Exclusive Interview: FJØRA Discusses Sondheim Series

FJØRA (aka Alexandra Petkovski) is an award-winning musician, composer, producer, and songwriter who has quickly made a name for herself in the industry. Her work has been celebrated across multiple platforms and mediums including SXSW, Disney+, Blumhouse Productions, Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO, and MTV.

Her latest project, Sondheim Series, finds her reimagining Stephen’s most introspective compositions with her unique flare.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with FJØRA about the collection and honoring the legacy that is Stephen Sondheim.

PC: How did you discover your passion for music?
FJØRA: I grew up in an extremely musical household. I have a background in classical music. I went through the Royal Conservatory of Music levels as a classical pianist. During my early formative years, I trained in classical and jazz. You have all the music theory, music harmony, history, and all that fun stuff. My undergrad was for a Bachelor in Music. My Master’s was in music composition. Then I did my post-grad studies at NYU, the Steinhardt School of Film Scoring. I was riding two horses at once. That’s the expression that I typically use. One horse was education, which was fabulous. Then the other was really getting involved in the professional side of making music for film and TV. I ended up choosing the latter and didn’t look back.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
FJØRA: I draw inspiration from a wide gamut of musical influences—from classical to cinematic scores to alternative to pop. Constants for me are Björk, Danny Elfman, Philip Glass, Thomas Newman, anything Studio Ghibli, and Rachel Portman. I’m listening to a lot of MARINA, Elton John, and Kay Slay. Mychael Danna is always on the list. John Williams is always on the list. Anything where I feel there’s a strong creative drive and desire, I’m attracted to.

Outside of music, I love reading. I love reading literature like mystery novels. I just finished Stanley Tucci’s most recent book. I love cooking. I love to travel. Any time I can get in some travel, I try to grab onto that because it’s so important on a humanistic level but also on a creative one. I love to watch and get inspired by other pieces of art too.

PC: You’ve had so much success throughout your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
FJØRA: There are several moments. My first major moment that was publicly acknowledged was when I did the music for the Maleficent 2 trailer. I was sort of validated in that moment because it wasn’t just me acknowledging it—it was on a global scale.

On a personal level, I was fortunate enough to connect with Linda Perry who did “What’s Up?” She’s had this huge career, and she’s fantastic. She had requested that I reimagine “What’s Up?” for a four-part horror movie series Blumhouse had called Welcome to Blumhouse. That was surreal to me on a personal level. I was like, “Why does she care enough to stoop to my level?” [laughs] Because that’s my mentality, I’m all aboard this self-deprecation train. Choo-choo.

PC: Tell us about Sondheim Series and your earliest recollection of Stephen.
FJØRA: I’ve never released anything like this before where I’m both the producer and orchestrator. I worked with a live orchestra and choir in addition to my vocals. I did a call for additional background vocals and a bunch of people reached out. This is a really special project.

I believe that we all have different frequencies within us. We can choose to dial up those frequencies or dial down those frequencies. I’ve been dialing up certain frequencies. It’s been amazing, but I feel so gratified to have been in a place where I could self-fund a project like this and where I’m working with live musicians and honoring the life and legacy of a man who really impacted the way that I view musical storytelling.

This is a lesser-known fact about me, but I ended up actually writing a musical and casting, recording, and producing it as part of my Master’s. The entire musical thread throughout was Stephen Sondheim. It was this dark, dissonant, unapologetic embracing of the creative tangent, which I feel Sondheim so perfectly encapsulates.

PC: Stephen has such an in-depth catalog. What was that process like deciding what would make the EP?
FJØRA: There’s an extremely huge selection of work that I could have drawn from. “Giants in the Sky” was the first piece that I decided to reimagine as a part of the Sondheim Series. It was one of the first Sondheim songs that really gripped me from an early age. It embodies all the harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, and lyrical “Sondheim signatures.” I’m using air quotes here. “Sondheim signatures” demonstrate an immense beauty in the creative tangent.

What Sondheim does is so fluid and cohesive. It feels chaotic and emotionally up and down, yet there’s this anchor there. It ties everything together so seamlessly. I felt “Giants in the Sky” is the quintessential dreamer song. It really captured this signature Sondheim component. It’s one of the first Sondheim songs that I heard. It profoundly touched me, and I think it impacted me on an emotional level.

Then “Children Will Listen” is another Sondheim song that carries a lot of weight for me. Children are a symbol of purity, innocence, and vulnerability. They are always listening, absorbing, and evolving. This song is a special song because it touches on this vulnerability and explores the space of who impacts a child and what influences a child’s being—the idea that there is great power and responsibility in looking after a child and being in a child’s presence. He connected all these seemingly wandering ideas and created this thread of commonality. “Children Will Listen” and “Giants in the Sky” prove that you can create security and reliability for the listener through unpredictability and experimentation.

PC: In addition to honoring his work, you also created an original song inspired by him. Tell us about “Maybe.”
FJØRA: “Maybe” was composed and orchestrated in the style of Stephen Sondheim, so the harmonic and melodic direction which unfolds over the course of this song was created in a similar vein to that of Sondheim’s musical style. This song is about the possibility of maybe—maybe something wonderful can happen, maybe there is a chance, maybe something is possible. Sondheim’s own lyric direction is rooted in the ideology of covering a wide gamut before arriving at the destination.

That’s what I aimed to do with “Maybe.” “Maybe” was created with the idea of the niche space in mind. It’s inhabiting a place with an abundance of meaning and a myriad of avenues to explore where we have language that is simultaneously specific and universal. It can be perceived in multiple ways and ultimately allows room for interpretation.

It has this vintage taste. It’s calling back to an older style. That involved harmonic and melodic decisions as well as lyrical. For me, it broke free of the more standardized structural techniques that I’m very used to at this point, granting permission to chase thoughts and runaway moments and highlight emotional shifts, and ultimately that’s where the song’s direction comes from, which is really fun.

PC: As you look ahead to the rest of 2022 into 2023, what can fans expect from you? What’s next?
FJØRA: I’m actually working on a musical. This has opened up a can of butterflies. It’s going to be a musical of something that’s actually well known in the media. I’m really jazzed about that. I’m releasing another EP in the spooky season. That’ll be out later in October.

To keep up with FJØRA, follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, and Apple Music.