The first years spent entering adulthood come with a lot of big life decisions, and for Violet Grohl, that Be Sweet To Me.was seeking producers and collaborators for her debut album,
“Going into the studio and recording felt like the path that I was supposed to be on,” the 19-year-old says. Grohl immediately clicked with producer Justin Raisen (Kim Gordon, Yves Tumor,Angel Olsen). “My first impression was that she’s beyond her years. She has a golden voice, and she’s unapologetically herself,” says Raisen.
Be Sweet To Me was recorded from late 2024 into early 2025 at Raisen’s Los Angeles home studio alongside musicians assembled in the spirit of the Wrecking Crew session players in the ’60s and ’70s. The first song Violet wrote with her collaborators, a fuzzy ripper called “Thum,” was influenced by the old-school packaging of anti-nail-biting polish that Grohl brought into the studio. “Self help me/Self help myself/Chew my bitter fingers,” she snarls in a honeyed voice over ecstatic squall.
Like “Thum,” the songs on Be Sweet To Me were conjured from the immediate present and tend to be impressionistic, colored by Grohl’s love of film, particularly the work of David Lynch. Inspired by a vintage t-shirt advertising a phone sex line, “595” is a sly and sexy slasher filled with jolts of noise and a killer chorus: “I'll be your 1-900 G spot, baby/595 I'm on the line/You won't last.” The slippery and melodic “Bug In A Cake” recalls the paranormal activities surrounding Grohl’s recent move into the home of her late paternal grandma, a beloved “guiding force” in her life. “Turn the TV off so it turns back on/Come on, grandma, play me your favorite song,” Grohl roars.
“Everything was written in the studio,” Grohl says. “I would come in with an inspiration playlist, we would hang and listen for a little while, and then start writing.” “Violet is so well-versed in all styles of music; every playlist was different,” says Raisen, describing trip hop, new wave, Scandinavian black metal, ’70s acoustic folk, and vocal jazz. “She showed me a number of things that I wasn't familiar with; her encyclopedic knowledge of music is crazy,” he continues.
Alternative music from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s is a perpetual influence. “There’s something so powerful about that period of music, from the messaging to the visuals, it’s authentic and raw.” Pixies, Soundgarden, Cocteau Twins, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, The Muffs, Björk, Alice in Chains, L7, Juliana Hatfield: “I've listened to that stuff since I was a kid,” Grohl says. “That's what my dad was playing in the car on the way to school.”
“Music, whether it’s making it or just loving it, is a key thing that connects my family,” Grohl says, noting her father, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, and her paternal grandparents, who played flute and sang in local groups. Grohl has been singing and playing music as long as she can remember, teaching herself how to play ukulele, and later guitar, hauling the instruments around on both school and tour bus. “Around the time I was 12, it clicked for me that I love watching other people make music, and maybe I could too,” she says. "I had been writing poetry as well, and it kick-started the drive to want to turn painful experiences into art.”
Previously, Grohl’s songwriting practice had been shy and solitary, often taking place in the privacy of her bedroom. “Working in a collaborative space helped me open up to sharing stuff lyrically,” she says. “But it also opened up the possibility to experiment with different genres and instrumentations that maybe I wouldn't typically choose.”
Mid-way through recording the energy of the Be Sweet To Me sessions shifted. “The vibe I had originally intended no longer felt authentic to how I was feeling,” she says. “I needed sludge, droning guitars, and crazy reverb. It felt really good to be able to transmute whatever pain and sadness I was feeling into something tangible.” “Applefish” is a grungy slowcore ballad that slips beneath the surface, weighed down by the heaviness of mortality, while the swirling shoegazer “Last Day I Loved You” describes “losing touch with my sense of self,” per Grohl. Meanwhile, “Cool Buzz” is about “poking fun at moral inconsistencies in punk guys who preach progressive politics, but then in their own musical spaces won't let women have a chance,” says Grohl. “Shoot my favorite arrow/Through the mind that's narrow,” she coolly taunts over music worthy of windmill kicks and circle pits.
The phrase Be Sweet To Me is an inside joke amongst Grohl and her friends, a white flag of surrender when teasing becomes too much. It’s a fitting title for a record and artist unafraid to face life’s more raw moments while still embracing tenderness with elegance and grace.
