Shana Halligan on Vulnerability, Boundaries, and Her Bitter:Sweet Return
Dripping with smoky vocals, cinematic decadence, and a fearless fusion of genres, Shana Halligan’s music doesn’t just seduce — it enchants the senses and drags you into its alluring, dreamy underworld.
First rising to prominence as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed duo Bitter:Sweet, Halligan helped shape the sound of 2000s downtempo, trip-hop, and lounge-pop with a blend of vintage elegance and contemporary thrill. It wasn’t long before Bitter:Sweet’s tracks found an enduring home in the world of film and TV, famously soundtracking iconic shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and Nip/Tuck as well as high-profile films including The Devil Wears Prada and Sex and the City: Volume 2.
After a near twenty-year hiatus, Shana has returned to Bitter:Sweet, releasing their latest studio album, Baby Is Back. But whether she’s scoring iconic films or doing Bitter:Sweet her way, Halligan always brings a signature style: enticing, sophisticated, and unmistakably hers.
KP: I want to start by saying that I’m a huge fan of your music. Outside of films, I think I first came across your work — not shockingly — at a burlesque club here in New York. A beautiful woman was performing to “Drink You Sober” and I’m so happy that’s the night and moment that will be forever etched in my mind when it comes to your work.
Your music is so evocative, and it’s incredibly distinct — you always know a Bitter:Sweet track when you hear it. How did you come into your sound? What drew you to such a seductive, alluring soundscape?
And I’m sorry to be selfish, but I’d love to hear a little bit about “Drink You Sober.” It’s one of my favorite songs of yours! [Laughs].
SH: Oh, wow! Well, I think, interestingly enough, during that time period — which was a long time ago — I was in a pretty tough relationship where I actually never felt those things that you speak of. So, for me, music was my sensuality. It was my place to feel feminine and feel like the woman that I wished I was — or could be — in a lot of ways. So I found this playground sonically to be able to play with those feelings. It wasn't initially my intention, but my love affair was making the album and falling into those types of songs. That persona was such a huge contrast to my actual life at that time, so that was really interesting. So with “Drink You Sober,” it was just about how I would loved to have seduce someone if I could have, but I was never in that situation. I had always been married, and it wasn't, at the time, the right marriage for me.
So it was always just an interesting escape for me — I felt like the colors of the beats, the mood, and the music really dictated what I would say, what I would sing, and how I would feel. It was a fantasy — all of it, in a way. I would integrate and sew in truths always, but there was definitely this fantasy about it all.
And now, the new album, it's so different. It's so 100% me. I'm not hiding or anything anymore — I’m not pretending or playing. It's just a playground to actually be myself. It's a different chapter.
KP: That’s the best place to be! And for as long as I’ve been obsessed with “Drink You Sober,” I cannot believe that it was just while researching for this conversation that I first noticed that Serj [Tankian] had a hand in its development, as well as a bunch of your other music. I was blown away, actually — that’s definitely not something that I expected! [Laughs].
How did that creative collaboration come to be?
SH: So we did a track together called “Drama.” It's such a funny story… I was living near him, and he heard that I was a singer. I had never met him before, and, to be honest, I did not know his music since we came from such different musical interests.
KP: Yeah, I wasn't expecting that! I was kind of like, “Wait, am I reading this properly?” [Laughs].
SH: Yeah!
KP: That makes it so much cooler.
SH: He just knocked on my door one day, and he said, “I heard you're a singer. Do you want to come to the studio and record something for me?” And I was like, “Okay.” So I go to his studio, and I'm in his house, but I'm like, wow, this is a really nice studio. He must do this professionally. This is really pretty epic. [Laughs]. And there were all these total rockers hanging out in there and stuff, and I'm just like… a martini girl. [Laughs].
KP: [Laughs]. That’s so funny. I love this story!
SH: So he asked me to sing on this project he was doing — he had never heard my voice. He just said, “Just make stuff up, swirl around.” And so I did. I was really kind of nervous, but then from that moment on, we just kind of had this thing, just this cool musical bond. He had asked me to come to a live gig and guest on the song that I recorded with him. It was hilarious — it was at the Hollywood Bowl. It was somewhere huge. And I thought we were going to the Troubadour or something. I was like, “Who are you?” [Laughs]. You would never know it because he was so humble.
