Hanna Andrea is a Gen-Z pop artist tackling the one thing Gen-Z can’t live without: their phones.
Polly Havelock catches up with Andrea on her new anti-social media anthem ‘GET OFF YOUR PHONE’, the importance of staying present, and what to expect from her upcoming sophomore EP, ‘Braveheart’.
Hi Hanna, how are you?
I’m good! Very busy with college finals coming up, casting for the musical that I wrote, MUSE (It’s going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer so I’m very excited!), and promotion for my new releases, but I’m so happy to have so many wonderful things happening in my life.
You’ve just released your brand new single, ‘GET OFF YOUR PHONE’, a sharp commentary on doom-scrolling culture and the impact of social media. What experiences inspired you to write this track?
It was quite a few years ago, before I had really gotten into social media. I was hanging out with some friends who I don’t get to see very often because we don’t live in the same place. We were sitting on my friend’s sofa and everyone had their phones out and were consumed in their own online worlds while I was sort of staring into space awkwardly not knowing what to do. This sort of situation kept happening again and again in various friend groups and it just made me think “hey I should write a song about this.”
With phones taking over our daily lives more and more, why do you think it’s important to spread the message to take in the world around you and not miss out on living in the moment?
I think there are really beautiful things about social media. I have a lot of friends living in different states or countries even, and social media makes it so much easier to stay in touch with them. For me the main thing is just when you’re sharing a moment with someone else in person, I think it’s important to be present for that, and fully enjoy and live in that moment.
The track is nostalgic and reminiscent of 90s-2000s rock-pop, taking us back to a time when phones didn’t exist. Were there any artists or films of that era that influenced you?
Not intentionally. It didn’t really occur to me that it sounded like a 90s-2000’s track before after the fact, but maybe it occurred to my collaborators. This fact just makes me like the song more, though. It gives such a nice layer of detail. My friends keep comparing it to Paramore so maybe they were an unintentional (at least on my end) influence.
You’re very involved in the production process of your songs. Can you walk us through the creative process for this track?
I was a lot less involved in the production elements of this song than I usually am. It was a collaboration I did over the summer in L.A. I was working with some writers and a producer there, and this was the last song we wrote together. Most of the songs we worked on together we started with a track and then we wrote over it, but for this one we started with just a guitar. The song definitely took a very different turn from what I had expected when I first brought up the topic. I was expecting to write more of a dark pop song, but that was not the direction we ended up in, and it definitely took me some time to adjust to the genre. We recorded vocals for it a few days later, and then BGVs later in the summer. The first version of the production they sent me, I instantly loved, and usually I’m very particular. We went through versions of mixes during the school year, and that was pretty much the process from my end.
‘GET OFF YOUR PHONE’ is the latest glimpse into your forthcoming EP, ‘Braveheart’. Does this give an indication of the sonic direction of the rest of the EP or do you like to explore genres?
‘Get Off Your Phone’ is definitely a bit different from the other songs on the EP. I would say my previous single, Braveheart, is a much better indication of what the rest of the EP sounds like. I do like to explore genres. I always try to think in terms of what tells the story the best and what the song wants to sound like. I try not to be tied down by what I think I “have to” create, and sometimes that means we end up with songs that feel a little different from my others.
You grew up between Norway and the US – how did the contrast of locations shape your songwriting?
I think both of the places have been sources of inspiration for me. Growing up in both places has given me a broad range of experiences and shaped me as a person, which I think inherently affects my music. I tend to be really inspired by nature, which I am constantly surrounded with in Norway. I also have a lot of memories in Norway that have inspired me. My life in the US tends to be very intense and I think a lot of the stress and pressure I’ve felt from that part of my world has inspired my music.
Your sound is often compared to artists like AURORA and Laufey, praised for its emotional depth, distinct sound and theatrical edge – how does this evolve in ‘Braveheart?’
‘Braveheart’ is definitely more mainstream pop oriented than my previous album, ‘Stranded in the Middle’ was, but I think it still maintains that emotional depth and “theatricalness” that people are responding to. It’s very important to me to write about the topics that feel relevant to my life and that I really connect to. I’m also a very introspective person, so I think my music naturally finds its way to that depth. Similarly, I think it is a very “me” thing to be drawn to theatrical, cinematic, sounds, and my collaborators on this project have been very supportive of that while also bringing me into new sounds.
Speaking of theatrical, you’ve composed songs for an upcoming musical which will be showcased at the iconic Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer. How did this come about, and are you excited to see your songs performed in this way?
Good question. I had no idea this project would ever be performed in a professional setting when we first started it. It was a devised project at my high school with basically no funding when it first started. But thanks to our very ambitious cast and director, we managed to devise a play that people enjoyed so much that our school took it to Lincoln Center the following year. We became passionate about furthering the life of the show, which led us to talk to and work with more and more people, until someone suggested we attempt to perform at the Fringe and somehow we managed to make that happen. It’s kind of been a whirlwind, but I’m very happy to have gotten to come along for the ride.
Back in our first production, I was just asked to write one song, because our director knew that I had released an album, and then as this show kept developing they kept asking me to write more songs. I’ve really enjoyed the process. It’s very exciting to get to write for other people’s voices. It was an absolutely magical experience the first time I heard the original cast sing the songs I had written for them, because I was familiar with their voices while writing and had tried to write songs that would fit their strengths. It was so fun when the songs sounded exactly how I had imagined it on them. We’ll be having a new cast at the Fringe this summer, so I am very excited to hear new interpretations of the songs, and it will be so exciting to hear these songs on such a big stage reaching new audiences.
Looking ahead, what are your hopes and aspirations for the remainder of 2026?
I feel quite preoccupied with the here and now at the moment. I am very excited for the rehearsal process for MUSE this summer and going to the Fringe, but after that I look forward to more writing and recording and creating the next project. The rest of the Braveheart EP also drops later in 2026 so I am also very excited for this.
