Born in the era of Britney Spears and Blockbuster, Austen Starr is a reluctant Bostonian with a penchant for self-induced misery, and she still hasn’t quite figured out how to give up on her dreams. Beginning with a Spice Girls-branded toy microphone, Austen’s plush animals discovered she was a performer long before anyone else did. Austen hates the sound of her own voice, so she grew up a competitive dancer who never would have had to sing again–Austen’s favorite style is tap dance, the articulation of which sometimes bleeds into her lyrical rhythms. Unfortunately, Austen does not want other people singing her stories, so, hypocrisy tip #2, she sang a full-length album as her first-ever music release.

Austen, who has been an anxious wreck from the start, has a visceral aversion to stepping onto a stage upon which she is not actively performing. She worked for an intensive band camp for adults for two years and always hid in the nearest office, or sometimes closet, when staff members were being acknowledged. All this, and yet, she has been known to crave the spotlight, so she is releasing her debut album, which some might classify as “a ploy for attention.” This has been hypocrisy tip #3.

The firstborn daughter of two musicians (one of whom got a “real job”), Austen was always told not to be, or date, a musician. A natural contrarian, she has already done one of those things and now intends to do both. 

Austen is currently learning guitar, though she still refuses to plug it into an amp; participating in “emo karaoke nights,” despite it being what the kids who picked on her in school would call “cringe”; and soon going to let people, including her therapist from whom she keeps secrets all the time, hear her debut album.