So then when I was making the second album for Bitter:Sweet, there was that track, “Drama.” And I was like, god, he'd be so powerful on this. It would be amazing. So I asked him, and he loved it. He said yes right away. He was in the music video, and then he came on stage with me. We’ve just had this really beautiful synergy over the years.
Also, on the new album, he worked on “Rise.”
KP: I saw that! We’ll get into that later. That’s so amazing. I love System of a Down. “B.Y.O.B.” is one of my favorite songs ever — it’s truly brilliant.
SH: What an epic rock star he is. And humble as can be.
KP: That's amazing. I love that the most. You just released Baby Is Back, your latest album since 2010 — congratulations! I’m so excited about it, as are so many people. It’s great to have you back. What can you tell us about its development and your return to a full-length release?
SH: You know, I wasn't ever anticipating going back to Bitter:Sweet. I missed it. I missed it so much because it was me. I mean, it was like the music that I was raised on — there was so much jazz influence, so much stuff that I missed. I went to go tour with Thievery Corporation and Nouvelle Vague and all these other really cool acts over the years, but I did miss it. I never intended to go back until, like a gift, my old label — who wasn't really functioning as a label anymore — just said, “Hey, I own this now. I'm happy to give it to you if you want. Go run with the name.” I was so surprised, and I said yes immediately. I just knew exactly what to do and how to make this music. It was really organic, fun, and effortless. I was so excited. Once I started getting into it, it was just like I was back home, you know?
And then I started looking for the right people to work with on it. It was really empowering because so many of my relationships in the past — professionally and personally — were just not healthy and serving me. And as women, we can — I mean, not just women, men too — subject ourselves to some interesting dynamics and feel smaller than we really are, because we are huge. We can do so much. It's been an incredible feeling to just step into my power in this way and to do it the way that I want to do it, to be surrounded by so much love and positivity. There are only good vibes right now. It's just really different.
KP: That’s incredible! We’re so happy that you’re back. About the title track, “Baby Is Back,” you said that it carries “Bond-like glamour… It was important to me to own my power and to fully celebrate the woman I am today. It was also important for me to pass that message on to some of the people who tried to make me feel less than in the past.”
You’ve created an incredibly triumphant piece of work out of the circumstances. What advice would you lend to women when it comes to them feeling inadequate? How have you personally overcome these feelings?
SH: I think that our voice belongs to us, and it should never be taken away. It's incredibly important to always speak your truth, to not be afraid of being too big or too shiny, and to never be worried about how others are going to view you. You need to celebrate yourself and surround yourself with people that only elevate you — that are bigger and better than you. I've just noticed it's so much easier to rise to the top when you're surrounded by that kind of energy. It's incredible how we can believe these things about ourselves from the past, but now walking into this new chapter, I can look back and go, wow, I really was that sound. I really was the songwriter. I really did achieve a lot. I want all women to celebrate their power and not be afraid. People don't always like it when women are fierce and strong and threatening. We should celebrate it.
KP: Absolutely.
SH: Damn straight! We should be ruling the world, girl! [Laughs].
KP: Exactly! It was incredibly touching to read about the inspiration behind “Rise,” which was prompted by the death of your father. You were incredibly close your whole life, but you revealed that he started to pull away emotionally towards the end to try to shield you from what he was going through. Serj completed the string arrangements for the track — and knowing that he had a special bond with your father — I’m sure that it meant a lot to you. It’s a beautiful song, and I would argue that it’s also your most vulnerable track, by far.
Were you hesitant at all to be that vulnerable through your work? What did it teach you, if anything, about your music, but also about yourself?
SH: It was the first time that I felt like there was zero hiding. I was really terrified to release the song. Even when I sing it now, it's really difficult sometimes, but I'm finding more strength every time I do. But I think that people really connect deeply to authenticity, and to be able to connect with someone on that level is so important. If you can't do that in music and art, then what's the point? So I learned that I should not be afraid. I don't have to always be this other thing that people might view me as. I can be vulnerable — I can show up as that, and I'm lucky enough to have songwriting to be able to express myself in that way. It's been incredible to feel the reaction from that — it's also proven to me that I need to do more of that. To take Mary J. Blige's advice. [Laughs]. She's never held back. I love that I can show up in that way now and be more in touch with those feelings than ever.
