LA’s Glüme is a larger-than-life individual.

With a penchant for crafting enthralling electro-pop tunes and with such a refined artistic vision that is both musically and aesthetically rich, it’s easy for some to perceive Glüme as a fictional character. A construct that was fabricated as a musical alter-ego, far removed from what the creator is actually like in real life. Yet in reality, this self-proclaimed “Walmart Marilyn Monroe’ or ‘Twin Peaks Barbie’ is truly an unapologetically authentic person, there is no character, no facade. As an individual that grew up under the constant sunny skies of Los Angeles, from an extremely early age all Glüme knew was show business and its intoxicating allure as she spent her childhood as an actor, dancer, and singer. Leading the talented artist to take on her first Broadway role at the tender age of six-years-old. From that point onwards and after growing up, the multifaceted artist has been solely dedicated to the creative sector. Although it hasn’t always been bright lights and glamour, several years ago the solo artist was diagnosed with an auto-immune heart disease known as Prinzmetal disease. A chronic illness that affects the blood flow to the heart. Admirably, Glüme has not let the illness define who she is, she’s still that energetic, passionate and versatile musician and actor with a lust for life. Even with all this going on, the LA-native doubled down and released her well-acclaimed 2021 debut record, The Internet, and has even publicly opened up about her illness to help raise awareness and to ensure others don’t feel alone. The record itself was released by her label, Italians Do It Better, and acted as an introduction to her world.

Now, the emerging artist has offered up her sophomore record, Main Character, a sharper, more introspective experience full of lush synths tracks, cinematic orchestration, moving ballads, and honest lyricism. It makes for a fantastic listen that also solidifies why this distinctive artist is on the rise. In conversation with 1883 Magazine, Glüme discussed the new album, what encouraged her to open up about Prinzmetal disease, and acting.

Glüme, congratulations on releasing your sophomore album, Main Character. How do you think you have developed as an artist since the release of your 2021 debut album, The Internet?

I think I’m less scared about my life, to be honest. I was pretty fearless in terms of putting this album together. I reached out and worked with people yet when I was approaching them, I had no idea in mind if anyone would be interested. I feel a lot braver with this album, in several ways.

Secondly, what are you most proud of when it comes to the new LP?

Allowing myself to be authentic in my art and not feeling that I have to say what I’m supposed to or what I think people like. Also, I’m proud of the fact that I now feel okay with just telling my story.

Similar to the debut record, you’ve worked again with Johnny Jewel on this new record as he acted as executive producer on it and I’m aware he’s the boss at the record label you work with, Italians Do It Better. But on Main Character you’ve also opened up to some collaborations as the album features strfkr, Rufus Wainwright, and Sean Ono Lennon to name a few. How did these collaborations come about and how do you think they enrich your project?

The whole point of Main Character is that I didn’t feel like one. I wanted the album to be a bit of an ensemble project, one where I didn’t feel like I was the main character so I wanted a lot of people on it to match that feeling. I grew up as a child actor so there was always a heavy focus on getting the lead role and main character parts. But I never allowed myself to feel like a ‘main character’ or focus on myself because of the way I was raised. In my childhood, I never really focused on myself because I was taking care of everyone else and I only realised that in the last couple of years. I was like “This is really stupid, this is my only life so I need to make sure I like it”.  So with that feeling in mind, I realised I wanted the album to be a kind of ensemble of people because that’s how my life has always been.

Was it the sort of situation where you already knew these other artists or did you reach out to them?

The latter, I would write a song and think: “Gosh, that song would be really perfect for this person” and would then reach out to them. I got really lucky with them agreeing to it, I’m still shocked and can’t believe everyone said yes. I got lucky, for sure.

As an artist with such a distinctive sound and aesthetic, for anyone who doesn’t know you yet, could you recall the early inspirations that have helped you create your vision? Two obvious influences are Marilyn Monroe and Twin Peaks, thus your amusing IG description. I could also imagine that your performances on and off Broadway when you were growing up also had a direct impact on your artistic character/vision? 

My time performing did consciously and subconsciously influence me. I have an overture on the new album so yes, it definitely did. In terms of my character, I guess I feel like it’s just me being myself but I suppose I’m quite an exaggerated person in general. I’ve always been that way. I’ve always been performing and would rarely take moments off in my life where I’m just low-key and have time just by myself, it’s kind of exhausting. I do try to find the right work/life balance but I’m pretty bad at it because the things you learn at six-years-old really stick with you throughout your life. Looking at me, I guess some people would say I’m a character, yeah. 

When I say character, I mean that in the best way possible by the way! You seem to have a larger-than-life personality.

Yeah, it’s fun for everyone, it’s a little tiring but it’s fun!

When it comes to building a sense of mystique around an artist or entertainer whilst developing their vision, story, and brand if you will, there is often a lot of smoke and mirrors that come with it. For example, Harry Styles’s PR team must work night and day to protect the image they’ve helped create for him. But what I appreciate about you is that you seem to be authentically yourself and have even opened up publicly about your chronic illness. What encouraged you to open up about it?

