Ten years since the release of her debut single, Maggie Lindemann is closer than ever to capturing who she really is. The pop-punk artist is on the precipice of releasing i feel everything – out October 17th via swixxzaudio and Virgin Music Group. i feel everything is a record that moves like a mood swing, traversing through grief, rage, shame, and survival. Sixteen tracks long, it bleeds with seduction: hard rock orchestration collides with techno pulses, flashes of hyperpop crackle along the edges. There is a constant undertow of tension—the pangs of a body in motion—balanced by the thrill that rises just seconds after the fall.

Even as Lindemann poured herself into this opus, she was charting other paths. Her SWIXXZ streetwear brand continues to expand, and she’s begun filming an intimate documentary tracing her creative evolution – a rare window into the process that she usually keeps closed.

When I connect with her in late September, her calendar is in overdrive: the tormented single “2022 (feat. Julia Wolf)” is days from release, i feel everything hovers just around the corner. I catch Lindemann midstream in a blur of promo calls; the Zoom camera is off, a fitting—protective—choice. But what cuts through the conversation is her precision: an insistence on cohesion, an intensity beneath the detachment, and a daring sense of resolve. i feel everything may be the centerpiece for now, but it’s clear it’s only one facet of the world that Maggie Lindemann is intent on building.

On i feel everything, you do lean heavily into pop overtones, but I couldn’t help but notice all the other textures going on. There’s a fierce hyperpop [current], some hard rock, and songs like “fang” get a bit techno. How has your relationship with pop music evolved and what drew you towards new sounds this time? 

In the beginning, when I first started making music, it was very pop, [but] I grew a strong distaste for pop music very early on. I grew up listening to rock, my family listens to rock. I have never been huge into pop. I grew a strong distaste for it with “Pretty Girl.” The world that pop lived in at that time was very toxic and negative, so I wanted to get as far away from it as I could for so long. [But] recently, I’ve been listening to a lot more pop.

Nothing on the album is [straight] pop. There are those different undertones. I wanted to try something based on the way I was feeling and my emotions – something that felt lighter. I wasn’t in a heavy space when I was writing these songs and pop just felt right for what I was trying to do. 

It’s funny kind of how these things are in cycles, right? You can come back to certain genres and subgenres and nothing is ever as closed off as it appears. 

Right. 

So far, the visuals and aesthetics around i feel everything – they’re incredibly intentional. You’ve got an alt-punk aesthetic, but there are certain bursts of spontaneity – your teal hair transformation for “one of the ones,” and with “spine,” I was trying to figure out if you actually did get a [back] tattoo… What ideas or emotions were you hoping to capture in building the album’s world? 

I wanted everything to feel like its own little worlds. I don’t know, I just wanted everything to be a little whimsical, almost. Like with “spine,” it was literally a spine glued on my back. With “one of the ones,” I wanted to feel like I was in this manic little dream world with my hair, and the music video being me dancing around this liminal space. I want everything to feel very intentional in whatever the message of that song is. The whole album is very cohesive, [even] the coloring. 

As you pursue this new sonic chapter, are there any artists or other influences that might actually surprise people, ones that people might not typically expect from you? 

I had a lot of really cool influences for this. I had Oklou, Breakins, Gorillaz, Radiohead, Beach House. There were so many. I was listening to music all the time and sending references [to my producers]. 

Those are definitely a couple of artists I wouldn’t have expected. Choke Enough was a really [great] album this year! 

Oh my God – so good. I’m obsessed with it. 

Jumping to the lyrical content of the album – you’ve spoken before about being kind of avoidant with your emotions, which can sometimes run counter to a typical love song formula. How does that perspective on relationships impact—or perhaps complicate, actually—your creative process? 

I’m very avoidant with the way I feel, unless I’m comfortable enough to talk to you about it. But, I think it’s interesting because I’m not very avoidant when it comes to music. What I wouldn’t tell someone to their face, I’ll write about it. Or I’ll listen to [other] music and think, “that’s what I want to say.” I’ll post that to my story or some other little subliminal [message]. 

