WHIPPED CREAM On Staying True to Herself: “Your Mind Manifests Your Reality”

When an artist puts their heart and soul into their work, they can’t help but make something beautiful.

Since releasing her first single in 2014, Canadian DJ and producer WHIPPED CREAM has put everything into her craft, producing truly moving music. Inspired by heavy bass and hip-hop, she has successfully cultivated her own unique sound, which takes listeners on an emotional journey.

Now, she’s diving into her art in a way she never has before: by recording her own voice. Her new track, “Angels,” is the first to feature her own recorded vocals. It’s a deeply personal song that only she could sing.

Before the release of “Angels,” EDM.com sat down with WHIPPED CREAM at Monstercat‘s new production studio in Los Angeles, which functions as an office, recording studio and a place for artists to stay while in town.

While staying at Monstercat’s newest digs, WHIPPED CREAM opened up about the decision to record her own vocals, staying true to herself and keeping a positive mindset.

EDM.com: You are the first to use Monstercat’s brand new production studio. Tell us about your experience here.

Yeah I am, that’s really cool to say. The first experience here was with my friend Juan that I brought, and we were recording electric guitar on some beats actually yesterday. They don’t have the big speakers in, so we’re working on these little speakers and there’s no sub, so that’s been quite interesting. I feel very grateful and lucky, this studio is beautiful. They’ve spent a lot of time putting it together.

We just laid down some guitar. Half the time I was upstairs in the other studio working on another record while he was recording melodies down here, so I came down at the end of the evening. It was really him that got to run the studio for the first time. Shoutout Juan.

EDM.com: Your new single “Angels” is dropping on August 25th, and it’s the first track you’ve ever recorded your own vocals on. Tell us about that decision.

I’ve always wanted to sing since I was a kid, but I thought that I couldn’t sing. So I just didn’t sing. Instead of singing, I produced music. I took a hard stance. If someone asked if I was singing on my songs, I would be like, “No, I just produce.”

But then I started getting into rooms with a bunch of different writers and artists. I learned even my favorite artists can’t sing. I’m not going to name them, but there’s some of my favorite artists where they just can’t sing. But they get the vibe, the energy, put a little autotune in the production style – it’s a hit record. There’s people out there that literally can’t sing, but they just got the sauce, and they’re speaking to people.

I kind of got pushed by a really good friend of mine in Vancouver, Zach, and he was like, “Your voice is cool, you should just try and jump in the booth.” So we were just messing around and I started writing these really dope melodies and hook ideas because they were just coming from the story that I have within myself, and things I’ve been going through lately. He helped me engineer the vocals, and he absolutely crushed it. That was the first time that I realized like, “Holy shit.”

I did sing a little bit back in the day, I guess, with autotune on Ableton, like in my kitchen and stuff. But I never took it seriously. I’m very much a perfectionist, even with my own records. If the song’s not giving that timeless energy I’m not going to be putting it out, I’m not going to be sharing it. What’s the point? With “Angels” when I started showing people I trusted, their response was unreal.

You can be your own instrument. Anyone can do it.

EDM.com: The lyrics for “Angels” are about hurting a divine being sent to Earth to love and protect unconditionally. What is the inspiration behind those lyrics?

I think some people are stuck in toxic behaviors because of the way they were raised, if they were bullied, if they didn’t get enough love, or something even more serious—whatever it is. Our own inner job is to heal those pains so we don’t bleed onto other people. We are all actually divine beings, in my opinion. I think if we just tune into that energy—which really is working on our own inner self—we can start manifesting beyond what we can even imagine.

The record is about being pretty badly hurt by someone you unconditionally love. And you were ready to love them properly but they weren’t ready to love you properly. It’s kind of a shake on the shoulders, like hey I was sent to you, and maybe you were sent to me to learn more self love. 

EDM.com: You began competitively figure skating at the age of 8, and spent much of your youth competing. How do you think figure skating prepared you for your career in music?

It definitely taught me to be persistent. When you get down and you fall over and over again you just get back up. It also taught me resilience. I’m alone all the time on the ice. You have a coach, but when you’re around on the other side of the rink you’re in your own head, and you have to coach yourself. It’s all mind over anything. It’s not even physicality. It’s knowing in your mind, “Oh I’ve landed this double or triple before” and going and doing it again.

