Aubory Bugg Lets Herself Be Bad For a Little While
Aubory Bugg knows what goes into a perfect song, and she knows how to get there.
Aubory Bugg has something with her debut album i think i had something once. As Steve Roberts wrote in our review, Bugg's crystalline voice carries beyond the lyrics on the page. But...you gotta start somewhere and here, Bugg points us to her influences via her favorite songs, most recent musical obsessions, and her approach to songwriting.
Name a perfect song and tell us why you feel that way.
I LOVE the song “I Wish I Was” by the Avett Brothers. The song chronicles all of these objects the narrator wishes they were so that they could be the perfect dose for the person they love (a candle you could blow out, a sweater you could take off, a song you could stop singing, etc.) and there is this EVIL gut punch at the very end, literally the last line. I think any song that can successfully set up one single payoff at the very end is a perfect song, but this one in particular just guts me every time.
Do you have any go-to albums to listen to in the van?
I’ve been reaching for The Good Witch by Maisie Peters SO MUCH recently. I think it’s a perfect pop record. I also have a few old faithfuls that are always in rotation like Baby by Born Without Bones, Paradise Pop. 10 by Christian Lee Hutson, and Hejira by Joni Mitchell.
Is there a professional “bucket list” item you would love to check off?
I want to headline Red Rocks in Colorado at some point in my career. That is like my “ok i’ve made it” goal. I also deeply want to do a merch collaboration with this company called Canned Goods Clothing. I love their mission and their clothes and I think it could be a really cool experience.
Do you play covers at your shows? Why or why not?
I LOVE playing covers at my headline shows. Before Tiktok even existed I was doing cover gigs in pubs and restaurants in my hometown for 3 to 4 hours. It’s so fun to contextualize a song that I love in front of an audience. I love being like “okay now what if this funny rock song was sad and gay and on acoustic guitar?” It's so fun.
Do you have any songwriting tips you can share?
You HAVE to make it exist before you can make it good. You can’t write a perfect song without revisions and letting yourself be a little bad for a while. Nobody starts out incredible at something and not every song is a winner but so long as you keep writing and trying and failing and trying again you WILL get better!
