Saturn 17, the new planet in our musical solar system

You've probably not heard of them yet, but you definitely should. A fresh take on indie pop with an LA twist: meet the girls from saturn 17.

Can you tell me a bit about yourself? We are saturn 17. The band consists of Nika Fazeli and Mia Becker. We are 17 and 18 year olds living in Los Angeles. 

How did Saturn 17 start?

We have been best friends since the beginning and have always loved music. We wanted to do something that could let us express ourselves. In 7th grade, we wrote our first song and it was horrible. But from there, we decided we couldn’t give up and spend the next few years trying to find our sound. 

Is there a particular reason you’re called Saturn 17?

Mia has had a deep personal connection with saturn for some reason. We were trying to figure out a name for our band and one day it came to me: we should have something with the word saturn. Mia thought it would be cool to incorporate a number. At the time we were both 17, and that’s when we experienced a lot of things that we wanted to write about. So we thought it would be perfect. 

Can you tell me something about your unreleased EP?

Our unreleased ep is called could this be love? It tackles the feelings of being in love with someone and knowing that they don’t feel the same. It's a rollercoaster of emotions and each song tells it’s own story. The way we designed the track list is perfect for the story we want to convey. When listeners are going to hear the songs, we think they will be able to relate one way or another. 

Which artists do you look up to/ are an inspiration?

We love and are inspired by so many artists constantly, however when creating this ep, we were most drawn to Wallows, Clairo, and Gus Dapperton. 

What is your ultimate goal?

Our ultimate goal is to make music that people can listen and really feel like it was written for them. We want to hopefully play shows in the near future because playing live is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Being able to see people sing along to the words that we wrote would be such a dream come true. 

How would you describe your music?

Our music is like an indie dream. We incorporate lots of different guitar sounds with synth and like to make it feel like you’re in another universe. We definitely feel like our music is close to bedroom pop, but with a twist. 

Do you have a songwriting process?

Usually, I [Nika] come up with some kind of melody or chords and go to Mia and she will come up with some vocal melodies. From there, we figure out what we wanna write about. It’s usually me pouring my heart out to Mia and her helping me put it into words. We co-write and bounce ideas off of each other until we feel like we've got something special. 

What’s the golden tip for aspiring musicians?

Figure out what kind of sound you want to portray. We struggled with his for years until we finally found something that clicked with us. It’s important not to give up when feeling frustrated and let your creatively do it's work. You will get there. Even if it takes time.