Pauline Herr is an all-around breakout star who has been an unstoppable force since she stepped into the electronic music scene. From her solo work to collaborations with talents like Slushii, Moore Kismet, Quiet Bison, Juelz, and Hex Cougar, she always shines through as a producer and vocalist and elevates any project in which she is involved. On top of that, she inspires others and takes pride in paving the way for female artists in a male-dominated industry.

After Pauline’s main-stage set on day two of EZOO 3.0, WSN was able to sit down with Herr and have a chat.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

WSN: You produce, you’re a singer-songwriter, and you’re super multi-talented. In past interviews, you’ve mentioned learning how to produce so that you can do everything by yourself. What’s the difference between you working on all the aspects of production on your own versus collaborating with a friend?

Pauline Herr: There are special things about both. Working with someone, you have two creative visions coming together and different skill sets that can complement each other. I love working with other people because there’s some things that I’m not super great at that someone else might be, and it’s been fun morphing our sounds together.

My solo stuff is all what’s going on in my brain which is like my favorite thing. I call myself a vessel for all my creative ideas because when I’m making something I’m just in the flow and it feels like it’s not even me. Like I’ll just finish a song and I’m like, “How did I make that? I literally have no idea.”

It’s fun to do stuff on my own because it’s just seeing what’s going on at the time in my head. But, I also love working with other people. It definitely feels good to be able to release my own music and be able to do everything.

WSN: You typically collaborate with your friends or people you have a professional relationship with. How is that different from your recent project with Jayden Healy [aka TWERL], your boyfriend?

Pauline Herr: Each collaboration I do has a different specialty to it. I don’t know where it came from, usually when I collaborate with friends, we kind of just decide on what vibe to go for. It’s special that I wrote a song about my best friend Rossy; I love playing it out and having her there. Just sharing those moments with people that I care about is really fun. 

I feel like it’s been a little more exciting to work on something with someone that I’m dating, sharing that release together and having it be so meaningful. Jayden and I started out as friends and tried to work on stuff together before we started dating. When we actually started working on stuff together while dating, it was cool to draw inspiration from doing long distance and stuff. We didn’t necessarily merge our two sounds together; we kind of just created something completely different to both of our projects.

WSN: The “Distance” EP that you worked on with TWERL is about your experience being in a long-distance relationship. Do you have any advice regarding long-distance relationships?

Pauline Herr: I used to think long distance didn’t work until I met him. I think you just have to find the right person, and as long as you’re with the right person, you can do anything to make it work.

We do so much. We try to play virtual reality with each other, so we can kind of be together. We play a lot of video games like Mario Kart and stuff, a lot of phone calls — keeping the fun of the relationship while you’re apart is really important. 

And communicating a lot. Otherwise, if you’re doing your own thing and not talking too much, it kind of just dissipates. You have to make an effort to make it work.

Contact Michelle Zhou at [email protected].