Frances Forever

Frances Forever is a force of nature. The young singer just turned 25 in June and is growing up on the road while supporting their latest offering Lockjaw.

Frances Garrett had an affinity to music at a young age then adopted the moniker Forever and had early success on TikTok with the song “Space Girl.” The track earned over a million streams and featured fellow queer artist Chloe Moriondo.

Their debut LP on Mom+Pop Music titled Lockjaw covers a wide range of topics including anxiety, identity and relationships.

Forever took time out before their show to talk about the Lockjaw project and where life is leading them in the future.

JN: (Jerry Nunn) Start off with pronouns and identity.

FF: (Frances Forever) I use they/them pronouns and I am nonbinary. I identify as queer.

JN: Where are you from originally?

FF: I was born in Baltimore, Maryland. I now live in Boston and have been there since I was 12 years old. I consider it my hometown.

JN: Boston is known for music because of the Berklee College of Music where you took a summer intensive program. Did you always want to perform music?

FF: I went to college in Worcester for psychology because I didn’t think I could do music full-time. After I was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder halfway through college, the person testing me told me to make music to have a happy life essentially.

JN: Does music help you focus?

FF: Definitely. I have loved music since I was a child. I took classical piano lessons when I was little and I sang in children’s choirs. I was homeschooled so I would have an entire day to take music lessons. I was able to hyper-focus on it and lose complete track of time. I would start working on it and then it would be 4 a.m. This is all very intrinsic in me.

JN: So many people have ADHD, including myself, and educators didn’t know about it when I was in school.

FF: In my case, because of being homeschooled I didn’t know about it until I was in college.

JN: Talk about the creation of Lockjaw.

FF: It took me two and a half years to make Lockjaw. I wrote the majority of the songs last year and the year before. Getting into the stride of making a project and seeing the full picture takes a second.

Before that, I was writing songs here and there while finding the right producer or collaborator for that particular song. Once I found that good fit and my favorite people to work with then I could start putting it all together.

I worked a lot with Suzy Shinn, who did a lot with Weezer, and Mike Malchicoff, who worked with King Princess. I worked with producers like David Pramik and PomPom, plus many more who I immediately meshed with.

JN: What was the overall concept for the record Lockjaw?

FF: It took me a while to figure out the name Lockjaw, but it comes from my song “Monica Gives Me Lockjaw.” I have TMJ (temporomandibular joint) and wanted to create a song when I had an achy jaw. I originally wanted it to be about how hard it is to talk to someone when there’s a crush or when I have feelings for them. I will often write a song instead of trying to describe them and that is very cathartic for me.

The concept of the album Lockjaw is about me not being able to express myself verbally through speech so I turn to music and writing things down. This helps me process things.

JN: I love to hear how music has changed your life.

FF: Absolutely! It’s my purpose…

JN: When I was a kid my mom made us get tetanus shots when we were exposed to rust to avoid lockjaw.

FF: Lockjaw seems scary, but I have never had it personally.

JN: Do you wear the night guard when you sleep?

FF: No, but maybe I should because I grind my teeth.

JN: My dentist said everyone should as we are all chipping away at our teeth.

FF: I was getting a massage the other day and the masseuse could tell I grind my teeth.

JN: I am still trying to sleep through an entire night with it in my mouth. Back to Lockjaw, is there a track you are enjoying playing live now?

FF: The title track is “Monica Gives Me Lockjaw.” It’s fun with a guitar solo in there, so I feel like a rockstar.

JN: Is there a real-life Monica?

FF: There isn’t actually. I was just trying to find something that kind of rhymed with lockjaw. Monica encapsulates every girl that I had a crush on in middle school or high school as one character.

I don’t think I would ever put someone’s real name in a song unless I asked them [laughs]!

JN: What is the story behind your song “Mr. Man?”

FF: Essentially the story behind it was what is called a “Hail Mary.” If there is extra time at the end of the day in the studio it can be a chance to experiment. I was talking with PomPom when we were writing the song about dating sapphically in straight spaces. Men will sometimes take over the space and make it feel unsafe while they are hitting on our girlfriends. It’s a very universal experience that everyone has dealt with.

Men were taught to dominate spaces and we were taught to make ourselves smaller as women in society. I wanted to make a diss track about it. People like to sing along to that one!

JN: What is a “Weeb?”

FF: It is short for weeaboo, which is an anime fan and a derogatory term.

JN: Do you play anime games?

FF: I play Animal Crossing, but I did watch anime as a kid. I didn’t read comic books because it always overwhelmed me with where to start, but I did read a few graphic novels and mangas.

JN: How would you describe yourself as an artist?

FF: I write music for people who feel out of place in spaces within their lives. My goal is to create safe spaces and make a community for people who have dealt with their social anxiety, figured out their gender and explored ADHD. These are people who have had similar experiences to me and will come up to me after a show to talk about an ADHD song.

Queer people can feel very alone in the world and I want them to know they are not.

JN: The Indigo Girls have cultivated a safe space at their concerts similar to what you have been doing for years.

FF: That was the first album I ever listened to.

JN: Did they inspire you?

FF: Yes. The first song I loved of theirs was “Galileo.” I was inspired by many other musicians too, such as Hayley Williams from Paramore. I love Mitski and boygenius. Muna has a podcast that I listen to all the time.

JN: Several of those are queer artists and they make it easier for others to come out in their careers.

FF: Definitely and they boost other artists up with their platforms. I opened for Claud a while back and I felt supported by them. There’s a lot of competition inside the music industry, but queer musicians often treat others as one of their own. We have many of the same fans and everyone is very welcoming when we open for them. I have been an opener until this tour.

JN: Congrats on the headlining tour.

FF: Thank you.

JN: What are your plans for the future?

FF: I am opening for K. Flay in August. I was making plans with my tour manager about it. It will be throughout the Midwest and Canada. Some of the places I have not been to yet so I am excited!