Sasha Spielberg, who goes by the stage name Buzzy Lee, has been known to employ a specific tactic to help herself get over stage fright. She’ll often open a live show with “Facepaint,” capturing the moodiness of the song by playing one note on the keyboard and singing a cappella.
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“There’s nothing more primal for me than singing or writing music,” Lee tells American Songwriter. “I think there’s some part of me that I’ve decided in my head, ‘I need to challenge myself, and this is almost my natural beta blocker. If I can get through this song, we got it.’ I thought it was so powerful to start a set with just my voice.”
As the daughter of renowned Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Lee has appeared in several films and TV series, including a small role in her father’s blockbuster film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and The Kids Are Alright, among others.
“My dad used to tell this story–when he and I would be watching a movie and someone I wanted to be came up on the screen, I would grab him and go, ‘That’s me, dad, that’s me!’” Lee recalls of connecting with characters onscreen when she was a child, whether she was mesmerized by the magical centaurs in Fantasia or the mermaids in Hook. That childlike wonder shines through in her music.
“I think I continue to do that in music where each song is all me,” she observes. “It’s all authentic.”
Fans get to hear her authentic voice on her new album, Internal Affairs. Lee describes Internal Affairs as “part two” of her 2021 debut solo album, Spoiled Love. Both projects explore a toxic relationship Lee was in at the time. Lee calls Spoiled Love “extremely raw” with minimal production to let her intense emotions stand in the spotlight.
“I lead with my insecurities when I talk to someone,” Lee notes. “We wanted to make it feel like I was telling everyone my secrets, but in that person’s ear, just like a whisper.”
Internal Affairs finds Lee still processing the relationship and breakup, but from a more self-assured perspective.
“There was this whole notion of exterior versus interior with the two of us–what I was feeling on the interior, I was not exuding on the exterior. I was trying to be someone for him that I could not be,” she explains of the album’s dual meaning. “But then there’s this other meaning of the two of us existing and feeling so lonely in a partnership, existing side by side, but having completely different interiors from the other.”
As a self-described “people pleaser,” Lee tried to be the person her partner wanted her to be, navigating constant comparisons to his ex-girlfriend. In the moments when Lee’s true personality would arise, it was often met with criticism.
“It was a lot of me trying to figure out what was going on inside of him and I was analyzing,” she continues. Comparing the dynamics of the relationship to internal affairs, the investigative department of law enforcement, Lee admits that she made it her “job” to try to analyze her partner and the relationship. “When I was totally deteriorated in that relationship, I then was like, ‘I might as well write about what I’ve learned about him,’” she explains of her approach to the album.
Her journal entries then became songs on Internal Affairs, where she makes a habit out of writing from an unflinchingly honest perspective. The album’s bouncy lead single, “Cinderblock” finds the singer putting her actual internet search history on display in the music video alongside somber lyrics like, in the beginning you were my end / That’s when the sidewalk started cracking / Darkness came in / I’m no cinderblock / The second you blow is the second I crumble.
“In the lyrics, I write some deepest, darkest secrets, and I don’t find it any different than showing your search history,” she expresses. “I think writing an album where you’re being completely unfiltered, it’s actually scarier than search history. It’s almost like testing the waters, putting your search history out. That to me feels easier to do than putting an album out.”
Despite its heavy subject matter, Lee says that Internal Affairs has more “levity” and upbeat production than its predecessor, allowing her genuine personality to shine through.
“I feel like I’ve always been my five-year-old self, and I continue to be that, so this record is lighter and more fun,” she proclaims. “This record is part two of letting go of the person I wanted to be and coming into my own.”
Internal Affairs is available now. Lee is also the host of the podcast, Free Period, alongside her friend and one-third of HAIM, Alana Haim.
Photo by Harry McNally / The Oriel Co.
