Interview: Skylar Grey redefines her ‘WASTED POTENTIAL’

Long before she became the Grammy-nominated songwriter behind hits like “Love the Way You Lie,” “Coming Home,” and “Clarity,” Skylar Grey was a rebellious kid growing up in the small town of Mazomanie, dreaming of something bigger than the cornfields and familiar routines that surrounded her. Decades later, those same memories have become the foundation of her deeply personal sixth studio album, WASTED POTENTIAL.

Today, Grey’s life looks far different than the one she once imagined. Living on a ranch in Napa Valley with her husband, fellow musician Elliott Taylor, and an ever-growing collection of animals, she has traded the chaos of Los Angeles for wide-open spaces and a slower pace of life. It’s a lifestyle that has allowed her to reconnect with herself and ultimately inspired introspection. Taylor also co-wrote album tracks “Bullshit” and “That’ll Be Fine,” two songs that balance the chaos of WASTED POTENTIAL.

Across 11 tracks, Grey revisits the experiences that shaped her, examining everything from teenage rebellion and first loves to self-doubt and the expectations she once placed on herself. The result is what she describes as “bubblegrunge,” a blend of ’90s-inspired pop melodies, raw confessionals and the emotional honesty that has defined her songwriting career.

Following the album’s release, Breathepop caught up with Grey to discuss the meaning behind WASTED POTENTIAL.

Breathepop: Your new album is titled WASTED POTENTIAL. You’re a five-time Grammy-nominated artist and have written music for some of the biggest names in music. Looking back at your career, what brought you to that title?

Skylar Grey: That’s a funny question. There’s this song on the album called “Motivation.” It’s kind of tongue-on-cheek. It’s very honest lyrics, but I’m kind of making fun of myself. Wasted potential is a lyric in that song and it stood out to me as a great album title.

When I was a kid thinking about my future, I expected to be in a different place by the time I turned forty. Writing songs for other artists was never part of that goal. So, I was looking back at my life and missed opportunities and was wondering why I wasn’t where I thought I’d be and I realized it was all my fault. When I moved to LA, I was 17 and I didn’t understand the level of grind that it took. So, I got burned out pretty early on. When I started writing songs for other people, it was just an unexpected blessing, but a blessing, nonetheless. I am grateful for my journey and now when I think about it, I live a pretty ideal life.

I live on a ranch in Napa Valley. I have a vineyard. I’m madly in love. I have tons of pets. As an independent artist I get to create my own schedule, I get to be in charge of my creative direction and everything. Now looking at it, I think ‘Man, I have it pretty fucking good. I don’t know if I’d want it any other way.’ It just isn’t exactly the life I wanted as a kid. The ‘wasted potential’ is based on the expectations I had of myself.

BP: In “Motivation,” you say ‘Selling my art feels more like prostitution.’ Do you still feel that way?

SG: Sometimes yeah! You think you just make art and put it out there, but it’s not like that. You really have to sell it and put it in front of the right people. You post a bunch of content, and it isn’t necessarily artistic all the time: It’s more like selling yourself.

BP: Was it therapeutic to look back at your coming-of-age story and put it into words?

SG: One hundred percent! Every time I write it is therapeutic, but this album was specifically therapeutic because I’m looking back at my childhood and my life and dissecting everything trying to figure out where I went wrong and what I did right. It’s figuring out why I am the way I am.

BP: Did it ever start to become too much that you had to step away?

SG: Oh no. When I get into a flow state with writing, it kind of all pours out at once. It takes a while to get into that state. I started the album by writing “Bruises.” That song is about not feeling good enough. I’ve always been super hard on myself. I’ve always beaten myself up since I was a little kid. It was a song I really needed to get off my chest. I was turning forty and not being where I wanted to be. Maybe I wasn’t good enough to get where I thought I should be. I was beating myself up a lot. I needed to write that song to get some of those emotions out of my system.

As soon as I wrote it, I felt a huge weight lift off of me. I found myself not being inspired to write depressing songs, which is really weird for me and driving around instead of putting on my normal Radiohead I would play Spice Girls. It was really interesting. I wanted to see what would happen if I just rode that wave. That’s when I started writing songs like “Motivation” and “Come,” which are more pop leaning than anything I’ve ever done. A lot of the songs are like diary entries. The last song I wrote on the album was “Nirvana” and I knew I was done with the album when I wrote that, because it was kind of the glue that held the album together. It was an introduction to my story. It was necessary to introduce the rest of the album with this theme established.

BP: There’s another lyric I really liked. In “Nirvana” you sing ‘When I daydream about that old house, I can’t believe I ever wanted to burn it down.’ How truthful was that statement?

SG: When I was growing up in Wisconsin, it was not a big arts community. I felt really out of place. I was singing with my mom since I was 6 and I had all these dreams. I couldn’t wait to get out of that town and escape. I wanted to grow up so fast! Even though I had a great childhood and a very loving family, I just felt like I was wasting my time there. I hated it! The lyric was kind of a metaphor about just wanting to escape and looking for any means to leave. ‘I lit a match and blew it out,’ foreshadows that lyric. ‘I picked the pencil up and put it down’ was about suicidal thoughts. I ran away a couple times as a kid, so it was metaphorical. But it gets the same emotion across.

