Interview: Cassandra Liu's Stunning 'Chaos Is Me'
- Kenny Sandberg
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
You're a data scientist by day and a self-producing musician by night. Does your brain ever get confused about which mode it's in?Technically, no :D Sometimes I treat producing music like a logical problem-solving process. The inspiration comes from a more artistic and emotional place, but actually completing a song and turning it into a finished production requires a lot of logical thinking and planning. So far, I’ve been able to switch between those modes instantly, and it doesn’t really bother me.
"Chaos Is Me" started with a dinner conversation. Do your best ideas usually come from talking to other people, or do they tend to show up uninvited at 3am?I’d say I’m an extrovert. I love people, and I love talking to them. I believe everyone has interesting thoughts, and you never know what idea might influence or inspire you, so a lot of my inspiration comes from conversations with other people, experiences, or watching film and art. At the same time, when I sit down to actually write a song, I do need a quiet block of time. In those moments, all the inspiration, memories, and ideas I’ve gathered from conversations and experiences flow through my mind.The two approaches coexist, but most of my inspiration comes from engaging with other people and hearing stories from lives very different from my own. Sometimes people have lived through wild experiences or have fascinating ways of seeing the world that I haven’t thought about. Those moments inspire me, make me reflect and explore parts of myself, and eventually find their way into a song.
You wrote, produced, and recorded the whole thing in your bedroom and closet. What does a recording session actually look like for you, practically speaking?My process usually starts with having rough beats, main chords, and lyrics prepared. From there, I experiment by singing melodies and playing with vocals over the track. Once I finalize something, I go into the closet and record a more polished version—usually the first verse and chorus—then come back out, listen, add more parts to the song, and repeat. It’s a very iterative process. What’s funny is that I literally record inside a closet surrounded by clothes. Every vocal you hear on Madison Boulevard was recorded that way. I find a dense pile of clothes, place the microphone in the middle, and use it to create a clean, non-reverb sound. The process is not that graceful as people imagined. For the next album, though, we’re definitely going to a studio.
The track pulls from Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream, a classical Chinese philosophical text. How doyou go from ancient philosophy to a synth-pop banger without losing either one?I love pop music because it often has memorable, singable melodies that people can immediately connect with. I think people sometimes reduce pop to party or dance music, but to me, pop is really about accessibility—melodies and rhythms that people can easily catch onto. At the same time, I want to communicate interesting ideas. I think about more than just relationships; I think about existentialism, philosophy, and bigger questions, and I want to bring those ideas to a broad audience. I’ve never felt there was a conflict between philosophy and pop music. In fact, “Zeno,” the opening track on Madison Boulevard, is about the ancient philosopher Zeno and explores stoicism. It worked beautifully—people sing along to it, which makes me really happy. I don’t think there are limits to combining genres, styles, or messages. As long as you’re creative, they can absolutely work together.
The music video is abstract and genuinely striking. You found the director at a party and the costume designer on social media. Is that just how you operate, or was it a happy accident?That’s very much how I operate! I meet a lot of people, ask questions, and try to understand their talents. I was at a poker party when the music video director Matan mentioned that his favorite filmmaker was Wong Kar Wai, which surprised me. We kept talking, and I learned he was a film student specializing in lighting and cinematography. I mentioned I had a music video project, and things naturally connected from there. The costume designer came from a different route—I found her work on RedNote and reached out directly. I’m never shy about reaching out to people. We talked, and I finally met her when I picked up the dress. She’s incredibly kind, and now we follow each other and I get to watch her grow as a fashion designer, which is really cool. I feel very lucky. They both turned out to be talented, wonderful collaborators who helped bring the vision together. That’s how I tend to work: I meet people online or in person, reach out, connect talent, and build things together. It’s one of my favorite parts of the process—and in this case, it gave me an amazing music video!
Madison Boulevard is your debut album. Now that it's out in the world, does it feel finished, or does part of you want to go back in and keep tinkering?I definitely feel like Madison Boulevard is finished. I wouldn’t change anything about it. It captures that dramatic, cinematic emotional space I was in, and I’m ready to work on something new. That doesn’t mean I’ve moved on completely—I still listen to it a lot, I’m still promoting it, and I’m working on adapting it into a live show. But at the same time, I’m already thinking about the future project and the next album.
