Viral indie pop singer-songwriter Tessa Violet first made a name for herself on YouTube before making an impact with viral hits including including “Crush,” “YES MOM” and “Bad Ideas,” and she’s making 2026 her year with a unique and ambitious project called There Will Be Joy.
In signature Tessa fashion, she’s dropping the album with a twist. The project is serialized, coming in the form of monthly singles throughout the year, paired with vlogs, performance footage from U.S. National Parks and charity livestreams. This format beautifully matches There Will Be Joy‘s themes embracing openness, tender affection and the power of human connection with songs that are vulnerable, loving and optimistic, produced by Cavetown and Brye.
The latest release, dropped earlier this week, is the new single “Sing Big,” a confident anthem about the power of refusing to shy away from your own artistic process. The track encourages us to sing aloud, disregard the fear of imperfection and full our creativity for absolutely new one. We had the pleasure of chatting with Tessa to learn all about the project and the new track in the interview below.
Sweety high: What was the inspiration behind “Sing Big”? Was there one big moment in particular that influenced the song, or a lot of smaller moments?
Tessa Violet: When you’re writing a song you have to be willing to have bad ideas. I have a belief about any creative thing you write, that the art already exists, your job as a writer isn’t to invent something from nothing, but to channel it. There’s a sensation around touching the real thing, what the song itself wants to be, and you just have to keep looking for that. But part of the process is being non-judgmental as you are working. When I write songs, singing the wrong thing (the wrong lyric, the wrong melody), that’s just part of it. And if I demand it’s prefect on it’s first draft? It just doesn’t come. I believe songs only come to people who are safe-enough to be a baby song with. Ideas need time to grow and to bloom. Anyway, I had a writing session with some dear friends of mine and after a few days where we still didn’t have any songs I thought… what’s the problem here?? I realized as we were trying to write, I was quietly singing things to myself, trying to check if they were good or not before I’d sing them big, and to be honest, this meant I wasn’t writing anything. You gotta be willing to sing big if you want the ideas to come!
SH: What does the song mean to you, and what do you hope it will mean to your listeners?
TV: I hope it’ll remind people of what’s true, the point of a first draft isn’t to “be good”, it’s just to exist. If your first draft exists than you’re doing the work. Worry about being perfect later, just dedicate yourself to the playful spirit of finding what’s true. You’re the only one who can let your light shine, so let it shine baby.
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SH: What’s your favorite lyric from the song? Why?
TV: “Sing big, let ’em hear your song, dare to do it wrong, let your spirit shine!” Idk, it’s just what i need to hear, haha. Don’t be too guarded, too precious. The messiness is important too.
SH: What can you tell us about your upcoming album, There Will Be Joy? Where does “Sing Big” fit into its wider narrative?
TV: There Will Be Joy is about being gentle with yourself. Recognizing the things that need changing, but also recognizing all the good that is happening and will come to you. People used to tell me “it gets better,” but that never resonated with me because like… you can’t know that, and also, it may get worse first, and also what even is “better”? I had a dear friend of mine at the beginning of her sobriety journey say to me “I can’t picture being happy” and it made me reflect on the beginning of my sobriety journey, and how beautiful it is to stand here now looking backwards and get to tell that girl, “there will be joy” and I know it it’s true, because I experienced it. Also my friend now is over a year sober! She knows, too 🙂
SH: You’re releasing this album in a unique way. Can you tell us more about that? What has been your favorite part of the process?
TV: As someone who doesn’t have a major label behind the pushing the music, my way of getting my music out there is with social media! This is a way to sort of keep it fresh for me while I’m posting, it’s nice to have a new song every month I can talk about 🙂
SH: The album was produced by Cavetown and Brye. What was that process like? What unique aspects do they lend to the project to bring out the story you’re telling?
TV: Listen, I am the luckiest person in the world, I can’t believe I got to work with these two on this record. Brye I became a fan of after hearing “Diet Culture” and reached out and asked if she’d want to write a song with me called “My Body’s My Buddy”! We were fast friends and I am so grateful to have Brye bring her magic to this record. Many of these songs we also wrote together, the two of us channel something so beautiful, I’m so grateful! And Robin. Let me tell you something—I have been a Cavetown fan since 2017, so you can imagine my excitement when Robin said yes to working on this project! I feel Robin hears the songs and takes them to this whole new level. They’re so magical, and psychedelic sometimes. I love his writing on the instrumentation, the harmonies, the ear candy. Honestly, I feel so honored to have gotten to work with these two. Both of them have seen me weep listening to these songs, haha.
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SH: What’s one thing you’re proudest of right now?
TV: Myself 🙂 The little girl in me needs someone to be proud of her, and I’m so proud of you, sweet pea!
(Photo credit: Jayden Becker)
SH: Is there anything else we should know about you or the track?
TV: Check out the other songs, too! if you like “Sing Big,” you’re gonna like the rest almost certianly.
For more on the artists who inspire us, click HERE to read our interview with Jae Stephens, who just made her Lollapalooza debut.
