Ariel Rose Bloom

In May of 2025, I had the pleasure of conversing with musician callmestevieray. We spoke about spirituality, creating art vs. content, the stories behind tracks, and his creative process.

ARIEL: “It’s been really nice to have your songs on repeat as I’ve been preparing for the interview. I really appreciate your positivity.”

STEVIE: “That makes me happy that the music is serving you.”

ARIEL: “For people who are unfamiliar with your music, who are some of your biggest inspirations and how would you describe who you are as an artist?”

STEVIE: “I’ve got so much that I draw inspiration from. As a child I really liked Aretha Franklin, I listened to a lot of Motown, I also listened to a lot of grunge and rock ‘n’ roll. And then my first heroes were the guitar gods, you know, Stevie Ray Vaughan (my namesake), Jimi Hendrix, Clapton— the guitar players were my favorite when I was young. And then as I grew older, I started to get into hip-hop— I think Eminem and 50 Cent were when I was in sixth grade, that was like the most intriguing thing in the world to me.

Then as an adult or more currently — the last few Mac Miller records have always been a huge inspiration to me. I like a lot of what Dominic Fike is doing.”

ARIEL: “In your song Begging, you say, ‘I had to grow up before I got my shoes to fit’— What’s an aspect of your personality that you’ve learned to embrace over the years?”

STEVIE: “I’m really sensitive. I have really big feelings, and I think I spent a lot of time embarrassed about that, and for a long time I thought the solution to my problem is, how do I toughen up? And growing up I realized that I just need to learn to be more sensitive, just lean into it.”

ARIEL: “I love that. I was wondering about your song Just Be You— did you write it with a specific person or multiple people in mind?”

STEVIE: “One of the people I was thinking about was a friend of mine who’s actually my entertainment lawyer now. He’s just like tall, good athlete, lawyer, married… just all these sort of like traditionally? successful things or whatever, you know? So that was kind of the original inspiration. I wrote the hook and I was just thinking about the idea of two people being envious of each other in the inverse way, but then I couldn’t write the verses and there wasn’t enough meat on the bone, so I left it for a really long time.

And then I met somebody, and I ran into the actual situation in my life, where I met this cool woman who was a doctor, and has been sort of on the path that is more societally ‘normal’ I think, than this kind of convoluted route, this like pinball through life that I’ve taken. She was like, ‘Well, you’re creative and you have all this freedom, you have all these crazy stories, and you’re not afraid to express yourself,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, but you have security and esteem,’ and all that, so the song then manifested in those two verses.”

ARIEL: “Do you still find yourself making those kinds of comparisons between yourself and others?”

STEVIE: “Yeah, of course. I think it’s a natural human instinct to compare, but I think I give less weight to it now. I’m very grateful for the life that I have, and I will catch myself comparing, but I try to release that instinct.”

ARIEL: “It seems like creating music comes pretty naturally to you— Do think that that’s accurate?”

STEVIE: “It doesn’t feel that way to me; that’s not my perception of myself.”

ARIEL: “So what are some challenges that you face as an artist and how do you compensate?”

STEVIE: “Growing up, I felt like everyone was better than me and seemed to have more natural ability than me. I kinda had this idea of myself as like the tortoise and the hare, and so I just kept working. But I had to practice all the time— I didn’t have natural rhythm and I didn’t have pitch. I didn’t know how to use my voice.

I feel like I was good at writing for sure, and that part came naturally to me. I had a way with words, but I didn’t feel like I had talent as a musician, and I still can fall victim to that belief. So I studied a bunch and I practiced freestyling and I would learn all these other rappers— I’d learn their flows, and I would practice the metronomes, and I took singing lessons. I did all these things to kind of develop the technical skills to make my music sound good, and that took me like a decade.

So I often think of myself as the opposite. I’m not a natural talent, but I do have work ethic and vision, and I feel like that’s carried me. But I’m trying to let go of that belief, because now I think I’m very talented and it does come easily to me, so I don’t need to hold onto this idea of myself as less than now.”

ARIEL: “Is there anything that you feel makes a song album worthy?”

STEVIE: “When I make a project, I embody the character, and then whatever’s supposed to be on there will reveal itself, but I don’t feel like I make that many decisions. The decisions truly get made for me, like even when it comes to lyrics. The place that I would like to be at all times when it comes to making art is that I am being guided by spirit.”

ARIEL: “In smoke you say, ‘I’m penning my future / This isn’t a verse / Telling my story / I’m living at first / Some of y’all doing that shit in reverse.’ Are your songs solely a reflection of your current life, or do you ever use songwriting to manifest goals?”

