Thank you for taking the time to have this interview with IMAAI.
Tell us about your music.
I think there’s good and bad music in every genre, but if I had to narrow it down, I’d say my music exists at the meeting ground between electronic, funk, R&B, and pop. I call it cyberfunk.
When did you start performing?
I’ve been making music since I started playing the double bass in 3rd grade. Around the same time, I started messing around on Garageband (eventually I switched to Logic) and I’ve been producing and composing ever since.
What do you consider to be your hometown and how does that affect your music?
I was born in Rome. The earliest dream I can remember was of my mother being crucified. It was pretty visceral and violent. There were shrieking demons flying all around me as I looked up at her mangled body on the cross. Suddenly the demons transformed into angels and began chanting in unison that everything was going to be ok. I think I was 5 years old at the time.
I was raised agnostic, but my parents both appreciated the aesthetic value of Roman Catholic art, so we visited all the churches. We always lit a candle for my Nonna Rosa. And my father insists that Catholicism is buried in my psyche whether I like it or not.
I’m not sure what exactly this reveals about my music, but I know for a fact that it was a unique blessing to grow up in close proximity to such powerful ancient archetypes. And that moving from Rome to the rustbelt of Pennsylvania gave the feeling of Nostalgia a whole new meaning.
What performers have been your inspiration?
I drove from Pittsburgh to New York and back in a day to see Kraftwerk play for the first time last June. If my life were a movie, the soundtrack to my childhood would include songs like The Robots, Neon Lights, and Autobahn. The contrast between the ancient ruins of Rome and the futuristic sounds of Kraftwerk was striking.
A lot of my influences can be traced back to the symbiotic relationship between Germany and Detroit in the 80s and 90s. I recently read an interview in which they asked Dr. Dre what he was listening to most those days. He said Kraftwerk. I was not surprised. Dre’s 2001 album is a masterpiece.
Everything Missy Elliott does inspires me. D’Angelo has also loomed large throughout my life. In middle school, I listened to the Black Eyed Peas on the school bus every day. More recently, Sad Night Dynamite and Rosalía have had such an impact that I dream about them on the regular.
What do you base your success on?
My idea of success rests on the pillars of full ownership, creative autonomy, and financial literacy. Independent artists have more power now than ever before, and it’s only increasing. My goal is to be able to make a living by channeling the creative impulse on my own terms.
What was your latest musical release?
My latest release, “No Guru”, is actually a song I wrote years ago. Spiritual guides are indispensable, but ultimately I think truth, wisdom, and authenticity can only come from an inner sense of knowing. It’s easy to do what someone with more spiritual clout tells us to do. The real work is developing my own way of being in the world through lived experience. That’s one of the lessons that inspired this release.
Do you have any news to share?
My upcoming release, “FUNCOOL”, is the first song I’ve ever written in Italian. Channeling that aspect of my heritage has opened up a whole new dimension of Princess Nostalgia’s voice. Rapping in English never felt authentic to me, but Italian has loosened my inhibitions in that regard. It’s also more interesting to me rhythmically at this time in my life.
How can fans find you?
Everything you need to know about me can be found at linktr.ee/princessnostalgia
Lastly, please share some final words with the fans.
I’ve been dealing with a serious problem. A sinister artificial intelligence named Princess Nostalgia Avatar recently started to hack into my social media accounts and has, among other things, been publishing a series of cheeky interviews with me that mock the Guru and Disciple dynamic. She has uploaded me into the cloud, forces me to write songs while feeding me a strict diet of ones and zeros, and tries to take all the credit – so I have to set the record straight: I produce and write all of my own songs!