Emily Kinney writes the kind of breakup songs that make you wonder if you should be laughing, wincing, or both. On Swim Team, her fifth album, she filters painful moments through wry humor, turning missed cues and emotional letdowns into razor-sharp pop hooks. “Sometimes painful things… I find ways to sort of tell the truth but also make them kind of funny,” she told me. “You can be like, should I be laughing at this song or should I feel bad?”
The record almost didn’t happen. After her last album, Supporting Character, Kinney thought she might be done. It wasn’t bitterness — she was proud of the songs, recorded at home with a friend, and felt it could be her “perfect last album.” Then, during an interview for her own podcast, My Caffeine Withdrawal, Tim Kasher of Cursive told her flat-out not to quit. That night, she dug into her journal and wrote what became “B or C for Effort,” a sharp, funny kiss-off about a boyfriend who got a participation trophy in romance. From there, Swim Team took shape.
Kinney draws inspiration from everyday phrases — a bad date calling past relationships “false starts,” a casual remark about having “everything on TV” — filing them away until they become the seed of a song. “It’s almost like the thesis of a paper,” she explained. “That might be the chorus, it might just be one line, but I shape the song around that.”
While Swim Team is anchored in the aftermath of a breakup, its sonic DNA pulls from the music she fell for in college and revisited during the pandemic: Rilo Kiley, Waxahatchee, The Wild Reeds, and even a return to Counting Crows. Nights alone turned into album-deep listening sessions with whiskey and ginger ale. “I think I was getting into records the way you do as a teenager — knowing them inside and out,” she said.
Kinney’s acting career inevitably seeps into her music. The cities where she films become lyrical settings; characters and storylines slip into imagery. A song like “Last Chance” carries apocalyptic undertones she picked up while living in The Walking Dead’s zombie-filled universe. Acting also gives her creative stability — when roles are scarce, she can write and play shows on her own terms. And the crossover audience doesn’t hurt: “My acting has reached such an amazing audience, and those people check out my music,” she said.
Whether she’s referencing The Avett Brothers in a song title, immortalizing an ex’s band t-shirt, or naming an album after her childhood swim team, Kinney treats her records like time capsules — specific eras captured with humor, sting, and an eye for detail. “I’ll probably just do this for as long as I think of things,” she said, already plotting her next concept.
Watch the interview above and then check out the video below.
