MICHELLE are reinventing what it means to be a band

It’s oh so quiet in the east London photo studio where New York City music collective MICHELLE are due to arrive any minute. We’re meeting on one of those clammy early October mornings in London before the autumn chill hits, where no one knows how to dress and the tube is almost too stuffy to endure. The hum of a plug-in electric heater is the only murmur of sound that cuts through the silence of the naturally lit space, where The Forty-Five is parked on a suede green sofa awaiting the six-strong band’s imminent arrival.

The door eventually creeps open timidly and the affable, effortlessly cool members of MICHELLE spill in, turning the vacant studio into a room that’s as hustling and bustling as a NYC crosswalk. Boots and heels click and clack on the creaking wooden floorboards as coats are shed and teas are brewed. After some polite shuffling and scooching, the band position themselves on the L-shaped couch and send attentive glances my way, concealing any signs of lingering grogginess after their flight into the English capital the previous day.

It’s early, but the band of twentysomethings – Sofia D’Angelo, Julian Kaufman, Charlie Kilgore, Layla Ku, Emma Lee and Jamee Lockard – are excited to be here. Their third album ‘Songs About You Specifically’ just came out after a stint touring as support for Still Woozy across July and August, which follows previous opening slots for Mitski, Arlo Parks and Gus Dapperton, and they’re due to perform a pair of intimate shows here in London this week. In the brief window they did get to spend at home, it turns out ‘Brat’ summer was also pretty happenin’ in NYC. “Me and my friends threw a lot of parties that were ‘Brat’ x Challengers-themed,” shares Sofia with a grin, referring to the thrilling electronic score from Zendaya’s blood-pumping tennis drama. “It was awesome.”

MICHELLE’s laid-back East Coast temperament finds them right at home in London. They first bonded over their love of the Big Apple on 2018 debut album ‘Heatwave’, introducing the world to their vibrant DIY spirit that eluded any one genre. Spanning R&B, funk, indie, lo-fi and pop, their sound is ever-evolving, made all the more fluid with four rotating vocalists in Sofia, Layla, Emma and Jamee, the latter two also conceptualising the visuals for the new album. As for the writing process, the group will pool their collective talents before Julian and Charlie take the lead on instrumentals and production. 

The collective reset those sonic boundaries on 2022 label debut ‘After Dinner We Talk Dreams’ and again on 2024 EP ‘Glow’. But when it came to their third record, they decided to do something radical and remove the crutch that was writing in their home city, retreating to Ojai, California instead. “I think [it] made us look at ourselves in whatever story we were trying to tell on any given day with a little bit more clarity,” shares Charlie. 

In physically and emotionally isolating themselves, the ‘Songs About You Specifically’ sessions churned up some weighty confrontations and interpersonal complexities (with some killer hooks on the way), making for a more “personal, factual” and “specific” record, one that they hope delivers on the promise of the title. “Everyone wants music to be about them, and I think that’s us trying to open the door to letting people make themselves the main character of the story of this record,” Charlie shares.

The timing feels right for MICHELLE to peel back the layers. When they first came together during their college years, each of them connected through producer masterminds Julian and Charlie, ‘Heatwave’ was intended to be a one-and-done project about their shared great love. “New York City just has an energy that I don’t think you can find in any other metropolitan city,” says Sofia. “That energy is incredibly contagious, and it’s in all of us.” At the time, they certainly didn’t expect MICHELLE – a name inspired by mononymous artists like Monica, Brandy and Aaliyah – to one day be a touring band, three records deep.

Six years later and here they are across the Atlantic in the middle of it all, not to mention uncannily in sync in every way. They each politely take turns answering questions, never interjecting or interrupting a bandmate’s thought, as if coordinated by some kind of band telepathy. But the first time they actually met in person was at their first-ever live show all those years ago. “I was nervous to see what it would be like to be in this new environment with people that I wasn’t familiar with,” recalls Layla. “But it ended up being a really fun show, and it felt much more like a sense of camaraderie.”

After the record found acclaim in the New York indie scene, MICHELLE quickly discovered that there was demand for more. “[Things] took shape into something that people actually wanted to see and hear,” Layla recalls. After being wined and dined by various label A&Rs, they eventually gave the people what they wanted and signed to Canvasback in December 2019, now an imprint of Transgressive Records, home to Foals, Arlo Parks and Alvvays.

