Within minutes of speaking to Charly Bliss frontwoman Eva Hendricks, one thing is clear, Charly Bliss are serious about having fun! 

Consisting of lifelong friends and a set of siblings, the band have had years of practice in this field and boy, do they cram a lot of it into new album Forever – out now! After an emotionally exhausting but critically acclaimed tour, the pandemic and the arrival of parenthood, the group wanted to produce an album that could be screamed aloud while bouncing around a room with your best friends after way too many beers. Leaning more and more into their pop sensibilities they have created songs to dance to while also wiping away a tear, sometimes from sadness but also sometimes from joy. With Foreever they are aligning themselves with Robyn and Carly Rae Jepsen in the heartbreak dance category. 

Forever began with group writing sessions via zoom and so it felt appropriate meeting with Eva the same way…

 

Hey Eva, how is your morning going in NYC?
It’s 10 a.m here and this is a great way to start the day! What about you?

I’m in Spain, it’s four o’clock in the afternoon.
Oh gorgeous! You’re ready for an afternoon cocktail!

Absolutely. And maybe we should talk about the album too?!
There’s an album? No way!!!!

I was just wondering on a scale of one to one thousand, how nervous are you for this release?
I would say three. I am so excited, but that’s also so unlike me. For Young Enough it was a thousand! That whole record was terrifying to put out. We were in the UK the day it came out and I remember feeling that if someone just brushed against me I would burst into tears. I was so fragile and nervous.

I’m sure. Young Enough seemed so personal.
All of the press for that record was really hard for me. I was writing about sexual assault. I don’t think going into it I had really bargained on how hard it would be. I wasn’t in a place where I could deal with it. The kind of music I’m drawn to and want to make is really honest and personal, but that’s a double-edged sword. You put it out in front of everyone and whatever feedback you get feels in some way about you as a person. Our biggest priority for this album was really regaining some sense of freedom, figuring out how we enjoy this again. It was more fun than trying to follow any genre. The only goal was to return to being fun.

That really shows in the first three singles you’ve released from it. They all sound so different. Forever is all about different types of love. ‘Last First Kiss’ is about romance while ‘In Your Bed’ talks more about platonic love. How does platonic feature in your life?
I felt at one point that my only value as a person came from the band and how successful the band was. I think having all these platonic loves in my life has gifted me this understanding that my worth as a person has nothing to do with the band. Therefore if my worth isn’t tied to it, it gives me the opportunity to love it! To have that freedom. That pressure is taken off.

You wrote ‘Waiting For You’ as a love letter to the band during the pandemic, so…when you were apart, who did you miss the most?!
You are trying to start trouble!

I’m simply taking a leaf out of your book. I believe your lyrics are ‘the pots I have stirred.’
Oh my God. Well, look, my brother was going through such a massive change in his life, having just become a father. He was having a really hard time with his mental health and it was brutal being away from him for that.

What was the first thing you did when you all came back together?
We got really drunk and I cried a lot. I like to remember we were all crying, but it was more likely just me. My bandmates are so quick and the jokes are constant. I sat back, laughed and just thought, ‘Wow, they’re amazing!’ Yeah, we got really drunk. It was very fun.

That sounds right because Charly Bliss give off a real ‘Everyone’s welcome to our party’ energy. It’s very queer, inclusive. I love it and feel we’re seeing it more and more in pop right now. Do you think that’s true?
I mean, who doesn’t benefit from the message that everyone is welcome? I always think about that when I’m hearing about people who fall on the other side of things. I feel so bad for them.

Like people who have strong political beliefs and are more closed-minded?
Yeah! You’re missing out on the best parts of what the world has to offer. Dan is queer, several of us in the band identify as queer and I grew up doing musical theater. There was no way our band was not going to be participating!

I think it’s perfect. As a young, queer punk kid myself, 25 years ago, I would have loved to have had an alternative and openly gay band like you. I think it’s a really great message that you guys are sending.
You’re making me cry for the third time! That truly means the world to me, there’s nothing better than that.

This feeling is definitely apparent in the ‘Waiting For You’ video. It must have been emotional making that one…
It really was. It was made by one of our very close childhood friends. I don’t think we would have been able to get that performance without him. Every time I watch that video there are a few moments that just kill me, that moment where Sam and I look at each other.

I bet. And actually on the album, ‘Nineteen’ is really cinematic. It feels like it should be on a soundtrack or something. If you were contributing it to a movie, which would you see it on?
I can only think of TV shows, like ‘My So-Called Life’ or ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’. Oh, maybe Ladybird!

Visually, we’ve really seen your style progress so much to this moment now with tutus, glitter, glam! Tell us about that. 
I got lucky in New York in terms of romantic love, but my other greatest love story in New York City was and is our stylist Kelsey Randall, truly. I was at a bar, she came up to me and said, ‘My friend says you’re in a band and I should make your clothes.’ She gave me her card and disappeared into a cloud of glitter and tulle. I’ll never understand how that happened.

A fairy godmother!
She’s now out here making clothes for Beyoncé! And she’s making my wedding dress! Basically, anytime I look good she’s responsible for it. I do really feel like we are soulmates. She’s also working with the guys. What’s so wonderful about that is that it’s really hard going from being in a van, eating gas station food all day and then to have think, ‘Now I’m gonna play the best show of my life! Bring it!’ I feel we are able to do that by putting on Kelsey’s designs.

I would say your trademark is definitely a pink tutu with a glittery eye.
That made my day. Wait until you see what we have planned for this next tour. I can’t wait!

We’ve been saying how pop Forever is. What pop artists have you been listening to recently?
Well, I mean along with the world I’m obsessed with Chappell Roan and Charli XCX. I’ve been loving Charli for what feels like decades, so I’m stoked for her very well-deserved moment. For me an important one was Muna’s album Muna Saves The World. When we started to make music people were way more obsessed with genre, genre, genre! That album showed me that kind of thinking was so over! The world of ‘pop’ is always shifting, right? But I think where we are now in pop, is a genre that kind of encompasses everything.

Muna’s ‘I know a place’ was on repeat for me for four years,
When I listen to it I feel like crying and also wanting to dance through the streets.

If you were to collaborate with any pop artist out there right now, who would it be?
Oh my God! How would I choose? I feel it has been such an honor that so many people have been saying that our new songs sound like Carly Rae Jepsen, so I would say Carly Rae.

Like Carly, you have a couple of seasonal bangers, your cover of  ‘All I want for Christmas’ and ‘It’s Christmas and I fucking miss you.’ Are there going to be any future Christmas singles? Are you coming for Mariah’s crown?
You’re making me think that we should!

Finally we are in fact named after the biggest-selling single of 2001 so always ask, what is your favourite Mariah song?
Oh my God. Well, look, I was really becoming aware of pop music, really falling in love with MTV and hot ladies around the time that ‘We Belong Together’ came out. Every time that song comes on I lose my mind! You can scream it in the car and it has a full vocal journey but I know I’m going to hang up this call and really regret not thinking of something else to say!

Forever is out now via Lucky Number
Main Photo: Natalie Piserchio
Interview: Edward Westbrook