Cherry Bomb is an emerging force in pop music, making explosive and expansive bangers that alchemise the hard parts of life into joy and resistance. Her latest single, Crash! is out now with her debut album, The Pursuit of Pleasure coming soon.
The act of metamorphosis is one that is as human as it is transcendental. It is also what has come to define the very core of what we know great pop music to be. From the ever-evolving blueprint that Madonna laid before every future pop girlie, to the ‘overnight’ success of Zara Larsson or Jade’s transformation as a solo artist – change is, in its essence, a key component of the pop world. It is with this in mind that I spoke to Cherry Bomb. In another life, she was the lead vocalist for MisterWives, an indie-pop band that was active for many years, until a hiatus in 2024. Cherry Bomb, with a new moniker and a new sound, is stepping into the realm of pure pop.
It is not a small task to explore a new facet of yourself creatively, but Cherry is unfazed by any perceived challenges attached to her newest creative outing. When discussing whether Cherry Bomb represents a break from her past creative efforts, she is clear: she isn’t playing a new role but is instead embracing a side of herself that has always been there. She stated, “to me, it was less of a rebrand; Cherry is the original branch of who I was as a little kid, wearing boas and sparkles and sequins to school. The first songs I ever sang in the talent show were You Don’t Own Me and Respect.” It is apparent that this part of her childhood has never left, as one of her singles is a reimagined cover of Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know. She jokes about her childhood melodrama – “that’s intense. Somehow five year old me was a very scorned woman who was singing about autonomy and respect. I was like, ‘Oh, this is gonna be a big theme in my life.’” Later in our conversation, when I asked her if Cherry Bomb was a way to connect to her inner child, she was clear: “one million per cent. I would say this is just a practice of that. If anything else, even if nothing happens with Cherry, that’s what this whole manifesto was for Cherry.”
Cherry is aware of the difference between her current work and her time in MisterWives: “It’s hard while being the writer for MisterWives and writer for Cherry. I thought, “I can’t have this be the same thing because what is the point if this is just an extension of the band while the band is on this break?” Given the challenge to make something new, she was eager to rise to it. Cherry is enthusiastic and excited as she explains what the process was like of exploring the new freedom she had as a soloist. “The canvas was really blank, and I tried a lot of different things. I just kept coming back to this closet in my room that’s all my old stage costumes, tulle and boas and sequins, and I was like, “I have to let her out and let her help me navigate what this music is.” Her videos speak to this vision; each is a bright and bold spectacle, replete with her cherry red hair and a heavy dash of extra. This continues when you zero in on the actual creative choices made in the studio. Her music is bombastic and unafraid to be boldly pop.
When talking about the music itself, she is at her most gleeful. Cherry is also open about how good pop music is so often laced with reflection and escapism – “I wanted to make really fun dance joyous music about the hard parts of life, and alchemise that to this empowering pursuit to finding myself again. Sonically too, the band had its formula of guitar and keys. We had everybody’s part. So for Cherry I had more experimental approach with different synths and distorting them while singing differently in a way that I hadn’t.” Continuing to reflect on her creative journey, she continued to discuss her work with MisterWives “while that’s still in there because that’s just intrinsically who I am, it was really fun to find new parts of myself, characters and what I was singing, and new parts of my range that maybe didn’t fit the music for MisterWives.”
Her vision is perhaps most clear with her single, Myriad Reflector. The song is her fifth as a soloist and serves as an exploration of reframing dark memories into moments of release and light. The track’s name is taken from the original name for a disco call, an apt name for how much the song sees Cherry Bomb sparkle. The video, directed by Matty Vogel, is an ode to New York, where she grew up. When speaking with her, you can get a feel for how the city has shaped her both creatively and personally. Cherry lights up when we start talking about the city. “New York shaped everything and was such an incredible inspiration to me as a young 13-year-old, buying a piano from a thrift store, and busking, and auditioning for Broadway, and going to performing arts high school” she mused. In her artistry, particularly her operatic vocals, you can hear the theatrical influence over this latest iteration of her creative identity. She continued “me and my friends in high school would go do cattle calls on the weekend. That’s how we would go hang out together.”
What is most clear, though, is that it is New York’s diversity that she has carried with her most dearly; of it she said, “I’m very aware how much of a privilege that is to have growing up wanting to be an artist. Being in the most incredible, inspiring, diverse place on earth where you walk down every street and there’s just any type of music, style, food, everything all in one.” It is something that seems to resonate with her now more than ever, reflecting on her experiences of touring across the US over the years. Cherry explained, “I really learned that in the 15 years of touring, you see how drastically different the rest of the country is. I’m always so grateful that New York has been such an incredible safe space for someone like me growing up, where you can be anything and anyone, and that’s accepted and celebrated.”
