We All Have Feelings For Julia Nunes: The Autostraddle Interview

Julia Nunes began posting on YouTube almost a decade ago, rising to fame with videos like her cover of Destiny’s Child‘s “Survivor,” which won her a free ukulele, and the original song “Into the Sunshine,” which skyrocketed to over a million views. Since then, Nunes has done a bundle of amazing things, from opening for Ben Folds to performing at Bonnaroo to playing in America’s living rooms, all the while recording enough music to release five albums.

On January 3rd, Nunes launched a Kickstarter to help her produce a sixth album. Though her first Kickstarter, in 2012, was big enough to land her TV interviews and internet profiles, this new project is blowing it out of the water. “Julia Nunes + Feelings = New Album” has raised (as of this writing) $111, 684 of a $25,000 goal, and there are still two full days left to donate.

Given how wildly popular she is and how y’all reacted when we included her in two recent lists, I figured it was time for a talk with the woman herself. She was, as you’d expect, overwhelmingly nice and cool, even though I made her wake up for a Skype call at 8:30 in the morning.

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Okay so, to start, tell me your age and where you are living?

I am 26-years-old, newly. I live in Los Angeles, newly.

I just checked, and your Kickstarter is up to $82,000. Were you expecting that when you were planning it?

Um, no. I knew I wanted to do it on my birthday. I wanted to ask for $10,000 more than I did last time.  This is a more serious album, and I have a vision for it that’s more expensive to put together.  Last time I asked for $15,000, I remember thinking that was just an exorbitant amount, that it was too much to ask for.

Then I was like, “Okay, if I don’t make my goal, what am I gonna do?” That was my mindset, going into it — If $25,000 is overestimating how much the internet cares about me, what am I going to do? Then we made it on the first day!

What are some of the things you’re going to get to do now that you’re almost triple your goal?

I’m very excited to shoot some music videos. When you’re recording you can’t help but picture how the music video would look. Now that I actually have a good budget, I can talk to some of my video friends about stuff like shooting on location, which, I never thought I could have. Just a location for a music video can cost thousands of dollars. I’ve always been like, “Cool, cool, cool but it is never going to happen.” Now it can!

You can do it Beyoncé style. In the middle of the night you drop all these videos and everyone freaks out. What can people expect from the new album musically?

I think there’s a little bit of everything. Stuff you could hear on the radio, full blown pop/dance songs, and then the last song on the album is just me and a ukulele, and it is like the most gut-wrenching song I have ever written. Then there’s everything in between. There are songs that might sound like my old YouTube stuff, just with a real drummer.

How have you managed that change? All my friends and I started listening to your YouTube videos however many years ago, and you still sound like you all these years later but you have all these other parts coming into it.

No matter who I work with or what project I’m a part of, it becomes me because there’s such a specific way I want to do things. It all goes through the filter that is my brain, like if you only ever used Kelvin on instagram.

Is there anything else you’re working on?

In the next couple of months we’ll start actively planning the living room tour that I’ll go on after this album comes out. In the last couple days of the Kickstarter I’m gonna announce if we reach a certain goal, I’ll record an acoustic version of the album. I’ll go on tour with my bandmate, we play as a duo, we both sing. He plays guitar and I play ukulele, we both have foot pedals for percussion. However we arrange it for the tour, I wanna make it an album of the same songs as an acoustic duo.

The living room shows are really a neat thing. Do you think that’s a thing you will be doing for the foreseeable future?

They’re so incredible, and easy. The level of stress that I feel at a living room show is so minimal compared to a club date or opening slot. Touring is so so fun but it can be rough, and that’s why there are roadies and things I could never afford. With living room shows, it’s all just me and my bandmate. Every show is just kids hanging out, having a singalong. It’s like my favorite kind of party, every night of the tour! I think it’s a thing i’ll be doing for the foreseeable future and beyond.

http://youtu.be/xxH0jMzsz6c

What is the most nervous you have been before a show?

I can think of two times when I’ve been as nervous as it is possible for a human to get. One was before a show I did in high school at a coffee shop. It was my first real playing-music-in-front-of-people. I was 16, maybe 15. My legs were such Jell-O that I went to the bathroom and literally fell onto the toilet.

