Artist: Olivia Barton
Hometown: Maitland, Florida
Latest Album: For Myself and For You (released October 10, 2025)
Personal Nicknames (or rejected band names): Liv
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
Last year I played my second ever headline show in Philly. Kind of everything was going wrong… The venue was weird, you could hear Mariachi music playing from the kitchen my whole set, the sound guy was (you guessed it) an asshole. But there were about 40 of the most passionate, present, beautiful fans there with me. And during this one song called “Fun” they started singing the lyrics so loud on the second verse and I just lost it. Sometimes I can miss beautiful moments like that, because it’s almost too much to take it in – but this was too good to miss. I started sobbing, like genuinely crying really hard, and they sang the whole verse for me. It was magical.
Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?
Carole King. She and James Taylor were among the handful in constant rotation in my house growing up. There’s a “chicken or the egg” situation here – do I relate to her because she shaped me, or did I gravitate towards her because I already had similar qualities within me? She’s earnest. She’s not trying to sound smart or unique. She’s saying it like it is and saying it with her chest. She’s gritty and sensitive. No fluff. Songwriting over production, always. Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes fun, most of the time both. I have a lot to learn from her still.
What other art forms – literature, film, dance, painting, etc. – inform your music?
I love abstract art. I’ve never considered myself to have synesthesia, but I do feel colors when I write. There’s this one abstract artist that’s done a lot for my music. Their name is Brit Chida and we’ve become friends. They make abstract art (mostly watercolor) coupled with their writing on trauma, queerness, finding joy – kinda everything. The first song on my record is called “There’s a Part of Me That Was Never Injured,” which is the title of one of Brit’s paintings. The painting and the title inspired me to write a song based off of that idea. Our deep friendship began from me asking their permission to use it.
If you didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?
Cook! My very favorite person is Julia Child. I’ve read and watched everything there is to read and watch about her. That’s more about me relating to her whole philosophy on creating than it is about me loving to cook, but I do also love to cook. I love food so much and I also associate my mom with cooking. When I was in high school she would light candles and pour a glass of wine and put on Norah Jones and sauté stuff without knowing what she was doing. So I do that now (without the wine) and if I wasn’t a musician, I think I’d go to cooking school and have dinner parties with my friends.
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
Charli XCX. I mean, not totally a surprise, who doesn’t love her? But I have thought a lot about what it is about her music that I’m so drawn towards since our genres couldn’t be more different. I’ve landed on the fact that her records (particularly Brat) are direct, minimal, brave, candid, bare, and liberating. I would say those are all things I strive to do in my music too. But beyond all that, Charli teaches me how to have fun.
Photo Credit: Blaire Beamer