When you’re not telling yourself good things, you don’t land those jumps. So it’s the same thing with my work. I have to always be telling myself that I can do things. The minute you have that thought like “oh I don’t deserve to be in this room,” or “I’m not gonna get that,” well you’re going to manifest that. Your mind manifests your reality. That’s why when you feel like shit about yourself, you start seeing shitty things appear, because that’s just how it works.

So I learned that as a figure skater. The day that I got injured and I had to stop skating, it was a day that I wish I got off the ice. I shouldn’t have been doing that. I should have got out of my head and got off the ice that day. It taught me a lot. Also, I always just skated because I love music, and I realize that now. I wasn’t the most technical skater. But I would always win the most artistic awards. I remember the coaches would always write-up in the report cards that the way I moved to the ice was like I was music. Which is very interesting because now I’m making music.

EDM.com: Absolutely. We loved watching you skate in your “Child” music video!

Thanks! I’m a little rusty now, but shout out to Matt for filming that! He works with ACRAZE. He’s his photographer and he is one of the most amazing people I have met in this industry and he’s amazing at what he does!

EDM.com: Also, that’s very true what you were saying about mindset earlier. Your brain always wants to be right, and whatever you think about yourself, your brain will prove that to you.

Yes! The same goes for everything. If your mom and dad told you, “You’re shit if you don’t become a doctor,” then you kind of start thinking that way, until you train yourself. You can change your behaviors through meditation. You can actually change those things you don’t like about you. I know you can, because I’ve done it. There’s still things I don’t like about myself, but I’m just saying you can actually change those behaviors which is the coolest part about life. You’re not stuck in who you are.

Also, cutting people out of your life doesn’t mean that you’re a shitty person. That’s one thing as a women in this industry that took me a while to realize. If I don’t feel good around them, or they showed me once or twice that I can’t trust them, I don’t care how long I’ve known them. In order to keep climbing up this mountain—and I have a long way to go to where I want to go—I have to set those boundaries and I can’t feel bad about it and live in that, “Oh well they were good to me this day.” No, it’s, “Are they good to me right now?”

EDM.com: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in your career that you would pass along to others?

To trust yourself. It’s one thing to be open and receptive to people’s advice and lessons—I think that’s really important too. Because I’ve watched people let their ego get in the way. There’s a happy medium to knowing inside what you’re here to do, and then not letting this outer kitchen of chefs get in the way of what you’re set to do on earth. You know. You know. We were born here, we all know. It’s cool to listen to people to a certain extent and trust people to a certain extent, but the most important person to trust is yourself. And that’s what I would tell anyone. 

Even if you’re a producer and every label has turned down this one song that you just believe in so much, why are you gonna let them all dictate that? Go watch the Kanye documentary, he literally had a huge label deal and they were shelving his biggest songs. He was going in to rooms with rappers who at the time were bigger than him, that we don’t even know now, but he would go into the room being like, “Hey check this out!” Being that guy, showing them and not giving up his energy and passion even when they all kind of shrugged him off. Whenever I’m feeling that way I just laugh. The greatest in the world had that happen, so it’s fine that it’s happening to me.

I already know, I’m living with intent and the knowledge that I already have a couple rap hits. It’s happening, it’s gonna happen. And I know I’ll have dance records that are big too. I know that I’m here to pioneer the way that music is about to go. I know it and live with it. It’s just having a belief to keep sending out beat packs and keep trying. There could be a beat pack of 30 that you send out to four different A&Rs, and then on the fifth A&R, number 18 was the song that Justin Bieber cuts. It’s just that easy. It really is that easy in my head.

So you have to trust yourself. But to an extent because I also think it’s about balancing the ego. I think we’re all a little bit narcissistic, but if you can tune into your empathy, that’s the most crucial part of it all. That’s why I think Kanye is so successful because he can turn off his empathy and just work selfishly. Unfortunately I can’t do that, so it’s about going back to the boundary thing and being like “hey Caroline, you’re not a bad person for saying no to this person,” or “you’re not a bad person for cutting this person off.” They did this to you. Reminding yourself so you don’t beat yourself up because this industry is cutthroat and it’s hard and there’s a lot of fake shit, and to be a real person in it, you really have to protect your space. So when you’re saying no, just realize this is for the greater good of mankind. I’m setting boundaries for the greater good of mankind. That’s kind of how I think about it. Because you can inspire other people.

