Samia Performs Live From 'Bloodless'

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – "Samia Performs Live From 'Bloodless'"

Episode Details:

• Title: Samia Performs Live From 'Bloodless'
• Host: Alison Stewart
• Guest: Samia (Singer/Songwriter)
• Release Date: April 17, 2025
• Broadcasted On: WNYC's ALL OF IT

---

Introduction

In this vibrant episode of ALL OF IT, host Alison Stewart welcomes the acclaimed singer-songwriter Samia to WNYC Studio 5. Samia, a former New Yorker now based in Minneapolis, joins with her band to offer a live preview of her forthcoming third album, "Bloodless." The episode, released on April 17, 2025, delves deep into Samia's artistic evolution, the thematic essence of her new work, and her experiences navigating the music industry over the past five years.

---

Live Musical Performances

1. "Bovine Excision" [01:10–04:10]

Samia opens the session with an electrifying performance of "Bovine Excision," the first track from her upcoming album. The song's title and chorus introduce listeners to the central motif of the album—absence and what remains in its wake.

• Notable Lyrics:

  "I wanna be untouchable. I wanna be impossible."
  (01:22)

2. "Hole in A Frame" [10:41–14:12]

Following an insightful discussion about her debut song, Samia presents "Hole in A Frame," a homage to Sid Vicious and the iconic walls of Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The track encapsulates the theme of memory and the void left by absence.

• Notable Lyrics:

  "Hole in a frame. Sid was vicious and the drywall cracked like an autograph that endlessly appreciates."
  (11:09)

3. "Dare" [22:11–26:23]

Concluding the musical segment, Samia performs "Dare," a poignant exploration of personal boundaries and the complexities of relationships.

• Notable Lyrics:

  "I will always understand the way that he protect him. I can't stop crossing the line you can't stop trying to keep me on the other side."
  (22:38)

---

In-Depth Conversation

Evolution of Samia's Music [00:38–05:01]

Alison Stewart introduces Samia, highlighting her journey from the release of her debut album "The Baby" in 2020 to her current musical endeavors. Samia reflects on her growth, emphasizing her continued passion for poetry and words as the cornerstone of her artistry.

• Samia:

  "I think I've had a lot of time to experiment with different styles and different approaches. And honestly, I've sort of circled back to the thing I started with."
  (04:29)

Influence of Geographic Relocation [05:08–05:35]

Samia discusses her numerous relocations—from New York to LA, Nashville, and finally Minneapolis—and how each locale has influenced her music by immersing her in inspiring and artistic communities.

• Samia:

  "Minneapolis has been really fun for that reason."
  (05:35)

Conceptual Themes of "Bloodless" [05:44–07:08]

The conversation shifts to the album's central theme, with Samia explaining how absence and what's not present play pivotal roles in her songwriting. The absence of blood in "Bovine Excision" serves as a metaphor for deeper emotional voids.

• Samia:

  "So much of this album is about the power of what's not there and how big absence can be."
  (05:53)

Personal Relationships and Self-Reflection [07:08–10:35]

Samia delves into her personal experiences, particularly her tendency to withhold parts of herself to remain unpredictable and appealing, which paradoxically acts as a roadblock to genuine connection.

• Samia:

  "I just wanted to look at that in my relationships. Why I would keep myself so far from people."
  (07:51)

Revisiting Youthful Perspectives on Gender [08:24–10:17]

Reflecting on her past work, Samia discusses how her earlier lyrics were influenced by perceived male expectations, leading her to project assumptions rather than address real experiences.

• Samia:

  "I realized I'd built a personality around criteria that I imagined men would want."
  (08:52)

Insights on Album Production and Collaboration [16:18–19:58]

Samia praises her long-term collaboration with producers Jake Lupin and Caleb Wright, highlighting their ability to ground her creativity and refine her lyrical expressions.

• Samia:

  "It feels like we're doing this together."
  (16:58)

• Noteworthy Production Element:
  The inclusion of the clarinet on "Pants" was an unexpected addition by producer Caleb Wright, showcasing the spontaneous creativity in the album's production.

Navigating the Second Album Challenge [20:14–22:09]

Discussing the challenges of producing a second album, Samia elaborates on the heightened expectations from listeners and the delicate balance between evolving artistically without alienating her audience.