When it came to ‘Songs About You Specifically’, MICHELLE intentionally disrupted their tried and tested process that had been so fruitful in the past. Holing up in a rented desert house in 2022, their Cali mornings consisted of stretching, coffee, journaling and a band breakfast before they broke off into individual writing groups. “Whatever you brought to that month of writing, it was living in that house with us, growing or shrinking and being expressed or slowly falling away. You constantly had the vehicle of the practice of writing, which makes you reflect more and sit with whatever you’re doing or thinking and feeling,” shares Emma. 

All of Emma’s choreo is very expressive and people read that as a kind of bodily storytelliing

Layla Ku, MICHELLE

That might be why the record sounds like an internal monologue at times. “I think putting [the lyrics] plainly was the key,” says Julian. “We were just trying to see [the emotions] head-on, describe them and name them.” You feel that intention on the chilled pop track ‘Mentos And Coke’, which reflects on the strain of “someone who’s difficult to be with, but also someone that you don’t want to lose”, locking you in with a breezy, drum-laden hook: “Are you amazed by everyone else? Or do you refuse to be?” Then there’s the onomatopoeic ‘Oontz’, the record’s big pop moment which manages to be infectiously groovy while narrating a relationship in crisis (“You’re deceptive girl, you’re nothing like the person that I thought you were”). Elsewhere, they admit to lusting after another (‘Akira’), evading their feelings (‘Painkiller’) and being MIA for their close ones (‘Missing On One’).

But with so many members pouring themselves into this record, who do they see when they look at it? “One of the ways in which I can tell that I’ve done a job that I’m proud of is when you listen to a song that you’ve made, and you hear it as a song, not as the collection of constituent parts and memories of having made it,” says Charlie. “Whether or not I can see myself in the record? My answer to that is ‘No’, and I like that a lot.”

There are some heavy subject matters, but it turns out that was actually conducive to heaps more fun. “I think we could sing the most macabre lyrics and people would be like, ‘Yes, oh my god. I’m having the time of my life,’” Layla deadpans. They’re not wrong. During MICHELLE’s show at The Lexington near King’s Cross that evening, the band’s captivatingly effortless dance moves are a medley of reckless flower power abandon, sassy R&B hip-bumping and improvised scrambles of limbs amongst the rockier moments. “All of Emma’s choreo is very expressive, and people read that as a kind of bodily storytelling almost, alongside these songs,” muses Layla.

What you see in their live shows is also a reflection of the close friendships that exist offstage as much as they do on. Their main priority these days is to support and push each other, and find contentment in the space between work and friendship. “I feel like it’s been abundantly helpful to me just to accept that this is a very unique relationship, and it doesn’t have to be one thing and it doesn’t have to be the other,” says Layla. 

I feel like it’s been abundantly helpful to me to just accept that this is a very unique relationship, and it doesn’t have to be one thing

Layla Ku, MICHELLE

For all their professionalism, MICHELLE are also understatedly silly at times. They clearly share an affinity for dry humour, displayed when they give themselves a formal round of applause when our interview ends. The most animated they become throughout the conversation, though, is when they open up about the inner workings of their group chat, which we’re told went through a “slut era” during writing of the album. “Charlie and Layla hit up our group chat and they’re like, ‘What’s up, sluts? We’re having a slut-themed dinner. Everyone wear your sluttiest outfit,” recalls Jamee. For posterity, their corresponding chat names were Milky Slut (Charlie), Count Skankula (Julian), Smokey Slut (Jamee), Spaghetti Slut (Sofia) Sashay Slut (Emma) and Spider Slut (Layla).

Much like their nicknames, MICHELLE are a band constantly reinventing themselves. Reflecting on the growth this period has afforded them, they’re feeling confident about the direction things are headed, from their music and choreo to surrealist visuals and social media. “I remember feeling very strongly [that] I don’t want us to come off as this very polished group that you aspire to be,” says Jamee. “I would like us to be a little off-kilter and show the nuances and the complexities of this album.” 

I remember feeling very strongly [that] I don’t want us to come off as this very polished group that you aspire to be

Jamee Lockard, MICHELLE

The band’s evolution also comes at a time when many queer artists are achieving mainstream chart success, from Chappell Roan and Reneé Rapp to Billie Eilish. “I love hearing all of these lesbian breakup albums right around my lesbian breakup,” shares Jamee. “I feel so seen!” Layla agrees, adding that they’d love to connect with a certain Midwest Princess. “I feel like, if you are gay and have red curly hair, you should probably take us on tour because we would love that.” 

MICHELLE’s own shape-shifting tendencies can sometimes leave things a little blurry even for them at times, but it seems that collective vision is finally coming into focus. “It’s very easy to fall down the rabbit hole of, ‘Who are we and what do we look like?’” concludes Layla. “But it feels like we’re climbing out of that.”