Beyond the city that made her, she is unafraid to gush about what else has been inspiring her, namely which artists have been on her radar. Cherry was beaming as she showered praise over her peers for what is inspiring her; she said, “Confessions II, Madonna. I think it is so fucking inspiring; she’s the most badass of them all to still be doing it, saying “I’m not going away,” despite the sexism and ageism that runs rampant in this industry. The fucking album is incredible.” She continued to expand with praise for more artists: “I think Rosalía’s amazing. Charli xcx, Chappell Roan, everybody. It’s so inspiring to watch everyone do pop in their own way. That it’s not ‘you need to do it in this format and this box that we’ve known pop music to come from.’ It’s been really cool to see everybody have their own identity and personality and style and sonic universe.” She continued to give a further shoutout to Slayyyter: “Slayyyter is so inspiring. I mean, Worst Girl in America is the best album of the year in my opinion.” She later gave a specific shoutout to Jade in the interview, praising her artistry.
It is clear that she is as much a student of pop music as she is a maker of it; she reflected on what the genre has meant to her throughout her creative life: “when I was first starting, I was like, ‘This is really fucking cool. I wanna lean in to find my own,’ at a time when pop, when I was in MisterWives, was a bad thing. That was a way to diss us essentially. ‘Cause we were a pop rock band and we didn’t really fit in either. For Cherry, I was like, ‘I wanna fully go here and not have shame because pop is not lowbrow,’ in the words of Gaga.”
Much like the artists she cites, when discussing her own creative process, a love for writing is clear. When the idea of being hands off in the songwriting process comes up, she does not mince her words: “Oh, God, what’s the point? I mean, not knocking people who don’t write, but for me the writing is the catharsis. The writing I’ll be doing even if all of this went away. I’m always gonna write.” Cherry also, as we talked about what it is like to be an independent artist and emerging as a voice in the current state of the industry, was clear about her commitment to artistry. “I try to do something analogue with each song, mailing out a flash drive for Digital Girl that I bedazzled or a lotto ticket scratch-off for Never Be Me ’cause it references a lotto ticket. For Myriad Reflector, I sent out Cherry-fied Metro cards. Basically, it gives you early access to the song. It’s a fun little way of just connecting in real life. ‘Cause I’m like, while I don’t have the show I have to find a way to connect with the people who care about and love the music and feel seen by it. A little further on in our chat, she continued to talk about the connection to her fans: “It just makes you really emotional to know there are so many people that have been with me on this journey since they were a kid till now, and now there are all these new people who are finding Cherry. I just feel really grateful in a time where it’s so heavily saturated that this still permeates, and it’s finding the people that are identifying with Cherry.”
Her most recent single, Crash! continues her run of creating tracks that are as bombastic as they introspective. Cherry is an artist who is able to strike the balance between flexing her operatic vocals and delivering through them a lyrical imprint that is emblematic of her maturity and sensitivity as an artist. Crash! in particular is a track that sees her explore the idea reflecting on a relationship that she describes as being left in wreckage, refusing to keep looking back on it as she tries to move beyond what has passed.
Earlier in the conversation about being an independent artist, Cherry was very open with the challenges and benefits that come from her position. It is no small feat to be an independent voice in a heavily stratified industry (as we, an independent magazine, know), but often it is most rewarding. Cherry mused “what feels different is a better knowing of myself and trusting my intuition and, while I think I was always a little firecracker starting with a lot of audacity, and if you tell me to zig I’m gonna zag, I think after 15 years of really being in the machine of the industry, Cherry has been such a permission slip to really trust what I like, what I wanna do, how I wanna sound, what I wanna look like, without the, the fear of judgment.” She isn’t above the difficulties that come with her position though: “it’s been a lot of fucking work, and I still have the days of imposter syndrome and how am I gonna do this?” She continued, “especially doing this purely independent at a time that has never been harder. I think the music industry has always been difficult, but the landscape right now between AI, and bots, and TikTok, and how everything gets funnelled through that now versus coming up, there was a lot more of a way to organically build a career.” Just if you were curious, when we further discussed the idea of using AI to make music, Cherry was unafraid to be frank about how she feels about it: “So many artists and people I know are using it, and I’m like, ‘What the fuck is going on? No, we have to fight this.’”
She was candid as she discussed the fiscal restraints that present for independent artists in a culture where touring is becoming more and more exclusive for artists: “you could afford to tour and find real people to connect with and not be, you know, a marketing agent for yourself on social media trying to be an influencer. It’s just really tricky to be doing this and feeling so sure I’ve paid my dues, and I’ve done this so long, and now everything has changed, so I feel like I’m thrown into a totally different environment. That’s really easy to wanna give up, trying as an independent artist where you don’t have the resources of the major label budgets to pay to play.” She continued, “Thankfully though, there’s been a lot of exposure therapy to things that feel embarrassing to do this or difficult, and it’s been good that I’m showing up and still doing it.” Her belief in her work is what is most apparent: “I know what I’m making, I love and feel so connected to and thankful to the people that are connecting to it. I’m thankful that’s still intact.”
