Olivia Kaplan // Five Inspirations

We recently asked Olivia Kaplan to help illuminate the world surrounding her debut album Tonight Turns to Nothing, by curating five sources of inspiration. I love this list, and hope it helps to give listeners a little bit of context around this wonderful record. Thanks for reading, and as always, thanks for listening <3


1. Via Floreado, is the street from in Orinda, CA where my father grew up. This is a picture of his sisters' room where my sister and I slept. We would go north about four times a year, mainly on Jewish holidays, to visit my boho grandparents. Music was on constantly, their friends' art was hanging on the walls, sculptures and bowls from Japan, an orange corduroy couch. There seemed to be an endless amount of 60s and 70s relics to discover and weird books on philosophy to leaf through. It contained so much history and really made me the nostalgic person that I am.

2. Rose. She was my first and best friend. At a young age we influenced each other's style, music taste, and cooking but she just had this vision for aesthetics and design that I could never keep up with. Her philosophies on how to make money, make art, eat good food, support her friends, and experience joy are ones that I reference every day.

3. Poetry Foundation - a lovely resource

4. Nina Simone (live at Montreux 1976) full concert, esp. intro to "I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)" - just slays me every time.

5. Fiona Appleā€™s acceptance speech at the 1997 VMAs - my daily reminder.


Olivia Kaplan's debut full-length Tonight Turns to Nothing is out June 25. She's released three stellar singles so far, titled "Wrong", "Seen by You", and most recently "Still Strangers", all of which are available on all platforms. I've been thrilled to see the triumphant return of Small Albums on twitter, who recently reviewed "Still Strangers" with this image: "A tall, midnight blue curtain, covered in lightbulbs filled with diamonds, that are slowly lighting up."

You can pre-order Tonight Turns to Nothing on digital, cassette, and vinyl.

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