Selina Interview

modrNation: Where are you originally from?

Selina: I’m from Portland, Oregon.

modrNation: What got you started making music?

Selina: I didn’t start making music until I was a freshman in high school, but I was in guitar and vocal lessons from a really young age.

modrNation: What would you consider to be the intention behind your music?

Selina: I’d say it’s to heal myself honestly, it does a lot of healing for me and hopefully it can do some healing for other people.

modrNation: Who have been some of your biggest musical influences?

Selina: Aaliyah, Adele, Frank Ocean, those people for sure. 

modrNation: Have you done a lot of live shows before?
Selina: Yeah I just recently did one in LA and I’ve been in the Portland music scene for four or five years now so I’ve done a lot of shows out there too. 

modrNation: Is performing one of your favorite parts of music?

Selina: Yeah I love performing, I really love doing it in front of strangers though. In Portland there’s a lot of regulars so the show in LA was really fun for me getting to see a new crowd. I started out doing house shows in Portland at these abandoned houses where people would go to rage and see live music.

modrNation: Can you take me behind the creative process of your most recent project Solace?

Selina: I made that album in like two or three months and it was just writing and recording every day. We made like forty songs and mixed all of them, then in May we chose our favorites. It was a lot of emotional release and healing done in a short period of time.

modrNation: Take me through your writing process, do you seek out inspiration yourself or wait for it to hit you?

Selina: Usually I wait for it to naturally hit me, I sit down and listen to a beat and usually words will just naturally come to me. It’s all always just done in the moment.

modrNation: It’s been a year since your breakout single Pretty in Pink, how has that track aged for you?

Selina: It’s aged pretty well, it’s weird though because I wrote that song when I was fifteen and dropped it when I was sixteen. I hated it when it dropped and it’s definitely still not my favorite, but overall it’s aged pretty well and it’s a lot of people's favorite song of mine. That song was made when I was very free-spirited and I didn’t have a lot on my plate so I think it just resonated with a lot of people really strongly.

modrNation: Has there been anyone out there in particular who’s pushed you forward with your music?

Selina: Definitely Barry my manager, he lives in LA and he’s just been my rock and my mentor ever since I dropped Pretty in Pink. I don’t know where I’d be without him. 

modrNation: What would you say is the importance of finding your own identity and individuality as an artist in a time where making music is so popular?

Selina: I think it’s the most important thing, there’s so many artists now that if you don’t have something making you unique then there’s no reason for people to pay attention to it if you’re not offering something different. 

modrNation: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Selina: Hopefully on tour with SZA or something, that’d be sick.