A Chat with Cade Hoppe (05.04.23)
Constantly releasing music with confidence, creativity and clarity, singer-songwriter Cade Hoppe is making a name for himself in the indie-pop scene. We speak with Hoppe about his single ‘Moon’, good and bad advice, and future plans.
OSR: What inspired you to begin making music?
Hoppe: I think the thing that first inspired me to write my own songs was just the fact that I loved playing and listening to music so much and that naturally led me to start writing my own songs to play. I had a lot of fun learning how to play and sing my favourite songs, but there comes a certain point where you want to be singing your own thoughts, in a way that best suits your own voice, so that’s what I did. Once I wrote my first song, I really only played my own songs.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Hoppe: It sounds cliché, but music is the soundtrack of my life. My memories have songs attached to them – whether it’s my own song or someone else’s. I really do see (and hear) the world through music.
OSR: What can you tell us about your new single ‘Moon’?
Hoppe: This is my favourite song I’ve ever put out. I felt like I really accurately captured the feeling of chasing a dream that so many people around you can’t really understand. And that led to getting the best production Harper and I have ever done, and then sending it to a hero of mine, Rob Moose, to do strings. I couldn’t have imagined it coming together better.
OSR: Did you face any challenges when recording the single?
Hoppe: The biggest challenge with this one was putting too much pressure on it and just trusting the process. We thought this one was the best song I’d written, so we wanted to make sure it was our best production as well – the danger in that is letting the want for a great finished product inform the process too much.
OSR: What do you hope people take from your music?
Hoppe: In the same way that my favourite songs have done this for me, I hope my music can make people feel like they aren’t alone. ‘Moon’ is a song that’s about loneliness, so I think it’s even more important that people can hear this song and know that there are so many people out there that feel lonely, even though when you’re in that feeling it’s hard to imagine anyone can possibly relate.
OSR: You created a music video for ‘Moon’. What can you tell us about it?
Hoppe: The video was the final piece of the puzzle. We shot it mostly in and around the restaurant where I work in the East Village, San Marzano, and it just happened to be snowing really hard on the night we shot it. A very happy accident. I directed it with a great team supporting me and I’m really proud of how it turned out. I hope a lot of people can first experience the song while watching the video.
OSR: What do you think were the best and worst things about making the video?
Hoppe: The best thing was definitely the snow. And the worst thing was how at the end of the overnight shoot at 3 am we didn’t have a way to lock the restaurant up, so I almost had to sleep there overnight until someone came in the morning. We figured it out eventually, but I legitimately was scoping the place out for the best place to lie down and sleep for a few hours.
OSR: Describe your music in three words.
Hoppe: Eclectic, introspective, and sincere
OSR: What do you think is the best way to discover new music?
Hoppe: Probably the most trusted and successful way I discover new music is through my friends or other artists sharing stuff they like.
OSR: What is the best and worst piece of advice you have ever received?
Hoppe: The best advice I’ve ever received is to follow your tastes and trust that gut feeling because if you like something, chances are that other people with similar tastes will like it too. The worst piece of advice I’ve ever received is to always have a backup plan. I’ve learned you should have one plan that you believe in, and everything should go towards that.
OSR: Do you have future plans as a musician?
Hoppe: I plan on making music forever. This is only the beginning. Thank you so much for the interview!
Many thanks to Cade Hoppe for speaking with us. For more from Cade Hoppe, check out his Instagram and Spotify.