The second time was my first time opening for Ben Folds. It was real rough. I played the opening chords to one of my songs for like two minutes before I started singing. It was ridiculous. I couldn’t.

What about the least nervous? What’s the best show you’ve ever done?

The best show I’ve ever done. Okay, the least nervous! My bandmate Mike, who played bass on this album, we’ve been playing together for a really long time. I had just put out “Settle Down,” we were about to play Conan, we went to Sundance. This was two years ago. We were sleeping on the floor of a cabin that was housing 11 people, and everyone was dog-tired the whole time.

Mike and I were playing all these little showcases every day. Basically walking down the street from venue to venue playing the same set list over and over. No one cared about us, we were basically background music. By the second day, after playing all those shows, we started just having fun, the two of us on stage, fuck everybody else in the room. We were playing around with the harmonies,  having a fucking blast. Then we played this Gibson-sponsored lounge thing, and we finally had a real sound system, a real monitor and were on a real stage.

We got up and played the pop medly first to make them pay attention. Then we played a heart-wrenching original. We were so well rehearsed and so comfortable and it was the ultimate satisfaction of getting people to pay attention to you when they didn’t necessarily plan to. It was great.

Are there any cool guest appearances that we can look forward to on the album?

I think the person I am most excited for people to hear is Adam Christgau on the drums. He is Tegan and Sara‘s drummer  and he’s a friend from Brooklyn. He was the first person to fall in place for this album.

When you aren’t making music, what do you do?

I’m pretty much always working. Always working on some sort of video, song, or tour. My life two years prior was so different, if I wasn’t touring, I was laid out at my house. “What is life?” “How do I do anything?” This year, working on an album, I can actually stay in one place and have a life. I spend a lot of time at my friend’s house grilling. I have also been setting up an apartment on my own for the first time in my life. I’ve been really into homemaking. I’m really into cooking. Also, dancing. I made the list of things I was going to do in LA to Follow My Bliss. On it was take hip-hop dance classes. So I did that.

What’s the best thing you cook?

I make zucchini pasta and then kind of a meat sauce, but instead of meat it’s tofu scramble. It looks exactly like pasta with meat sauce, but it’s zucchini, a fuck-ton of vegetables, and tofu.

That is the only way I like zucchini. It weirds me out in whole form but if you slice it thin it is so good.

Yeah! Also, it’s pasta. Does everyone remember pasta? It fills the void.

What about TV and movies? What do you do to entertain yourself?

Gosh, I love, uhhh, Broad City. We watched it last night. I don’t have TV.

That’s the thing, this question was cool in 90’s when everyone watched the same TV Shows. Now it’s like, I’ll watch whatever I can get on Hulu.

Yeah, I think Broad City is the only show I go out of my way to see on a television. We go to a friend’s house. I don’t know. My producer Joanna holds a “Friday Night Friday Night Lights Nights.” I’ve never seen Friday Night Lights, so we started at episode 1 and now we’re at episode 8.

It is good. It is really good. We set it up on her projector and everyone sits out on her back deck under blankets and it is so fucking cute, but the show is good.

One of the other things people talk about is that now you’re in this relationship with Dannielle Owens-Reid. You never really had a “coming out,” which we’ve written about before. Did you ever plan on being like, “Hey guys, this is happening?”

I was dating a person for five years before I started dating Dannielle and I was never like, “He’s my boyfriend,” to the world. It seems unnatural to say, “Here is the human that I kiss regularly, for you to see.”

Dannielle is in my pictures, and I think it’s pretty clear that we’re together but the idea of making an official announcement just feels weird. Even with my family, my mom heard I had a crush on Dannielle first, then heard about it when we kissed, and then “Uhhhh…I have a girlfriend.” It didn’t feel like a “coming out.”

Why do you feel like you have to make an announcement?

In general, as something becomes more visible, more people want to define what they see and they want to know exactly what you are. I think at some point it’s possible that the pressure to label myself for the internet will overpower my discomfort with having to do it, though. Does that make sense?

That makes sense. Do people ask you a lot?

