L.A.-based singer/songwriter Cooper Kenward’s third album is called “haha, now I’m sad” (Soggy Anvil Records, 2025), and you could say its emotions are all over the place. The title hints at the intertwined duality of happy versus sad, or laughing on the outside versus crying on the inside, as in the 1962 hit single by Bernadette Carroll or the book of that title by the “Laugh-In” girl Judy Carne and her marriage to a seriously disturbed Burt Reynolds.
No laughing matter, this album is also his most vividly realised work to date. The record captures the electricity of collaboration with a close-knit group of friends and musicians. Featuring Kenward’s grainy, untutored tones, these 11 tracks connect the dots between ’60s folk, ’70s singer-songwriters and ’80s indie-rock. “’haha, now I’m sad’ was recorded at Altamira Sound by my good buddy Rob Shelton,” Kenward advises. “Harrison Whitford is on guitar, as well as Ryan Richter. Caleb Buchanan is on bass, and Griffin Goldsmith is on Drums. Tyler Nuffer plays pedal steel, Adam Moss plays fiddle, and Jesse McGinty plays the horns. We recorded most of it live over 3 days. It was a good time. I like that creativity can be a solo and social pursuit. Working with others is as gratifying as working alone.”
Kenward is also a film and video director and is responsible for the creative videos found on YouTube. As a kid, he found his dad’s camcorder and got started shooting scenes before heading to San Francisco to pursue production opportunities. He put forth the idea that, “In reality, not many people watch the music videos. In ‘Make Me Blue’, there are weird visual ideas, such as: A lot of older people, riding on the back of a scooter, slow dancing, and many of those characters show up on the new record too, right? So, like, not necessarily the exact characters. But I mean, sort of the archetypes of these characters that are very relatable.” He loves the scene in ‘Wheelies’ accompanying the lyrics: Heard your girlfriend is back in jail. She was mouthing off to an undercover cop wearing nothing but a sports bra.
The opener ’53 Bel Air’ (that’s a Chevrolet) sets the stage for the quirkiness to come with sort of a “Natural Born Killers” plot without the murders and rattlesnakes. Money flying out the back of a ’53 Bel Air. If you didn’t want us to have it, why’d you put it there? “The lyrics came from Raymond Chandler and John Fante stuff,” Kenward stated, adding. “I’ve never robbed a bank, but I’ve still got time.”
“Haha, now I’m sad” possesses limitless concepts, stories, journeys, and fables rolled into one. Some are witty, others melancholy. Crossing careers, in a way, the songs represent Greek mythology, the smiling mask of Thalia, the muse of comedy, and the frowning mask of Melpomene, the muse of tragedy. These masks have become a universal symbol of the performing arts and represent the duality of human emotion and experience. There’s a sardonic self-awareness that defines Kenward’s album and its existentialism, but the illusive presence of the masks throughout the album blurs the line between handcrafted irony and pure authenticity. It’s a feat that is nothing less than impressive. It feels as though one of his goals was to create a paradigm of truth and fiction, reality and the abstract, humour and utter seriousness.
We asked Cooper Kenward significantly more than ten questions, some serious, others not so much. It seemed appropriate. Much to our chagrin, by the parameters of this feature, we could only use ten.
Americana UK: Who is Cooper Kenward? We need details?
Cooper Kenward: Hi, I’m Cooper Kenward. I feel old, but I’m not that old. I’m not very tall, but I’m also not that short. I’m married and an Aquarius.
AUK: What is your musical origin story?
CK: My dad used to play a lot of music to me as a baby, and the joke’s on him. Now I’m a musician.
AUK: Would you entertain the idea that your songs appear to be focused on the conflict between humanity’s innate search for meaning and the universe’s apparent lack of it?
CK: I would entertain the idea, yes. Some people search for meaning; others give it.
AUK: Are the songs on the album personal, about someone or something else, or made up?
CK: The songs are all personal to me because I made them all up.
AUK: What is your best song from the two previous albums and why?
CK: I’ve been digging ‘In Due Time’ from my self-titled record because it’s got a funny little groove.
AUK: What truly sets you apart from other artists?
CK: Well, I am me, and they are them. There is another musician with the name Kenward Cooper, and it freaks me out. I wonder if we will ever meet.
AUK: How will people’s lives improve by listening to your music?
CK: Oh, that’s beyond me. Maybe they will get bored listening to it and remember to fold their laundry and do the dishes.
AUK: What was the first song you wrote, and also the first gig you played?
CK: I wrote the song ‘Father Television’ with my buddy Jonathan, that had a bunch of TV Land quotes in it. Our first gig as a band was playing our middle school pep rally. I wore a bunch of Beanie Babies safety pinned to my pants because I saw Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers do it.
AUK: What’s your idea of perfect happiness or total misery?
CK: Perfect happiness is a nice meal with friends; total misery is arguing over the check.
AUK: What words do you hope people use when they describe you?
CK: Amazing, the greatest, he makes me feel better about myself.