STEVIE: “It’s both for sure. I think there is a symbiotic relationship between art and life. I think life is the tree and art is the fruit, so a necessary part of my creative process is that I have to live life. I’m constantly in pursuit of goals and if I’m not looking around, I’ll miss it. There’s beautiful stories happening all the time, so it’s important for me to live with presence of mind.

The world is so poetic. I don’t write any of this stuff; I just observe and then it comes to me as a channel: I see a vision, I get a feeling, and then I live that way— it’s like method acting or something. When I made Late Bloomer, once I had that concept and that story, I lived it first. I had a set of principles and ideals that I wanted to embody in this record, and I lived by them for like a year. And then by the time it was time to write the album, I remember saying, I wanna just be able to freestyle the album. I want my entire stream of consciousness to be so cohesive with this concept that there’s no effort in writing, I don’t have to think of anything, I just am it. So that’s kind of what I was getting at in that line, and I’m preparing to do a similar thing for my next project.”

ARIEL: “I was wondering what you think the difference is between making art and creating content, and how often does that line get blurred?”

STEVIE: “We live in this era where the demand for content is so high, and the volume of output that’s required to succeed is so high. I don’t really know any artist that it’s not a psychological burden for them to create content, and that’s certainly my experience. I love making art, and I don’t always love making content. But when I make content the same way that I make art, which is with joy and pursuit of what I think is the coolest idea, then I am free to do it frequently.

When I make music, I don’t think about how well it’s gonna do or who’s gonna like it, and I don’t make any decisions based on, like, well, songs at this tempo are doing better— I don’t study trends; I just make what comes to me. And I fall victim when I’m making content to trying to optimize for the algorithm and the marketplace. I make all of these decisions that are not spiritual in nature, that are not authentic in nature, and that’s the source of my pain— that I’m disregarding my spirit in order to make tangible gain, and now I’m extorting my own self, and that hurts. So the goal for me is to be completely detached from results and completely true to what I think is cool when I make content, and then I have a pleasant experience.”

ARIEL: “You allude to having attention difficulties in some of your songs. How does that manifest nowadays, and do you have any advice for others like me who might relate and struggle to be productive?”

STEVIE: “Yeah, it’s a constant struggle. It’s been a thing my whole life, since I was a very young child— very hyperactive and distractible. And then it’s persisted, because we live in a world now where the entire world is trying to get your attention. We live in a world of distractions. I was just talking to my friend yesterday about how my phone is kicking my ass lately. I’m trying to be more present and redirect my attention.

For me, the solution is to pray and meditate. I have a choice to make in where I want to direct my energy in my life, and sometimes I make that choice mindfully, and sometimes that choice seems like it’s getting made for me. So when I notice that I’m not making that choice intentionally, I just ask for help. My power source is a spiritual one.”

ARIEL: “In oblivion you say, ‘I remember getting faded to escape this shit’— Do you still find yourself trying to escape from negative emotions or experiences, and what coping mechanisms have you found to be most helpful?”

STEVIE: “Yeah, I think it’s a very human instinct to try to escape discomfort. I have learned to be better about leaning into discomfort and again, my solution for most things in life is a spiritual solution. Meditation has been a really valuable tool to me throughout my life and especially lately, because it allows me to sit with discomfort and to see it for what it is, which is like a fleeting experience; it’s much less of an actual threat to me than I perceive it to be, and if I can get out of my head, then I can get in my body, and I believe that within my body is an intelligence that is superior to my own. So if I can get out of my thoughts, then there’s clearly a greater intelligence that’s taking care of everything, and it’s all working fine. So if I can sit quietly and try to connect to that, then I know it can be revealed to me that there’s nothing to worry about, and that discomfort can dissolve. Most all of my discomfort comes from fear.

And then faith— I trust that I’m going through some sort of discomfort for a reason. There are old ideas that I need to release or there are new ideas that are here to serve me. Just trusting that there’s a purpose for it.”

Discomfort is often rooted in fear, but finding the courage to push past it is where creativity thrives. In a culture obsessed with views, likes, and shares, callmestevieray prioritizes authenticity. Our conversation serves as a reminder for me to operate from a place of faith, not fear. Wherever the road takes Stevie next, I trust he’ll be following his heart and creating meaningful art along the way. In a world constantly commodifying our attention, callmestevieray’s sincere approach is refreshingly magnetic.

Check out Stevie’s latest 10-track album Just For Now, his 2026 single “Stuck,” and trending song “Rack” — all available on streaming platforms including Apple Music and Spotify now.

Fun fact: I discovered my last interview subject, Posie Pocket, from an Instagram story shared by Stevie!

