spill tab’s highly anticipated debut record ‘ANGIE’ is the rising artist’s love letter to herself, a joyful and wondrous project basking in its authenticity.

Stream: ‘ANGIE’ – spill tab

If you don’t currently know spill tab, it’ll only be a matter of time before you do.

Claire Chicha, known under the name spill tab, releases her debut record ANGIE on May 16^th via Because Music.

The LA-based, French-Korean artist is a singer/songwriter and producer. With five years in the making, ANGIE arrives as a wonderful product of spill tab’s play, wonder, and experimentation. Partnering with collaborators like Solomonophonic (Remi Wolf), Marinelli (FINNEAS), and John Hill (Charli xcx and Foals), ANGIE is a resounding success in representing a jigsaw of Chicha herself. Mirroring her own consumptions of music, ANGIE is a joyful homage to what making music is all about.

ANGIE is a dynamic record that still hones the precision of an artist who knows exactly what she’s doing. Titled after the song on the record “Angie,” the record is representative of Chicha’s ever-evolving growth as a person and an artist. After moving cross-continents throughout her youth, Chicha cites music as her community and collaboration to be at the core of music-making. This is certainly mirrored in her debut record; the fragmentation of identities and influences spread throughout the twelve tracks nod to her diverse range of influences and past selves.

After the distorted sonics of her 2023 EP Klepto, and her electronic oscillations in her 2021 EP Bonnie, ANGIE is a culmination of this range and then some. From the eclectic mix in “PINK LEMONADE,” the balladry of “wet veneer,” and the expansive soundscapes of “by Design” – ANGIE crosses bounds of genre, form and style, even nodding to her French side with French tracks like “De Guerre” and “Assis.”

ANGIE also arrives as the first project Chicha has done after departing from her last record label, making the album independent all throughout its conception.

She shares that this allowed her to cut out the noise and truly make music unabashedly experimental and boundless.

We got to sit down with Chicha ahead of the record’s release, discussing her life in music so far and the creative conception of ANGIE.

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:: stream/purchase ANGIE here ::

:: connect with spill tab here ::

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Stream: “wet veneer” – spill tab

A CONVERSATION WITH SPILL TAB

Atwood Magazine: We’re officially two weeks away from the official release! How are you feeling?

spill tab: Yeah, yeah. I’m nervous. Like, I’m definitely a little freaked out and nervous, and just excited to share it, for sure. Excited for it to be out. I feel like especially in these last couple of days, just preparing for everything feels really scary. But I think that just kind of comes with the territory, you know? Like, I care about it so much, and I just want it to be received the way I made it, which is impossible, because people are going to take from it what they resonate with. Which totally makes sense. But yeah, I’m definitely nervous, but also really excited.

How long was it in the making?

spill tab: Um, I think actively two years, but there’s songs are there that I started in, like, 2020, so like five years ago.

This is such a dynamic album that spans loads of different production techniques and vocal arrangements, songwriting styles, genres, language even – can you delve a bit more into that and what it was like making this, or maybe how this reflects your style as a creative?

spill tab: I think the making of it was really collaborative and grounded in wanting to incorporate the different things all these producers bring to the table. There are so many people across this album, and for me, the goal was to create something that was both dynamic – like you said – and weird, with each track feeling distinct and identifiable, while still having a clear through line. I wanted there to be a consistent voice that ties everything together into one world. So yeah, I’m hoping that’s what comes across.

I think that absolutely does! Coming back to what you said earlier about how you were hoping that people take it the way you made it, but that might not be the case.

spill tab: Yeah, thank you so much! One of my biggest fears going into it was that it would feel disjointed or too all over the place, like it wasn’t coming from the same place. Because at the end of the day, the lyrics and the experiences are all mine. I wrote everything, and it’s really important to me that it feels like it’s coming from one person. At the same time, I wanted to respect the fact that I have a really wide taste in music. I love so many different genres, and I wanted that to be reflected. So yeah, I wanted the album to represent me as fully as possible. I do think it achieves that. It covers a lot of different bases, but it still feels really connected. And I think that also reflects how people consume music now. A lot of artists say their album is dynamic and shows their range, but the songs end up sounding the same. This one actually sounds different.

