26-year-old Wallice Hana Watanabe has been waiting for this moment for quite some time. First honing her songwriting skills as a kid, releasing a debut album has always been the goal. And now it’s finally here: ‘The Jester’ marks her graduation into fully-fledged recording artist, with fourteen songs that encapsulate her wit and indie-pop songwriting prowess. We caught up with the Dirty Hit-signee to talk about making one of our favourite albums of 2024, battling self-doubt and top-tier indie collaborations.
Congratulations on the release of ‘The Jester’. I saw you held a few cute fan events to mark the launch. They looked fun.
Yeah! I took some of my clothes into one of my favourite vintage stores and I chose some of my favourite items from the store to make a curated rack. And then yesterday, I went to a coffee shop called Muddy Paw. They have a dog park in the back so I sold some of my ceramics, I brought my dog and signed vinyl. It was fun. I was worried when I was driving there that nobody would come but it turned out they did!
You’ve released four EPs to date. Were you itching to release an album or was it important to take the time and get it right?
I’ve been making music my whole life. My first EP was released when I was 23 and I’ve been recording at a decent level since I was 17. When I was 22 I would have loved to make an album – they’re taken so much more seriously than EPs – but I don’t think it would have been as good as it is now because it has time and perspective. I was 25 recording it, which feels a little bit older in the music industry. So I don’t think it would have been as good if it came out earlier. I don’t know if they’re just saying it but some people have told me it’s their favourite album of the year. Even if they are just saying it, I like hearing it.
Is that something you worry about? Being ‘too old’ for the music industry? (Which at 26, you’re not, by the way.)
It’s young in the scope of the world. But I already get back aches and I’m getting old! (Laughs). In comparison to Olivia Rodrigo and even Taylor Swift, when she started – which is not a comparison in lanes – but it feels a bit older than 16.
Is that the ambition? That kind of top-tier pop stardom?
No. My ambition is to have a lot of 20-year-olds know me but their moms have no clue. That’s a healthy level.
My ambition is to have a lot of 20-year-olds know me but their moms have no clue. That’s a healthy level.
Wallice
You wrote this album after being on an arena tour with your labelmates, The 1975. Your track ‘The Opener’ captures the experience of the support act really well, particularly the line “When the credits roll, they won’t include me”. Did you manage to take some positives from that touring experience?
Yeah, honestly ‘The Opener’ sounds like a sad song but it was an amazing experience. I’d do it again in a second. It was my first time playing arenas and that’s not an experience you get too often. I had a lot of fun travelling the world for my music but there were just a couple of nights that beat me down.
Throughout the album, you’re playing a lot with the idea of artistry, being an entertainer and being a puppet of the industry. What do you feel like your relationship is with the music industry? And how has it evolved?
It’s only my first album so I’m just getting started. I was talking about Mk.gee’s SNL performance with my friend recently. He was there and all he said was: ‘I’m Mk.gee, pronounced Mcgee’ and you couldn’t sense that he wanted to be there but we were like, no, he must. That’s a dream. If I was there, I’d be like ‘Oh my God, thank you so much.’ I can’t be nonchalant about anything.
On your song, ‘The Hardest Working Man Alive’, you say “Because I want to be a big shot, but I don’t know where to begin / Always said I’m going to make it, but I started phoning it in.” Where does that sentiment come from?
Right now, I feel pretty confident in my art and my work but if I spend too long online, I start comparing myself to people I know and I think, ‘How come I am not doing that festival and in that magazine? Then I get into a weird headspace. So this one was written in London after Reading and Leeds last summer. I had a 12:30 time slot where they were still setting up the lights, and not that many people were there. So, there are some cool things that can happen. Like, I played a sold-out show in London a couple of months prior but then I played to no one an hour away. So that song – and a lot of the album – is capturing the highs and lows.
You have a track with Albert Hammond Jnr. on the album. Are you a Strokes fan? How did that collaboration come about?
I grew up listening to The Strokes. My boyfriend’s brother used to tour with Albert and my producer also met him. He was like, ‘Oh yeah, I know Wallice’. We had a session and Albert wrote a bunch of guitar parts, and my jaw was just on the floor. Like, Oh my God, it’s so sick. I was fangirling inside. So it was a great experience and really reassuring. I wrote ‘Flash In The Pan’ with Sam Evian whose music I also love so working with Sam or Albert… having these people I respect want to take time to work with me is very cool and reassuring.
You must also get that reassurance from your label, Dirty Hit?
I love my label. The 1975 have always been super supportive. I sent my album to George [Daniel] from 1975 before I came out, and he was so nice to me about it and that made me excited. They are all so sweet – just sometimes misunderstood – but very sweet people.
You’re a classically trained musician. Does that give you a different perspective when in writing sessions or working with others in the studio?
Yeah, I’m realising that I know what I’m talking about. Sometimes I can second guess myself because I’m not that great at guitar – I can play and know what I’m doing but I’m not technically advanced – but I did grow up playing orchestra and cello. I can read music and I studied jazz in college for a year so I know a lot of music theory. In indie rock, you can kinda let the emotions drive the song rather than the music theory, but it’s another language. It’s nice to be able to describe what I’m hearing in my head and for it to come out how I imagined it. I don’t know if it’s my own weird bias but there’s a stereotype that guys think girls don’t know what they’re talking about. And I feel myself putting that in my head sometimes in a session. But I like to believe that the people I work with are advanced enough to not think about gender.
If you could snap your fingers and be five years down the road, what would you hope to have achieved?
Within five years I hope I get to play [LA venue] The Greek Theater. That was my first concert I ever went to. I saw Avril Lavigne there. And so if I get to play there as a headliner, not an opener, that would be cool. I just want to play really cool festivals. And I would like to buy a house one day. That’s quite ambitious, but, yeah, just continuing to make music. It’s a chill job. It doesn’t feel like work to me. So hopefully it’ll just keep growing.
