Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Koivu.
Hi Hannah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always loved music. It’s the one thing that makes me feel most alive. I’ve been writing songs since I was about 13, and songwriting became a safe place for me to process what I was experiencing. There were people I couldn’t always share my feelings with, so I would write a song about it instead.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more honest in my music. There’s something about expressing a feeling through a song that is completely different from just saying it in words. Music has become a space where I feel like I can say anything.
I created my EP, “Rather Be Eating Sushi,” during a time when I was really heartbroken. I was in a complicated situationship with someone I had fallen deeply in love with. I wanted a relationship, but they were playing games and weren’t able to fully choose me. What made it difficult was that the situation wasn’t entirely negative. This person came into my life and opened my eyes to new experiences and parts of myself. There were moments that were beautiful and exciting, but there were also parts that were complicated and painful.
Eventually, I realized I deserved someone who could fully choose me and genuinely wanted to be with me. So I ended things, even though I was still very much in love. This EP became a way to turn that heartbreak into something positive. I was really sad at the time, and creating the EP gave me somewhere to put all of those feelings while also making something that could bring me joy. That’s how *Rather Be Eating Sushi* came to life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. One of the hardest moments working on this EP was last summer, when I had everything recorded and was prepping to release, and I got a text from my producer saying he had lost the songs in a freak accident. I had already put so much time, energy, money, and emotion into those recordings, so finding out that they were gone was really devastating. I had to take a step back and decide whether to scrap the project or go back and re-record the entire thing from the beginning.
At the time, it honestly made me question whether I was supposed to keep making music at all. I remember thinking, maybe this is a sign that I should just stop. It was especially difficult because these songs came from such a personal and emotional place for me, so it felt like I had lost a piece of myself…
But I decided to re-create it again. Looking back, I’m actually grateful I had to, because the new version ended up being even better than what I originally made. It taught me that sometimes things have to fall apart in order to be able to put them back together with more confidence, ease, and clarity than you had before — and that applies to many situations in life.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
What I think sets me apart is how deeply I connect to music emotionally. I’m not interested in making something just because it sounds good. I want there to be a feeling behind it. I want someone to hear a song and feel like they’ve stepped into a specific moment or emotion, even if they’ve never experienced the exact same thing. So even if you couldn’t understand the lyrics, you could feel the emotion behind each song.
I’m most proud of Rather Be Eating Sushi because of what it represents to me. I made it during a really difficult chapter of my life, and instead of letting that experience stay something painful, I turned it into something sassy, confident, and fun.
My sense of humor bleeds into my music, even on the more serious songs. I think being able to stay positive and have a good sense of humor is the only way to stay sane in this life. Sometimes laughter truly is the best medicine and I think listeners can hear that in my music as well as see that in my online presence.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Something that might surprise people is that I moved out on my own when I was 18, and since then, I’ve funded all of my own music opportunities. A lot of the experiences I’ve had and the things I’ve been able to create have come from figuring it out for myself and taking chances, even when I didn’t necessarily have everything planned out.
Music has always been something I’ve chosen to invest in because it matters so much to me. I’ve had to build my life around creating opportunities for myself rather than waiting for someone else to give them to me, and I think that independence has shaped both who I am and the kind of artist I’m becoming.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hannahkoivu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahkoivu/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrqIi2Z4KKoPKk_nHSvbgig
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6wWhx3VNiXXvp6P4TAvE9s