You also have some really fantastic collaborators on the record. Would you say that collaboration is quite important in your work?

spill tab: Oh, yeah. Collaboration is everything in my work. I think making music by yourself can be really lonely. I know a few artists I really admire who do everything on their own, and that’s so sacred and beautiful in its own way. But I feel much more in my element, and way more excited, when I get to work with other people. Being in a room with people – who have now become friends – and creating music together, there’s nothing more fun than bouncing ideas around and collectively feeling that moment when something just clicks. For me, collaboration is really at the core of why I love making music. I feel a much stronger sense of community when I get to create with others. Music can be a solitary thing, it doesn’t have to be, but it often is, and I love what it becomes when it’s shared.

I wanted to ask a bit about your background as well, and your international upbringing and cultural roots. you’ve cited an adaptability that you’ve honed because of moving around so much, how does that inform your music?

spill tab: Yeah, I think it definitely does. Moving around a lot at a young age was really tough. I was about 11 or 12 when it started. Right after fifth grade, I was sent to a new school where I didn’t know anyone. Then I moved to Thailand, and again, I didn’t know anyone in that class. Then I moved to Paris, same thing. I was constantly the new kid during these really formative years of my life. And while I’ve made beautiful friendships from each place – some of which I still have today – it was really lonely. It’s hard to keep starting over like that. So I think that’s a big part of why having a group of people I can lean on and make music with feels so meaningful. Doing this full-time, as my actual job, would feel a lot scarier without that infrastructure, without the people I can create with and lean on through the process.

Tell me a bit more about your influences, the album has such a dynamic range to them!

spill tab: I don’t know if you ever get this too, but the best songs are the ones where you can imagine a whole visual world, like a movie playing out in your head while you’re listening. I definitely feel that way. When I listen to my favorite songs, I can almost see a story unfolding, or characters evolving and existing in this imagined space. That was something I wanted to lean into with some of these songs. When I could feel a visual world forming around the music, I tried to follow that instinct.

Like with “Assis” in French – when we started working on the instrumental, it already felt like an old ’50s movie set in Italy or along the French or Amalfi coast. I pictured someone driving a little Vespa, or cruising in a convertible with a scarf tied around their head, smoking a cigarette. I wanted to lean into that whole vibe, and part of that meant writing the song in French and letting it exist fully in that world. So yeah, the visual element really influences how I move through a song as it evolves and becomes what it’s meant to be.

Were you listening to anyone or consuming anything specific at all?

spill tab: I think the album was made over such a long period of time that there wasn’t really one core piece of media I was watching or listening to that influenced it as a whole. But over the years, I definitely started getting into certain artists who really shaped how I think about music. Later on, I got really into Bon Iver, Moses Sumney, and Alex G. And in 2020, when SZA’s Ctrl and then 19 Masters came out, that became a big influence too. There are a lot of different inspirations across time that shaped what I find interesting in music-making.

Incorporating live trumpet and live strings was kind of a longtime dream of mine – something I’ve wanted to do ever since I first heard Moses Sumney’s Aromanticism. He uses a lot of orchestral elements in his work, and that was really the beginning of me wanting to explore that in my own music too. So yeah, it’s been cool – this album felt like a space where a lot of those longtime dreams finally came to life.

It sounds like you’ve had many different musical identities throughout your life, culminating in what it is now. How would you sum up that trajectory?

spill tab: Yeah, I think the few first I think, yeah, it’s. It’s interesting to see that I like, took kind of a really long time to make a debut album. I think in part, I really wanted to experiment the most I could before deciding what, like the first album would sound like and what it would be.. So I feel like a lot of those, like three EPs were just me, like, literally just experimenting and trying everything and wanting to discover what I like and what I don’t like through just like trying it. So I think this album is really interesting because I think it utilises a lot of those elements that I’ve moved through across three EPs, but it’s like a more mature evolution of that. Like, I think when I discovered that I love distortion, we were using it like a lot. and I love that, that we’re using it a lot, but I feel like this album is like, there’s still a lot of distortion, but it feels much more elegant and much more intentionally placed, which is like an example of like kind of taking the elements from like prior songs and like evolving it into this into this like full length project.

