Interview: Inside Ivoris’ Messy Mind

When I think back to the night when I met Ivoris out in the patio area of Elysium during SXSW 2024, all I can really remember are the colors. The sky was getting dark and the event-goers were getting rowdier as the night went on. With very little external light on the patio, not at all helped by Elysium’s painted jet-black exterior, it was getting hard to see my notes. Ivoris, though, stood out as a colorful figure, a flash of brightness amongst the darkening surroundings. She had just played one of her many SXSW shows right there before we sat down, and it was clear that she was still running on the high of that performance. That sparkle carried off-stage. If SXSW had the stereotype of rough and rowdy indie rockers boozing the night away, well, Ivoris and her music was there to shake up that image.

Comforting and cozy, the music of Ivoris fits snugly alongside that of other twinkling pop singer-songwriters like Chevy or even the aesthetic of Shawn Wasabi. My entry point to her work, My Messy Mind EP from 2022, demonstrated that beautifully with some achingly homespun ukelele tunes (“Fairybread & Old Cartoons”), introverted introspection (“I Wish My Mind Would Shut Up”), and wide-eyed thoughts on love (basically everything else on the project). Listening to her music felt like winding up a music box and letting the twinkling tunes carry you to a sweeter, less sinister place. 

Those elements of Ivoris’ self-described “fairy-floss, cloud”-oriented pop are probably what caused her music to unexpectedly go viral in China, of all places. Chinese netizens fell in love with “I Wish My Mind Would Shut Up,” and eventually ironically led Ivoris to a lot more music opportunities out in China than in Melbourne, where she’s based. When I told her during our interview that the first time I heard “I Wish My Mind Would Shut Up” out in the wild was in an old-style Lanzhou Beef Noodle shop in Arcadia, it didn’t really surprise her.

And funnily enough, the hits keep coming: back in 2024 when we talked, “Drive Thru” from that aforementioned EP was starting to trend. As I write this now in 2025, her 2022 single “roundabout” is doing the exact same thing. One thing’s for sure: people just can’t get enough of Ivoris.

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How’s your SXSW experience so far? Is it your first time being here?

It’s my first time in Austin and it’s my first time in America. It’s been a wild introduction to this country. It’s been incredible – like, exceeded my expectations. The fact that you can just walk down a street and walk into any venue and it’s amazing music… you can’t find that anywhere else.

How long have you been here and what are your highlights so far?

I’m only here for a week. I’m kind of sad; I wish I was here longer. My highlights have been the shows, for sure. I haven’t done anything but go to shows. I go to my shows and then go to other people’s shows. I saw Rei Ami last night and she was incredible. I also saw Flo Milli. I played at the Jaded showcase yesterday; that was one of the highlights for me. I think, actually, the highlight is flying here and being with lots of Asian artists, because that’s just not what I expected. I think that is so special and could only happen now. Ten years ago that would not have been the case. We’re just in a really special time that I can fly from Australia to America and go to Texas and then like be on an Asian lineup, you know? That’s been my favorite for me.

I want to talk about your performances here at the festival. What was it like preparing for them, and was it easy to adjust to the chaos?

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this, because showcases are different from gigs. I know that if I put on a gig it’s a different kind of crowd that’s going to turn up, whereas here people walking in don’t know who you are. So you’ve got to kind of think about it in a different way, but I love challenges. I love when people discover me. Usually, I try to make my whole set like a journey, but I tried to make each song its own journey. [When] people hop in for a song and they leave at least they just got kind of a full experience through that one song. But no, it’s been sick. Like, I brought my drummer with me and I always feel settled when someone else is on with me onstage. That’s very nice. I think preparing to come to America, like the visas and all that stuff… that was tricky. I wanted to focus on the creative! That part was a little bit more daunting and annoying. I heard that border control was really strict, but they were really chill.

I was at the Jaded showcase yesterday and I saw that you brought out YAYOI DAIMON. Is she performing with you for all of your sets?

No, but I did have a guest for every show! YAYOI was at Jaded and then I had a Japanese artist called YU-KA.  She sang “Supervillain” with me for the first time this morning. I love collaboration, and I have quite a few songs that I’ll have a guest feature on. And I don’t know, when else are you gonna get someone from another country that you never usually meet to sing your song? It’s cool forming friendships here.

I wanted to ask you a little bit about your EP, My Messy Mind. Could you tell me a little bit about the background of the project?

Yeah, so that came out a couple of years ago. I wrote that EP just before COVID – before lockdown and during lockdown – and where I live in Melbourne we had pretty strict lockdowns. It was kind of different in each city in Australia, but Melbourne had the strictest one. It’s kind of like my baby from that time. A lot of the songs were started before that, but I just had the time and the energy to focus on finishing everything and making it cohesive. I spent hours and days and months being super obsessive about all the creative things and researching who I wanted to edit my cover art. Yeah, it was amazing.

