We Speak Music
Abigail Fierce’s new anthem ‘14 Cigarettes’ channels Taylor Swift with a Courtney Love twist
Rising indie artist Abigail Fierce returns with her latest single, ‘14 Cigarettes’, a track that recalls both Taylor Swift’s emotional storytelling and Courtney Love’s raw energy. With over 5.7 million streams on Spotify alone, the LA-based musician continues to build an impressive following—all while remaining fully independent.
‘14 Cigarettes’ features swirling electric guitars and angsty vocals, opening with the striking lyric: “We didn’t die a natural death, you killed us with disrespect”. Fierce, who wrote the song and played all the instruments on the track except the drums, expresses a dynamic range of feelings—longing, anger, self-reflection—in under four minutes of music.
In addition to her music career, Abigail Fierce is an accomplished actress. She has appeared in Hulu’s ‘Love, Victor’, NBC’s ‘This Is Us’, Netflix’s ‘American Vandal’, and Paramount+/Nickelodeon’s ‘Fantasy Football’, produced by LeBron James and starring Kelly Rowland.
In this exclusive Q&A, Abigail Fierce shares more about the inspiration behind ‘14 Cigarettes’, her musical process, and her growing success.
Tell us more about the message behind ‘14 Cigarettes’?
“This song is the next chapter in my musical journey. I’m super hands-on in the studio, so I’m constantly evolving and playing with new sounds.”
“All of my songs tell stories, and I wanted to take the listener on a sonic journey of experiencing a full relationship in under four minutes. “
A break-up song at its core, it covers the full span of heartbreak, from still being in contact with your ex, missing them, being angry at them, and then—on the exploding, chaotic bridge—being mad at yourself, and finally admitting that you saw the red flags all along.”
The single cover features a vintage Mustang. What made you pick that?
“The lyrics to the chorus are: ‘Now it hurts me to think of you driving away in your old Mustang, with my cassette tapes on the dash. When you left you took a piece of me, 14 cigarettes and all my best memories’. I love vintage cars, so naturally I’m gonna sneak one into a song (I had a classic VW bus in my ‘Some Sorta Goodbye’ music video).”
You’re Gen Z—surely you’re not actually listening to cassette tapes?!
“I’m a sucker for all kinds of vintage media! I don’t have the space right now for a record collection, but that’s the goal. My parents’ friend from college sent me two huge boxes of his old cassettes and I’ve been going through all of them. Lots of Fleetwood Mac and Wham! I do of course stream as well…especially when I need some higher audio quality.”
What are your musical inspirations?
“I love all kinds of music, from grunge to folk, which you can probably hear throughout my whole discography, but I feel like ‘14 Cigarettes’ brings them all together in one song while still feeling cohesive. On the track, you’ll hear the influence of 2010s singer-songwriters as well as 90s grunge.”
“Lyrics are my favorite part of songwriting—I want my words to create a clear image in your mind and elicit a poignant, visceral feeling.”
I think the song’s most poetic moments lie in the verses. ‘Err on the side of disconnect, our love always had side effects’ is one of my favorite lines I’ve ever written.”
What have been the highlights of your singing career so far?
“I recently got to open for a Taylor Swift tribute band. I was playing my original music for a crowd of 10,000, which was really cool. Many of my songs have placed in top songwriting competitions, which I’m really proud of. ‘I Miss You’ was placed on five Spotify editorial playlists, named a winner in last year’s International Songwriting Competition, and the music video is currently making the rounds at indie film festivals.”
‘14 Cigarettes’ is now available on all major streaming platforms.
You can also catch Abigail in her latest on-screen role in ‘Skill House’, a satirical horror film co-starring Bryce Hall and Hannah Stocking, set for theatrical release on July 11, 2025.
Follow Abigail on Instagram and TikTok: @akfierce
Featured photo credit: Michael D’Ambrosia
At a time when AI is taking over the music industry, Hannah Schneider takes a different path on her new album ‘In This Room’ which is scheduled for release in Spring 2026. In a desire for human presence in the recording process, Hannah invited musicians she admired into her residency at the historical Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen to create music.
’If these walls could talk, what would they say?’ was the inspiration behind the process. There, in the Thorvaldsens Museum, the composition and recording phase was turned on its head to investigate what happens when acoustic orchestral instruments are the very starting point. The new music is based on string effects, organic sounds, breathing and overtones, and is a distinctive mix of electronic beats, catchy melodies and modern compositions.
Produced with longtime collaborator Christian Balvig (When Saints Go Machine, and arranger for BBC Proms) and featuring Efterklang frontman Caspar Clausen, and drummer and vocalist Øyunn, amongst others, Hannah Schneider’s new record see’s her in a new lane to her previous critically acclaimed solo albums, but with the same brilliance that has established her as as one of the strongest voices in Denmark throughout her career. Her music has been used extensively in film, television and on some of the largest theater stages in Scandinavia and in 2023 and 2024 she won the Danish composers prize ‘Carl Prisen’ together with the contemporary jazz duo Kaleiido, for her work on the albums “Elements” and “Places”.
As a composer, Hannah has made a strong mark in recent years, where she has created commissioned pieces for several of the essential museums and cultural institutions across Denmark. From 2016-2021, Hannah was one half of the electronic duo AyOwA, which combine noise pop with vapor wave and melodies with improvisation in an atmospheric and playful mix with a dreamy approach. The duo has received international attention with their remarkable sound and songs, and has received airplay from BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music and press acclaim from The Huffington Post, Wonderland Magazine and Clash to name a few. Hannah is also part of the performance duo Philip | Schneider, who create seductive spatial compositions and installations that engage the body, ears and mind. Starting from the voice, they explore the boundaries between the worlds of music and art.
All of these recent developments and experiences have fed wonderfully into ’In This Room’, the first taster of which is Hannah’s vibrant new single ‘Lighthouse’,which she’s now ready to unveil. Bursting with anticipation, ’Lighthouse’ describes the dizzying state of waking up in the middle of a troubling dream. With swirling strings and electronic beats, the track captures the listener in a chilling embrace.
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