalyptic.”

Work began in 2020 but then you know what happened and Young ended up at a friend’s farm for 6 months. “I barely took anything with me and wasn’t able to record until getting back to Brooklyn,” she says. “I wanted this album to be a Brooklyn baby and after finishing the demos I   looked for someone local to work with to make it spicier.” After 10 intense days with Jeff Knutsen at Sonic Six Studio in Ridgewood it was wrapped up.

On the opener ‘Cigarettes are good for Pain’, Young marries wonky pop with a charging techno beat, while the following ‘Shit Never Stops’ takes snapping trap beats and merges them with subtle melodies, as Young’s inimitable vocals – slow, considered, breathy – coat the track like a thick fog.

There’s plenty of beat-heavy, club-friendly bangers to be heard on the album, as industrial-tinged electro collides with her distinct take on avant-pop. However, it’s also a thoughtful, textured and considered record, one that shifts into moments of slower, engulfing and intimate moments – such as on the sparse and tender ‘I Envy You’.

Perhaps this sense of intimacy can be traced to Young’s initial recording methods. “This album was recorded on my living room floor,” she says. “I work only on the floor – between my bed and the carpet of the living room.” She elaborates on her unique creative process, one that pays homage to one of the great outsider artists of all time. “Usually, I come up with a melody of some words I have in mind and figure out a beat that goes with it. I build a setup that looks like a crazy spaceship and uses sounds from every one of them. It’s never very structured and often totally off in regards toclassical music timing. I got my inspiration from Moon Dog – it feels more freeing to me to make things just a little bit off.” However, the core of the record ultimately remains a homage to women and their experiences, along with Young’s own. From ‘Real Mad Chick’ to ‘Woman Hotdog’ to‘Felicette’ (about a cat lady sent to space) it’s a rich, evocative and multifaceted record that brings all these unique people into one place. “I hope it inspires everyone to take care of each other beyond all the differences,” she says.