Similar artists include: Mazie, Melanie Martinez, Pink Pantheress, Sophie Meiers, UMI, Aurora

Have you ever wondered how it would sound if a fairy wrote and performed a pop song? Look no further than singer-songwriter Posie Pocket.

@posiepocket

A song I wrote for all the escapists out there 🧚🏰🧜‍♀️🧝‍♀️🧌☁️

♬ original sound – Posie Pocket🧚‍♂️ fairy pop🎤

I talked with Posie about growing up in New Hampshire, spirituality, and her unique blend of fairy pop music.

ARIEL: “I discovered your music through a clip of your yet-to-be released song from a live performance posted a few months ago. I was particularly struck by your singing voice—you have such a unique style. How has your vocal style developed and evolved over time?”

POSIE: “That makes me so happy to hear. I definitely struggle with feeling confident in my singing voice. I’ve never had any proper training. I did choir as a kid, but I did not meet their standards, because I don’t sing the way that they wanted me to sing, and at the time I thought that means I’m a bad singer, but now I realized I just didn’t want to be a soprano, singing in my head voice the whole time; I wanted to be down lower—I was an alto, and they just didn’t know.

I remember I would sing so much Christina Aguilera and Adele and these really hard artists to follow—I’d be singing the Burlesque soundtrack, trying to do all of these growls with my voice and doing these really crazy riffs, and then thinking, if I can’t do this, then I’m not a good singer. Because this person is considered a good singer. So I struggled so much with really hard songs—like, Whitney Houston—I’d be belting in my room, and then the next day have a sore throat and have a hard time talking to people.

I’ve since come to more of a place of acceptance. I think Billie Eilish said it best, she said, ‘Who cares if I’m whispering?’ I don’t need to belt to be considered a good singer, I can sing however I want.”

ARIEL: “So true. I love the name Posie Pocket. I know what associations come up for me, but I’d love to know when you chose that name to represent yourself and what your intentions were.”

POSIE: “I was actually Googling ‘fairy names for babies,’ and Posie was on the list. And I thought, oh my gosh, that is so cute.

It’s a bundle of herbs, and people would put this little bundle of herbs in their shirt pockets, because whatever time that song was popular, bathing wasn’t very popular, so people didn’t smell very good. So this little posie would help them smell nice; it almost worked as a little natural perfume. So when you’d go to hug someone, they’d smell the little posie in your shirt, VS your body odor. I thought that was so sweet! I wish that we still used fresh flowers or herbs as perfume these days.

At the time my artist name was just my real name, and I’m really glad I changed it because I think it opened up a whole new facet of my personality and kind of created a new identity of sorts, which has allowed me to express myself in ways I didn’t think I could.”

Listen to Posie Pocket’s most-streamed song “Care” below.

ARIEL: “You’ve said that you write music for ‘your inner child, your higher self, and everyone in between.’ So as a way of honoring your inner child, I’d love to take a bit of time to discuss your upbringing. What kind of environment were you raised in?”

POSIE: “A very, very wholesome, Neverland type of environment. The older I get, the luckier I feel comparing and contrasting childhoods to people that I meet, and realizing how blessed I was to have such a safe bubble. I’m realizing now, children deserve to be naive.

Now, growing up, of course I think it’s my responsibility to know what’s going on in the world and to do something about it, but as a kid, we never watched the news, I never heard about anything beyond the scope of my tiny neighborhood, and everything was so pure there… I grew up in New Hampshire, so there was just all of this lush nature and so much abundance around me that made me feel so safe.

I spent a lot of time being imaginative, and school was a place where I would get scolded for that, which, I remember that being a very confusing transition… Being told I’m not allowed to daydream.

That was my biggest downfall all throughout school—that I was just so busy daydreaming. I was always so excited for school to be over when I could just go fall on my bed, stare at the ceiling, and think about whatever I wanted to think about.”

ARIEL: “Was religion or spirituality a part of your upbringing at all?”

POSIE: “Not really—My mom is an aikido instructor, which is a form of self defense, and it’s a really powerful martial art because of that. It has all of these intricate moves to teach people how to get out of a situation without hurting the other person. So even though it’s very swift and at times powerful and intense, it’s still gentle. Doing the least amount of damage on the person that’s attacking you.

She carried a lot of the spiritual beliefs behind that martial art with her in our home, so we had a lot of Buddhist quotes hanging up. She would carry the beliefs of that culture heavily, and it was really inspiring and important to be around.”

ARIEL: “How has the way you were raised influenced your current beliefs? Is Buddhism something you follow now?”

POSIE: “Yeah, definitely. I think that the idea that we become what we think is very powerful. And I think that among all religions, that is the common theme: belief. If I believe in this higher power or if I pray to this entity, I believe that something good is going to happen to me.

