Memphis-born Cyrena Wages spent the better part of her 2010s in neighboring Nashville, Tennessee. She first led a buzzy country band with her brother and boyfriend at the time, until that core trio became a duo called Lost Wages. When the duo ran its course, Cyrena moved back to her hometown, focusing on finding herself and her true voice: shaking off her Bible Belt upbringing and a childhood competing in beauty pageants. Her album Vanity Project, produced by Matt Ross-Spang, combines the formative sounds of Music City and Memphis into a clear-eyed and cutting country soul album. In our interview, Wages talks songwriting, contradiction, and breaking free.
Tell us about the first song you wrote.
My oldest brother was a singer-songwriter. When I was in 5th grade, he moved to NYC. I got the courage to record a song I had written on my little tape machine and sneak the tape into his suitcase so he’d find it unpacking in New York. I remember the chorus I think…I wouldn’t dare tell anyone now, but I can hear it in my head. I just sat there singing into my recorder with no instrument. “Bubba, I know this is silly, but I think this is a song you could really do something with.”
Do you have any songwriting tips you can share?
I certainly don’t know if I’m in a place for tip sharing yet. But, so far what has worked for me is to just tell the truth. I aspire to write from the outside like John Prine one day — don’t we all, of course. But the stage of artistry I’m in now is more so focused on writing about things that are happening in or around me, that are in such screaming color that I have to put them into something tangible in order to process.
I have to get the feelings into strings of words and melodies before I can clarify for myself what’s happening and how to make peace with it. Curiosity and sensitivity really feed this. I do get a bit too heady sometimes. Occasionally people closest to me are like “chill the f out- can you just write a little summer banger and relax”- ha. Mostly importantly, just be aware people are going to have a lot of opinions and they will all be vastly different. That’s hard on an open hearted, creative type. You just have to move through, keep a sense of humor, and keep finding green lights.
Is there a professional “bucket list” item you would love to check off?
I would kill to have coffee in Millington, TN with Al Green.
How do you manage having a good time on the road, but also trying to stay mentally and physically fit?
It’s a balancing act and I’m still figuring it out. Being on the road is like being in a “pretend world.” Like The Truman Show but in a very unglamorous, grindy, debaucherous musician kind of way. I have to practice a lot of grace with myself as I find new norms of self preservation but also adventure and fun. I love to be wild, and I love to see and do new things, but I also really love yoga and days alone without seeing another person — which is obviously impossible on the road. I present as an extrovert in much of my life, but I am very introverted, so it’s crucial that I take time to get away and be in my own thoughts for a bit. I do love a good hotel gym. I love shitty hotel coffee. I love meeting strangers and I love hours in the car. And then I love going home and into a cave to recover. 🙂
Does your album have an overarching theme?
Vanity Project, released everywhere May 24, 2024, is about being a young woman, growing up in the Bible Belt of West Tennessee, north of Memphis near Shelby Forest. It’s about conditioning, liberation, mental health, vices, sexuality. Roles and expectations. People pleasing. Attracting avoidant lovers. Breaking away from avoidant lovers. Self acceptance, fun, and freedom.