KP: I totally agree. And we want to see it! I really loved reading about the inspiration behind “Rosary,” which you shared is one of your favorite tracks off the album. Would you mind sharing that story with our readers? What is it about it that you love the most?
SH: Sonically, it has such a different style of production that I'm so in love with. I think Joey, my partner on that song, was picking up some old Kanye vibes, some things that I didn't have in my songs beat-wise that I really loved. And then I went to a topless burlesque kind of venue, a very popular place in Hollywood called Jumbo's Clown Room.
“It's incredibly important to always speak your truth, to not be afraid of being too big or too shiny, and to never be worried about how others are going to view you.”
KP: Oh, yeah! I've never been, but my friends definitely have! They have many, many stories. [Laughs].
SH: Yeah! My girlfriends and I wanted to go, to just have a night out and see what it was about. There was this beautiful girl — she was so talented, such an unbelievable dancer that she could have danced for anyone or with anyone — but I saw this kind of emptiness in her eyes. Here she was — this gorgeous specimen of talent and beauty and strength, yet super empty. I felt really sad. I felt like this wasn’t what she ever thought her life was going to be. I could just feel that it wasn't where she wanted to be. It felt sad, and I wanted to save her. I just wanted to tell her that it doesn't have to be this way if she didn’t want it — there are other paths, there are other choices. You can't save people, but I could write about her. Maybe she'll hear it one day; I don't know.
KP: I really hope that she does. You recently said of your younger self, “I wish I had been told to stand up for myself. To not feel as though I ‘should’ or that it’s ‘just part of the gig,’ and that it’s unacceptable to tolerate any form of sexual harassment or abuse of any kind. As someone who got signed by record labels and producers at 16, there were more incidents than I can count that were indeed inappropriate.”
As someone who started working at 14, I can completely empathize. I can’t tell you how many 50-year-old male editors with wives and children back home in Europe were inviting me to their hotel rooms to speak about a “cover” or a “campaign” here in New York when I was as young as 16. Luckily, I never went. I knew that it was wrong then, but looking back as a 31-year-old woman now, it’s even more unbelievable to me.
What advice would you lend women when it comes to not tolerating any form of abuse — but particularly sexual abuse — which is rampant in these public-facing industries?
SH: I'm so glad that you're asking me this. Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. Whatever they see in you is something that they know they want — something that's electric and magic in you. You do not need to compromise yourself to be liked or accepted by their needs. I cannot stress that enough. There have been way too many situations where maybe you felt like you had to do things because they're more successful, they know more, they're way older, all of these things. But your gut always knows. Whatever they see in you is because it belongs to you. And that's yours to keep. And what I've learned — it's been a really tough lesson — but even with the high-profile acts I’ve performed with, I've learned that standing up for yourself absolutely gains you the respect that you need. Things have happened that I've been terrified of — I've had to get a lawyer and do things that were very scary. I felt like maybe I would never work again because I stood up for myself, but guess what it did? I worked again. I worked again, and I worked again, and I got respect. And then these other people come up to me, these other women, and say, “Wow, that was really inspiring. I'm going to do that, too.” So it doesn't make you not be able to do something — it actually gives you the power to show up for yourself and for everybody else, too.
KP: Absolutely! And I think it gives you power with the right people, right? Because when you stand up for yourself in that way, the people that are there to respect you will. And those are the types of people that you want around you anyway. Those are the people that you want to work with and be friends with and love.
SH: Totally! And some people just like to test the waters — they see what they can get away with, and then when they learn they can't, then it's very clear. Then it's like, “Okay, got it. That's not the person I'm going to get away with that with, but I still want to work with that person.”
KP: Absolutely. You always need to show up for yourself first, no questions asked. Bitter:Sweet’s music has dominated film and TV for decades, scoring classics such as The Devil Wears Prada and the Sex and the City films. How has that level of cinematic integration shaped your identity as an artist? Have you ever reflected on how your music has influenced the way that those stories are remembered?
I haven’t seen The Devil Wears Prada in so long, but I so vividly remember the scenes in which your songs played! They’re so memorable.
