Raven Artson
seen by Walter Pierre, styled by Anna Claasen

YOU GREW THROUGH EXPLORATION AND EXPERIMENTATIONS. WHO ARE YOUR ICONS? WHERE DOES YOUR INSPIRATION GENERALLY COME FROM?
I’ve always been interested in the intersection of mainstream and underground. Growing up I heard both Madonna and Michael Jackson as well as The Velvet Underground and Tom Waits. Alongside this, it was my parents who showed me the power of believing in yourself, the importance of surrounding yourself with the right crowd, and keeping an open vision. The environment inspires me, I have a lot of talented friends from different disciplines around me.

HOW DOES YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS WORK? WHAT COMES FIRST, LYRICS OR MUSIC?
Being a producer, I always start with music. It sets the tone very true because I don’t rationally think about where the song should go. Then I focus on the melodies and the words just come along. At first, it’s very incoherent, but the deeper I go the clearer the meaning becomes. Secondly, I decide what to tell, how to rhyme it. It’s fun and satisfying to reach completion.

BORN IN THE NETHERLANDS, YOU MOVED QUICKLY TO THE UNITED STATES. HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THE AMERICAN CONTEXT? WHAT DID YOU EXPERIENCE DIFFERENTLY OVERSEAS?
I just moved back to Amsterdam. From the United States, I miss the constant feeling of having possibilities. It inspired me to keep pushing myself. What I don’t miss is the extreme sense of materialism and capitalism, of duality and inequity, it’s very visible there. But I was happy to be in the Netherlands since last summer, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. I got to re-examine my Dutch identity, it was perhaps necessary since being away might’ve felt like I had less personal responsibility.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOUR STYLE? CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR “SLOW-MOTION HYPER POP”? 
It’s very interesting how different people describe my work in opposite ways. Sometimes I hear it’s happy and easy-listening. Others recognize a melancholic undertone. To me, this controversy makes my work successful. Life itself swings us back and forth, and that’s ok because we’re not meant to think and feel linear. There’s beauty in friction. When I translate this concept in music it appears there’s a lot of information. It’s like eating ramen for the first time and wondering ‘What are all these different flavors?’. There’s so much to discover. For me, the pastiche makes things enjoyable.

BOTH DURING CREATION AND PRODUCTION, TECHNOLOGY PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN YOUR WORK, SUCH AS THE USE OF AUTOTUNE. HOW DO YOU KEEP THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE USE OF DIGITAL AND AUTHENTICITY? IS IT A CONTRAST?
To be honest I try not to see it as a contrast per se. The ‘man vs. machine’ concept doesn’t feel as relevant as the ‘man and machine’ concept. It’s more about settings limits for what we consume and learning how to use all these tools to our advantage.

YOUR WORK OBVIOUSLY TAKES PLACE IN THE STUDIO, FOR POLISHING AND MODIFYING YOUR SONGS. HOW DO YOU EXPERIENCE ON THE OTHER HAND THE ON-STAGE PERFORMANCE? HOW IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PUBLIC?
The deeper I get into studio madness, the more reclusive I become. It’s amazing how my work leads me to tour and interacting with the crowd. I need this opposite experience to create a balance. My projects are very cathartic, people relate to them as well. My relationship with fans is of mutual understanding and appreciation.



YOUR WORK STRETCHES AMONG VARIOUS ARTISTIC FIELDS, YOUR INTEREST IN THE CONNECTION OF SOUND AND VISUAL IS PALPABLE. THE COORDINATION OF THESE ASPECTS OF ARTMAKING MAKES YOU A CREATIVE DIRECTOR OR INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPERT. DO YOU CURATE EVERY STEP?
I choose my collaborators carefully. As an artist, it’s my obligation to set clear boundaries early on, so that there’s a lot of freedom within these limits. This applies to every discipline I am busy with. For instance, recently I started designing my own interior, and looking at the first pieces made by someone else, I experienced a similar satisfaction and excitement as I do while working on music and visuals.ßü

THE DIALOGUE WITH OTHER ARTISTS IS FERTILE TERRAIN. YOU COLLABORATE WITH MANY COLLEAGUES, FOR INSTANCE, YOU WORKED WITH TRUE BLUE, BESHKEN, COSIMA, BEA1991, AND JASPER LOTTI, OR ALSO WITH MUCKY (SEVDALIZA), PIP BLOM, AND RAY FUEGO. HOW DOES THE CONFRONTATION BEGIN?
Collaboration equals conversation. When I’m on my own, things can only be as good as I imagined them. With multiple people involved, it only gets better. There’s no harm in trying new things and getting a bit uncomfortable. That’s where I start from. Because my role within the collaborations with each of these mentioned artists is different, the workflow is different too. What links all of us together is the eagerness to challenge ourselves and create something exciting.



IN PARTICULAR, YOU PARTNERED WITH DUTCH FASHION DESIGNER SOPHIE HARDEMAN, WHOSE GENDERLESS DENIM BRAND IS PLAYFUL AND FREE IN IDENTITY DEFINITION. HOW IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FASHION IN THE CREATION OF YOUR OWN STORY? IS IT A WAY TO EXPRESS YOURSELF?
Definitely! I think that fashion is the most accessible and visible way to express yourself. That’s why I love Sophie’s approach, it’s very punk. She’s both the present and the future, her work is genderless, familiar, refreshing, challenging, and everything in between. I believe in the power of community.



IN 2020 THE PERFORMER HAS BEEN RELEASED, IT’S A SHORT FILM DIRECTED BY FOLKERT VERDOORN WHERE YOU PLAYED THE LEAD ROLE AND COMPOSED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR. CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT? AND PERHAPS ABOUT THE FUTURE?
It’s a reflection of the modern-day artist. A satire on myself. Over the course of seven minutes, I portray the pre-show routine of a mentally ruined pop icon. Surrounded by a self-concerned entourage, it’s apparent that the glamorous existence of a pop star is equally lonesome and banal as it is grand and fulfilling. It poses many questions and gives no answers. This project feels like the bridge between the Raven that released three EP’s last year and the Raven that’s set to release new music this fall.