【Secret Confessions (2025) Banana Cue Episode 41】

LOS ANGELES -- "We used to want a house with just bean bag furniture."

That's the first thing Amy Noonan said as she sat down in YouTube Space L.A for an interview,Secret Confessions (2025) Banana Cue Episode 41 opting to take the cozy bean bag chairs instead of seats in the screening room.

She and husband Nick Noonan, the other half of their music duo Karmin, had just finished a day-long dress rehearsal for their album launch party. But if they were weary, it didn't show.

The duo -- who met at Berklee College of Music and have been together 11 years -- have come a long way since their cover of "Look at Me Now" went viral in 2011.

For starters, they don't want just bean bag chairs in their home anymore. They swear they are way more adult now.

Their music has also evolved. They ditched their label Epic Records in 2014 -- they realized the record label route wasn't for them -- and spent two years working on their new album Leo Rising. The 13-track album, released independently, is inspired by astrology.

"We grew up a lot," Nick said.

"We're a real band now," Amy said.

"Almost," Nick joked.

Mashable caught up with the duo last week ahead of their album launch party.

Mashable:Where did the inspiration for Leo Risingcome from?

Amy: We met an astrologer -- it was like a totally random birthday gift we got from our band and crew in 2014. Our birthdays are two days apart ... we are nothing alike, [although] we are both Taurus. We found out because we were born two days apart, we are actually compliment each other.

We learned way more, it was really interesting. We went to this guy's spot -- his name is Gaul.

Nick: He's in Silverlake. He's local.

Amy: There are a lot of good ones. Now on YouTube I follow so many ... Gaul told us everything for our career. He said "you guys need to be independent." At the time, we were still with a major label but we had these strong feelings that we needed to leave.

Nick: That was the extra push for us to creatively do something else.

Amy: On the love life thing, he did tell us we are good for each other. He told us how many kids we were going to have. It was crazy.

Nick: We were writing this album -- we had a song or two -- but the reading helped inspire a lot of life changes. That's how the concept came about. We had the song "Didn't Know You" and we were like, that's so funny, that's almost like a Gemini song. Then it all kind of fell into place. The whole story of how each sign got their characteristics is so so interesting.

Amy: Each song is like each sign. It was very easy to be inspired.

How did you decide which covers you wanted to include on the album? You guys became famous doing covers, after all.

Amy: We are the cover masters.

Nick: Charlie and the Chocolate Factorywas Amy's favorite movie growing up. And one of the big Leo things is that it's a very imaginative sign, and we thought it would be a dope song. I had this basic track and [Amy] sung the chorus over it and wrote new verses on it. But then we wrote a letter to the original writers to get permission to use the original version of it. Apparently they are very fickle about letting people use it, but they approved it.

Amy: It was very meaningful.

And you guys decided to do an accompanying video series to go with the album. Can you tell me a bit about that?

Nick: We shot one video for every single song. The concept is literally like a motion picture -- we slowed everything down a lot, we had everything be like two and a half times slower.

All we really wanted to do is for it to vibe. It moves so slow when you first watch it, you're not sure if it's a still image or not ... it's very oddly enticing. The first one goes up tomorrow [Friday].

Amy: We also shot make-up tutorials with the music. We shot them here at the YouTube Space. I have to finish editing them. There are 12 of those too. It gives people a chance to experience the music in different ways.

Overall, what's the biggest thing that's changed about your sound?

Amy: I was joking that I just learned how to sing on this album.

Nick: You learned how to emote. I think we grew up in a lot of ways ... we've had a hell of an education.

Amy: We've seen it all. I think that's what's changed us: Time, experience. You find out who you are and what kind of music you want to make.

Nick: We've just been so inspired [since leaving the label]. It's been very rewarding, a very positive low-stress experience.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.