Blondshell on Baring Her Soul for Her New Album: ‘99% of It Is Autobiographical’

Blondshell, the stage name of Sabrina Teitelbaum, says she named her second album, If You Asked for a Picture, after a line from Mary Oliver’s poem, Dogfish, because it’s “about the idea of how much of yourself do you share with other people.”

“Not in the sense of I’m a musician putting out an album and how much do I share with my listeners,” she explains. “It’s, if I’m talking to you person-to-person, and we’re friends, we’re in a relationship or we’re just meeting, how much do I feel like sharing with you? I love the idea that I can just give you a little snapshot, and you’ll get it.”

If You Asked for a Picture, which drops May 2 on Partisan Records, is a series of brave, bold, frank and largely autobiographical snapshots juxtaposed with her trademark crunchy guitar riffs, a handful of ballads and some seriously gorgeous background vocals by hers truly. Take her latest single, “23’s a Baby,” which angrily questions the choices of a young mother — hints in the lyrics suggest its her own, who died in 2018 — but the honeyed aah-aah-aahs that Blondshell, 28, adds throughout the song offset the rancor in a way that creates a fascinating bit of cognitive dissonance: it’s a tragedy that you want to sing at the top of your lungs.

Another grunge-flavored earworm, “What’s Fair,” appears to take more direct aim at a mother, and there are songs about ambivalent relationships, body image and identity, but If You Asked for a Picture — which, like her self-titled first album was produced by Yves Rothman — is beautiful, not bereft, an alt-rock catharsis with nods to the ’80s and ’90s. And though Blondshell says that the lion’s share of her songs come from personal experience, the back stories are not up for discussion: She wants her fans to develop their own snapshots with her music.

If You Asked for a Picture is the latest high water mark in a fruitful year for Blondshell. Last spring saw her release “Docket,” a standalone banger with Bully (Alicia Bognanno) that has racked up 4.3 million plays on Spotify, and a hypnotic cover of Talking Heads‘ “Thank You for Sending Me An Angel,” which was among the standout cuts on last year’s Stop Making Sense tribute album.

In this sitdown with Billboard, Blondshell discusses her love for the Heads, her collaboration with Bully and a number of ideas, inspirations and concepts behind her new album. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)

You’ve said this album is about asking questions of yourself. What state of mind were you in when you wrote these songs?

The first songs on the album are the first songs that I wrote for the album, so I wanted it to feel like picking up where I left off. I wasn’t intentionally feeling like, oh, I want to ask questions in the songs. It was after the fact that I thought, I guess I was asking more questions than making declarative statements. On the first album. I felt, if I’m going to record and put out music, I must be a thousand percent sure about what I’m saying. By nature of being a little bit more confident [this time], I was able to be like no, I don’t have to know one hundred percent. I can ask, is this relationship working? Is this how I want to live my life? All these different things that were coming up.

You’ve established a recognizable sound, and yet, on this album, that sound is more expansive.

Yeah, I did not want to have some huge departure. I needed to think of it as another 12 songs. But there were things [on the last album] where I thought, I would have done that differently. For example, I’m a huge background vocals person. That’s my favorite part of Fleetwood Mac and all these records that I really love. I love how it’s a whole landscape. Before we even started, I knew I wanted that to be a massive part of the record. I also wanted there to be more textures. Last time, we had a couple of textures on the record that helped define that album. I wanted those, but I also wanted new ones.

Were you inspired by any artists you were listening to in the lead-up to writing and recording?

It’s always what I happen to be listening to around that time. I was listening to a lot of R.E.M. Obviously, they’re this celebrated rock band, but it’s really about the songwriting. They’re comfortable having these big, fun, rock songs — but also “Everybody Hurts.” So, I felt I had more permission to do the big rock band thing and ballads, too.

The lyrics on both of your albums paint very personal scenarios. How autobiographical are your songs?

Like 99.9% is autobiographical, and it’s often about people that I love.

So, “23’s a Baby,” is about someone you know having a baby at a very young age?

Kind of. There’s also conceptual stuff that comes up.

You’re being metaphorical as well.  

Yeah, that happens, but the only way that I can write is to write about stuff that I feel the biggest feelings about. I wouldn’t personally feel that way if I were able to just pull it out of the air. It all has to come from somewhere.

One of the things that I love about your music is that you use unusual words in your lyrics, like “docket” and “assessment,” “sepsis” and “Sertraline.” Are you aiming for that literary quality?

No. I never think, “Oh, is this how I want to say this?” The way that I write is so stream-of-consciousness — it’s just stuff that comes to mind. It’s as if I were talking to you, but I’m saying things that I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying to you or my friends or my family. They’re unspoken things — concerns that I have never voiced, or the things I’m embarrassed by, or the feelings I’ve never felt comfortable saying to somebody. It’s just done in a really conversational way.

So, it’s easier for you to say things in a song that you wouldn’t say person-to-person?

For sure.

Man, that is brave.

Yeah — and then it sucks, because everyone ends up hearing it. It’s the stuff I wouldn’t have said to my family or somebody I’m dating or somebody I used to date, or my friend who I’m not friends with anymore. It’s stuff that I wouldn’t have said, because it’s harsh or it’s embarrassing or whatever, and then they end up hearing it. That’s the hardest part of the whole thing. In a way, I have to pretend that’s not happening.

So, you’re not thinking about what the reaction might be?

Yeah. Also, I’m friends with a lot of musicians., and everybody knows that’s how it goes.

Speaking of literary influences, I was wondering if your line about “steely danification” in “Toy” is a reference to William Burroughs or the band.