Lockdown was tough on everyone, but when I look back I’m like, “Wow, I really took all the craziness and focused on this project.” It was really fun. I released [the EP] as something for me. It was totally just songs that I loved… because I write a lot of songs and I hate a lot of them! But I loved these few songs and I really felt like they sounded like me. It was kind of like a passion project. Now that I’ve seen, like a couple of years later, the love that it’s received, it kind of gives me chills, because I’m like, “That’s just what I liked, but you liked that too!” It’s like finding people who have the same taste. It’s really special. It just gives me a lot of courage and confidence to not try to be like other people, I guess, and be like, “Oh, that was fully a hundred percent me and people resonated with it. I’m just gonna keep being me and hopefully that draws more people in.”

It’s not fun trying to be other people, but when you’re first starting out, you can be like, “Oh, what do I want to sound like?” But I think through that project, it was really special to make, and it’s been even more special to see them connect with me.

You recently released a song for the video game Arknights. How did that collaboration come about?

Yeah, that one was so fun. They reached out to my team. I have a team that works in China for me. I’m independent outside of China. They reached out to my team being like, “I think she’s a good fit.” And then they sent me pictures of this character, Ray, and they were like, what do you think? Instantly, I was like, “Oh yeah.” I’ve always wanted to write music for a film or a game or something, but sometimes they [say], “We want it to sound this way, not what you normally sound like.”

For Arknights, they were like, “We want you to make a song that you think would suit it.” They gave me 100% creative control. They had little tweaks they wanted to make, but I got to imagine a world for the character, which was not what I thought writing for a game would be like. I thought they’d be really strict.

So that was really fun and I thought I was writing a song about her and then now when I listen to it, I’m like… “You were just writing about yourself!” I was looking back at the lyrics. You don’t know, your subconscious… I feel like I really resonated with the character. I’m really keen to do more things like that. It’s always a stretch to do something that’s not just Ivoris and it’s fun.

You have quite a big fandom in China, since a few of your songs went viral there. Could you tell me a little bit about where that came from? Did it come out of nowhere?

That is the question all artists ask, which is like, “How do I make my song blow up?” I feel like it’s just by… chance! Like growing up in Australia, you feel quite far removed from a lot of the world, actually, because we’re quite far away. But especially China… I had no idea what the music industry was like there. I had no contacts there. I didn’t know… I just didn’t know anything about the Chinese music industry. I had never even been to China. I started noticing that some of my DMs would be in Chinese and I had to Google Translate them, and I was like, “Okay… something’s happening. This is strange.”

Because when you’re in your bubble… like, I’m in Melbourne and all I know are Melbourne people. And then “I Wish My Mind Would Shut Up” started growing. That one started growing organically on TikTok in China. And then I was on a TV show to sing that song, and then that propelled it, I think. It was really cool, actually. At the TV show, I had these in-ears so I couldn’t really hear the crowd, but I was singing that song and as soon as I got to the pre-chorus I saw their faces be like, “Oh my god. It’s that girl! Like, this is the girl!” It was cool, because at that moment they were like, “Oh, there’s a face to that song!” And in that moment, I was like, “There’s a face to like the random DMs!”

It was like an instant like, “Oh, these are real people listening to my music.” I love the scene in China. I think the audience is really passionate, and they do things we don’t do in Australia. We don’t have many meet and greets, but they do in China and it’s really special to have a moment with each fan. I’ll be playing some festivals there this year, so I’m really excited to do more shows over there.

What was it like performing on a Chinese TV show and being a part of a competition?

Okay, you know what’s funny? I was on the show and I can’t read Chinese characters.  There was a challenge where you had to choose a contestant to battle and they had all their Chinese names up there. You’d, like, write down their name. So I was like writing down this person’s name many times, and then they were like, “Oh, so who did you choose?” And I, like, showed it, and they were like, “You wrote 青年π计划. That’s the name of the show! That’s not his name!” I was like, “Oh my god, and I spent so long being like wait, let me just write it down!” It was so embarrassing, and then they couldn’t figure out who I chose. 

I watched a clip of it on YouTube this morning and then you were, like, roasting the other guy!

Okay, so I think I wanted to say good luck! They have a translator who tells you what to say. And then when I said it and the audience was like, “Ah!” I was like, “What did I say!?” Afterwards, I was told, “Oh, it was kind of sassy.” 

Yeah, you were throwing shade at him!

I was trying to say good luck! There was a language barrier! A little sass is okay.

On the flipside, what’s the Australian indie music scene like? Is there an Asian-Australian scene?

To be honest, the scene… I wouldn’t say there are many Asian artists, and coming here, because there’s a bunch of us Aussies that came here… there are like three other Asian artists apart from me. I was talking to them and we were like, yeah, it’s actually really weird because I’ve never met another Asian artist until I came here and we were all together!” And there might be some who I just haven’t run into, but you wouldn’t see an all-Asian lineup. And after being at SX, I’d be keen to make that happen.

