HEARTGAZE and the Art of Rebelling

By: Jada Milazzo

March 13, 2023

Photos courtesy of Valeria Loeblich

J: So I came across your page through a friend that did your artwork and video, which was awesome. So introduce yourself and who you are?

Heartgaze: My name’s Heartgaze, I am an artist from Argentina, and I am based currently in Chicago. I make a lot of different art, mainly music, but I do visual art as well.

J: What’s your background in the music industry and what led you to music as your path of choice of how you express yourself.

Heartgaze: I grew up with music around my family my whole life. Growing up in Argentina, from when I was 8 years old, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I knew there and then, this is all I want to do. Music all the time. It’s been interesting since I learned how to produce and work around a lot of things. I solely produce most of my music. Even before that, music was always a part of my life.

J: So it was always a big factor in your life and identity.

Heartgaze: Oh for sure!

J: Would you say you align with the ideals of punk and the reimagined idea of going against societal norms and stereotypes in all aspects of life?

Heartgaze: For me growing up I was listening to and consuming a lot of things that were classical punk, like early Greenday like old Sex Pistols and shit like that. Kinda 70s 80s old punk. When I was younger I don’t think I fully understood the political stances on it, I wasn’t sure of that and as I grew older I started to understand it and where it comes from, and were it plays a part in art and music. I don’t think my art is purely political all the time. Some people will argue that art is inherently always political, so maybe it is in a way. I do think it is sometimes implied in the music. I think the term “punk” and the idea of punk, like everything in the world is oversaturated, but now it is the idea of pure rebellion and can be applied in any form of music. I see a lot of artists use the term punk for their work that doesn’t really sound like punk, but it is more of the concept.

J: Yeah, it is more of the concept of rebelling against the stereotypical sound.

Heartgaze: It’s a thing that’s been around forever, and is in many other genres. Like you can look at music in Latin America from the 80s and 90s that was more rock oriented and that was because it was rebelling against dictatorship, and it becomes punk in a way. That’s cool to me, how punk has become so many things at once. Like in the last decade or so, it has become its own thing through the Internet, and has become a term that can be used for so many things.

J: It’s definitely an interesting topic of incorporating it into your own artwork, especially with music and what you're producing. What would you say you want people to take away from your art?

Heartgaze: I let people make their own definitions of my music, because at the end of the day I am someone that makes music in Spanish in a country where that isn’t the main language. I let people make their own definitions of my art and what I do into their world and what it means to them, whether they get the lyrics or not. I want people to be able to take away my experience and feel what I’m feeling. I want them to understand what I’m saying whether it’s political or not, or me saying some shit about love. I want them to be able to feel me through the song no matter what. I just want them to be able to feel something. And it isn’t always going to be something so direct, in your face. It’s more so a character rather than so in your face of pain, and feeling, and emotion. For example, my song, Funeral, the lyrics are super heartfelt. But in the delivery, its not like I’m screaming it at the listener; in that way it lets people build their interpretation of what emotional music really means.

J: It lets them build their own connection with what you’re saying.

Heartgaze: It’s also because I don’t like my song writing to be so direct. Even if I make a political song, it won’t always be so in-your-face political. It’ll be mentioned or subtle. I’ve been writing a lot of songs as an international foreigner here, and the fact that I’m here on a student visa, and writing about that but hiding it under other themes or topics. Which creates a way of song writing that is more referential and less direct, which is cool.

J: It definitely sounds cool, and definitely more open that what you would hear in mainstream pop music, that’s relating to a specific heartbreak. This gives it more of a dimension to grow into something else.

Heartgaze: For sure.

J: Is there anything else you want to promote or add about yourself..

Heartgaze: If there’s any Argentine people that read this and want to tap into more of their culture, check me out. I have some new stuff dropping that I am super excited to share and for people to listen to.