Kississippi's Mood Ring Merges Kitsch And Tragedy

By Grant Sharples


The image on Kississippi’s new album cover is striking: a chewed-up segment of pink bubblegum in an engagement-ring box. It’s the epitome of songwriter Zoe Renyolds’s music, which brims with neon overtones and dismal subtexts, and the bubblegum is a visual representation of the overt pop direction she took with this record. The Philadelphia-based artist says the artwork for Mood Ring, out today (August 6), merges kitsch and dark themes because the music itself speaks to the push and pull of relationships and love at large.


“It reminded me of Helga Pataki from Hey Arnold!,” Reynolds tells MTV News of the symbolic cover. “It just gave me this crushy vibe of swapping gum with your crush or something like that. I just thought it was really pretty for those reasons, yet it also has a dark element to it at the same time because it is in a nice ring box. It also touches on breakups.”


Reynolds describes each of Mood Ring’s 10 tracks as a love song. Though the subject is usually susceptible to becoming monolithic, Kississippi’s music shows that love multifaceted. There really is grief, guilt, depression, anxiety, and isolation, and Reynolds says she “can write a love song about any of these things.” For instance, there’s the euphoric, ‘80s-tinged beginning track, “We’re So in Tune,” and the emo-pop despondency of “Play Til You Win.”


“It doesn’t necessarily have to be about a person,” she explains. “It can just be about a moment. I would mention all the songs on the record are love songs although in their own way. Each person feels it, and each person can connect with that.” Reynolds discussed to MTV News about capturing Mood Ring, working with Illuminati Hotties’s Sarah Tudzin, the state of live music, and more.


MTV News: What were some of the inspiration points in back of this album?


Zoe Reynolds: I was listening to a lot of Lorde, Chvrches, Liz Phair has routinely been a big inspiration for me, Michelle Branch, Kacey Musgraves, plus a lot of Bruce Springsteen. There’s actually a couple Bruce Springsteen references on the record. In “We’re So in Tune,” there really is a line that’s from “I’m on Fire” (“I’ve got a bad desire”). For “We’re So in Tune,” I was inspired by Bruce Springsteen because I had passed by this mechanic shop, plus it had a sign outdoor that mentioned “get in tune.” I just was like, I want to write a song about this, and my brain went to that video for “I’m on Fire” where he’s in the mechanic shop. I wanted to dig into that vibe with that opener track.


MTV News: You worked with Sarah Tudzin of Illuminati Hotties, who also produced the latest Pom Pom Squad album, on “Around Your Room” and “We’re So in Tune.” What was that like?


Reynolds: It was so nice working with each other. We come from a very similar music community and segment of the DIY scene. My boss at the time became companions with her managers, and so they were talking about Sarah beginning to get in the studio and write songs with people more regularly. I was like, I would love to write with her! That sounds so fun! She really brought out two of my main go to songs on the record. She’s astonishing. She certainly is a wizard of some categorize. Working on those songs was awesome. I was sort of struggling with the record at the starting, and While I got in the studio with Sarah, it made me understand what direction I was going in. She had a big impact on it, and she’s been doing a lot of good stuff, so I’m very overjoyed of her.


MTV News: For this record, you signed with Triple Crown, a famous, heavily emo label. Do you incorporate emo touchstones into your music, as well?


Reynolds: Absolutely. I still call myself an emo musical group some days. I know it doesn’t sound like emo music, nevertheless something I’ve been on a kick with is: Emo is really whichever you want it to be. All music can be emo music in its own way. I certainly grew up in the emo scene, and that’s segment of my introduction to DIY and my introduction to playing music. We’ve toured with plenty of emo bands, so we’ve certainly gotten ourselves in this group kind of little niche emo corner. It certainly makes sense to do it with Triple Crown. Fred [Feldman], who runs Triple Crown, helped me release my last record, Sunset Blush. I was supposed to put it out on another label, and also a bunch of stuff fell through, and he came through and helped me release that record. There really are a lot of companions on Triple Crown as well. I’m certainly a bit of a funny fit for them, although it also makes a lot of sense.


I was like, I’m gonna write this record, so I’m not writing an emo record. I wanna write a pop record, and I wanna make it a happy record. Yet then I wrote it, and I began showing it to people, and so they were like, “You mentioned this was happy. This is heartbreaking.” I mean, in the event you don’t listen to the lyrics, then you wouldn’t know!


MTV News: How do you feel about going on tour and the state of live music now? Are you nervous? Are you carefully optimistic?


Reynolds: I think I’m a good mixture of both. I am just so excited to play these songs and share them with people and visualize our fans. I feel like there really is a bit of anxiety there, nevertheless it’s more overtaken by the excitement of being able to do it. I think the anxiety is much less about performing these songs and more about coming out of the pandemic and being around a lot of people along with wanting to be sure that folks are safe at the shows. I went to a show last night just to test the waters for myself, and I had a lot of fun, although I was certainly very nervous just pulling up to it. Like, “There’s people in line for this?” It ended up being a very good night.


MTV News: How do you suggest your new music will translate to a live setting?


Reynolds: I’m still finding out, and I’m a little bit nervous about it. Our sound is so much different right now that I just don’t even know what to expect from how people in the audience will react to it. I think that folks are going to have a lot more fun. I wrote this record because I know that I write very sad songs, and I would look out in the crowd and visualize people hugging each other and crying. I was like, no! This isn't the emotion that I’m attempting to prepare people feel as soon as they go to a show.  I wanna write songs that are gonna make people who like to cry also aspire to dance. I’m hoping that goes over how I’m planning. I’m hoping people will have the ability to get in their feelings as well as dance them out and have fun. I think that’s what each person needs right after this terrible year.