Inara George on beauty and aging as a performer
The latest episode from The Side Woo. On the menu: meat suit and cheese on crackers
This week on The Side Woo, I speak with musician and songwriter Inara George of Bird and the Bee, and a number of other projects and collaborations including The Living Sisters and Merrick. We talk about aging gracefully as women (which is a phrase that holds within it a certain level of misogyny), and how as an older musician it feels right for her to make room for newer talent - despite contradictory messaging from the music industry that is always pushing artists to stay relevant and innovative.
There's a new generation coming up and you're gonna transform. You still are an important asset and you still give back to the world, but you have to change just like your body and your face- everything's changing. - Inara George
I first became aware of Inara’s music when my cool and very in-the-know friend Dee recommended Bird and the Bee who had just come out with their first album. It was circa 2008 and I was living in a giant warehouse loft in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn with 9 other artists. There was one bathroom and I was the only person who had a full-time, 9-5 job. I worked in mid-town at a small investment firm on 57th Street next to a Steinway piano showroom.
I would get up every morning and leave the house by 6:45 am to take the G train to the 7 train into the city. I had heels that I would often put in my bag, and then like in Working Girl, wear a pair of flats or sneakers on the train. I would also bring my workout clothes so I could go on a quick run on my lunch break or right after work in Central Park. After that, I would freshen up in the bathroom and go for drinks and light hors d’oeuvres, or head to an art opening - only to do it all over again the next night. Ah to be young.
But being in New York was so huge and exciting that I didn’t want to miss a minute of it. I was determined to be a high-functioning city girl who made it all work. And do it all on my budget of $40k a year, minus the $600/month I was paying in student loans. It was fun while it lasted. There are things that I would do differently, but I think I had to sink myself into the broke artist, New York chaos at least for a while to know that it’s not what I wanted.
The music from that time was an important part of the backdrop of this self-discovery (a gentle name for it). I listened a lot to Feist’s The Reminder, Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Radiohead’s In Rainbows, and a flash drive of burned music with new, lesser-known bands from friends which included Inara George’s band, Bird and the Bee.
When I first heard their album, I loved the contrast between George’s delicate voice and the rougher lyrics, notably “Will you be my fucking boyfriend.” It just felt part of the moment: liberated, a little tough, and aggressively carving out a future.
Flash forward 15 years and I am sitting in the living room of my own apartment in LA with no roommates, no mice keeping me awake, and no 9-5 commute interviewing Inara George. Just whoa to all of it.
In our conversation, George reflects on how as she has aged and evolved, the expectations from the music industry have not. She says:
Sometimes I look around and I see that there isn't that pullback. And I think that that's where sometimes the culture of youth, that as old as you get, you're still supposed to look like you're 30… I think that’s what we're naturally supposed to do, sort of pull back and then reassess and think, ‘what is my next journey?’
While I miss the perkiness of my 20-year-old meat suit, I am deeply grateful to no longer be in my 20s. When I go to New York now I reflect on the energies of the next generation of street-styling young creatives and I empathize with the burden of insecurity I see in some of their faces (maybe I’m just projecting). I remember digging into the safety of ‘coolness’ and trying to harden myself as a defense against the pressures of the city. Only to find that it took so much energy to try and fit in, and chase something that wasn’t mine. I want to tell them that they are good enough, and to just be themselves.
You can check out Inara’s new projects on her website inarageorge.com.
I hope you enjoy our conversation. Follow along with my Monday subscriber posts for only $5/month by clicking the link below.