Cool-girl Sky Ferreira is a force—a force that started with a Myspace profile and a letter to a record label. At 21 she’s famous, but not really sure what to do with it. She’s worked closely with king-of-the-alts Ariel Pink, done her share of playing under the sun at festivals, but still managed to land the support slot for Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz tour. Her energy and attitude are charming and wayward—it’s obvious her output is an honest reflection of her catchy, but slightly antisocial pop music. Everything she does is for herself, without anticipation or forced direction, but rather a promise of quality. She wants to do it all, excellently, and doesn’t mind getting into a bit of trouble while she’s at it.
Before her summer of playing festivals kicks off, we spoke to her about the Internet, conspiracy theories, not thinking things over, and eventually growing up.
The internet has played a big part in your success so far, it started with Myspace, right?
Yes [laughs] I did get signed on Myspace. There wasn’t Soundcloud, and people weren’t really getting signed on Youtube or anything. I was probably one of the last artists to get signed up on Myspace.
How old were you?
I was 14. I got signed when I was 15. It’s easy to forget how innovative Myspace was. Finding new music by following leads in people’s Top 8 was so foreign then. I feel like people who didn’t really listen to music discovered a lot that way. I knew a lot about music because I was obsessed with it, so it’s different. I was always going to record stores, looking at music blogs, and going to shows when I was 13 to 16—I still do but it’s not as intense as when I was younger. People my age didn’t know anything about music because they weren’t really exposed to it, and I feel like with Myspace that’s how people learned about different types of music finally.
You’ve worked closely with Ariel pink. We know him as an old school internet user, did you bond over that?
I think Ariel doesn’t even have a computer at his house. Or he has a computer but he doesn’t use the Internet. I’ve been friends with Ariel for like five years, and that’s the first time we ever did a song together. We always talked about it but never did it. I remember seeing Ariel Pink playing in LA when I still had braces, that’s kind of funny, everything goes full circle.
It’s impressive you can have the support of someone like Ariel Pink, and his audience, then cross into Miley’s world. How did you manage that?
I really don’t know how I’ve managed to do both things. Ariel Pink really loves pop music too, and everyone kinda loves Miley Cyrus but doesn’t openly admit it. Pop music can very much be side-and-side with that world. People think others are way dumber than they actually are. I think if someone likes it they’re going to keep looking more and more through it, so now there’re lots of kids who love Ariel Pink who also love Miley Cyrus. I guess that’s where I fit in.
That’s the music part of your world—you act and model too. This sounds weird, but why are you famous?
I don’t really know! I went through acting, I did a lot of indie films when I was a teenager. But the stuff I wanted to do when you’re that age you can’t really do. They want to push you, if they find out you sing they want to push you towards Disney and I was not interested in doing that. I still act but I choose the projects I want more than just doing a film because it will give me exposure. That turns into singing actress or actress singer—which I never really want to be a part of. I just want to make something—I just want to do something that’s good, no matter what it is. It’s hard to do those things with quality. I guess there’s a lot less desire to be categorised these days. I see that especially with younger girls on the Internet.
That’s how it is for me. Media-wise they want to label me and put me in a box, or try to say I’m something that I’m not. They won’t figure me out. It’s easier for them to sell something. It’s more interesting to say I’m some “bad girl”. I’m not that bad, but I don’t have a halo over my head, I’m just a person. I don’t think things over before I do it. I’m not like: maybe if I do this, it’ll lead into this? It’s more like: I did this, maybe I shouldn’t have done that. That’s what happens to me—it’s just like, my bad.
From Tumblr, you see a lot of people looking up to you. I remember girls loving cool girls like Chloe Sevigny and then Cory Kennedy. Who’s your cool girl?
There wasn’t really anyone, everyone I liked was old. Sure there was Chloe Sevigny and Cory Kennedy, but I didn’t relate to them, I didn’t want to be them. I think I always wanted someone like that. It would have made my life a little easier when I was a teenager, so people would have understood what was going on.
What’s next?
You know I was just thinking: What do I want to be when I’m an actual adult? I guess I want to be doing what I’m doing now, maybe doing it a little better. I want to be happy with myself and confident in what I’m doing, and getting better at what I already do.
Credits
Text Hayley Morgan
Photography Jai Odell