Thursday nights, in a small music classroom with large windows and a chalkboard crammed with music notes and scores, we practiced for the now extinct a capella group “Chromactics.” This is where I first met Anna Devine ’24, the Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter currently celebrating the release of her first EP. At the time, I was a painfully shy college freshman who sang in a choir once in fourth grade. Devine was a sophomore who took it upon themself to make me feel welcomed and on task. A few years later, Devine and I had the pleasure of being in a songwriting class taught by Kerry Alexander ’12, the lead singer of Minneapolis’ own indie pop band Bad Bad Hats. Songwriting class is where I first heard one of Devine’s (now released) songs “Year’s End.” Devine is soft spoken, polite and kind; even on the phone after not speaking for a long while, she still made it feel like it had only been a few days since I last sat next to her in class.
Before they began writing for their EP, “Seeing the Trees for the Leaves,” Devine said writing was a break from the busy life of a college senior. Now, Devine writes with the intention of joining the plethora of talented Minneapolis musicians. Throughout this past year, Devine has been writing and recording her EP, which came out on April 18. Navigating the recording process and promotional aspects of their first EP as an upcoming artist seemed to be the most challenging of being the leader in her own musical journey “was a little scary.”
“I started recording it last May or June of 2024, and I didn’t get all the mixes finished until February of this year,” Devine said. “So that feels like a very long time. And even just the recording went from May of last year to October of last year, which is way too long for a project that’s four songs. I had a lot of moving parts. And people who were playing on it had limited availability. The guy who was recording it, Max, also had limited availability in his studio. So it just took a long time. It was my first time doing any of that.”
Devine described the Macalester scene as quite an intimate space, where it was easy to fall into a routine of greeting people you knew every day. Since she’s moved to Uptown in Minneapolis, inspiration flows from the streets like Minnehaha Falls in the summer.
“It’s so fun to be able to run into community members,” Devine said. “It makes me feel like I’m in a city that’s bigger than it is. But that seems like something that would happen in New York or something. And I just feel like ‘here I am in Minnesota.’ [This is] where I’ve grown up and I’m starting to really deeply love the city just based on the connections I’ve made.”
The Twin Cities gave rise to many wonderful and successful musical artists like Bad Bad Hats, Hüsker Dü and of course the world-famous Prince and Bob Dylan. It is no secret that the Twin Cities house a vibrant and explosive “new music” scene, with Devine being in the budding artist bunch. Devine grew up in the Minneapolis/Hopkins area where she describes being born into her musical interests with a father and brother who were always participating in some kind of musical activities.
“My dad did theater and choir when he was in high school,” Devine said. “He would always sing around the house, and I would get so annoyed when he would sing show tunes to wake me up in the morning.”
When I asked when her interest in music began, they described a cozy and musically integrated upbringing where music was always part of their life.
“I feel like I’ve always been in a music house. My brother has been in a jazz band [since] he was in school, and we played piano, and I was in choir. So it’s hard to pinpoint a specific experience, but definitely being surrounded by music as a kid.”
Devine didn’t begin to write her own music until 2023: “I never thought that that was something that I could do.”
Devine mentioned that, while studying away in Italy, their need for creating increased.
“My theory is that I have a creative buildup of stuff that I need to get out. … So I studied abroad in 2023 in the spring, and I went to Italy, which was incredible. But I didn’t bring any guitar or have really any access to instruments, which I didn’t realize would be difficult for me. Because I’ve always had a piano around or someone’s guitar. So for the first time, I had no musical outlet. And I did join a choir in Milan, which was really fun. But we were singing a mass, like an operatic Catholic mass. And it was cool. But [I was] the youngest in the choir by about 40 years. But yeah, that was fun. But I didn’t really have any way to express myself.”
What many people fail to realize about releasing music is that it is not only writing and recording the music that you need to worry about, but also the promotional aspects of trying to make a name for yourself in the scene. Devine performs live shows and is busy creating merchandise and booking venues in order to promote her new EP. During our conversation, I was reminded of a theme which often came up in our shared class about writers’ block and how to always keep writing when Devine shared that amidst all the heavy lifting to promote her music, she struggled to create.
“I haven’t felt this creative push to keep writing, although I’m sure it will come in a month or two. It always comes back.”
As far as setbacks when creating this EP, Devine describes perfectionism as their main obstacle.
“Especially [on] the day when I recorded the vocals, I had just gotten over a cold,” Devine said. “And so I felt like my voice sounded so bad, but this was the only day that we could do it. I just was like, tough shit. It’s going to be fine. I’m sure I’m the only one who’s noticing these little things. I think that comes with any sort of recording for anyone. I’m sure everyone feels like a perfectionist with the way that the take went, ‘oh, I said that word wrong,’ [or] ‘I was a little flat there.’”
Being surrounded by trustworthy people and friends eased Devine out of that perfectionism.
“[Throughout] the mixing, mastering and release process, my boyfriend Ryan, who I’m in a band with called Shoots, has been super helpful and reassuring,” Devine said. “He’s done this before. He’s had EPs come out, and this was my first one, so there were a lot of things I didn’t know. Like, what time should it come out on the release date? Should it come out at midnight or 10 o’clock? Or what do people normally do? I had a lot of these little random questions that were stressing me out. I wanted the release to go as smoothly as possible. And he was really helpful in just telling me, ‘this is what most people do.’”
Release times and audio mixing are not only the behind-the-scenes challenges that musicians face; there is always the issue of money. Streaming services don’t exactly help kickstart budding musicians.
“They don’t care about us, and they are just looking for ways to profit off of us,” Devine said. “And every stream that I get, I think it’s like three percent of one cent.”
Spotify usually pays artists between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream, which leaves artists needing nearly half a million streams a month to make anything close to a comfortable wage. Additionally, Anna describes the finances of a musical artist as unpredictable, where you are responsible for bookings, merchandise and other expenses. “A lot of being a musician, especially a small budding musician, involves a lot of upfront costs, and you just have to hope that you’re going to make them back,” Devine said.
Challenges aside, Devine released her first EP just days ago and is having a release show April 25 at the Green Room in Minneapolis.
“Once you start performing songs or recording them, it feels like they’re not entirely yours anymore. By recording and putting it on Spotify, people now have it on their phones, and so I kind of feel like, in a way, [it’s] partially theirs [now], which is a little scary.”
The community of small musicians and local music fans in the Twin Cities are excited to hear Devine’s debut solo project.
“There was a point before I even recorded, before I even released anything, I would hear from friends or fellow musicians [that they] can’t wait to hear [my] stuff,” Devine said. “The music scene is so supportive here in Minneapolis.”
As Devine begins her music career, the Twin Cities wait with open arms and ears to celebrate yet another talented product of an electric music scene.
