PATRICK DRONEY'S STATE OF THE HEART

By Clara Seely-Katz

Patrick Droney recently played an electric show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles as part of his tour for his new record, State of the Heart. I was lucky enough to be one of the attendees, and lucky enough to have had the opportunity to interview him before the show itself, and learn more about him as a person, as well as —as he calls himself— a “musician, singer, songwriter guy.” Seeing Droney play live in front of an audience of his biggest fans was an exhilarating experience.

PHOTOGRAPHER: ANA CHONG

The Troubadour's rich history and legendary status in the music world cannot be overstated. My interview with the relaxed and confident Patrick Droney took place in the Troubadour's bar area, which felt every bit as alive and intriguing before a show as during. Though he was just a few hours away from performing before a packed crowd (his show almost immediately sold out) he came across unfazed and excited. Greeting me with a warm handshake, Droney got his portrait taken before settling down with me for our conversation. He didn't know me or my interviewing skills (which I very well could have lacked), but he seemed utterly open to our discussion, for good or for worse. Luckily, it all went off without a hitch, as he was able to answer each of my questions in an almost poetic manner, making it evident that he was a wordsmith in conversation as well as in his lyrics. 

Although it may seem a little tedious at this point, I decided to start off our conversation by asking him how his life during the pandemic had been (I knew it couldn't have been all bad, since here he was touring his brand new album, but still, I was curious). In particular, I wanted to know how he was able to remain productive and creative during a time of such stress and confusion. Droney explained to me that when he realized he wasn't going to play live for a while, he turned back to songwriting, but with a new purpose. He told me, "I realized my responsibility as an artist right now is to help people connect with each other in a time when they have to be apart. I created the record around this emotional core that I think would be absent from this album [State of the Heart] if the pandemic didn't happen. When everything went haywire, I felt a powerful desire to bring people together. That allowed me to become very purposeful with my music. I put my head down and made this album with intentionality. So in that way, this time inspired me." When I pressed him further on this point, asking if the extremes of the time are what led him to this place of creating art with a new purpose, he said that was true, that it helped him get past the ego of his creations and move more towards relatability. "I really focused on —how can I make this music the best representation of something that can be digested and help people."

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At his show, it was clear that Droney was not just a musically-inclined man with a talent for writing tear-jerking lyrics and playing intense guitar riffs, but he was someone who was deeply loved by his fans. Not once, not twice, but multiple times throughout the show, someone in the audience would call out to the singer, "I love you!" in various levels of coherence. Every time, Droney would quickly shoot back, "I love you too," before continuing on with his set. This fan-artist relationship can also be seen on Droney's social media. On his Instagram, his posts are constantly flooded with positive messages and fawning over the musician.

I asked Droney about his personal relationship with social media and if he felt like it was more of a negative or positive influence, not only in the world but also in his life. He let me know, "I have a positive relationship with it only because I feel like it's the conduit between me and my fans" (he truly has a special connection with his fans). Although his side of the internet seems to be as loving and communal as his live shows felt, he did admit that sometimes social media can harm more than help, "I think that it can get very convoluted and distracting from reality, and without the proper boundaries it can agitate mental health issues if left unchecked. In the end, as with most things, it is all about balance." Ultimately, when looking at social media as a tool, Droney conveyed how invaluable it was to him and other growing artists during the lockdown. He explained, "As an artist who put out a record in a pandemic, being able to utilize the internet/social media to put on virtual shows was an incredible way for me to connect with my fans, so I think I have a newfound respect for these platforms that make it so we are all able to talk to people from around the world at any time, it has me in awe sometimes."

Patrick's little corner of the internet is also made that much more enjoyable by his Instagram aesthetics and captions. I quoted one of his captions back to him that was as follows: "We're all just kids out here dreaming while the metal rusts, and it sure feels good to be lost together." He gave a slight chuckle before explaining that this particular caption is part of a series of posts that he calls "Regarding," which are meant to expand on and give context to some of the lyrics from his debut album State of the Heart. "That post, for instance, was about the idea that fire escapes are this metaphor for those moments where we take a step outside, talk about the real thing, take a breath with each other, and kind of get down to the brass tacks." His answer to my question about his already poetic post being equally poetic really made me feel like I was talking to a true artist. As a writer, speaking in prose is something that I love to do, and when talking with Droney, every word felt steeped in something unnamable — something I also felt while listening to his music. 

PHOTOGRAPHER: ANA CHONG

Maybe what I was feeling in our conversation was Droney's down-to-earth nature and the wisdom that simmered just underneath his surface. He calls himself a "tale of three cities," because he has lived in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville (where he now resides). Each city seems to have contributed to his music in distinct ways. The occasional country twang in his music is beautifully paired with his songs' pop and acoustic elements, but live, he is all New York, all guitar-riffs and sweat, and somehow, a relaxed intensity. Starting in New York, he hit it big early with a publishing deal at 19 and later moved to Los Angeles to find himself. He calls his time in Los Angeles his "question years," and he calls his current time in Nashville "answer years." Although he loves where he is right now, he explained to me that his "heart is always in New York City." I asked him if he thought he would move back to New York sometime in the future, and he smiled broadly. "I'd love to. Right now I am wherever the music takes me. Nashville is an amazing place, and there's a real community of songwriters there, but I'm just excited to go on the road and not really be anywhere in particular, be everywhere at once. But New York will always be my end goal."

