OSTON Chats About Debut Album ‘Isn’t That Sweet?’ ♥ PlNKWIFI

Indie-pop songstress OSTON documents personal transformation on her debut album Isn’t That Sweet? — and she makes it sound so satisfying! In a nutshell, the project is a diary of the LA-based artist’s journey through navigating relationships with others in her 20’s, as well as her relationship with her own self.

Here’s a few stories from OSTON herself about the making of the album!

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

A Sweet Title

“Originally, the record was going to be called I’m so happy I can’t stop crying,” OSTON mentioned. This was originally a working title before the record was written, because OSTON was leaning into a sense of constant conflicting emotions being in the driver’s seat. After receiving therapy and being medicated, she felt that it no longer made sense to stick with that title.

After stepping away from the project for a while, the title Isn’t That Sweet? stood out to OSTON. She appreciated the sarcastic nature of it, and how it resembled a need to confront the annoying challenges life would throw at her.

A Sweet Challenge

“Writing songs for yourself is always an interesting process,” OSTON shared. “Writing 13 songs for me was… I’ve never undertaken a project of that size before. It definitely was hard, some were more difficult than others. Overall, writing my debut album was quite difficult.”

In particular, OSTON found “I think the drugs are working now” to be the most challenging song to write.

“That song went through so many revisions,” she said. “It almost didn’t even make the record, but I’m so glad it did.

In addition, there was also the pressure of feeling the need to make a fantastic, larger-than-life first impression that many artists face with the release of their first full-length body of work. This was especially true for a project that deals with such a personal subject matter.

“There’s so much stigma around a debut album, and presenting yourself to the world for the ‘first time’ in a perfectly packaged way,” OSTON said. “I think I put a lot of pressure on myself to be right. I was really confused about what ‘right’ meant for me, and there were a few times when I thought I had the record, but I didn’t. I thought we had the artwork, but we didn’t. Allowing myself to develop it on my own timeline was really important, and letting go of that pressure. At the end of the day, I just wanted to make something that I’m proud of. Letting go of the debut album pressure and making something that I wanted to make was a hard battle, but I got through it!”

In the end, it was all about OSTON wanting to tell her own story in a way that only she could. She said, “I’ve always had so many outside opinions from past teams that I’ve worked with. I feel really grateful, because on this record I shut everything out and just listened to my gut. I made the record I wanted to make, then took it to the team. They were so supportive, and that was really important to me.”

A Sweet Selection

When asked about OSTON’s personal favorite songs from the album, “Unstuck” seemed to be the clear choice. While she loved how the entire album came together, there was something about “Unstuck” that kept drawing her in.

OSTON said, “I do keep coming back to ‘Unstuck,’ I think it’s a song where if you’ve been through something similar, you’re gonna understand the meaning of the song. If you haven’t, maybe you won’t get it, and that’s okay. I think that song is going to (I hope) resonate with a lot of women who need to hear it, because it was something I went through as a young girl. I never felt comfortable writing about it until now, and I’m glad that I did.”

OSTON’s Current Musical Obsessions

“I feel like I’ve been on Devon Again for a while. It seems like she’s getting her flowers, she’s about to be a superstar with Olivia and Chappell.”

“I’ve been listening to Kate Stephenson and her album every day recently. Her melodies are so crazy.”

“When I was making the record, I was listening to a lot of The Marías, Gracie, and Sabrina. I’ve been listening to a lot of Crosby, Stills, and Nash a lot too.”