Cherry will have an opportunity to experience that connection firsthand with her debut set at All Things Go, a festival in New York, later this month. Despite her many years as a touring artist, she wasn’t shy to discuss the butterflies that come with performing solo: “I’m always nervous. I somehow have debilitating stage fright, and I love it that much that I still get on stage and tap into a higher power. But two minutes before I’m shaking and throwing up.” She laughed quickly and followed, “Hopefully that is not the case for All Things Go. I’m mostly excited. I’m opening the festival; I’m going to make it the absolute best. I’m having dancers. It’s an all-woman band, which is really exciting for me.” Cherry continued, “building out sets and props and all, all the fun things that I’ve dreamt of doing since I was a little girl, I want to bring to life for the show. The lineup is all of my favourite artists, so that’s just an incredible pinch-me moment. The stars feel aligned for the first show Cherry’s doing is with an all-female lineup coming from a very male-dominated world from touring with MisterWives. Usually I was the only other woman, or there would be one other woman in an entire festival.”
Cherry was clear as she told me she identifies as a feminist, and she was unafraid to make her further reflections on the current political landscape known. It is always refreshing to hear an artist talk openly about socio-political issues. Cherry was perhaps one of the most candid voices I’ve encountered on the topic: “the world is on fire and horrific, and the powers that be are setting us back every day. It’s really heartbreaking and enraging to see. I think now is a time when you have to take a stand. The LGBTQ+ community, being a woman- these things make up who I am and make up the people that I love. I want everyone to feel safe and celebrated at a time when they don’t.” She continued, discussing the relationship between her music and politics: “people say, ‘Oh, your music’s out of politics’, and I’m like, ‘Music is political. It always has and always will be.”’ The shows I’ve always played never shied away from that, and I feel lucky to be supported by the people that inspire me. Our civil duty is to protect each other’s human rights to exist as who we truly are. Whether you’re trans, gay, queer, whatever it is, that’s who you are, and that should be safe, and that is your right. It’s not even a choice.”
Her support for the LGBTQ+ community was clear; when asked who she makes music for, she was quick to cite the community as one of her main points of inspiration. She further discussed the social climate, saying, “it really boggles my mind that human rights are even up for debate. It’s a fucked time where I think that we need joy as an act of rebellion and community, to find our people to feel protected. It’s a very scary time. I don’t take that lightly at all. I don’t live in a bubble. It’s hard to be in this country where I don’t stand for any of the things that are constantly happening and being taken away from people. I think it is just our duty as humans to protect and love each other. She continued to muse on her experiences, particularly as someone who had a religious upbringing, as referenced in the video for her song Sorry You’re Not Sorry. Cherry expanded on her experience, saying, “I know what it’s like to come up in a place that tells you you’re sinful for being who you are, and you don’t feel safe to be who you are. It comes from a place of never wanting anyone else to feel that way. I’m coming from a place of extreme privilege as a white, straight-passing woman, and I think you don’t get anywhere close to the scrutiny or abuse or fear that everyone else in the LGBTQ+ community faces. You have to be like a shield for everybody. Just being a tiny part of a bigger community, it’s like Myriad Reflector. It’s all of this mosaic that makes up one big thing.“
Throughout our conversation, it was apparent that Cherry Bomb is a pop fan’s pop artist, utilising the experience she has to create a musical identity that is expansive and open, perhaps best surmised in her own words: “in the church of Cherry, everyone is welcome and celebrated.” She makes music that takes the hard parts of life and transmutes them into bangers that demand you to dance. It is something that many of the greatest pop artists do, and she is carrying on the torch for making music of this confessional, anthemic, and euphoric ilk.
When we touched on the inspiration behind her choice of stage name, she excitedly discussed exactly how Cherry Bomb, this expression of her inner child and her loftiest creative dreams, came to be. She describes her creative self like this: “Cherry Bomb is, even in the name, two opposites. I think what has really excited me in this project is the duality. It’s the juxtaposition, the dichotomies where it doesn’t fit into one perfect, pretty little box. There’s sparkle and glamour, and there’s grit, and even sonically there are these ethereal Kate Bush-inspired vocals with a distorted, crazy synth where these two things usually don’t coincide, and I love that juxtaposition.” She’s not wrong, as you hear her sing, her vocals could easily find a home laid over a Kate Bush-esque or even an Enya-inspired track, but instead she seasons them with bold and colourful production that gives her a unique sonic identity. She continued, “to me that’s what healing feels like. It’s euphoric and brutal and horrific, and I just think Cherry Bomb encapsulates the full spectrum.”
Cherry Bomb further mused on her choice of name, explaining its origins, woven into her childhood, “Cherry Bomb is a firecracker, and that was my nickname as a kid. I had super red hair, and I had a really, really bright red streak in the back of my head that my mom was always saying, ‘Oh, that’s your fire streak.’ So when I was coming up with a moniker, Cherry Bomb felt like such a good way to honour that. To make something sweet and explosive.” Cherry Bomb’s debut album, The Pursuit of Pleasure, was announced today and promises to be one of the most exciting projects to come out over the next few months. Without a doubt, Cherry Bomb is a talented voice we will be hearing a lot more from, as she continues her explosive overture into pop music’s annals.
