I wrote the songs in When it Rains in Alaska between the ages of 16 and 18, producing everything at home with just a mic, a keyboard, and the best free VSTs I could find. At the time, I had zero experience in music production—I didn’t even know how to zoom in and out of the software. No joke. I figured it out eventually and learned along the way.
At first, I only wrote in Spanish, which felt natural. My English wasn’t very strong back then, but I was experimenting and wanted to try everything. Those first attempts at writing in English became Small Town Nightmares. Not my best lyrics, not my best melody—but still… there’s something really special about it. To me, it’s the heart of the album. Back then, I was so focused on getting the grammar right that I didn’t really enjoy it, and I almost scrapped the first demo. I wrote that one
and Alone Anymore in the same week. As I kept writing in English, my production skills got better, and I started feeling more confident with my voice. That’s when I feel like I really found my sound.
I wrote the songs in When it Rains in Alaska between the ages of 16 and 18, producing everything at home with just a mic, a keyboard, and the best free VSTs I could find. At the time, I had zero experience in music production—I didn’t even know how to zoom in and out of the software. No joke. I figured it out eventually and learned along the way.
At first, I only wrote in Spanish, which felt natural. My English wasn’t very strong back then, but I was experimenting and wanted to try everything. Those first attempts at writing in English became Small Town Nightmares. Not my best lyrics, not my best melody—but still… there’s something really special about it. To me, it’s the heart of the album. Back then, I was so focused on getting the grammar right that I didn’t really enjoy it, and I almost scrapped the first demo. I wrote that one
and Alone Anymore in the same week. As I kept writing in English, my production skills got better, and I started feeling more confident with my voice. That’s when I feel like I really found my sound.
Music Videos
All the music videos were made at home too. At the time, I wasn’t used to taking photos or filming myself—I had never even posted a picture of my face online.
I actually started out as an anonymous singer. I blocked everyone I knew and always cropped my face out of the frame, so putting out my first video was a big step for me. I was really embarrassed.
Shooting Small Town Nightmares was half frustrating and half fun. It took me about 4 or 5 months to gather all the clips and do the editing. During that time, I tried three different music video ideas for the song, thinking I’d never actually finish the first one.
The makeup for Alone Anymore took me 5 hours, plus another 3 hours of shooting. I was probably the most exhausted teenager in the world that day. On the other hand, shooting Chocolate Cake only took about 15 minutes. One of the biggest challenges was animating 10:30. I did it in a very old-school way. I had just read about how animators used to draw every single frame by hand, like in Snow White, so I tried the same thing. I drew every movement on paper, took a picture of each drawing, put them together, and added a bit of editing. It took me a couple of weeks.
All the videos are connected, too. Each release has a small detail from the previous one. Did you notice?
Music Videos
All the music videos were made at home too. At the time, I wasn’t used to taking photos or filming myself—I had never even posted a picture of my face online.
I actually started out as an anonymous singer. I blocked everyone I knew and always cropped my face out of the frame, so putting out my first video was a big step for me. I was really embarrassed.
Shooting Small Town Nightmares was half frustrating and half fun. It took me about 4 or 5 months to gather all the clips and do the editing. During that time, I tried three different music video ideas for the song, thinking I’d never actually finish the first one.
I’m not the kind of writer who likes listening to their own stuff. I actually don’t think I’ve listened to this album since the day it came out in 2022. I feel like I’d get too caught up in the technical side of it, thinking about what I’d do differently now. I’d rather just keep the memory of how much work I put into it, and how excited I was to put it out there for someone to find. I think there’s something kind of magical about how some of its imperfect songs ended up opening doors for me.
I see this album as a really brave expression of how I felt at the time. I wasn’t fully aware of how accurate and characteristic its sound was. When It Rains in Alaska was my first real motivation to become someone in the music world. It pushed me to take action and bet everything on what I love.
I think it’s a really endearing album.