It’s a reference to the band. I love Steely Dan.

There’s a recurring theme in your songs, such as “Docket” and on this album, “Two Times,” about being ambivalent about a relationship. In “Two Times,” you sing, “Once you get me, I get bored.” Do you struggle with that?

If you haven’t historically had the healthiest relationships, being in a healthy relationship can feel like, “What’s going on? What’s missing?” I also think that every form of media tells people that the valuable quality of a relationship is the conflict. Every movie I saw growing up, every TV show I watched growing up, songs — everything — relationships [revolve around] a problem. So, if your relationship is pretty absent of problems, you’re like, “What’s wrong here? We’re supposed to be fighting and then making up. What if we’re not fighting that much? Do we just not care? Is this a tepid kind of situation?” I have struggled with that.

Like the line in “Two Times”: “I’ll come back if you put me down two times.”

Yeah. Maybe if you’re a little mean I’ll be more comfortable.

How did “Docket” with Bully, Alicia Bognanno, come to be? That’s such a great song.

I love Alicia. She’s so good. I went on KEXP in the summer [of 2023], and they were asking me what I was listening to. Her record had just come out, and I was obsessed with the song “Change Your Mind.” I talked about it, and I think people [told] her. Around the time that I made this album, I wrote the first part of that song and thought I should have Alicia on this song. She wrote the second verse, and we recorded it. She has such a good voice. It was maybe the first time that I’ve listened to someone’s voice a lot and then gotten to hear it in the studio and been like, oh s–t, that’s actually her voice! So powerful.

Would you ever consider touring together? That would be an amazing double bill.

I think that would be so cool.

I have to ask you about the line in “Event of a Fire”: “Pin me down with Styrofoam. Cut out one single mouth hole for air.” Can you elaborate on that?

The whole song is about feeling suffocated by normal life. In some ways, the whole album is about how just everyday life can feel suffocating — feeling stuck in patterns and like maybe I don’t have the permission to feel as much as I feel about this thing that everybody deals with. Feeling shame about feeling so much about everyday normal life. In some ways, the song is also about bigger things — being a 16-year-old girl and figuring out how I feel about my body and figuring out how I’m supposed to look and feel. The part you’re asking about — I had written the whole song, and then when we were recording the guitars, I felt kind of inspired, wrote that and tacked it on at the end.

Does any of that struggle have to do with being a public figure?

No. I don’t even feel that way. I’ve always felt this way, and I think everybody feels that way to some extent. Things like body image are such universal struggles for people. It’s helpful for me to talk about these things — and as a listener, it’s helpful if I hear other people talk about it. All the stuff on this record is stuff I’ve dealt with my whole life.

Do you still you struggle with body image?

I think it gets better as you get older. I’m 27. I was 25 when I made the last album, I really attribute all that stuff to a younger voice. I remember watching Eighth Grade. It came out [in 2018]. There’s this scene of her going to a pool party where she panics, and I remember that’s how I felt at that age. For me, that’s gotten a lot better as I’ve gotten older. But it’s such a universal side effect of misogyny.

You identify as queer, and lyrics in “Model Rockets” implies that you struggle with your identity as well: “With a man I’m only gay, when I’m with a girl I’m lying.”

Again, it’s like that same age where I saw gay people, and I saw straight people on TV, but I didn’t see people talking about so much nuance. All that stuff is from the same time period.

What do you make of the Trump administration’s announcement that it recognizes just two genders?

It’s devastating. It’s going to have consequences for so many people in the most truly heartbreaking ways. Tragic for trans people and queer people — tragic for everybody. The loss of culture and safety. There will be effects for a really long time and it’s terrible.

That’s just a start.

And f–k them.

What are you reading these days?

I finished All Fours by Miranda July last night. It’s so good. I had heard so much about it, and sometimes it’s hard to read a book that has all this hype around it. By the end, I was like, “She’s a genius.”

What about watching, listening?

Severance. A new episode tonight. Are you watching?

I just can’t get into it.

Really?

Admittedly I’ve not seen the earlier seasons. For me, it’s Groundhog Day in a sterile setting.

I get that. Yeah, it is so sterile. I’ve heard people say that they don’t feel comfortable watching it because it’s so austere and just angles and cold. But I’m really into it. I’m also watching White Lotus. I’m happy to be in that world. I think the writing is good. I saw Mike White’s season of Survivor recently. It’s tough for people who work in entertainment on Survivor. There’s a target on their back.

Wait a minute. Mike White was on Survivor?

Oh, yeah. You’ve got to watch it. He’s really smart and he’s really good.

Does he win?

I can’t tell you. You’ve got to go watch it. I don’t want to ruin it for you.

Your version of Talking Heads’ “Thank You for Sending Me an Angel” is fantastic. How did that come about?

Someone mentioned to me in passing that they were doing that tribute album, and I am the biggest Talking Heads fan. They’re one of the best bands of all time. And Stop Making Sense is just amazing. I went to see the movie that they had restored in 4K at a place called Vidiots in L.A. I watched the Q&A. Kim Gordon was the moderator, which was so cool. I got to meet them, and everyone seemed chill. They were all really nice. And then, like a week later, someone asked us to do it. I was like, “F–k yes, let’s go.”

Are you looking forward to your tour?

I’m really excited for my tour. When I made the last album, I really wanted it to feel like a live record. I was so excited to play it live, but I hadn’t toured that much. Now I’ve played with the band a lot for the last two years. We played like 90 shows in 2023. And we made this album with touring in mind — the arrangements and the cadence of the album. I’m stoked to play it live.

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