It’s really interesting. In person, a lot of our friends have started calling me gay, which isn’t true, but I don’t correct them. And then five years ago, people assumed I was straight and I never corrected them, either. It feels weird being like, “Well, actually I’m not that!” And there have been some interesting hostile remarks about what I “am” on the internet. It’s not an overwhelming amount, but maybe there will be more after this interview!

I just want to do all of the things that I want to do. I never want to let any sort of fear hold me back from, say, an interview that I think is cool for a website that I think is cool. I’m not ready to be like, “hello, this is how you can label me,” but I’m definitely not gonna deny things about my life, either.

Julia and Dannielle wearing shirts from Julia's Kickstarter

Julia and Dannielle wearing shirts from Julia’s Kickstarter

That must be a hard part of dating Dannielle in particular because she’s already such a known person, and I’m sure once you started hanging out with her, people were probably like, “Oh what’s happening there?” People feel like they have a little bit of a right to your life because you write such personal music, people want to be a part of it. Like you said, it is a lot of pressure for you when you don’t necessarily know how to talk about it yet.

Even a bunch of our friends were like, “Yeah, I always knew.” No, though! We were truly just friends. Dannielle was dating someone when we first met, there weren’t any vibes between us, but then something changed.

I don’t think it’s because Dannielle has a following, or because I write personal songs that people want to know about our personal lives, I think that’s just how people are, they want to know things.

Have people acted differently toward you?

I’ve actually had messages that said, “You’ve helped me figure out my sexuality,” or like, “you were my first lady crush before I knew I was into ladies.” Which is nice! The funny thing is, when I was first making YouTube videos, I was such a tomboy and people totally thought I was gay, even though I had a boyfriend. But, still, I was like,  ladies love me, cool, and if I meet a girl I’m up for, that’s also cool.

My girlfriend actually was reminding me the other day of a video a few years ago where someone asked you, “Are you gay or would you ever be with a girl?” You were like, “So far no, but there could be someone out there.” She said that at the time, it was important for her.

That’s so cute! I think I have my parents to thank for that mindset, bringing me up in such an open minded household. I remember being shocked by homophobia in the real world. I was never afraid of what being gay would mean for me.

Tell me more about being in a relationship and having it be public like this.

I love dating someone who does social media. It’s so much fun. Recently, I changed her toilet paper roll,  put it on the wrong way, and she Instagrammed it. I laughed about it for 500 years, and then I went back to change it, feeling like I won the internet, and she posted a picture of me having changed it.

Screenshot 2015-02-03 09.41.43

Screenshot 2015-02-03 09.42.43

It’s like if an old man car fanatic found a chick who was super into cars. I’ve always loved internet jokes so much. I love the internet, and Dannielle gets it and is so so funny. That is the coolest part of being public.

Are you excited for A-Camp?

Yes, although I don’t know too much about it! I met Riese five or six months ago in San Jose, and I heard all about how it is basically summer camp for adults.

I know I’m playing music! I know I’m there for a bunch of days. I might be doing a music night with Jenny Owens Young — WAIT! Jenny Owen Youngs. I always do that.

Me too! That is a tricky one.

Dannielle, Julia, Riese & Abby in San Jose

Dannielle, Julia, Riese & Abby in San Jose for BlogHer ’15

Okay, that’s all I’ve got. Is there anything else you want to say to Autostraddle?

Um, no???

People will probably ask questions in the comments.

I hope they are nice.

Oh, they usually are!

Julia Nunes has mere hours left in her Kickstarter. Go hit it up and get mad perks, like that EVERY DONOR will get a free acoustic version of her album! Then check out her website, her youtube page, her instagram, her tumblr and her twitter. Then maybe have some ta.

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Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn lives in New York, which is the simplest answer you're going to get if you ask her where she's from. She went to journalism school and is arguably making the most of her degree as a writer and copy editor. She utilizes her monthly cable bill by watching more competitive cooking shows than should be allowed.

Kaitlyn has written 69 articles for us.

31 Comments

  1. I am in a public space and I laughed inappropriately loud for kind of a long time at the toilet paper thing.

    This was a great interview! I am super excited to meet Julia at CAMP and to become v familiar with her songs before then.

  2. College Nat From Like Eight Years Ago that didn’t identify as queer yet but still had a huge crush on Julia Nunes is COMPLETELY PLOTZING that she’s giving interviews on a lesbian website now.

