Q&A: The Aces reflect on honesty, growth in sophomore album ‘Under My Influence’

The Aces are back – and they’re more comfortable with themselves than ever.

The indie-pop band released its sophomore effort “Under My Influence” on Friday as a follow-up to its 2018 debut record, “When My Heart Felt Volcanic.” Trust, honesty and relatability fill out the new record’s core themes – concepts made possible only through the members’ childhood relationships growing up in Provo, Utah.

Band members Cristal Ramirez (lead vocals/guitar) and Katie Henderson (lead guitar/vocals) spoke with the Daily Bruin’s EJ Panaligan to discuss the concept behind the band’s new record, the introduction of gender pronouns in their lyrics and their favorite memories from making “Under My Influence.”

Daily Bruin: Could you describe the concept behind the album?

Cristal Ramirez: The key staple of “Under My Influence” is just the brutal honesty of it all. As we’ve gotten older and grown into who we are as people a bit more, we’re just more sure of what we want to say.

The title kind of came about from when we went in (to record), we just knew that the main rules for when we were making the record was one, you have to be as honest as possible. We wanted to get somewhere deeper within ourselves. We didn’t want to make the same record twice. And then two, we didn’t want to reference (other works) in the studio. This time, we just wanted to go in with no references, just what we want to make from our hearts and souls – from our influence.

[Related: Q&A: Sophia James discusses experiences, musical journey on ‘American Idol’]

DB: You’ve mentioned elsewhere that you’ve introduced the use of gendered pronouns on this record to accurately reflect the band’s queer relationships. How important was that to you all, to be able to better express your queer identities through your music?

CR: Alisa (Ramirez) (drums/vocals) and I write all the lyrics and melodies, so I think “Under My Influence” couldn’t have happened had we not used (gender) pronouns, because it’s such a part of our truth and such a part of who we are. We date women, and a lot of these heartbreak stories – or these emotional stories overall – have to do with queer relationships.

So it started happening really naturally. We were just writing music and writing lyrics. And Alisa and I were just putting pronouns in because that’s just what the story was, and it was truthful.

(Our queer identities) were just more ambiguous in general (with “When My Heart Felt Volcanic”), because there was a lot of personal growth going on that we couldn’t have until “Under My Influence,” simply because of age and our experiences.

Katie Henderson: Yeah, it’s honestly kind of sad how much of a process that (it) is to decide to use pronouns because it just shouldn’t be something that you really have to think about. But McKenna (Petty) (bass/vocals) said something one time that I thought was really interesting. She said, “Well, for the majority of our lives, we’ve only heard straight relationship songs, and we can still find ways to relate to that, so why couldn’t someone find a way to relate (to) a song that’s about a girl (written by women?)”

I think it’s all universal. They’re all universal stories and situations, and everyone has experienced these types of feelings.

[Related: Q&A: dodie discusses recent music, how her online presence has changed over the years]

DB: What was your favorite memory working on the album and why?

KH: When we went to Europe to finish four of the songs on the record. I’ll never forget what it felt like to be recording those songs in London and Amsterdam – (songs like) “Cruel” and “801” – and sitting in those studios, singing on those beautiful melodies and really starting to put our album together.

The song “Cruel” – I always loved it ever since (Alisa and Cristal) sent me the demo when they first wrote it – but getting to go to Europe and record it and be a part of the song was a big reason why it’s one of my favorites.

CR: Yeah, there’s so many special moments making this record because it was the most creatively satisfying thing I’ve ever done in my life so far. I think “Under My Influence” was so important because I feel like I grew so much as a person through making that music.

One of my most special times also involves “Cruel.” It was when we wrote it in Malibu. I was going through the hardest breakup – I was miserable. It was a very specific moment where I made the choice to put that energy into the music.

The song connected me again and gave me a feeling of creating that I had when I was 10 years old. (There was) the innocence of making something to heal through or to make for the sake of making it because you just love (to create).