Spellling

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Pushkin Industries

Music, Society & Culture

4.5 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chrystia Cabral is the experimental, often mystically-inclined Oakland artist who records as Spellling. Since her 2019 debut, she’s built a reputation for richly imaginative music that defies easy categorization. Her third album, The Turning Wheel, earned a rare perfect 10 from notoriously discerning online critic Anthony Fantano, who called it “stunning and beautiful.”

Today, Spellling joins Justin Richmond to talk about the making of her latest release, Portrait of My Heart—a bold evolution that deepens her blend of avant-garde, pop, and rock by adding new layers of mysticism and theatricality. She also reflects on her transition from teaching to touring, the intention behind every element of her sound, and the early days of her music-making, when she first began experimenting with gear.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Spellling songs HERE.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Pushkin.
0:10.8	I'm excited today to share a conversation with my friend Tia Cabral, also known as spelling.
0:16.6	I've known spelling since before she started making music a bit over a decade ago.
0:21.1	And I'll never forget when I first heard some of the songs that became her sophomore album, The Turning Wheel.
0:26.0	It blew me away. For this friend who I've known for so long to just be casually demoing these
0:30.9	beautiful songs with such a gorgeous voice, I was astonished. Mind you, that album got a rare, perfect
0:36.9	10 rating from Anthony Fantano.
0:39.1	Her latest album, Portrait of My Heart, sees Spelling taking yet another leap,
0:43.5	pushing her avant-garde, pop, and even rock sensibilities to another level,
0:47.9	adding new dimensions to the mysticism and drama imbued in her music.
0:52.3	Today, spelling opens up about her journey
0:54.2	from teaching to touring,
0:56.0	what it means to build a sonic universe
0:57.6	where every detail is intentional
0:59.2	in the early days of her musical journey
1:01.4	when she was just getting started.
1:05.5	This is Broken Record,
1:07.7	real musicians, real conversations.
1:12.8	This is an I-Heart podcast.
1:17.3	How did the internet go from this?
1:20.2	You could actually find what you were looking for right away,
1:23.1	buying to this.
	...

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