The other night I played a show in Barcelona (May 15) at Helioglobal. I have never been to Barcelona and have been anticipating going there the whole trip (it’s the only place I haven’t been before, well now I have) and I can say that the people there are very into music (something I already knew because they have Primavera festival there each year, a music festival).  I was asked by a man named Ruben to play the show. He has a blog and a zine called Shookdown Underzine and I wrote a piece about Olympia for their first issue that came out last year. It was amazing to finally meet him in person and to talk about promising  projects in the future. I am planning on writing for them again and having Aida, the woman I stayed with who is a music journalist, translate it for me. I also have been thinking about writing a song in Spanish and going to Barcelona basically put the cherry on top of that idea. Aida told me she would help me translate some of the English lyrics I have, but I already know basic Spanish and will try to write most of it myself. Compared to the audiences in France, the people in Barcelona were more attentive to my music and really listened to the lyrics. That’s not to say that people in Paris weren’t listening, there were handfuls of people absorbed in the show, but in general there was more chatter going on during my set and the other bands set. Laura, a new friend I made in Paris, told me she was annoyed the last time she saw a very famous folk singer play and everyone was talking. The singer stopped mid song and asked the audience if they wanted to sing instead since they were talking so much. I thought that was a funny reaction and can see why a performer would do that. Sometimes on stage when people are talking during my set and I can hear them it triggers me to have a more aggressive performance. I can either go two ways while performing: vulnerable, open, and letting you in to the emotions I am trying to paint with my lyrics or aggressive, combative, intense, and using my voice as as tool to be louder than the audience ( I can sing very loud ). When I feel like I am being challenged by the audience I feel like I need to do things that make them pay attention and that is why I will get more aggressive and theatrical, people stop and wonder what is going on, a weird but useful method I have had to use a few times while performing.  I am trying to find a balance between the two so that eventually I will become stronger at putting up a wall and just play my songs without thinking about the audience.  It’s interesting  performing in different cities and having locals ask me questions about Olympia and to hear what they know about the city. Most of them mention riot grrrl or Nirvana.