• Samia:

  "Second albums are just tough because nobody knows who you are for your first album."
  (20:27)

Sonic Palette and Production Choices [18:49–19:18]

The episode explores the sonic landscape of "Bloodless," inspired by the imagery of a cabin on a swamp with the distant sounds of a broken radio, thereby enhancing the album's atmospheric depth.

• Samia:

  "We wanted the album to somehow embody that [swamp cabin scene]."
  (18:49)

---

Band Introduction and Dynamics [14:24–16:15]

Samia introduces her band members, highlighting bandmate Noah Route Quirk Wormy on drums, whom she met at a rock show. She emphasizes the importance of trust and camaraderie within her band, which allows them to perform with sincerity and humor.

• Samia:

  "It's like the most valuable thing, being on the road and doing this pretty vulnerable thing. I can only be extremely sincere about it."
  (15:39)

---

Conclusion

This episode of ALL OF IT offers a comprehensive glimpse into Samia's creative process, her personal growth, and the thematic intricacies of her upcoming album, "Bloodless." Through heartfelt discussions and powerful live performances, listeners gain an intimate understanding of Samia's dedication to poetic expression and authenticity in her music. As Samia prepares for her Rough Trade performance and the album release on April 25th, this episode serves as both a celebration of her artistic journey and a preview of the profound narratives awaiting her audience.

---

Notable Quotes

• Samia on Returning to Core Themes:

  "But it was really reassuring to try a lot of different other stuff to remember why I started doing this in the first place."
  (04:29)

• Samia on Absence in "Bloodless":

  "With Bovine excision, there's no blood at the scene. The cows are completely drained of blood. It makes you really think about the blood. Where's the blood? Why isn't it there?"
  (05:53)

• Samia on Artistic Collaboration:

  "I trust their taste. I know they know me. It feels like they're so much a part of my artistic identity now that we're sort of, feels like we're doing this together."
  (16:32)

• Samia on Overcoming Projected Expectations:

  "It turns out sometimes they didn't even want anything."
  (10:35)

---

Note: This summary excludes advertisements and non-content segments to focus solely on the substantive discussions and performances that define the episode.

Transcript

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. One time New Yorker singer and songwriter Samia joined US back in 2020 after the release of her debut album, the critically acclaimed the Baby. Her voice was described as expressive and soulful. Five years later, she's now based in Minneapolis and about to release her third LP, Bloodless. But today she's here with me in WNYC Studio 5, along with her band for a preview of the album. Tomorrow she'll be at Rough Trade. Samya, would you kick us off with a song?

[Samia]

Sure.

[Alison Stewart]

Hey, what are you gonna hear?

[Samia]

This is called Bovine Excision.

[Alison Stewart]

All right, let's Hear it.

[Band Member]

Diet Dr. Pepper.

[Samia]

Raymond Carver.

[Band Member]

Sitting in the bathtub while they're knocking. I wanna be untouchable. I wanna be untouchable. You took the door off its hinges Doll eyes red in the litmus I felt the pe. I felt the peaking leeches off white underwear neck back inscrutable stick I wanna be imposs. I wanna be impossible. Fred flirts with the bartender. We met last year here, remember? She says I'm over, I'm not dead she says I'm over I'm not de rise to wine lime flavored wind passing though to sit in driveways clad in leopard clutch the banister twirling like a day God dancer I just wanted to be a friend. Couple te.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Samia. We haven't spoken to you in five years. Wow. How are you first of all doing well?

[Samia]

How are you?

[Alison Stewart]

I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay. When you think about your music and what's changed the most about your music and your practice in those five years, what's changed the most?

[Samia]

That's a really good question. Oh, wow. That's a really good question. I think I've had a lot of time to experiment with different styles and different approaches. And honestly, I've sort of circled back to the thing I started with. But it was really reassuring to try a lot of different other stuff to remember why I. Why I started doing this in the first place, which is like a real love of poetry and words.

[Alison Stewart]

So you've moved a lot. You've gone from New York To LA and then. No, to Nashville and then in Minneapolis.

[Samia]

And then LA and then Minneapolis.

[Alison Stewart]

What did all those places do for your music? Was it different in each place? Did each place add something?

[Samia]

Yeah, I'm a real sponge. I love being a part of an inspiring community. So the places that I felt the most alive are the places where I really respect and love the art that I'm in proximity to. So Minneapolis has been really fun for that reason.