Australia’s population isn’t huge, but there is a decently big population of Asian-Australians. I went to NIKI’s show in Melbourne, and I looked in the crowd and there was not a single white person to be found, you know? We need to have more of this, and when Asian artists come and do shows you see that happen. But for emerging artists, we don’t have many people to look up to. Australia loves bands, so I’m a little bit of an anomaly in that way as well because I’m not a full band. I think that there’s a way to go. There’s still a long way to go in Australia but I think that it’s happening now, just like it is here. But I would be really keen to make that happen in Australia. This trip has inspired me.

So I know you also recently had a song called “Cocopops.” You also have a song called “Fairy Bread and Old Cartoons.” If you had to write a song about another snack, what would it be? 

I think I might do a drink one because we’ve had two foods! And it’s funny because I’m just noticing now that you said it – they’re both very Australian.

I had to Google what Cocopops were.

Yeah, they’re called Cocoa Krispies here! You have Froot Loops as well, but I think our colors are different, because you guys are allowed colors we aren’t allowed. Like your red color… we’re not allowed that. So just be careful of the red color!

I actually had a song that I’ve never released and it was called “Noodle Soup.” I don’t know why. It’s like a comfort food, but it wasn’t a very good song. But I think I’d do one about a drink maybe. Ribena? It’s like the blackcurrant cordial and it’s really good. You put a little bit and then you put in some sparkling water and it’s like a fizzy grape drink. Yeah, it’s really good. If you ever come to Australia, have some Ribena! Now you’ve inspired me.

On that same note, what are your favorite old cartoons to watch?

Oh, they’re all gonna be probably Aussie. Actually, no! There are some American ones because when I was really little we had a channel that would play not just Australian cartoons. I liked Hannah Montana. That’s not a cartoon, though. I loved Powerpuff Girls as a kid. Did you guys have Bananas in Pyjamas?

I don’t think so.

It used to be like not a cartoon. They used to be men dressed in bananas… like, there would be two bananas. He was like… [singing] “Bananas in Pyjamas are coming down the stairs,” and there would be like two bananas! I loved that, but they turned that into a cartoon and it’s not as good, so sometimes cartoons ruin it. Now I can’t think of any cartoons I like.

I loved all the Disney cartoon movies, like all the animation. I was obsessed. I’d watch Cinderella every now and again; I loved Bambi. Those movies are still really nostalgic for me, but I was definitely like a Hannah Montana girl. I feel like her now!

You guys watch Hannah Montana in Australia?

We had Saturday Disney. That’s the only time they would play Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, [and] Lizzie McGuire. The little cartoon of her… I want to get one made that says Ivoris like it’s the Lizzie McGuire cartoon. So every Saturday morning you get up at like 7 a.m. and watch until 11 a.m and then you’d have to wait another week.

What are your thoughts on the Lizzie McGuire Movie?

I love it! I have that one on my laptop. I have a couple of movies on my laptop that are comfort ones. Lizzie McGuire is one of them.

It’s just so unrealistic. It’s just so fake! When I watched this as a teenager, I was like, “This is gonna happen to me when I go overseas!” I’m gonna meet a man and he’s gonna turn me into a popstar [in Rome]. And then when her and Gordo kiss…! Yeah.

What are you watching? What are you listening to and what are you playing?

Okay, I’m not a huge gamer but I weirdly like watching people play games. When I was little, I would watch, for hours, my brother play games. Not like a stream, someone physically playing. I love watching. But I do like watching people play Animal Crossing, and I grew up playing Neopets. Sometimes like me and my sister to this day would be like, “Should we pull up Neopets and check on our pet?” Like, I still have my Neopets. Apart from that, I don’t really play games. 

I watch the same things over and over again. I love Gilmore Girls; I always watch it on repeat. I love Gossip Girl… I love all the American shows. I’m obsessed with the live version of Cinderella, which is really specific. I also always rewatch Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig. It’s one of my favorite movies ever. And then I cry every time! There’s an Australian show called Dance Academy, which is about ballet and I also cry every time when I watch the show. I just watch shows on repeat and then I go back to the start. It’s really bad. Did you watch Avatar: The Way of the Water? Yeah, stuff like that [I’ll watch] because it’s wondrous, but new TV shows… I don’t know. 

Currently, I’m listening to a lot of Griff. Obsessed. I’ve listened to her for a long time, but her new stuff I’ve been loving. I’ve been listening to a lot of Sabrina Carpenter because I had a huge love when she first released her album but I watched her when she opened for Taylor Swift in Melbourne. I’m really excited for Lizzy McAlpine’s stuff as well.

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This interview was conducted by Li-Wei Chu at SXSW on March 15, 2024. The intro was written in August of 2025.

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