Claire Cotrill is a singer, songwriter, and producer who goes by the name Clairo. She started releasing music in 2014 as a teenager. A few years later, songs she had uploaded to YouTube had racked up over 40 million views. This year, Clairo put out her debut album, Immunity. She’s recently performed on Ellen and Jimmy Kimmel, and played arenas, opening for Khalid. In this episode, Clairo breaks down her song “Alewife.” I spoke to Claire and her co-producer Rostam Batmanglij about how the song was made.

You can buy or stream “Alewife” here.

If you’re having thoughts of suicide, or if you’re worried about a friend or loved one, or if you would like emotional support, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 across the United States at 800-273-TALK. You can also text HELLO to 741741 to contact the Crisis Text Line. And if you’d like to donate to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, you can do so here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Rostam’s own episode of Song Exploder
Elliott Smith
Truth Studios