And I think what’s really beautiful today, in joining all of those religions, is that it’s really you. It’s you and your ability to believe. So no matter who it is that you look up to, if you believe in your heart that something good is going to happen to you, and you change that dialogue within yourself—that’s really your heart that’s pushing that energy out into the universe. It’s the idea that if I believe in this energy, I can harness it and I can utilize it for my own good. And I think it’s really important to allow people to believe in magic, in whatever way that means to them.”

ARIEL: “Beautiful. Do you like astrology?”

POSIE: “Oh, yeah. Astrology and the idea that we’re connected to the stars feels like a religion to me. It makes me feel so seen and heard that there’s something watching over me. I have two planets in Virgo—Sun and Moon are both in Virgo, and then I’m a rising Scorpio. I also have Jupiter in Virgo, so that sign weighs heavily on me, and not always in the best ways.”

ARIEL: “Seems like it could be helpful for pursuing something… Virgos seem pretty organized and driven.”

POSIE: “Yeah, that’s true, very organized. But sometimes, as an artist, you don’t want to be organized. Most of the greats were chaotic, messy people. I also don’t want to be paralyzed by perfectionism, and that is something that’s been so hard for me to break through because I get so much analysis paralysis—just overthinking everything. And I need to just release things, and then keep going. Release things, keep going. Look forward, not back.”

ARIEL: “What was the first original track you released, and what was your experience like when releasing original music for the first time?”

POSIE: “I released a song in 2018 called Take Me Home. I was about to graduate college and I was feeling so homesick, and felt so disconnected, and I wrote this little acoustic song. It was the first legitimate song I’d ever even written, so the fact that I released it was a pretty big deal. And I remember the response being really beautiful.

The people in my life at that time made me feel like it was really special and worthy of being shared. Which, it’s hard to find friends that are that encouraging with an art form in LA, where everyone is very… kind of lost in their own world and their own craft. So to have people in my life at that time that were really rooting for me and being cheerleaders for me was crucial for my willingness to share stuff with the world. I’m really thankful for those people, because that is what pushed me to do it and to continue.”

ARIEL: “Is there one song in your catalog that you feel best represents you as an artist?”

POSIE: “Probably Castle in the Clouds. The epitome of that song is just hope and trust. I think that I want all of my music to encompass some form of self-love. It is so empowering to write music about something so positive. It feels so good—to write, to sing, to say, to talk about. And there’s definitely negative energies swirling inside of me that I think could create some really interesting songs. But I do fear how I might magnify the negativity by translating it into a song, and I would rather magnify the joyous emotions in my body.”

Watch the music video for “Castle in The Clouds” below.

ARIEL: “I’ve had your song ‘Peace>Pleasure’ on repeat lately. On your SoundCloud, you said it’s about letting go. Can you expand on that a bit?”

POSIE: “I was actually questioning whether or not music was something I should be pursuing when I wrote that song… I was feeling pretty defeated, and I remember thinking, even if nothing ever comes of my music in the form of recognition on a large scale or financial success or whatever that really means, if I never feel this sense of fulfillment, will I still make music, and will I still be okay with this expression as it is now?

Coming to that realization that even if nobody heard it and nobody cared, it feels so good to create and to share something—with myself, even!—to remind myself of what I’ve been through and what I’m thinking and feeling, and to release my scope of my little life in the form of a song. That feels so peaceful… to find a sense of peace and understanding with who I am and how I want to express myself, VS the pleasure of, ‘I’m making so much money doing this,’ or have hundreds of thousands of followers— that form of pleasure, satisfaction feeling. Which I’m sure is extremely validating for a lot of people, but to be able to feel happy and content without that is really important to me as an artist.

So there’s parts of that song where I’m saying, ‘maybe in my next life,’ oh well. It doesn’t matter! I’m content finding a sense of peace in knowing that this is something that I want to create for myself.”

I finished my talk with Posie feeling a sense of immense gratitude, and her sage advice echoing in my head…

“If I never write, how will I share this? … If I never try, how would I know? If I never slip, then you won’t know—I’m new to this. Maybe I could be perfect for this…” – Posie Pocket, Peace>Pleasure

Even if no one reads these words, I’m still glad I wrote them.

Posie’s latest song “Friend in My Head” oozes with hyperpop danceability. And like a great deal of her other releases, the track serves as a sort of musical affirmation. With lyrics like, “I’ve got a safe place to pretend that I’m okay just as I am,” the listener is reminded of how peaceful self acceptance can be.

Preview Posie Pocket’s most recent track below, then listen in full on Spotify or Apple Music.