BP: When did you start to romanticize your life in the Midwest?

I don’t think I started to romanticize that life until after I spent a lot of time in LA. People were so rude and the weather never changed. Every year just blended together because we didn’t have four seasons. I really missed the seasons because it was a good gauge of how much time was passing. It wasn’t until really recently when I was thinking about my life and wondering why I listen to such dark songs all the time. Like what happened to me as a kid that made me gravitate to such dark stuff. I realized it wasn’t because I had any trauma, but I was just so focused on the future it was hard to realize how great my childhood was. My darkness came from putting myself into fucked up situations on purpose. I was so bored. I wanted to experience things. I was drawn to the wrong men and liked when things felt dangerous. I was rebellious and experimented with alcohol really young. I was growing up in a boring environment, so most of the trauma was self-inflicted.

BP: Do you think your younger self would vibe with this album?

SG: Yes, one hundred percent. I made it intentionally to feel reminiscent of the ’90s pop and grunge era. I would be obsessed with this album when I was a kid for sure.

BP: You said these songs are like diary entries. Were there any stories of your childhood that you tried to capture?

SG: “Plastic Water Bottles” is definitely like a diary entry song. It’s not necessarily an entirely true story, but it touches on the fact that I was always looking for older guys, especially ones that were a little rough around the edges. The fair, where I grew up, was called “Wild West Days.” It was never about the rides or the candy. It was about flirting with boys and getting into trouble.

BP: Do you think you could’ve written this record while living in LA? What made you leave that area?

SG: I left LA when I was twenty-three. I just got over it. I realized I was drowning in opinions. I was giving too much power to the so-called “experts” and really lost sight of my goals and passion for music. I really fell out of love with making music for the first time in my life. I just had this feeling I needed to get back into nature and get in touch with my inner voice. So, I left and went to Oregon for a while. I lived in Utah for a while and now I live in Napa Valley. I think it’s really important for my creativity to be in a place with wide-open spaces like where I grew up.

BP: You’re now living on a ranch in Napa Valley. Do you ever play your music for your animals?

SG: They hear it all day long! I have two studios in my house so they’re always hanging around. Especially the dogs and cats. We actually have cows that love this, like, clarinet we have. We will take it out there and they just come up to us.

BP: You coined the term “bubblegrunge” for this album. How would you describe that?

SG: “Bubble” is like pop. Spice Girls were a part of my childhood, but then “grunge” is like Nirvana which was also a part of my childhood. It’s kind of a blend of inspiration from all my favorite artists from the ’90s. I wasn’t genre-specific. I listened to Fiona Apple, Garbage, even the Backstreet Boys.

BP: The first half of the album feels more rebellious, while the second half becomes increasingly reflective and emotional. Was that progression intentional?

SG: Yes! There is an art to it. “Nirvana” introduced the album and the whole story. “Motivation” is also part of the introduction to more details of my life. Then you enter the diary entry pages, which is songs like “Plastic Water Bottles,” “Come,” and “Black n’ Blue” where I’m discovering my sexuality and flirting with boys. Then you get to the songs that cover more of the relationship troubles (“Unfaithful” and “Bullshit”). Then there’s the part where I don’t feel good enough for anyone or myself, that’s “Bruises.” “Cool Kids” is another reflection song about not being one of the cool kids at school but realizing that it’s better to not try so hard. By the end, it gets to “That’ll Be Fine.” That’s kind of the calm after the storm and more reflective of where I am now in life. I’m in love and just want to be home with my animals. People always ask me where my favorite place is to go on vacation and I always say ‘home.’ My favorite nights are just at home watching some stupid show, making whatever we have in the fridge. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s about realizing how much I love a simple life. I’m done with all the chaos.

BP: You have songs with Eminem, Macklemore, Jelly Roll and many more. For this album, if you could add one feature to any song: Which artist would you pick and for which song?

SG: I actually did try to get Eminem on “Bullshit,” but the timing didn’t work.

BP: This album is obviously very personal. As a songwriter, when you write for other artists how much of your personal life do you carry in the lyrics?

SG: I’ve found when I try to write a song for somebody else and don’t put a little bit of myself in it, the sound ends up being pretty bad. I think authenticity is something we have to carry as an artist and put into our music regardless of if it’s for ourselves or other artists. It effects the quality of the piece of work. When I write for other artists, I do a little research and have a conversation with them if possible. I get into their heads and see where they’re at and then try to find something I can relate to. Then I write it from a place of real emotion for me.

BP: How do you feel now that the album is out there, and everyone has listened to it?

SG: I feel amazing! It feels so great to have it out there after all the buildup and work it took to get it to this point. I feel relieved and am excited for everyone to listen to it! I have been loving all of the feedback I’ve been getting. The fact that I even put the album out is another step forward in my therapy. I feel I finally paid the homage to my childhood that it deserved. So maybe now I can accept the fact that I’m forty and move into my future with grace and love instead of being depressed about it.

BP: Now that it’s all said and done, do you think you have anything left to say about your coming-of-age story? Or are you ready to move onto the next thing?

SG: That’s a good question. I think there are a few more songs I would add to this record potentially.

Listen to WASTED POTENTIAL here.