The excitement is building for The Current's 20th Anniversary celebration weekend, happening on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 24 and 25, at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Looking at the respective bills for those show, it's a real treat to talk about the lineups. Monday morning, we do one better as we get to chat with the headliner for night two of The Current's 20th anniversary in the First Avenue Mainroom; specifically, we’re talking with Beach Bunny frontperson Lili Trifilio. Lili talks about Beach Bunny’s rise and the band’s latest projects, as well as her thoughts about the upcoming show at First Avenue. Use the audio player above to listen to the full interview, and find a transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: With me on The Current Morning Show, I've got Lili Trifilio of Beach Bunny. Lili, welcome to The Current!

Lili Trifilio: Thanks for having me!

Jill Riley: Yes, and thank you for helping The Current, this public radio station, celebrate 20 years. We're really looking forward to the show and having you come back to the Twin Cities. Now, I know that you have played First Avenue before. Are you excited to come back?

Lili Trifilio: Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's a legendary venue, for sure.

Jill Riley: Yeah, before we talk about what you're presently working on and what's to come in the future, I wonder if we could go back a little bit to talk about the origins of Beach Bunny. So I wonder if we could kind of go back to that time when a couple of your songs caught on on TikTok. How did you respond to that?

Lili Trifilio: I was in my last year of college, and it was around finals season, so my attention was totally somewhere else. I didn't even know what TikTok was when the first song went viral. It was 2019, it was right before TikTok is what it is now. So at the time, I think I thought that we would just be thought of as like an internet band, and not taken that seriously. And I was borderline annoyed, until I saw that TikTok views translated directly into streams. And as soon as that happened, I realized, "Oh, people aren't just streaming one song; they're streaming all the songs, they're interested in the band." And then it became really exciting.

Jill Riley: And what was a particular thing about how people were using the song as it was spreading on Tiktok?

Lili Trifilio: Well, for the song "Prom Queen," it's a lot about body issues and social expectation. On body issues. And it was really cool to see so many young women, and just people in general, use the song in kind of a positive light to reflect on how they feel about their own bodies in a positive way. And then "Cloud 9," which happened, where it went viral nearly two years later, that was a song that I had wrote almost to save my own relationship. So it was nice seeing it taken in a more positive way and just as a really wholesome love song that people didn't have any baggage with and were just showing off their partners and even like family members, other loved ones in their life.

Jill Riley: And it was "Cloud 9," that was your Tegan and Sara moment, wasn't it? If I remember correctly?

Lili Trifilio: Yeah, that followed up with the virality. Our label at the time was pitching, "Oh, we should collaborate with somebody and give the song new life," because it had been a year since the track was actually released that it went viral. I've been a big fan of Tegan and Sara throughout high school and everything, and I was really amazed they said yes, but it was such a cool opportunity.

Jill Riley: Yeah, absolutely incredible. On the line with Lili from Beach Bunny on The Current's Morning Show. So OK, we did a little bit of the past. Let's come up a few years to last summer, we got a new song from Beach Bunny, "Vertigo." The latest one that we've been playing on The Current is "Clueless." Can you talk about the songwriting process? Can you talk about where you've been recording?

Lili Trifilio: So, following the last album, I went through about a year of, like, massive writer's block, and then coming off of that, have just been slowly writing with my bandmates. We're a three piece now, so that was also big adjustment. And we're working with Sean O'Keefe in Chicago over here, and spent the whole year recording, which was really awesome to be at home just diving into music. And then, yeah, early summer we had a giant tour, so we figured we should put out one of these singles while we continue to work. And yeah, everything's recorded now. It's being mixed. It's really exciting that new music should be here soon.

Jill Riley: Excellent! Yeah, the forthcoming record is called Tunnel Vision. Is that still the plan? 

Lili Trifilio: Yeah, that's still the plan!

Jill Riley: OK! So Tunnel Vision, really looking forward to the new album. And as I was getting ready to talk with you, Lili, I was like, "Wait, is that out yet? No, that's still to come." What is really kind of energizing you in relation to this new record?

Lili Trifilio: I think it's just been really fun getting to explore a different side of writing and kind of fall in love with it again after going through that writer's block period where I sort of was treating songwriting more like a job. Yeah, I'm just really proud of these songs, and it's been a while since we released music, so I think it feels like we're kind of doing it again for the first time in a lot of ways.

Jill Riley: I'm talking with Lili from Beach Bunny. Beach Bunny headlining night two of The Current's 20th anniversary weekend. Hey, Lili, you mentioned that, even with Beach Bunny starting as really your solo project and then making it into a band, you mentioned, hey, we're a trio now. So could you talk a little bit about the evolution of Beach Bunny?

Lili Trifilio: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, we've gone through like, a few bassists, so that had been a change over time, but in the last couple years, we had to part ways with a guitarist, which was pretty hard, so our old bassist jumped to guitar, and now he's playing guitar and bass, and it's been really lovely.

Jill Riley: And how does that translate into the live show?

Lili Trifilio: So we've changed a lot of things up. We have a touring bassist, and then we've added a touring guitarist, just to fill out the sound. Everything sounds bigger, and I feel like I have more freedom to move around on stage, too. Last tour we did was 2021, so just a lot of things have changed since then, which is really cool.

Jill Riley: I'm talking with Lili from Beach Bunny on The Current. Hey, The Current's 20th anniversary party is coming up, Beach Bunny headlining night two in the First Avenue Mainroom. And as you talk about the live show, now I'm getting even more excited about the weekend, but Lili, what is your favorite thing about performing live? 

Lili Trifilio: I mean, honestly, I think it just comes down to connecting with people. It's amazing how you can look out into the crowd and, you know, write something in your bedroom, and people are connecting with it in a new way. You know, unfortunately, with the internet, you can only go so far with that. Amazing thing to, like, look people in the eyes and almost sing to each other.

Jill Riley: I have to imagine, even just going out to see shows, there have been those moments where I've observed a singer or an artist or a band almost being in shock that the entire crowd knows every single lyric to the song. Emotionally, did you like, feel really moved the first time that that happened? 

Lili Trifilio: Oh, absolutely. I mean, it still surprises me, especially at festivals where, you know, we're not necessarily a headliner or anything, and people show up. Yeah, it's amazing. The song "Prom Queen," like I said, came out in 2019 but didn't go viral till 2020, when we were all in lockdown. So I think then coming back to playing shows in 2021, that was unbelievable; like, going from the smallest rooms to having so many people recognize me out and about and recognize the music.

Jill Riley: Yeah, and you finally got to see it with your own eyes! Lili, thank you so much for checking in with The Current ahead of The Current's 20th anniversary party. And I just want to say a big thank you to you and your band for helping this radio station celebrate 20 years on the air, and people are very excited for the upcoming show. Thank you for what you do, and again, to everybody that's going to be celebrating in the First Avenue Mainroom. It's going to be a lot of fun on night two with BeachBunny. Lili Trifilio from Beach Bunny, thank you so much again for checking in.

Lili Trifilio: Thank you so much for having me.

Jill Riley: All right, well, we've been enjoying "Vertigo," we've been enjoying "Clueless" as well, and now knowing that Tunnel Vision is on the way, we look forward to that new record. So let's take a listen to the latest song we've been playing on The Current. Here's "Clueless" from Beach Bunny.

Credits

Host – Jill Riley
Guest – Lili Trifilio of Beach Bunny
Producer – Nilufer Arsala
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor

External Link

Beach Bunny – official site