[Alison Stewart]

That song we just heard, Bovine Extraction, it's where the title comes from. The chorus. It's the first song on the album. It's literally about a cow mutilation.

[Samia]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Right. Okay, Good song. Thank you. First of all, why did you want that to be the first song that people hear on the album?

[Samia]

It introduces that line, bloodless, which is obviously the title of the album. And so much of this album is about the power of what's not there and how big absence can be. And so with this particular example, it's always been interesting to me that there's. With Bovine excision, there's no blood at the scene. The cows are completely drained of blood. And so it makes you really think about the blood. Where's the blood? Why isn't it there? So it felt like an apt metaphor.

[Alison Stewart]

How did you first hear about Bovine Extraction?

[Samia]

I was on a date.

[Alison Stewart]

I was on a date.

[Samia]

I was on a date. Didn't work out. But he gave me that real beautiful nugget of information, and I am so grateful.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, my gosh. It really happened to you on a date?

[Samia]

Yeah, he told me all about it, and I. I really was fascinated. I mean, it was. I was a good audience for that story. That particular story. Wow. It's fascinating.

[Alison Stewart]

I'm gonna have to think about that for a while. The album is called Bloodless. When did you know blood was gonna become a motif for the album? Because it appears in a couple different songs.

[Samia]

Yeah, I didn't know until after it just happened. I started writing about every. Almost every song. I say blood, and I didn't do that on purpose, but so then, you know, by the end of the writing process, I was like, this absolutely has to. The title has to include blood in some way.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, what were the early ideas for the album?

[Samia]

First, I was studying historical muses, and it didn't really end up being about that at all, but it sort of just snowballed into what it means to be a muse and how a lot of the time, a muse is someone who's, like, mostly unknown with a lot of gaps to be filled. And that sort of led to this. This absence thing about how if you leave a lot of gaps to be filled or space to be projected onto, you can actually be a lot bigger than you are as maybe a human being.

[Alison Stewart]

Was that something that you felt early on in your career?

[Samia]

Not necessarily in my career, just in my interpersonal relationships.

[Alison Stewart]

Could you tell me a little bit more about that?

[Samia]

Yeah, I just have found that the less you give of yourself, the more you can be to someone. And you're not really tied to one identity or responsible for one identity. And sometimes that can make you more appealing, maybe to other people. So it's something I found myself doing even though, like, the ultimate goal was connection. And that is definitely a roadblock to connection. But I was. Yeah, I just wanted to, like, look at that in my relationships. Why I would keep myself so far from people.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Samya. Her new album is Bloodless. It comes out next Friday. She's here with a live preview and she'll be at Rough Trade tomorrow reading through the Rolling Stone piece. This stuck out to me. You said I had so much shame about being worried about men and maybe having altered myself in some way because of it. What ideas did you go into this album with about femininity and masculinity?

[Samia]

I realized I'd built a personality around criteria that I imagined men would want. It didn't even come from any particular man in my real life. It just was something that I, like, hypothesize. And then I built this whole personality around it. And when I realized that, I was like, oh, I've got to do a lot of working backwards to get to some self that might exist in a vacuum. And ultimately what I found for myself was that there wasn't a self that existed in a vacuum. It was just like this conglomerate of everything I've ever tried to be, everything anyone's ever told me. So then it was just about accepting that.

[Alison Stewart]

One of your earliest tracks says, this lyric's great. Someone tell the boys they're not important anymore. Sorry, boys. Seven years later. What do you think has changed about your experience, your relationship to men, to boys?

[Samia]

That song I wrote when I was 17. So it's obviously a little more a less thought out concept. Maybe I was just sort of angry. But now I realize a lot of it was stuff that I made up that wasn't really actually coming from. From any particular person or their real expectations of me that maybe nobody even really had any expectations. And I was projecting a lot of it.

[Alison Stewart]

So why do you think you're projecting?

[Samia]

That's interesting, because you want to be what people want.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Samia]

Until you realize you can't.

[Alison Stewart]

It's true. I mean, that happens when you're young.

[Samia]

Totally.

[Alison Stewart]

I mean, you look back and sometimes you're like, really? I thought that.

[Samia]

Yeah, yeah. It turns out sometimes they didn't even want anything.

