Earlier this year, Reggie Pearl visited Columbia to perform in the annual True/False Festival. Before her nighttime performance, she graced the presence of the KCOU live studio, and sat down with us for an interview.
Giving us a vision of her past, Reggie soft-spokenly explains that it is in her nature to be musical. Her St. Louis roots had quite the influence on her ability to become immersed in the music scene.
REGGIE PEARL: “I think St. Louis has such a rich musical history. Tina Turner is from there, Miles Davis was born across the river. There’s something in the water there. So many talented people come from and reside in St. Louis, so I never lacked inspiration.”
Even with its inspiration, Reggie explained that she did not see much of herself within the scene in St. Louis. In a town surrounded by male musicians, it was challenging to come up without girls or femmes playing music in her city. As time passed, more female artists have been given prominence in the scene, and Reggie gets to be a part of this growth.
After she departed from STL, Reggie made way for Berkeley to study songwriting. She explained that this did not end up working out for her, as it felt like the program was forcing her to learn music in a way that went against her instincts.
REGGIE PEARL: “It’s hard to learn how to be creative. I don’t want to learn how someone else has understood music, I want to spend my whole life trying to understand how I interpret music. So I definitely learned that lesson at Berkeley, after spending a bunch of money.”
When asked who she makes music for, Reggie was very intentional with her answer. She explained that the music that has inspired her has always been something she had to feel. She explained that in a way, some music made her feel less alone, as she didn’t know other people felt the way she does.
REGGIE PEARL: “I guess I’m trying to make music for me, to console my own feelings even if they’re weird. [To feel] is a very human experience, so just anyone who feels like a weirdo, I’m making music for you and me.”
Reggie took us into some background on her 2023 LP Twilight Zone, which had been released the previous September. When asked about the central thesis of the album, she explained that while it is about her internal struggles, it is more about how she digests the world around her. She made most of it over quarantine in 2020, so the theme of the album is a lot about being alone and living internally, almost like a real ‘twilight zone.’
Reggie Pearl has a new EP coming out on October 1, titled MEGAPEARL.
Reggie Pearls in-studio performance: https://youtu.be/2ORA39OuW2g?si=HP2sQHcFf_wv8Zs7
Oh, and if you were wondering, her big three are Libra sun, Gemini moon, and Virgo rising.
