Singer, songwriter, and producer Lindsay Powell (they/them) has been creating music under the moniker Fielded for over a decade. Based in Brooklyn, Fielded is set to release their sixth full-length studio album, “Chuckles Deluxe”, in May. The record will be self-released and marks the debut release on Powell’s new label, Universally Handsome. Known for their notable collaborations with rappers and producers from the Backwoodz Studioz label, Fielded’s latest project strikes a delicate balance of hip-hop and R&B influences, with jazz-pop sensibilities, all floating over their ethereal, enchanting vocals.
Today, Fielded shares their latest single, “Lost Youth“. In this mesmerizing and spiritual track, Fielded showcases their skills as a trained musician with an impressive vocal range, while vulnerably reflecting on the pursuit of artistry amidst the pressures of fame and gender expectations. Paired with an equally profound video, “Lost Youth” is a moving and bittersweet exploration of the complex emotions that come with aging.
Lindsay Powell (aka Fielded) on the track, “I get overwhelmed by the experience of getting older, especially as a femme-presenting, public-facing musician. I fight the feeling of wanting to shrink into irrelevance because I feel “too old” to receive the flowers I’ve worked so hard for in this life. ‘Lost Youth’ is my exploration of my emotions around that; my resignation towards giving too much of a shit, needing validation, my impatience – my youth; youth in general. I’m enjoying growing up, and my work inevitably gets better with time. After all, we must give ourselves our flowers in order to really believe in and sincerely share our gifts with the world.”
FEATURE INTERVIEW:
As a musician who has navigated the public-facing world for over a decade, how has your perspective on success and recognition shifted over the years, and how does that influence the creation of Chuckles Deluxe?
No matter what kind of passionate artist you are, there are going to be one thousand disappointments to every one feeling of achievement. Today I was thinking, “I understand why people just stop playing music. Subjecting yourself to constant rejection is so fucking hard.” It’s funny, the longer I’m in this role as Fielded the more I loosen up about my craft and just want it to feel and sound the best it possibly can. The older I get, the less uptight I am about trying to control the experience. The more I want to work with people that make me feel safe to be myself, that make me laugh, versus the people I should want to work with. There are so many times I’ve moved away from my heart because I thought it would bring me closer to the elusive idea of “success.” Those albums taught me something, but they didn’t speak my soul’s language as deeply as my new work. I feel like I’m finally coming home to my heart again on Chuckles Deluxe.
In addition to your work with rappers and producers, you’ve launched your own label, Universally Handsome. What inspired you to start your own label, and what can listeners expect from your debut album releasing in May 2025?
I feel like the theme in these questions is “rejection”! (I’m definitely not trying to be a bummer, but hey – the music industry is hard!) A few labels had passed on Chuckles Deluxe and I’d had a bit of a nosedive in my mental health. Outside of the most recent label experience I’ve had (Backwoodz Studioz), I really hadn’t had an interaction with a label that made me feel empowered, aligned or confident. Like I said, for every thousand “no’s” is one “yes” and even then sometimes it’s really just a “maybe”.
There’s a power dynamic that musicians need to play along with because they want to stay relevant and be considered easy to work with if their big moment did come in the industry – respond politely even if that person wasn’t, be grateful they even wrote back to your e-mail, say “thank you” when they tell you female musicians over 30’s ship has sailed, etc. – and it’s honestly exhausting and at times feels oppressive.
For my own ability to keep having fun making music, I needed to start Universally Handsome to support and love myself and my own work in a way that felt like an honoring of my worth. I am lucky enough to have a day job that can support the vinyl run and I wanted a beautiful sculpture (i.e. a record) to commemorate the release of an album I put my whole soul into. Chuckles Deluxe is the beginning of the writing of a new language for me. The more self-work I do the better I am at songwriting. The songwriting feeds the producer in me and it goes back and forth. I believe this album to both be a departure for me musically but also a deepening of the lyrical language that makes Fielded “Fielded”.
“Lost Youth” touches on themes of aging, self-worth, and seeking validation. What was the most challenging part of exploring these emotions through music, and how do you hope listeners connect with these themes?
The more challenging task is feeling these emotions as they come up and not knowing how to process them. Once I’m into the songwriting phase, they’re already baked into nuggets of poetry and I’m simply following the lyrics’ lead. Feeling worthless sucks, being emotionally needy sucks, but writing about those two things feels amazing. It’s always a healing experience. Do I expect people to ever know what the hell I’m talking about? I hope for the best, but I don’t always trust people to go as deep as I’d like them to with my work (I have trust issues. Don’t worry, I’m working on them in therapy).
It’s historically been a point of insecurity because it’s why I always assumed I haven’t been palatable as a more mainstream artist, but now I am learning that my language is simply very focused and emotionally specific. I feel inspired by the relationship any listeners can develop with any of the songs on Chuckles Deluxe because it’s beautiful to be able to meet a songwriter on such a specific and honestly lived journey. I love the specificity of writers like Joni Mitchell, Prefab Sprout, John Martyn because that specificity somehow creates even more expansiveness in the experience of the work.
As far as “Lost Youth” is concerned, I feel like we can all relate to needing a substitute for a love we didn’t receive enough of in our formative years. And I think everyone can relate to their soul’s calling being distanced from them in one way or another. I’m specifically talking about my body being perceived and scrutinized by an extremely judgemental societal culture; it’s an unfortunate reduction that many marginalized people face. I suppose “Lost Youth” is just a little poem to that specific type of pain.
