Liza Anne’s new album Bad Vacation, which is out via Arts & Crafts on Friday, went through many iterations before finding its final form. The Georgia-born singer, songwriter and musician began writing the songs that would become the LP three years ago, but didn’t feel then that she had the musical vocabulary to bring her vision to fruition.
“I felt like I hadn’t yet met the version of myself, musically and creatively, that could carry out what I was feeling intuitively,” Liza Anne tells the Scene, calling from her home in Nashville. “So I just left a lot of room for myself to grow.”
At that time, she was on the cusp of releasing Fine But Dying, a breakout LP that brought her great acclaim both for its trenchant, clear-eyed songwriting and its gauzy, infectious hooks. That album sent Liza Anne on more than a year of relentless touring, during which she gained the experience she needed to bring Bad Vacation to life.
In January, Liza Anne spent just short of three weeks in the studio with co-producers Kyle Ryan and Micah Tawlks. Thrilled by how the tracks turned out, she mapped out an extensive tour that would allow her to present her new music live, the way she’d intended to the whole time she was working on it. Then COVID-19 hit. She canceled her tour and was unsure how to proceed.
“At first there was the big question mark of when [the pandemic] would end,” she explains. “Then by the time we all realized this was a big pause to everything, I had to grieve not being able to tour this record — and start from the ground up [planning] how to present something that I wrote to be toured.”
She had a helpful conversation with friend and fellow musician Becca Mancari, who was preparing to release her own new album, The Greatest Part. Liza Anne decided it was time to share her new music, even though the idea made her uncomfortable at first.
“It feels so weird to talk about music when people are dying,” Liza Anne explains. “But then you start to look back at these historic cultural moments where pain was at the forefront of the human experience, and music was a healing mechanism. And I’m not on some ego trip where I think my music is going to heal the people. … But if I were a listener — and I am in a lot of ways, still — I’d want to hear from artists right now.”
Bad Vacation is precisely the sort of record one wants in a chaotic time. The music itself is melodic and hook-driven, with eclectic sonic touchpoints that range from Masseduction-era St. Vincent (“Bad Vacation”) to driving, punky power pop (“Oops”) to ’90s slacker rock (“Bummer Days”). The lyrics are razor-sharp explorations of emotional ills and growing pains, often addressing issues of mental health in ways that acknowledge their seriousness without being overwhelmed by it — hear the humorous and delightfully titled “I Shouldn’t Ghost My Therapist.”
Liza Anne has long been a vocal proponent of mental health and wellness, and she’s been taking action on that passion outside of her music too. During the pandemic, she’s hosted an Instagram Live series on Tuesday evenings titled #EmotionalHealth2020. In each episode, she speaks with another friend or collaborator (Mancari, Caroline Rose and Shamir have been past guests) about how they care for themselves emotionally.
“Before the world shut down, I made T-shirts that said ‘Emotional Health 2020,’ kind of as a joke,” she says. “My plan with touring Bad Vacation was to do these ‘emotional health rallies’ before shows where [fans and I] would do a yoga flow, or talk about how to be active politically in their own city. When the pandemic happened and touring stopped, I was still really excited about it. … So I wanted to give people a view into people I already know and have learned from.”
While the release of Bad Vacation has certainly not gone as she had planned, Liza Anne has found the months she’s spent getting ready for its release to be a time of great growth. She’s also been grateful to have time to learn more about racial injustice and participate in the movement to change it.
“Modern life doesn’t leave a lot of room for rest and regulation of the health of our collective whole,” she says. “On a personal level, I feel like I’ve grown a lot emotionally this year, especially in this last month of the current iteration of the Black Lives Matter movement. I am addicted to learning more in the places in my life where I can learn more. And I have time to do that now, because I’m not touring.”
