The Army, The Navy Air Their "Dirty Laundry": Rising Duo Talk Touring, New Music, Mantras, & the Power of Community

Rising pop duo The Army, The Navy speak with Atwood Magazine about their first headlining tour, the importance of fostering fulfilling relationships with fans, and their new music due this spring.

Stream: “Dirty Laundry” – The Army, The Navy

At the time The Army, The Navy and I are connecting for this interview, it’s the first night of their debut headlining tour.

They’re cooped up in a hotel room in Phoenix, Arizona, buzzing with excitement, nervousness, and immense gratitude all at once. “It feels absolutely surreal,” shares Maia Ciambrello, one half of the duo. “It feels real and big and exciting and scary! We are just so unbelievably lucky and grateful to be on this journey, especially with people who mean so much to us.”

The Army, The Navy, a duo made up of childhood friends Sasha Goldberg and Maia Ciambriello, have been on a meteoric rise over the past year. From going viral on TikTok for their intricate harmonies, to releasing their sister EPs Fruit for Flies and Sugar for Bugs (released via New Gold Medal), to opening for Dora Jar’s 2024 No Way to Relax When You Are On Fire Tour, Goldberg and Ciambriello have amassed a cult-following of dedicated listeners, online and in real life.

The origin story of The Army, The Navy is, at its core, a story of the power of friendship; it is a tale of two friends with a lifelong love of music and a profound belief in each other taking over the world, one heart-wrenching song at a time.

Having both grown up in the Bay Area, Goldberg and Ciambriello took voice lessons from the same vocal coach, Amber Morris. Encouraged by Morris to apply to Loyola University New Orleans to study music, the two singers ended up moving to the south and sharing a dorm room. It was there that they became close friends, got matching tattoos, and joined musical forces.

The rest is history in the making.

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:: stream/purchase Dirty Laundry here ::

:: connect with The Army, The Navy here ::

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A CONVERSATION WITH THE ARMY, THE NAVY

Atwood Magazine: Congratulations on your first headlining tour you guys, that is so huge. To see how far you’ve come, even just over the past year alone, has been an incredible journey to witness. Is there anything you’re looking forward to most on tour?

The Army, The Navy: Everything. We’re so excited, we don’t know what to expect. We’re just so stoked to see people in the audience that know the songs and hopefully meet as many of them as we can. That’s always our favorite part.

You’ve opened for some amazing artists pretty recently, one of them being Dora Jar! How, if at all, did that experience help prepare you for this tour?

TATN: We’ve realized headlining is a completely different experience than opening. We had more free time, we drove across the country in a Chrysler Pacifica, and we pretty much just came into each venue with our guitars and a bag of merch. Now that we are headlining we have a whole set to build each night, connected to lights, we’re in a huge van with a trailer attached, we’re always go go go. Sasha and I thrive when we’re busy, and we’re grateful to have some other experiences of touring under our belts. We’ve become expert packers and have found routines that really work for us.

That’s so awesome. Let’s talk a little bit about the new music for a moment: “Dirty Laundry” is your first single of 2025! You’ve previewed snippets of it on social media over the past few months, and those videos have resonated with so many people. What does this song mean to you guys, and what made now feel like the right time to release it?

TATN: This song was something we wrote a long time ago and recently revived. We honestly weren’t sure if it belonged anywhere, but after posting a video of us singing it and it gaining traction, we wanted to bring it to the world. The song is fun, more of a pop sound for us. It’s playful and makes me want to put my body out of the sunroof while driving on the interstate. We started working on this song such a long time ago and just recently came back to it and finished it. It feels like a great next step for us.

Would you say this single is the mark of a new beginning or a continuation of the sister projects Fruit for Flies and Sugar for Bugs?

TATN: Yes and no! I think our sound will always be our sound. However as we develop as artists, our music will too. It’ll continue to mature and grow with us. “Dirty Laundry” lives in more of a pop world, which we love, but I see our next project existing in the same sort of indie world as our EPs, with a touch of pop, and more elevated. More polished. Even more The Army, The Navy.

Recently, you did a ticket giveaway on social media and gifted the winners a phone call personally congratulating them. That post ended up blowing up and receiving hundreds of entries from supporters across the country. I thought that the whole idea was so sweet, and that it was executed so beautifully. It was a testament of just how strong of a community you’ve built around your music. What’s the experience been like meeting and connecting with your supporters?

TATN: Nourishing our community is so important and fulfilling for us. Meeting our listeners is our favorite thing in the world. It makes everything so unbelievably real for us. It’s one of the greatest pleasures. We’ve created close bonds with many of our listeners, one including sweet Stephany. Stephany is a discord mod for us and she works her ass off and has created such a beautiful and welcoming community for our listeners to bond in. Her dedication to the music is inspiring for us and we’re so lucky to have met her.

That’s so beautiful, thank you for sharing that.
You’ve worked so hard to get to where you are, and it doesn’t look like y’all are slowing down any time soon. I find your work ethic to be so admirable, and at the same time, I wonder how you make time to take care of yourselves– mentally, emotionally, even physically. What are some things that keep you feeling grounded in the midst of everything you’ve got going on?

TATN: Sometimes that can be challenging. Since being an artist is our sole source of income, and we live together, there is no “clocking out”, there is no going home and turning your work brain off. We’re always discussing something TATN. Luckily, this works for Sasha and I. We are able to balance our work with relaxation and we try to never overwork ourselves. We veg out and eat pasta and watch RuPaul’s drag race. We sleep. We spend time with our friends. It also helps that making music is our favorite thing in the world!

What has been your favorite part about working with each other?

TATN: Everything. Truly. Learning together is such an honor. We are compatible people and it’s a blessing that we found each other and share a love for music. Writing together is one of my favorite parts. With every song we write together, it’s like we understand each other even more. Since we grew up in the same hometown, many of our experiences are similar, which makes it easier for us to illustrate certain ideas in our music.

How would you say you two have grown over the years?

TATN: Naturally as we’ve gotten older, we’ve matured and learned how to productively and proactively work together. We’ve learned how to communicate with each other, to be honest with each other, to be vulnerable together, to be patient with each other. Though we do business together, we are friends first, and we always honor that. Sometimes it’s like we share a mind, which is funny because Sasha and I are pretty different people – which is also probably why we click so well! It’s our mind, it’s our mind, it’s our magic.

Speaking of, one of my favorite lines from your music is the outro/mantra on “Play the Music”: what comes to me is mine / it’s our mind, it’s our mind, it’s our magic. What role, if any, does manifestation play in your music careers and lives?

TATN: We are superstitious. We wish on every 11:11. We believe in karma. I think that mantra in “Play the Music” just resonates with all of those things. We believe we receive the energy we put out into the world and into our music. We lead with kindness, we have strong aligned moral compasses. We surround ourselves with people who share those morals and lift us up. We prioritize people, relationships and joy.

Beautiful. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to talk. Is there anything else you’d like to share?

TATN: Thanks again for reaching out, we love you!

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