CHAZ CARDIGAN ON HIS UPCOMING ALBUM HOLOGRAMA

“What I come back to all the time is that I have to die at some point. And I would way rather – whether I died tomorrow or when I'm eighty – know that I didn't try to do anything that I wasn’t doing authentically.”

Since moving to Nashville from his hometown of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Chaz Cardigan has prioritized authenticity throughout all of his musical endeavors and is set to continue to do so in his upcoming album Holograma. His authenticity is key to the themes of identity, relationships, sexuality, and growth that his music explores.

Chaz has produced all of his work from a young age, drawing inspiration from creators like Stevie Wonder, Prince, Michael Jackson, and Beck. He explains, “My relationship with producing isn’t separate from my relationship with writing.” Chaz makes good use of his multi-instrumentalist skillset through this production and uses it to ensure that he remains true to his artistic vision. Especially in the queer music space that he finds himself a part of, using guitars, drums, pianos, and live bass – instruments that he has learned over the years – feel more expressive and human to him than the electronic sound that, according to him, has come to serve as the hallmark for queer musicians.

The latest single off of Holograma, “Room”, revisits Chaz’s first love. The first notes of “Room” immediately evoke a warm nostalgia alongside lyrics that relive the past from a matured point of view:

“If these walls could speak

They'd tell me to get over it

Flip the switch

If all your photos talked

They'd tell me to just move on

Shut the box, turn the TV off”

He explains a crucial realization that he had while writing “Room”: “I've never really been as invested in a relationship since that first one, because I'm always chasing that initial high. I'm always chasing that first feeling. I'm always chasing that first buzz of being in love. In writing it, I was able to let that go. It was a pretty toxic trait that I carried around for way too much of my adult life.” Much of Chaz’s music thoroughly explores past emotions in a similar way, but he notes that “there's a healthy distance in the nostalgia.”

photo credit Joelle Grace

According to Chaz, the album as a whole covers similar topics as “Room” while focusing on growth in the form of “flipping perspectives” and “recontextualizing ideas.” It’s apparent that he takes these values to heart outside of his songwriting and production, as he hopes that the music industry will “find a new healthier imagination of touring” following the coronavirus pandemic. Chaz is optimistic that he and those around him will be able to channel the struggles of being a part of the music industry into something more positive for the health and well-being of artists; despite loving touring and placing it at the forefront of his post-COVID plans, he explains that “it's not good for the human body to wake up in a different city 300 days a year. And you see these horror stories of Johnny Cash or Ray Charles going on tour for five six years, and then they come back and their kids are grown up.” 

Though the future of the music industry is extremely uncertain, as with everything else in the world right now, Chaz hopes that, “maybe, what COVID will do is pivot us to a place where AR- and VR-integrated live streaming is more accessible. Maybe artists don't have to lose 10 years off of their body being on the road all the time.”

Nostalgic reflection and hope for the future are conveyed not only in Chaz’s music but in the iridescence of Holograma and its preceding singles’ album covers. The artwork provides not only a captivating and artfully designed exterior but serves a distinct purpose in Chaz’s storytelling and delivery: “When I think of the songs of Holograma, I sort of think of every color on the rainbow in this chroma-key spectrum. It’s all about ideas, shifting perspectives, [and] changing. When I think of that, I think of holograms, and I think of how when you look at a spiderweb just right in the sunlight, it reflects back a rainbow at you but only for a second.”

Chaz will share a new chapter of his authenticity, honesty, and insight with the release of Holograma tomorrow, 10/22/20.

You can find Chaz on all music streaming services as well as via the links below.

Instagram / Twitter / TikTok / Website 

photos courtesy of Chaz Cardigan and 1824 Universal Music Group