Florida-born Zanne Hanna has released one of those tracks that makes you lose track of time, and she recently chatted with Happy about the process
Hanna’s “I Thought” is a stunning blend of playful songwriting and an insightful production style, born from Hanna’s collaborative relationship with LA-based producer, Austin Atlas.
This marks Hanna’s fifth single, and the lyrics evoke a sense of daydreaming and delusion—capturing that warm, post-summer glow.
Fusing folk, pop and R&B, Hanna brings a unique style to the table, one that combines storytelling and imagination. “I Thought” is a perfect example of this creative synergy.
With its moving synths and honeyed vocals, “I Thought” offers a soft, tender portrayal of that sinking feeling when someone you give so much thought to has barely even glanced your way.
It’s real and emotive, and the raw, shredding guitar that we get in the breakdown somehow adds to that powerful feeling of limerence.
“Every way that you pretend to know me/Even in the darkness of my mind/You’re glowing, you’re glowing,” Hanna sings.
With the style of other glowing alt-indie performers like Clairo or Beabadoobee, Hanna brings her own life stories and musical ability to forge a kind of alt-pop that the music scene has nothing to compare to.
HAPPY: What was the inspiration behind “I Thought” and how did it come together?
ZANNE: You know that end-of-summer blur that hits in early September when you sort of think to yourself… “what just happened?”
To me, summer feels like a long dream, and the first moments of fall snap you back into reality.
I wanted to capture that transition of delusion to rumination.
HAPPY: How would you describe the feeling or mood of the song?
ZANNE: Honestly, I’m not one to write happy lyrics, but I gravitate towards upbeat instrumentals.
So it’s tough to categorize my songs by mood because the vibe is usually “crying… but at the club.” This song’s vibe is a sort of whimsical remorse.
HAPPY: What does the word “limerence” mean to you, and how does it tie into the song’s theme?
ZANNE: I learned “limerence” thanks to the mental health side of TikTok, and it immediately clicked as the feeling I was experiencing for many months out of the last year.
It’s obsession disguised as love and invented entirely in your own mind. I’m SO relieved I don’t feel it anymore!
HAPPY: How does this track compare to your first collaboration with Austin Atlas?
ZANNE: For our first song “In My Dreams,” I collected the lyrics over many months and had an idea of what I wanted it to sound like, which he brought to life. For “I Thought,” he actually sent me a finished instrumental track, and I wrote the lead melody and lyrics over it in about a week.
HAPPY: Can you walk us through your creative process when writing the lyrics for this song?
ZANNE: Sometimes songs piece together like a puzzle over time, other times I sit down and actively search for the right words in my mind.
Since the story that I tell in “I Thought” was so fresh when Austin Atlas sent me the instrumental track, the lyrics came really naturally.
HAPPY: What was it like working with Austin on the production side of this song?
ZANNE: We really complement each other and can cover all the bases – he is a master at arranging and producing instrumentation and I bring the vocal melodies and lyrics.
Our combined strengths balance out into a final product that I couldn’t come up with on my own.
HAPPY: How do your background in music production and engineering influence the way you approach songwriting?
ZANNE: When I write lyrics and record my vocals, I’m always thinking about how I’ll blend in the mix. Sometimes I’ll change a word or phrase just because I know when I sing it, the consonants will jumble up and be hard to distinguish from instruments that are in the same frequency range.
HAPPY: What part of the song are you most excited for listeners to hear?
ZANNE: At 1:47 the song transforms from this ethereal indie pop arrangement to a full-force punk rock outro.
It’s such a fun idea from Austin Atlas’s production, and in a way it represents the final plunge of the emotional rollercoaster I had last summer.
HAPPY: How do you balance your technical side with your creative side when producing and performing your own music?
ZANNE: When I’m self-producing, I want to honour the song in its truest form from my brain to your ears, so I am always shifting between the technical and creative to make that happen.
It’s less of a balance and more of a singular process, if that makes sense.
HAPPY: What’s next for you musically—are you working on any new projects or collaborations?
ZANNE: I’m finishing up my first E.P. to be released at the start of 2025. It’ll feature my songs “Beach Blood” and “Ruin” and 3 new self-produced songs.
Austin Atlas and I are also working on our third collaboration called “Over The Moon” to be released soon!
Listen to “I Thought” below:
