Photography by Rebeca and Marco Sciacqua

Growing up in a small town near beautiful Lake Garda in Italy, HÅN discovered her love for songwriting at an early age. She writes most of her songs in her bedroom; personal anecdotes about her experiences, penned down like a diary. We talked to the talented artist about pressure, fans and her fantastic debut album ‘projections on a human screen’.

I am in love with your album! Congratulations! It wraps me in a cozy feeling which I’ve almost forgotten what it can feel like. Is that what you want to evoke with your music?

Thank you so much. I guess what I wanna do is just to tell my personal experience and see if that resonates with someone else? And also to create something that is mine and which reflects my own world in every aspect. I see the album as my personal diary where every song is a chapter.

The release of a debut album is always something special. How important is the feedback from your fans to you?

It is important. But I feel like this is mainly something I’m doing for myself. Also because I don’t have a huge fanbase right now. However, it would be very interesting to see if the album is going to reach more people and I would be certaintly curious to hear some feedbacks and connect with people because of it. That is my ultimate dream.

“Every song is very personal because I can’t write something I haven’t experienced.”

You told that ‘Projections on a human screen’ is a kind of personal diary that you wrote last year between London and Milan. Which song is the most personal on the album and why?

Yes, as I was saying before that’s how I view this album. Every song is very personal because I can’t write something I haven’t experienced. But maybe the most personal is “Projections”, which also originated the album title. This was a voice message I had sent to my boyfriend one evening. I wanted to tell him what I thought of him, and I wrote a song kinda instantly. It just came really spontaneously and the final recording is not very distant from the original one.

The lead single ‘Chiro’ is about a long distance relationship while you were in London. “When you stay for a long period without seeing someone in person, it’s very easy to replace their real persona with the one that you can perceive through the few exchanges that you have. So that you replace the person with “the idea of the person”. Is that what caused the relationship to fail in the end? That idea and reality then often no longer match?

No actually, the relationship did not fail, it just evolved with us cause luckily we were mature enough to handle the situation. But for sure having a long distance relationship, especially if your relationship kinda “started” as long distance, creates an idea of the person which will meet the reality at the end. Fortunately, reality is not always disappointing.

“Fortunately, reality is not always disappointing.”

What parts of the whole song writing and producing do you enjoy the most?

I really like when you start seeing the potential of a song, when the song comes together and it just makes sense. It’s something that happens both lyrically and musically and it’s such a magical moment.

The artwork of the LP is also interesting. Would you like to tell a little bit about it?

Yes, this is a painting made by my friend Alice. She’s an artist and I found her work on instagram by suggestion of another friend. Her art impressed me so much because it reminded me of my childhood, something I’m really inspired by. She has this very unique style and I knew immediately that I wanted to work with her for my album. This artwork in particular represents my album as a whole: you can see that the characters that appear here have already appeared on the previous singles, but they are rearranged in a new environment, where they all coexist.

“It’s fundamental to remember why you’re making music, which is not to please other people.”

How do you reset to be creative?

I feel like for me it’s important to take some time away from everyone and just be in a peaceful and calm place. I live in Milan now so everything is rushed, a thousand things happen at the same moment. Also in this sense it’s important not to feel pressured, which is something I’ve struggled with. It’s fundamental to remember why you’re making music, which is not to please other people.

Last question, what has been the most unforgettable moment or experience so far throughout the whole music journey?

I think I had lots of good moments but a very memorable one has yet to come. But it’s happening really soon, I can feel it.

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