What would you say that this project symbolises to you in the trajectory of your career?

spill tab: It’s probably my favourite music that I’ve made up to date, and the most special grouping of songs that I’ve ever made. I hope that those who have been following my music for a long time can feel that. Everything is so meticulously designed and made to be exactly what it is, right down to the millisecond. It’s interesting to look back and realize that I took kind of a really long time to make a debut album. I think part of that was because I really wanted to experiment as much as I could before deciding what the first album would sound like, and what it would be. So I feel like a lot of those three EPs were literally just me experimenting, trying everything, and wanting to discover what I like and what I don’t like just by doing it.

This album is really interesting because it uses a lot of the elements I moved through across those EPs, but it feels like a more mature evolution of them. Like, when I discovered how much I love distortion, we started using it a lot. And I love that we did! But I feel like, on this album, there’s still a lot of distortion, it’s just more elegant, and more intentionally placed. That’s just one example of how I took things from earlier songs and evolved them into this full-length project.

Why did you call the album ANGIE? I know that's a track on the record as well, so why was this track the standout to you for the record's namesake?

spill tab: Yeah, I really liked the idea of naming the album after, like, a little girl’s name, because it kind of feels like my baby. It’s my important child. And also, that song, “Angie,” really spoke to a difficult time in the process of making art. Like, I really hated my life when I first started doing music full-time. I just felt like I’d lost the focus, the core of what making music was supposed to be. I was doing so many sessions with new people, constantly, and while I’m really happy I did it now because I met all these incredible people I love and still work with, those early days were really hard. The learning curve was painful.

And I think that started translating into this feeling that I wasn’t good enough, like I wasn’t actually good at what I was doing. So ANGIE is kind of about looking back at that time and going, damn, that sucks that I was so harsh on myself. And it’s also a message to future me, because I know it’s going to happen again. Life moves in cycles. You go in and out of feeling good about yourself. I’m hoping that as I get older, those phases get shorter and less intense, but I know they’ll still come around. So yeah, ANGIE is about trying to learn how to be less mean to myself. It’s like me talking to the version of me from that time.

And yeah, it haunts me, in a way. So naming the album that felt like a reminder to myself that these moments are temporary – it’s not always going to feel like that. And also, I just liked the idea of how confusing it can be when you’re looking at a song on the radio or on a screen in the car and you can’t tell what’s the name of the song and what’s the name of the artist. Like, someone might think ‘Angie’ is the artist and “Spilled Out” is the song, just because I say “Angie” in it. I kind of love that. It’s funny and a little disorienting in a good way.

I also really like this idea of ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘uninhibited creativity’ that you lead with on this project. I sometimes feel like maybe this unabashed play is something that is lost to the whims of the industry and the ‘artist brand.’ Was this something really intentional for you when you were making the record?

spill tab: Yeah, I think that really came through in part because I made a very conscious decision. Like, before I even started this album, I was still with a major label, and we basically stopped working together. They told me, essentially, that they wouldn’t be promoting my next album. And at that point, I was just like – okay.

A lot of the difficulty I had with being on a label was that I know myself, and I know I can be really people-pleasing. It’s hard for me to hear feedback and not let it hit me to my core. It can totally affect my gut instincts about something. So I made a really intentional choice: I wasn’t going to shop the album around or seek out a new label or partnership until it was almost done – until the soul of it was intact and there were elements that couldn’t be changed.

That year or so when I was just working on music without a label was really important to the conception of the album. It made me completely free – completely void of outside influence. I think that’s why it sounds so playful and unfiltered. I never had that voice in the back of my head asking, “Is this commercial enough?” or “Is this too weird?”

And it’s no one’s fault, some artists can receive feedback and just let it roll off. But I know myself well enough to know that I internalize it. So making the album with zero outside input was really liberating. It was just me, myself, and what I wanted to do with it.

What was amazing is that when I eventually did find a new partnership – this French label called Because – they were incredible. That partnership happened only after the album was done. I wanted to work with someone who would either be like, “I love this as it is, let’s go,” or, “This isn’t quite what we’re looking for,” and that would be fine too. I just didn’t want that weird middle ground of, “We kinda get it, but maybe it could be more like this…”

So yeah, it worked out in this beautiful way. I got to create the album exactly how I wanted, and then found a team that believes in it for what it is. I’m really proud of the direction I took, deciding to protect the process like that.