When it comes to music, I’m weirdly open with my emotions and I feel like I literally communicate through music. So when creating, that’s actually the time that I can say what I want and get whatever off my chest. That’s my time to be very open and emotional. 

It’s an interesting sort of juxtaposition – [music] really is just a canvas, very segmented in some sort of way. “2022” comes out later this week – congratulations on that. As I was listening, I couldn’t help but think how well your voice meshes with Julia [Wolf]’s, it seems like a kismet collaboration. What was your experience like collaborating with her and how did that help you grow? 

We had actually worked together a couple times. We’ve had sessions together, just writing, and we did this other song [where] I actually really wanted her to be on it. Then we did “2022,” and my producers were like, “she’s got to be on this song.” I kind of fought it because I wanted her to be on this other song we did, but they fought me and said “trust [us], this song is really good.” So she did persevere, and it was obviously amazing; I was like, “okay, you guys, you guys are right.” 

I love the song. It’s one of my favorites. Working with her, she’s so talented – I love her songwriting and how she works, even if we didn’t have a collab. I love working with other artists because it’s so interesting to see how the writing process comes together and how they like to create. That was really fun. 

Your fashion collection SWIXXZ – its latest collection dropped earlier this month. I’m interested in exploring this new chapter in your fashion empire. For some artists, they say that fashion complements their journey as a musician, but do you feel in some ways that it scratches a different creative itch? 

I think fashion definitely plays a huge role in [my] creativity and in art. I mean, when you listen to an artist, you have this idea of them, and then to look at their music videos or see them on a carpet, it really ties in that world. I think it’s super important to have that aspect in your art. 

Something that I’ve been doing with this album is I’ve actually been trying to be very basic in the way I dress. That’s very intentional, because I’m trying to show the emotional sensitivity of feeling stripped and bare. I think it’s funny because on my Instagram, I’m not wearing clothes, ever. And I’m not trying to do that to sexualize myself or be naked, or anything like that – it’s just the feeling of feeling stripped-down and emotional. 

Fashion has always been really big in my art, so having a clothing line and a brand is really important to me. We’re completely redoing it right now, and trying to have a new and improved SWIXXZ, so I’m really excited to start doing more drops and to get that going again. 

I hear murmurings of the holiday collection as well, which is really cool. I’ve also learned that you have a documentary that you’re producing that’s supposed to be an unfiltered look into your life and into your creative process. What feels most important for you to show people through this , and how does it feel to be open about your life in a whole new way? 

I think it’s important for people to see me. I don’t love showing personality too much; even to my friends, I really don’t talk about things a lot until they’re happening. My friends will say things like, “I had no idea you were going on tour,” and I’m like “oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you guys.” I specifically don’t talk about much publicly because I did show so much personality and my life for a while that people had so much to talk about. I really value my privacy and keeping certain things a secret now, because it’s one thing to comment on my music or my looks, but it’s another to talk shit about my personality and who I am. 

So I think it’s important to show [those aspects] in this way and not just on an Instagram post. It’s important for fans—and maybe people who aren’t fans—to see what it’s like to be me. 

There are different levels of curation involved with each of these mediums, and it’s really cool to take that step in that portrayal of yourself. Are there any new creative directions or collaborations that you’re still hoping to explore – ones that might surprise people who think they have you figured out or who’ve been part of the journey all along? 

There’s definitely many more people I’d love to collaborate with – I always say Bring Me The Horizon. I love Breakins, I love Alden – I’m really excited for his new album to come out. There are so many people. 

In terms of creative direction, I’m always open to trying things and getting weirder. I still really want to get into acting– I’ve been taking classes, and I would love to be in a movie or a TV show or whatever that looks like. There are so many things that I still want to do with my life and my career. I’m just hoping that I can explore those things.

Words: Rebecca Judd

Photography: Courtesy of Maggie Lindemann