I didn’t know how it was going to affect my career so I thought if I don’t talk about it, people are going to wonder what was going on when I disappear for a month or two. When I first started, I was in the hospital all the time so if I hadn’t shared it I would not have existed because I would be hiding for months at a time which felt really isolating. I think I was pretty private about it when it first happened because I was nervous and didn’t want to jinx anything. I didn’t know the prognosis and I wasn’t doing very well in the ICU so I was just hoping to make it out alive, I wasn’t thinking about how I was presenting online. When I got things a bit more under control and got a record deal I was just like “Oh my god, how am I going to do all of this?”. Luckily, my body has healed a lot over the last three years. I do think I’ll keep talking about it, though. The condition of Prinzmetal angina and the diagnostics around it is really medieval, it’s pretty terrible.

The treatment for it isn’t great and there isn’t a cure at the moment either. I asked one of the doctors, ‘why does no doctor know what to do with this condition?’ and he just said “Well, no one famous has it yet, there’s not been much funding”. I thought, if my music goes well then I have to do something to make strides that could help around the condition whether it be better diagnostics, treatment, and maybe even being able to reverse it. The condition is pretty hellish. The diagnostic tests are basically like, “Let us kill you, revive you, and if the upper we inject into your heart makes your arteries coil and you almost die, you have the condition.” I just think there has got to be a better way for medical experts to figure out if people have the condition rather than trying to kill them and then resuscitate them. I just want to be open about it. One day, I would like to start some sort of foundation or something for research on it because when they told me that, I was just like “well, no pressure!”

First of all, I think it’s great that you’ve been raising awareness on social media via your TikToks. I know you’ve previously mentioned that people have been reacting to them in a really positive way. It’s also nice because you opening up about your condition has helped some of your fans/followers feel less alone as they’ve also got similar conditions. I don’t think I’ve seen many artists be as open as you have when it comes to this sort of thing.

I want people to not feel like their life is over if they get sick and I don’t want people to feel like they suddenly have to turn into this sweatshirt goblin. You can still do what you dream of doing, it might be a little harder but don’t let go of everything that makes you happy if you get sick. I think what made me improve and get better was making sure I was still living my truth even though it was really hard because I was exhausted and didn’t feel good. The drive and the purpose that I have are really important for my mind and body. That’s not to say that sometimes you just fucking can’t. You need to rest up. Once someone gets sick, it’s easy to feel negative about yourself. You may feel like you’re neutered, not hot anymore or have no sex appeal. But no, you’re still exactly the same person, it’s just that something in your body is being weird.

Speaking a little bit more about your versatility not just as a musician but as an actor, you’re involved in numerous projects this year such as The Blue Rose, American Girl, and We Watched Her Go. What do you get from this craft which you might not get from music?

Acting was the first thing that I did, well, music and acting. When you do musical theatre and Broadway, you do all of it. I love acting and I love being able to leave my body and step into someone else’s for a minute because a vacation is nice. I’m also pretty obsessed with psychology and the way the brain works, patterns, and things like that. I think acting is a super interesting thing to do, you really figure out the psychology behind a lot of different types of people. You also learn about different things and perspectives you wouldn’t normally think about because you’re asked to be someone completely different when you act. I guess I’m a little bit method, I like to fully become something else when acting. Acting has been in my life since I was little. 

Who would you like to work with when it comes to more film work? I can imagine David Lynch would be one of them. And are there any other things you’d like to try out?

I would love to work with David Lynch. I’m part of a production company called Femina Films and I’m pretty excited to be working with them. We have made two projects, one is American Girl and the other is called Child Actor. The director we work with is brilliant, so I’m excited to see where that goes. I would also love to work with Brian Murphy, it sounds like a blast. I like dramatic and scary projects but I guess comedy is the thing I’m really good at. I’m drawn to drama and horror but I think I might be best at comedy whether I like it or not. It’s kind of like the actor Lucille Ball, she wanted to be a serious, glamorous person but they were like “No, you’re a clown”. So, we will see, I just got back into it and I definitely love it as much as I love music. They’re both quite intoxicating. 

By the time this interview goes live you’ll have played your album release shows in London and Paris. Do you have any other plans in store this year to celebrate the LP? 

I think I’m going on tour with Metronomy which super exciting. I’m also probably going to do the film festival circuit with Child Actor. It’s a film that sort of accompanies my album so I think we’re going to make a feature out of it during that process. I’m excited to make more music videos for the album as well, we’ve started one for the song Queen Of LA which I’m really proud of. The whole team that worked on it absolutely killed it. So I’d like to work with them on a couple more. We’ll see what happens.

Finally, in an industry that can be so fickle and hard to break through, what does success look like to Glüme? 

Being able to have a platform where I can make art and tell stories–which is all I like doing–and exist in that world until I’m dead. 

Main Character is out now. Follow Glüme @babyglume

Interview by Cameron Poole

Photography by Garry Jones

Hair by Lux Lawless

Glüme is wearing Serpenti and Feelin Sticky

Sunglasses by House of Correia and hat by Bagtazo