[Alison Stewart]

Good point. The next song we're going to hear is Lizard. Tell us a little bit about when you wrote this song.

[Samia]

So we're going to actually do this song called Hole in A Frame.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay. You're going to do a song called Hole in the Frame. Tell me about that.

[Samia]

This song is about a hole that Sid Vicious punched into a wall at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and how the value of something that isn't there again, like the, you know, the absence of him in that literal void that he left, makes you wonder about him and why he punched it. And it becomes this enormous thing, just.

[Alison Stewart]

All right, let's hear Whole in a Frame. This is Samya.

[Band Member]

Nothing goes how it was gonna. You missed the boat. You gotta swim. But I don't have to tell you that. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hole in a frame. Sid was vicious and the drywall cracked like an autograph that endlessly appreciates. Little death goes a long way. There I am where I should not be. Obviously I bought the ticket and took the ride in the window. Trying to circumvent your line of vision from stage right. Like a photograph of the last time I came. A little die goes a long way. It's raining, I'm straying from the border. You know what they say about the baby and the corner? Maybe I was born for this. Dying to myself. Will you hold the onus? Will you hold the onus? Will you hold the onus? Will you hold the onus? Little death goes along. A little death goes along. A little death goes along. Little death goes a long way.

[Alison Stewart]

I'm in the studio with singer songwriter Samia. Her third album, Bloodless, comes out next Friday, and she's here with a live preview. She'll be performing at Rough Trade tomorrow evening. Would you mind introducing us to your band?

[Samia]

Yeah. This is Sam Rosenstone on piano.

[Alison Stewart]

Hey, Sam.

[Samia]

Daryl Ron on acoustic guitar. Boone the Riverman Wallace on guitar.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay, there's a story there. We'll go back to that.

[Samia]

And Ned French on the bass.

[Alison Stewart]

And.

[Samia]

And no, I refused to introduce my drummer. Sorry. I couldn't see him because he was in a box. This is Noah Route Quirk Wormy on the drums.

[Alison Stewart]

We understand you've known Noah for a really long time.

[Samia]

So long. So long that it's crazy that I.

[Alison Stewart]

Almost didn't say, how did you first meet Noah?

[Samia]

I met Noah at a. At a rock show. I met Noah through Ned at a show, and he had frosted tips.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, do tell. He's got a good Jersey shirt on, by the way.

[Samia]

Yeah, he's from Jersey.

[Alison Stewart]

Really? What part?

[Samia]

God, I wish I knew. Do you have a microphone? I can kind of talk into the Jersey.

[Alison Stewart]

Sure. What part of New Jersey?

[Samia]

Central Jersey. Near Raspberry Park.

[Alison Stewart]

Nice. Oh, cool. We have listeners touring with this band and playing with this band. Tell me a little bit about what it means to you to be with people that you trust, people that you can laugh with, you can make jokes about their hometown.

[Samia]

It means everything. I can only be extremely sincere about it, but it means everything. It's like the most valuable thing, being on the road and doing this pretty vulnerable thing, getting up and singing My feelings at strangers is like. Can be overwhelming. And if you don't have, like, a really honest support system, it can. It is not great. So. I'm so lucky to. To do this with people I know and trust, and they're just also really funny and cool.

[Alison Stewart]

You worked with producers on your album you've worked with before?

[Samia]

Yeah, yeah. I've basically done all three albums with. With mostly the same people.

[Alison Stewart]

It's Jake Lupin and Caleb Wright. Yeah.

[Samia]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

All right. What do you. Why do you return to them as collaborators? Why do you keep working with them?

[Samia]

I'm shy, and it takes a lot for me to crack myself open the way that I want to be able to for songwriting in front of people that I don't really trust and know and respect. So, yeah, I trust their taste. I know they know me. I know them. It feels like they're so much a part of my artistic identity now that we're sort of. Feels like we're doing this together.

[Alison Stewart]

What do those producers bring out in you that you maybe didn't even know that you had yourself you didn't know you had?

[Samia]

That's such a good question. It's like a mirror, you know, I think I sometimes want to be a version of myself that maybe is per my interests or tastes at that. At any given moment, I want to be an amplified version of myself in that direction. And they'll. They're able to be like, well, that's not. You know, let's remember the core of you. And also, sometimes I get a little Rumpelstiltskinny in my lyric writing. Where I sort of sound like a bridge troll, like riddles and. And they'll. They'll be like, maybe rein it in and use some English words that people understand. So that's nice.