EDM.com: What do you do to stay motivated, productive, and inspired?

I think my main thing is getting into sessions with other people from different backgrounds. That’s really inspiring to me. If they’re like a jazz artist or hip hop artist or a melody person or a writer it’s been really interesting to work with a whole bunch of people even if they’re strangers that I met on Instagram that I vibed with and thought they had a cool thing going for them. Whether it’s opera or guitar, I can just get inspired and then make 20 beat ideas from that session off their energy. It’s all an energy exchange at the end of the day.

Things that aren’t to do with music that get me inspired would be being out in nature. That’s a huge thing for me. I think fashion is super interesting to me too, how people can express how they are feeling even if they’re in sweatpants. That’s a form of art. I love to watch elderly people and seeing what they dress like. They’re in their truest being. Like after the age of 70, they’ve lived. And I think the fashion is so fucking sick. Look at the [yellow and red plaid pants] pants I’m wearing. I get inspired by that.

I like to people-watch, I like to be alone a lot. I don’t really hang out with a lot of people. Not that I don’t like people. I like to be with my family, my dad, he’s my best friend. I like to hang out with my niece. I like to cook, I like to bake. I love love when it’s a healthy love. That’s nice to feel good and get inspired. I find my pain really inspires me the most and maybe that’s why I have so much of it. That sounds fucked up but maybe that’s why. There’s a reason why these songs I’m writing and I’m singing and it’s so real. I’ve already written like three or four other songs of me singing that I’m even more stoked on.

EDM.com: Speaking of fashion, you rock the coolest and most unique outfits onstage with ski masks, sequins, bodysuits. What are some of your inspirations?

The reason why I wear a ski mask sometimes—it’s a cool fashion statement don’t get me wrong—but I also like to wear them because no one can see my face. I find that I feel almost protected. You know when you’re under the blankets and you feel safe? It almost feels like that. When I’m going to a show that I’m a little more nervous about to have that on my face is like, I can just do me and no one can see me. It sounds really silly, but it’s kind of like a safe space. It’s a cool look too so I’ve been doing it more often. 

With my fashion, I guess Rihanna inspires me. I love that she was just pregnant and rocking it out hardcore, I thought that was so beautiful. I think Kanye inspires me a little bit with the way he does things. Most importantly I think all the things I’m doing with my fashion just come from my soul. I’m not trying to look at anyone and be like, “I want to look like that!” It’s like, what can I do differently? Just like my music. People are art pieces, that’s how I view people. 

Everyone to me is art. I can look at someone and get inspired after looking at their right side of their face. It’s really weird how I think about things. So I think fashion is just another statement showing people to just be yourself at the fullest capacity. And also I’m not spending a lot of money to be looking how I look. So if someone is being like, “Oh well what’s it like to spend $1,000 on an outfit?” Here and there I will spend money on shoes, but with my outfits, most of the time my outfits are under $100 and sometimes half of that. And they look expensive. You just do your research and you guys could look like that too. I’m more into investing in real estate than investing in high fashion, ya know? I’d like to start my own fashion brand. Sometime soon actually, within the next two years.

EDM.com: You are playing the Hollywood Palladium tonight for Shaq’s Bass All-Stars show. What are you most looking forward to?

Well, I’m really excited to just look at Shaq. I’ve been watching a lot of interviews for the past two weeks about him, just to get to know who he is. He seems like such a gentle teddy bear, like a really good and inspired human. So I’m feeling very lucky to get to play with him. I’ve actually met him twice before, got that vibe for sure. I’m feeling very grateful to be playing with him.

And then all my friends and Monstercat is coming, and I’m excited to have them all here because they just let me stay at their place for the last week, and it’s gonna be really nice to have them come out. I’m just excited to play. I’ve never played the Palladium so that will be new for me. I like new venues. You go and you play the same festivals every year and that’s great, but trying something new is always exciting. I’ll play “Angels,” and I’m going to test out a new record actually with me singing on it.

FOLLOW WHIPPED CREAM:

Facebook: facebook.com/whippedcreammusic
Twitter: twitter.com/WHIPPEDCREAM
Instagram: instagram.com/whippedcream
Spotify: spoti.fi/39ovQQt

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