SH: That was an incredible form of radio for us, but again, it was never the intention. It just became the cinematic backdrop for so many shows and films. It was so unexpected and such an incredible way for people to find us. In the beginning, I feel like we were at the forefront of that new radio, that new way for people to discover bands, which is so cool.
When I do write, I definitely have this kind of imagery in my subconscious — there's a movie playing in my head, whether it's my movie that I'm literally living or if it's somebody else's movie that’s playing for me. So I think that has been an incredibly appropriate and very cool way for us to have gotten out there. When the venues started to fill up back then, I didn't understand. I was like, “How do they know us?!” And it was all because of that.
The Devil Wears Prada Part 2 is in production right now… So look out…
KP: Oh my god, I actually read that a few months ago. That's amazing! Thank you for dropping this knowledge! I’m so excited now. [Laughs].
You’ve been creating music for decades as a solo artist and in Bitter:Sweet, but also through collaborations with other performers such as Nouvelle Vague and Thievery Corporation. Given the expansiveness of your work, is there a track that you wish had gotten more attention from listeners than it did? Is there one that means the most to you?
SH: I have one track in particular that I just loved the darkness of, the production. It really felt like the first spot-on solo track of mine that could have ended up as a Bitter:Sweet track, had I had Bitter:Sweet at the time. It was called “Hurricane” — it's just under my solo name. It was about a dear friend of mine that caught his baby mama with his best friend. He came over and poured his heart out to me. It was just so deeply moving. I've been there and understood all of it. I wrote it about my own experience, but through his eyes also, so I feel like that track was something that I really wish more people could hear.
KP: Well, I'm going to listen to it!
SH: If you like “Drink You Sober,” you'll probably like “Hurricane,” too.
KP: I will definitely listen to it then. It’s funny, because when I listen to your music, a lot of it reminds me of Billie Eilish’s newer work sonically, and she has added your music to her playlists before! I can’t help but think that your distinctive sound has inspired so many young performers, her included. I was listening to “Freak,” and I heard a bit of Billie in there, but of course, that track preceded her.
Do you ever think about your modern influence? Have you ever listened to newer work and heard yourself in it? If so, what does it mean to you to help shape a sound that’s so contemporary?
SH: It's so overwhelmingly flattering. I never thought of myself that way ever, but I've had multiple people tell me that in regard to Billie and some others. Well, what a compliment. What she's doing with her brother is so wonderful. I feel like the way that they work is so similar to me in the sense that when I made that first album, there was the luxury of being holed up with one person all the time, for hours and hours and hours and hours a day. It's such an unbelievably prolific way of being able to create.
So yeah, I don't think of myself that way, but a lot of people have told me that. I mean, it's the biggest form of flattery ever. I would love to get on a track with her someday.
KP: You would make magic. And I’m sure she would love it, too! What advice would you lend to women who want to get into the music industry? What advice would you lend them about life in general?
SH: So when I have time in my cuckoo schedule, I teach songwriting and vocal performance at a really wonderful performing arts school here in California. They're high school students — international students. The number one thing that I'm always teaching them is how much work it really takes. There's no quick discovery. There's no easy road. It's literally the old cliché of never giving up. You have to have thick skin. You have to know that you really want this. And you never, ever stop. I mean, here I am, like, how many years later? I'm coming back as this entity in a time where I thought that maybe I was too old and whatever. But you’re never too old. It's never too late. In fact, I've felt better than ever. I've never felt more confident. I think that just pushing through, not giving up… I know it's so cliché, but it's absolutely the truth. And don’t be lazy. Don't just expect things to just come. You have to go after them. I literally just made an intro for one of my students with my publisher because he's a prolific songwriter, but he didn't get back to him. Mistake number one. You have got to be on your shit. And you have to be a sponge. And you can't be too proud. And you have to, again, surround yourself with people who are better than you. Do collabs. I don't care if you're a songwriter — collab, collab, collab. Work with people all the time that know more. I think that's number one. Setting boundaries for yourself is number two. Believe that you know in your heart what's right, what's appropriate.
KP: That's all great advice. What do you feel makes a provocative woman?
SH: A confident, powerful, kind, conscious, receptive, and loving person.
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Photography: Lacey Terrell
