It’s safe to say this year has not been one for the history books. We’re all facing our own challenges and consequently learning how to deal with them. One person whose year has been particularly tumultuous is Blue Hawaii’s Raphaelle, who was misdiagnosed with Bipolar II before pulling herself back by working on the band’s new mixtape, Under 1 House, which drops today. The six track EP channels 90s House beats with Ra serving you Lady Miss Kier vocals over the top. Living!

When we speak with Ra, she’s holed up with the other half of Blue Hawaii, Alex, and the pair are working on LP5 deep in the woods outside Quebec. We need to go to there!

Ra, I need to hear about this idyllic Quebecois log cabin…
Alex came back from Berlin and has to spend two weeks in self-quarantine before visiting his Grandmother so we’ve come out here to use that time to record our next album. We’ve only had two sessions and already written twenty fives minutes worth of music for LP5. We work really fast in Blue Hawaii, we record everything on the first take.

You both have other artistic projects going on. Why was the time right for a Blue Hawaii release?
Well, I was due to go on a huge tour with braids, so Alex and I pushed out this mixtape, but then Covid hit and the whole tour was cancelled. So now we have the mixtape, Under 1 House, out today and we are currently working on LP5.
During quarantine I actually had a massive mental breakdown where I was misdiagnosed with Bipolar II disorder, given anti-psychotics and was suicidal. The thing that brought me back, besides micro-dosing on mushrooms was actually working tirelessly on Under 1 House. I cannot even express how important this record was for me in experiencing joy during a mental health crisis.

With Alex having spent time in Berlin. What kind of energy has that brought to this process?
I guess a lot more independence and solo working which is cool. I don’t particularly like recording my own vocals….just because it’s hard! It’s so nice when somebody else is doing it and you can just lay into it, whereas when I do it, I find that I am really critical and I just re-do things. I play synths, guitar, stuff like that so it’s fun for me but I would like to be able to produce more without Alex in the room.

The first official single was ‘Feeling’ right?
That was the second. ‘I Felt Love’ was the first – it was my best friend Ashley’s favourite song – I don’t know if the world loved it, but she loved it!

 

Well, my favourite track is ‘Not My Boss.’
Which was our third single! We’ve been warming people up. When we did that song I was battling with feeling really trapped by capitalism. Money is an entity. It’s almost personified in our culture and wants to possess us…like a lover! So I’m shouting ‘I’m my own damn woman!’

I know that 90s divas were an inspiration for this mixtape, right?
Yeah, mainly vocalists that have been sampled. There are lots of Beyonce samples on Braille tracks. Todd Terry did an amazing Whitney remix of ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’ He always does weird shit. Also I wouldn’t say she’s a diva but I’m always into Patsy Cline.

On ‘No Drama’ I was getting total Robin S vibes….
For sure! And Corona’s ‘Rhythm of the Night’ too. So many of those vocalists never got credit which is kind of weird. It was a really big thing in the 90s. Alice DJ is another prime example of using female vocalists – I don’t know her fucking name but I know Alice DJ.

I saw a cute video of you on Instagram discussing a dream you’d had…
Yeah, I’ve been taking CBD oil to help me sleep. I think the weirdest dream I had was when Hilary Clinton was campaigning, I’m really really into politics. I dreamt I was on the campaign trail with Hilary. Obviously I was super rooting for her because she was going against Trump. Also Hilary is a pretty radical feminist. When she was coming up, she was a fierce woman and people forget that. But in the dream we were on the campaign trail and she was like, ‘I don’t know about this suit…I don’t know if it’s boss enough.’ I was like, ‘No way, you look great. You look amazing. You’re going to go out there and kill it.’ She was saying, ‘Thank you, Raphaelle.’ Haha…

Finally Loverboy is named after the biggest selling single of 2001. So we always ask what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
What’s the one that goes, ‘….there’s no beginning and there is no end’? ‘Fantasy’! Yes, it has a really good lick. It’s a great song for when you’re flying on love chemicals. 

Blue Hawaii’s mixtape, Under 1 House, is out now.
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