    (How far we’ve all come.)

  3. <3 <3 <3 <3 Julia! So cool to see people from upstate NY who are talented, out, and making it in the world!!!

  4. Is that you standing in on the rim of a snow-covered Grand Canyon? ISN’T IT FABULOUS WHEN IT IS COVERED IN SNOW?

    Also yay! I can’t wait for this music night at A-Camp!

  5. I pretty much loved everything about this interview. Ahhh!

    Plus, yes, we’re all nice here.

    As always I am tardy for the party for everything, I brought dip, but now I am totally into all of this.

  6. Ugh. I just love Julia so so much! I’ve followed her for years, and she just gets cuter and cuter. I can’t wait for her to experience Camp!

    • REPORTED FOR SPAM

      jk love you also this is one of my favorite autostraddle interviews of all time. more julia! more dannielle! more cute selfies!

  7. Julia Nunes was the first youtuber I ever really watched. I remember, just as I was coming out and having some problems, her making a video covering ‘Brighter than Sunshine’ and dedicating it to all the couples who were being hurt by Prop 8. That meant a lot to me.

  8. Oh goodness I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THE PICTURE OF JULIA AND DANIELLE HOW CAN ONE PICTURE BE THAT CUTE

  9. Now I’m even sadder that I can’t make it to A-Camp. Can we get you all to Skype into the wedding and have Julia sing for us? :)

  10. Oh man, Julia is such a sunbeam, this is great. We are so lucky to have her joining us at A-Camp! In real life high definition! How can anyone ever be sad with ukulele, accompanied by great talented humans, they can’t, it’s impossible, it will be so happy.

    I also love so much / relate to the shout out to fluid sexuality!

    • Sunbeam!!! That’s the best word to describe her. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself.

  11. Yay Julia! This interview was great! I backed the Kickstarter and I can’t wait to get my album and Feelings shirt. <3

  12. well if Julia Nunes just isnt the cutest angel with a ukelele this side of Pluto I don’t know what to tell you

    4nunevs

  13. Ummm so I knew Julia in high school and saw her play live a few times back then. Then she toured with Ben Folds and I was like whut. Now she’s playing at A-Camp and has an AS interview and I can’t describe how happy I am to see her succeeding and having an awesome time with it.

  14. I don’t know which way I prefer tissue off the top of my head and I’m feeling very insecure about it.

  15. Ugh, I loved this! I listened to Julia Nunes so much when I was young it’s great to see her getting some recognition. She was one of the first people I subscribed to on youtube, and I have loved seeing how she’s grown both personally and musically! Words cannot describe how stoked I am for this album!

  16. loved this interview and i can’t wait for the feelings album and camp! i saw julia play with weezer at bonnaroo and she was just fucking adorable — like i wanted her to hang out with us and eat frozen lemonade.

  17. This interview inspired me to create a Julia Nunes station on my pandora, which is just about the best thing ever right now. Great interview!

  18. I got a lot of super cool stuff out of this. But the most coolest part is that we have the exact same birthday. We’re probably twins. Julia is the musician and I am the live music audio engineer. This is decided. Please have been born around 5am. This will confirm these things.

  19. I think I just found my route…

    I love watching Julia Nunes do awesome stuff cause I feel like I grew up with her in a totally creepy Youtube thing. I started watching her videos in high school and then would forget, and then find them again a few months later and so on. She’s the greatest. Thanks for being the only person I idolized who wasn’t a scene queen or a runway model in high school. I’m cool cause I decided I wanted to be a Julia instead of a Kiki…

  20. she’s very pretty, talented, and hard working, unfortunately she’s sick and degenerated :-(

  21. How can anyone not love this woman? Besides having a wonderful voice and a very distinctive style, her songwriting has a way of expressing the feelings and emotions of the person LISTENING to them. Pretty hard to write stuff that gets inside somebody else’s heart and reminds them of how they feel.

    She is so natural and real when she performs – no phoney here.

    Hooray, Julia. You have a beautiful attitude, originality, and talent. And although I have never met you (and probably never will), I get the feeling that anyone who does would instantly like you.

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