OK - visuals. You have some really cool music videos, we have to talk about those. Personally I really like “Hold Me,” it’s so tender and meaningful.

spill tab: Yeah, I love that one a lot too. That one was really fun. I ended up working with these two guys – Neema and Ethan – who go by the directing name sweetiepie. They directed all the videos and visuals for this album, and I just love the way they work. They’re super scrappy in the best way. They operate at such a high level, but they’re also not afraid to get their hands dirty and figure out how to make things happen by any means necessary.

They’re both incredible directors, but they bring really different strengths to the table. Neema comes more from the DP world, he’s an amazing cinematographer and has this really clear, elevated visual sensibility. Ethan, on the other hand, is an amazing narrative director. He’s great at crafting a story arc and pulling a through line together. So together, it’s like this yin and yang dynamic, they balance each other out perfectly. They don’t just create beautiful images, but also strong concepts that really hold everything together.

Working with them on “Hold Me” was especially special. That one started out as just a visualiser, it was supposed to be a series of simple, intimate frames: moments with my friends, my mom, my partner. But they brought so much to it, and it ended up feeling like a full music video to me. One that just perfectly captures the spirit of the song.

Honestly, even if we’d had a bigger budget, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it any differently. I really think it was exactly what that song needed. They’re such a great directing duo.

I think my favourites on the record are “by Design” and “Want Me.” I personally wanted to ask you more about those specifically – but also if you have any standout tracks on the record?

spill tab: I mean, “by Design” – I love that one so much. I love all the different directions it takes. It just keeps you on your toes in the best way. And Wet Veneer has always been a really special one to me. I remember the very first day we made it, I was like, this has to be on something. I just felt so connected to it. It already felt really meaningful, and then when we added that trumpet solo, it elevated it even more. It felt cinematic in a way that made it even more personal.

Honestly, what’s really cool about the album is that it’s just all my favorite songs. I didn’t want to include anything I didn’t feel 100% proud of. The whole idea was to collect the songs I’m most excited about and put them in one place. So it’s really satisfying to see them all living together on one project.

I’ve definitely had different favorites at different times. Like, I went through a phase where “Assis” was my favorite, and then it was “Angie,” and then for a while I was all about “Wet Veneer.” I had a moment where I was convinced “Adore Me” was the one. I think I’ve just cycled through them all. Which I guess kind of means I don’t have a favorite – but also, that’s what makes the album feel so full.

You’ve toured for some really cool artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Wallows. What was that like?

spill tab: Oh yeah, those tours were a little while ago now, but I feel like they were really helpful in showing me which songs actually hit live. Like, once I was able to put the music out and perform it, it became clear which songs really shined on stage, and which ones didn’t land as well. And honestly, it’s never the ones you expect! It’s kind of funny. There were songs where I thought, people are going to love this one live, and then they’d get more of a muted response. And then there were others I didn’t think would stand out, and they’d end up being the ones that people were super into.

Do you think that those tours informed your style as a performer, and maybe your approach going into making the album?

spill tab: You know, I think when I was making my third EP, I was touring a lot, and the production and songwriting were very live-focused. I really wanted to create an EP that would translate well on stage – something that could hit in a live setting. But with this album, I’d been home for the past year and a half, and that gave me the space to really centre myself and focus inward. I had the chance to just write and create from a more personal, introspective place.

So I think this album leans a lot less into what works live and more into creativity – into the joy of experimenting with production, songwriting, and vocal processing. It was more about tinkering and exploring new ideas than about trying to make the loudest or most distorted thing possible.

spill tab 'ANGIE' © Neema Sadeghi — spill tab ‘ANGIE’ © Neema Sadeghi

How did this record help you to grow as an artist?

spill tab: I think the biggest thing it gave me was just more confidence in myself. Before, I was really second-guessing a lot of the choices I was making, creatively and otherwise. But with this record, I allowed myself to trust my instincts more. I gave myself permission to be confident in the decisions I was making, and that was something really special.

What do you hope listeners will take away from the record?

spill tab: I think the hope is that it resonates with people, that they can see parts of their own stories reflected in the album, and feel a sense of home or shared experience in it. That’s always been the dream, really. Music has always been healing for me. I listen to it when I’m sad, sometimes just to feel even more sad, but somehow that’s healing, too. This album is really personal to me, and I guess the hope is that it can feel personal for others as well.

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