This interview with Jasmin Ahrent explores the quiet emotional core of “Little Wonders,” touching on minimalism, burnout, collaboration, and a piano-led creative chapter rooted in honesty and intimacy.
1. “Little Wonders” feels intimate and reflective. What inspired you to build the song around such minimal elements like piano and vocals?
I built Little Wonders around piano and vocals because the song honestly doesn’t need more. When you’re burned out, everything can feel too loud — even things that are usually comforting. I wanted the track to feel quiet and close, like it’s sitting with you instead of trying to impress you. Piano and voice leave no hiding place, which is exactly why it works here. You can hear the small things: pauses, breath, little changes in dynamics, lines that feel almost spoken. That’s the emotional language of the song. The piano holds the structure, but it doesn’t tell you what to feel. It just supports the story. And the minimal setup gives the listener space to bring their own experience into it, without being pushed by production choices.
2. How did your collaboration with Selin shape the emotional direction of the track?
Selin really helped shape the emotional direction because her voice sits naturally in that “quiet honest” space. I didn’t want the track to feel dramatic or over-sung — it’s more like: “I’m tired, I’m overwhelmed, but I’m still here.” Selin’s delivery made that believable. Warm, soft, not forced. That also influenced the whole approach: keep it intimate, don’t overproduce it, don’t turn it into a show. And to be honest, when someone else sings your words, you immediately hear what works and what doesn’t. You notice which lines sound true and which ones would feel too polished or too “written.” Her performance pushed the song more towards sincerity and simplicity, and that’s exactly what I wanted for this track.
3. Your influences range from Birdy to Daughter and Lewis Capaldi. How did you blend those inspirations while keeping your own sonic identity?
I love all of them, but in a pretty practical way. Birdy is a big influence because her piano songs feel intimate without trying too hard. Daughter is great at restraint — not filling every second, letting things breathe, letting mood do the work. And with Lewis Capaldi, I really respect how direct he is emotionally. He doesn’t hide behind clever wording. For Little Wonders, I basically took those ingredients and asked: what serves the story best? So instead of stacking production layers, I focused on clarity: simple arrangement, emotional honesty, and letting the listener hear the “human” part. My sound is usually somewhere in that balance: minimal but not empty, emotional but not theatrical, and always story-first.
4. The song speaks to burnout and finding beauty in small moments. What message do you most hope listeners connect with?
I hope people feel understood. Burnout can mess with your self-worth in a really nasty way — you start thinking you’re lazy or failing, when you’re actually just exhausted and overloaded. Little Wonders is my reminder that small moments still matter, even if they look ridiculous from the outside. Sometimes it’s not a big life change that helps you survive a week — it’s one calm minute, one tiny routine, one warm drink, one good thought, one moment where you notice “okay, I’m still here.” The song isn’t trying to say “everything will be fine.” It’s more like: you don’t need to solve your whole life today. Day by day counts. And if all you can do is hold onto one small good thing, that’s not weak — that’s real.
5. You embraced imperfection in the recording process. How did that choice influence the atmosphere of the final mix?
Yeah, the imperfection was definitely intentional. If you polish a song like this too much, it can lose that “real moment” feeling and start sounding distant. I didn’t want it to feel like something that’s been edited until it’s safe and perfect. So we kept human stuff: breathing, small timing shifts, little edges. Those details are the difference between “nice production” and something that actually feels honest. Same with the mix: I didn’t want huge effects or a big cinematic sound. The track is meant to stay close. Like you can almost hear the room. That kind of intimacy fits the theme, because burnout isn’t loud. It’s quiet, repetitive, and heavy — and a close mix makes that emotional weight feel more believable.
6. “Little Wonders” is part of a series of piano-driven releases. What can we expect from your next creative chapter?
This is part of a piano-driven chapter for me because I like how honest that format is. There’s nowhere to hide — in a good way. You can’t distract from weak writing with big production, and you can’t fake the emotion. The next releases will stay in that direction: stripped back, emotional, story-first. But they’ll explore different shades of the same world: resilience, longing, quiet hope, maybe also the anger or numbness that sometimes comes with burnout. I want these songs to feel connected, like chapters that belong together. Each track stands on its own, but together they build a bigger picture — not of “perfect healing,” but of real life: the messy, slow, human version of getting through things.
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