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Not only a singer and a songwriter, but Droney also likes to have a hand in all of the various aspects of his music production. "I really feel like, if it's not coming from me in those places, then it's not as authentic as I'd like it to be." But that being said, he still values and actively seeks out collaborations in his work. He told me that collaborating with other artists while working on his music is very much where a lot of the magic comes from. Although Droney seems to enjoy every aspect of creating new songs, it is when a project finally falls into place that he feels the most excited. "I think songs are like fossils. I look at the art of making music as just brushing off and revealing things that were always there. In the music creation process, we're just lucky enough to stumble upon them. Music production is all about what happens at that moment. When a project comes to fruition, it really feels like, ‘Oh, my God, this used to not exist, but now it is here, and I can't live without it.’" 

Honing in on Droney's album State of the Heart (currently streaming everywhere), I wanted to know his goal for the overall feel of the album.  On my first listen-through of the whole record, the feelings I got from the songs were biting nostalgia and grief. Grief for people lost, maybe, but my general sense was that it was, in fact, grief for a past self or a chapter of one's life that had ended. This type of melancholic yet bittersweet feeling is ultimately what is compelling and relatable about Droney's new album. "We're all experiencing the human condition. At the same time, we all have different versions of what that means. That being said, ultimately everybody experiences the same things, just in different ways. So for me, grief is a huge theme of this album. We're all grieving what's behind us. There's a song called "Glitter" on the record, which is very much summing up all of my feelings about grief. I just wanted to articulate my story, which has a lot of loss and has a lot of coming to terms with growing up and with what happens along the way. In this case, the little details really matter because they are what make people say, 'Oh, my gosh, I experienced that, too.' And sharing grief lessens its effects." When I asked if it was mostly an album about closing on a chapter of his life, or an album about opening a new one, he said it all felt like a long journey to the beginning. "It's been so many years, I've accrued so much experience, so much history, and so many people have helped me to get to this place where there's a body of work that I'm so proud of. Now, here I am, at the start."

PHOTOGRAPHER: ANA CHONG

"Glitter" is one of his particularly popular songs on the new album. Scrolling through the comments on the music video (that has over 200,000 views), one can see the outpouring of love and gratitude that many have for this song, with one woman even writing that this song had helped her “live again.” I personally was drawn to this track because grief is a state of being I am well acquainted with, as many of us are, in all of its various forms. Droney had a lot to say when I asked about the inspiration behind this particular track. "My mom is a grief counselor, so I have always had educated conversations about grief. And it's just like you mentioned earlier, there are so many different colors of grief. It's not just about losing a person that you love, it can be about losing a part of yourself or a time in your life, but I feel like it's essential to talk about and to realize you can make it a beautiful part of your life because it's never going to go away. That song really gave me a purpose as a songwriter because of the connection I felt with people through it. Them sharing their stories and being vulnerable with me about what they've lost in their grief is probably the most important thing I've experienced in my life so far." As an artist, especially one with an incredibly connected fanbase, I wanted to know how Droney felt, knowing that people were looking up to him and looking to his music for answers or comfort. "It's an honor. I look at it how I look at my little brother, Connor, who is my best friend. He's five years younger than me, and he's my guy. But the way I look at my path is, I'm happy to go through anything first; experience the pain so I am able to help him get past the roadblocks and whatever comes ahead for him. And if my experience and the conveyance of my experience in my songs help people maybe understand their own lives better or get to a place of better understanding within, I really want to do that. I'm here for it."

As a writer who is often caught in long dragging moments where I lack the inspiration to write even the simplest sentence, I wanted to know what Droney did when he felt his creative energy drain out of him, or if that ever happened to him at all. He explained to me, "it's important to take a break, especially when you're chasing something so important to you. If this year taught me anything, it's that taking time for yourself, taking care of yourself; these are things that you have to do that will help your art in the long run. You know, you have to live to write. If you're not living, what will you write about?"

PHOTOGRAPHER: ANA CHONG

Droney's past, and his hopes for the future, heavily inform his own writing. As a young adult, he admits he was incredibly ambitious and always wanting more. If he had to give his younger self advice, he would remind himself of a quote that his grandfather wrote in one of his journals: "I've made peace with myself somewhere between my ambition and my limitation." Droney doesn't seem like the kind of guy who regrets his past errors. Instead, he weaves them into the fabric of his life as a part of himself that he accepts without shame. To him, forgiving oneself is incredibly important and is essential to moving forward. For someone like Droney, the future seems extremely bright. "I see myself a couple records deep, touring as much as possible, experiencing my community growing. The best part about this record has really been finding my fans. I hope that we're all further down the line collectively and experiencing different things together in five years. If my audience grows, that would be amazing, but what is most important to me is just to remain authentic to this path and journey and stay true to this arc, my arc, which is all about making honest music."

Listen to Patrick Droney’s new record State of the Heart everywhere now, and check to see if his tour is coming to a city near you!