Better in Stereo with PINK IVY
As told to Shannon Lepere and Rebekah Skochinski, Photo by Shannon Lepere
Pink hair, don’t care. Visual and tattoo artist Hanna Koester describes her musical project/persona PINK IVY as a little pink demon making music to cry to. You will also find that beneath the bright hair and penchant for tattoos beats an imaginative and sensitive heart making art exactly the way that she wants to.
The Walleye: How did you become PINK IVY?
PINK IVY: I’ve always been an artist; I’ve always been drawing and I’ve always made music. I kind of credit tattooing for giving me the self-esteem to pursue other creative things. I was scared people wouldn’t take me seriously as a tattooer if I started pursuing other creative things like music, for example. There’s this weird stereotype of, like, oh, doesn’t every influencer on Instagram want to be a pop star now, you know?
TW: How would you describe your style of tattooing and who tattoos you?
PI: I’m inspired by neo-traditional artists and an illustrative style and I've been tattooed by a lot of artists in town. But I've also traveled a lot and been tattooed by artists across Canada. I frequently go to my friend Kelsey. She’s in Kingston and she did my whole back. She likes the same things I do so that’s perfect.
TW: How does your visual work feed into your music and vice versa?
PI: I think being a very visual person does affect the way I write. There’s a lot of lyrics that I've written that are basically painting imagery. I love using metaphors. I love that kind of style of writing. For music, usually I’ll hear a sound. One of the songs on the EP that I put out made me think of medieval sounds, so I heard the instrumental first and then I started writing. So, that one song ended up inspiring the whole visuals for the rest of the EP.
TW: Your music has been defined as a mix of alt-pop and trap. Can you tell us about your music and the influence of trap?
PI: There is a big hip hop influence. I'm very inspired by different genres and I really like stuff that has a punchier bassline, but my background is more soft, acoustic music. Growing up, I always listened to punk music and I would hang out with all the metalheads. But then, somehow you find common ground with the emo rappers because you’re still both, at the core, alternative and emo. I love trap beats. I love the type of beats that my friends were making. And I was like, I wonder if I could get on this. But it’s funny because I don’t really fit in with the hip hop crowd at all. I’m also a woman. It's different because a lot of these scenes are male dominated, and so no matter where I am, I find I’m just kind of the only one.
TW: You released your first EP, Mourn Me, in April. What was that experience like?
PI: It was great. And I think that's why I’ve been so slow with putting out music since I put the EP out. Every song that is on there just felt right. I’m pumped about it and I’m glad that a little bit of time has passed now, too, so I can actually fully appreciate it. Because as sad as all the songs on there are, once it came out, I could kind of focus on how exciting it was to do the costumes for it, and the photos.
TW: What are you working on now?
PI: I’m kind of focused on singles right now. I have probably four or five songs that are 10% away from being finished. As much as I wanted to jump right back into putting together a full-length album, everyone was saying, “Oh no, just put out singles. Everyone likes singles.” So, I’m waiting it out right now.
TW: What is the music that you cry to?
PI: I think the problem is that most of the music I cry to is… you don’t plan it? You’ll hear a song and then it’ll make you cry. But you might hear that song on a different day and it doesn’t make you cry.
TW: If you could be transformed into one animal, what would you choose?
PI: I think I would be a cat. I have a cat and he’s my soulmate. If I could just lay in the sun all day like he does—he just wants to be loved, and I feel that.
PINK IVY’s latest single, “Haunted,” is out now. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To hear more, find the expanded interview on our Better in Stereo podcast on Spotify, iHeartRadio, and more.