Interview: The Eternal Bit of hey, nothing

After hey, nothing’s spirited Sunday performance at ACL, the duo spoke with Afterglow about their relationship, social media, and finding success at a young age.

Written by Joseph Gonzalez

Photos by of Mckenna Sefcik

Out of the suburbs of Atlanta, hey, nothing, composed of Tyler Mabry and Harlow Phillips, was born. The powerhouse duo were still teenagers when they first started releasing their brand of fervent alternative folk, successfully capturing the attention of the online masses. Now in their early twenties with both festival and touring experience under their belt, hey, nothing finds itself in a whirlwind both frightening and exciting as they took the time to sit down to speak with Afterglow during the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Afterglow: As a duo, how do you complement each other musically as well as personally?

Phillips: We are very different, but at the same time, we are exactly the same. Musically, the way it started was that [Tyler was] the better one musically, and then I would sing the songs, but now we just do both.

Mabry: I think there is something special when we're near each other and we're singing. I think the frequencies mesh together in a really interesting, emotional way.

Can you talk about how making and performing music is an emotional outlet for you both?

Mabry: I think we're kind of at a point in our careers where whenever we create something that isn't 100% true to us and representative of our emotions, we don't really like it or don't feel comfortable actually releasing it. Sometimes it kind of hurts a little bit when we sit down to write a song and nothing comes out, but then when we do sit down and write a full song that's super close to home and emotional for us, it feels like we were once constipated and we let it all out.

Phillips: I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Social media really was a big part of the early success of your music. How do you like creating content for social media, and how has it changed the landscape for musicians today?

Phillips: It’s fine. Social media is definitely not everything, but you do have to still work at it. “Work” in quotes, but, yeah, it definitely changes [things] when you're first starting out.

Mabry: When we started, social media was kind of a thing [where] you [could] write a song, film [it] with your phone, put it out, and you get immediate feedback and validation. With that, social media is an outlet to express yourself. I think as we've grown as musicians and songwriters and people. We have a little bit less of a drive to be posting things on TikTok and Instagram just because it doesn't feel like an outlet as much anymore. We could post a song 100 times and nothing could happen, and that can be a little emotionally exhausting, but we're definitely very grateful for it. When you post something twice, and it does really well, it is the greatest feeling and a really special thing when people can connect with it.

Is social media a good thing overall for music?

Mabry: I think so. I mean, I think it's both good and bad, just like anything, too much of it is bad. I think social media has probably affected art in a way that now people are creating art specifically to cater to audiences that are short-form, but if you're making music and you're having fun doing it, that’s the goal at the end of the day. All I know is that we like playing music, and it's not that hard to put a camera up.

You both are also really funny and have amazing banter with each other. Where do you get your sense of humor from?

Mabry: My mum.

Phillips: I get mine from my dad and my mom.

Mabry: Yeah, from our parents and from each other. We come up with jokes and then steal them from each other.

Phillips: Yeah, pretty much. Everything’s a bit.

Mabry: The bit never dies.

What’s one thing in your life that, if that thing never happened, you don’t think you would've chosen to be a musician?

Mabry: I don't really know. It was always in the cards for me. I think I always liked singing and writing songs and playing guitar with my best friend.

Phillips: If we didn't meet each other, you'd probably still do music, but I think I'd probably end up doing plumbing. I think my life would be really, horribly boring without you.

Mabry: Music is all I've got. It’s been the answer since I was 11.

Since you both are festival veterans by this point, what are your favorite aspects of festivals?

Phillips: Probably just the community. The energy of people coming together to listen to music is unmatched.

Mabry: To be on stage and to see people out in the crowd uniting and listening to music together, it's just the most beautiful thing in the world.

Your new singles, “Black Bear” and “Waiting Room,” are amazing. What makes those songs so special?

Mabry: Thank you!

Phillips: They’re just what we’ve been feeling most recently.

Mabry: I don’t know if they’re special. They’re special to us.

Phillips: We're just making things that we like, so we're just really lucky when other people like them too.

You’ve had a lot of success at such a young age. Is this where you had imagined yourself to be, say five years ago?

Mabry: Not at all. I don't think we would ever imagine that we'd ever even get to this point.

Phillips: Growing up, I never really planned for the future. I was just hanging out as a teenager, so this is wild.

Mabry: I had the eye of the tiger. I wanted it so bad. I think we put in a lot of hard work, too. I don't know if we deserve it, but we put a lot of mental energy into it, and I think we definitely manifested it in some way. We're really, really lucky that we've come as far as we have.

Do you think about the future, as far as the next five to 10 years? Or are you still not

thinking about it?

Phillips: I try not to.

Mabry: I've stopped thinking. I think I'm so happy with the way things have turned out so far, and I'm just so grateful that we get to go on tour and hang out with our friends every day and play music with them every night, and hang out with fans and play music for them.

Phillips: It’s a good life. Why wish it away?

Mabry: [There’s] nothing more to want. I think we've got it all. 

Phillips: We're in the good old days.

Mabry: We're in the good old days right now. I think we're aware of that.

Listen to hey, nothing on Spotify and Apple Music.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.