[Alison Stewart]

Can you think of a time in making this record that they made a decision? They didn't make a decision. They helped you make a decision that really worked out.

[Samia]

Oh, yeah, totally.

[Alison Stewart]

Can you think of one.

[Samia]

Man, like, there's a song called Sacred on this record, and I was going to have it be this really brooding, like, ballad with no hook and just infinite verses about me being so upset with someone. And they were like, this is a pop song, and you don't have to be scared of a. Of a pop song with a hook. Like, just. Just take advantage of this opportunity and sing the pop song. And I'm glad we did, because it's fun.

[Alison Stewart]

It did help you. It did help you come out of your own voice. Have your voice come out of you better.

[Samia]

Yeah. And it added, like, an aspect of levity to the song that ended up being really important, I think, on the record.

[Alison Stewart]

In between the songs are these sort of, like, radio dial effects.

[Samia]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

All right. Where did those elements come from? Why did you want to put those in?

[Samia]

So originally, when we were talking about the sonic palette for this album, we were thinking about a cabin on a swamp where you could faintly hear, like, a broken radio playing from inside it. And we wanted the album to somehow embody that. And so that's what we. We landed on those little radio snippets. That might be totally indulgent, but I think it helps set the scene.

[Alison Stewart]

The album comes out April 25th. What's an element of production on the album that you really love that you would want people maybe to listen for? Kind of Easter eggs, we call them.

[Samia]

Oh, man, there's so many. The Clarinet on Pants is my favorite.

[Alison Stewart]

Clarinet on Pants. All right, tell me more about the Clarinet on Pants.

[Samia]

It wasn't there until, like, days before we submitted the record, and my friend Caleb, who produced it, just sort of snuck it in. And I didn't even know he could play the clarinet until I did a beautiful job.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Samya. We are talking about her third album, Bloodless. It comes out next Friday. She's joining us with a live Preview. Bloodless, your third album, you wrote on Honey. Excuse me? Your second album, Honey, came out in 23. Does that sound right?

[Samia]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay. In I D magazine, you said, everyone warned me about second albums, and I obviously. Obviously didn't want to believe it, but it was tough what was tough about it?

[Samia]

I think famously, second albums are just tough because nobody knows who you are for your first album. So there are no expectations. And then suddenly there's this small group of people with expectations who want something from you. And if you can't quite deliver that, they're going to be disappointed. And I'm not a person who handles disappointment very well, but it was an important experience for me to grow.

[Alison Stewart]

It's interesting because I think for first albums, you've had the songs for so long, you've written them, you've wanted to record them, and then your second album comes around and you think like, well, I'm not the same person I was when I released my first album.

[Samia]

Totally. And you don't want to do the exact same thing you did.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Samia]

But you also don't want it to be too much of a departure. So it's just finding a sweet spot. And it takes your learning in real time in front of these people who got on board for the first record. And, yeah, it's just like a really complicated learning experience.

[Alison Stewart]

What did you take away from the second album that you were able to apply to the third album?

[Samia]

That's a good question. There were some moments where I was able to speak really plainly about certain things in my life and conversationally that felt that I. That I didn't do on my first record. That felt. That really resonated and felt good. And so I was able to take that with me. But ultimately I just sort of circled back to my process on my first record, which was writing poems and tetrising them into melodies.

[Alison Stewart]

You're gonna perform one more song for us. What are we gonna hear?

[Samia]

It's called Dare.

[Band Member]

The current of your dare. I think you wanted me feel it because you know we're the same. Two shades of good paint all spread thin by the vision blended so the hands resist him keeping his day away. Here comes adorned in vacancy and staring blankly your nails tapping on dry cell lines Imagining their weapons breaking the glass letting the face capitulate from this side I will always understand the way that he protect him I will always understand the way that he protects him. I will always understand the way that he protect him. I can't stop crossing the line you can't stop trying to keep me on the other other side. If only you could read my mind I can't stop crossing the line you can't stop trying to keep me on the other side. Only you could leave my mind.

[Alison Stewart]

The.

[Band Member]

Way that he protect him. I will always understand the way that he protect him. I will always understand the way that he protect him. I will always understand the way that he protect him. You.

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