Blues-Pop Songstress Cutt Discusses Personal Nature of Debut EP ‘Nightmares’

CUTT (Press Photo)

Back Story: A blonde bombshell with a powerhouse voice, Hannah Cutt, a.k.a. Cutt is the perfect hybrid of Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse. Her debut EP Nightmares, produced by Grammy Award winner Scott Storch and Angel Lopez, is dark, lyrically strong and shockingly raw but always maintains the catchy pocket necessary for a strong pop record.

The debut single off of the EP, “Messy”, is sexy, aggressive and unexpected. The husky-voiced singer says “Messy” is a song about “sexual frustration but also frustration in general. “I wrote it when I first tried to get sober and no longer had alcohol to get out of my own head; something I still struggle with,” explains the singer. “Messy” is a fantasy song about escape.”

Cutt celebrated two years of sobriety this July and describes her decision to get sober as the foundation of her development as an artist. “Nightmares is inextricably a byproduct of my sobriety. You avoid a lot of demons when you’re constantly trying to control something, like an addiction. When you take it away you are left with yourself. This EP is the beginning of that process; facing the fears you didn’t know you had, head on.”

The Hype Magazine got Cutt to weigh in on a few things:

What brought you to the entertainment industry, music specifically?

I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Los Angeles so you are right in the hub of the industry so obviously there’s that but most of the people I grew up with in LA went into the business side of the industry, not the creative side. I was always a performer though. It was just something I was naturally drawn to. I’ve done some acting as well-small commercials; short films etc but then I made the leap into music a few years ago. I wanted to have more control over the material I was putting out. I wanted to say something.

What do you want people to know about your debut EP “Nightmares”?

That it was written in my first year of sobriety. There are some dark explicit themes in the EP and at first listen you might think I was getting f**ked up when I wrote it but in fact I was sober. I like to clarify that because there’s a lot of glamorization of alcohol and drugs but you don’t need drugs to be creative or mysterious. For me being sober opened up a lot of creativity and took me to a lot of places in my mind that I wouldn’t have been able to go if I were under the influence. This EP is the process of digging deep and trying to understand yourself in order to become better, not to just stay in the darkness. You do have to face your demons first but the goal is to get to the other side, to the light, to keep growing.

Tell us about working with the sonics of Scott Storch and how he challenged you with the production.

Scott knows what he’s doing-he’s incredibly talented and knows how to make a hit. I came in the studio with the songs pretty much finished but he always challenged me to rewrite parts he didn’t feel were strong and a lot of those changes made a big difference. Whether it was the bridge in this song or the pre-chorus in that song he made sure we crossed our T’s and dotted our I’s. It was a great process to see the back and forth and the collaboration. Gave me a lot of confidence to know we can keep working through it. Sometimes it went smoothly and we came up with something within minutes and other times it took a bit but either way we got it down. Good learning process.

For new listeners, what song of yours would you pick as an introduction to you as an artist?

Gets Me Off. That’s the direction I am going in. A little more rock and little more serious. That’s the material and songs I have stacked up.

Artists struggle with addiction and as creatives perhaps are more susceptible to the call of chemical influence. What might your guidance be to others who perhaps haven’t found the individual strength to fight back as of yet?

That it takes time to change and often it feels like you will never be able to stop the cycle but miracles happen and just keep on trying. It’s no fun to fail but it’s worth giving yourself a chance to live a fulfilling life. Don’t be afraid to ask for help either-its much easier to do it with the support of others and a community. Have faith. Getting sober opens doors for a lot of love and growth; A lot of pain but a lot of love too.

Last but not least, HYPE wants to know…What’s your CRAZIEST “Where they do that at?!” aka WTF?! moment…

Any crazy story of mine worth sharing I probably shouldn’t share on a public forum so ill have to plead the fifth on this one.

Get more info on the sensational Cutt at http://cutt-music.com/

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Tags: @cuttmusic_, Angel Lopez, Conversations, CUTT, drug addiction, entertainment, Health, Interview, Scott Storch, Sobriety, The Hype Magazine

About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.