We chatted with Piper, the 11-year-old girl who was the first winner of St. Vincent’s Mixtape Delivery Service

Earlier in June, Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) told her fans she would make them personalized mixtapes via her Beats 1 radio show, St. Vincent’s Mixtape Delivery Service. All fans had to do was submit a letter of 50 words or fewer describing how their lives would benefit from a personalized St. Vincent playlist.

On July 1, she hosted her first installment of the show on Apple Music, announcing the first lucky individual: 11-year-old Piper Murray from Newark, Delaware.

Piper loves to sing and dance, and says she has St. Vincent hairbrush karaoke parties in her room at night. She’s into modern, electronic-leaning music like Purity Ring and Chvrches. During the show, Clark talked with Piper about her love of singing and dancing, a musical she performed in, her family, and her hobbies.

The Key was lucky enough to chat with Piper and her dad, Matt, about this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

As it turns out, Piper’s music taste runs in the family. She discovered her love of St. Vincent from her father. “I used to play St. Vincent’s 4AD session back when she was on 4AD,” Matt says. “Piper ended up coming down and watching it with me, and she kind of just took it and ran with it.” He saw Clark’s post on Facebook asking for letters and told Piper she should write one.

Piper still had the letter and read it out loud:

It’s summer! I have a lot of your songs on my iPod. I love to listen to them and even sometimes I have singing parties by myself at night. I am 11 years old. You are just the coolest thing in the whole wide world. I really like your voice and all the passion you put into your songs. Please pick this letter!

Thanks, Piper 

2,500 people entered the contest, and Piper was proud that her “short and straightforward” letter made it to Clark. Just two days after she sent it, Clark called her and she totally freaked out.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god, oh my god, I’m actually talking to St. Vincent!'”, she said. “I think dad was freaking out the most, because he interrupted and said ‘Hi, Annie!’ and she said ‘Hi Matt!’ and dad said ‘Ohhh my goodness!'”

“They talked for a really long time, and she gave Piper really good open-ended questions so she could ramble on about stuff,” Matt said. “It was almost like Piper had known her forever.”

Piper said that she saw some people who were bitter about losing the contest. Apparently, some people spent days thinking of what they could say to Clark in 50 words. Piper sat down and banged out the letter just minutes after her dad told her about the Facebook post.

Both Piper and her dad think that Clark picked Piper because her letter expressed unique individuality… and also “the fact that I’m actually 11,” Piper said.

Clark’s selections for the first show included New Order, Depeche Mode, Devo, Bjork, David Bowie, and a bunch of other artists that Clark thought Piper would love, but “probably has missed” due to her young age. And she did a great job, because Piper loved her picks.

“My dad really, really liked it though, because every single song she picked was music from when he grew up!” she said. Her favorite song from the mix was “Groove Is In the Heart” by Deee-Lite.

Piper hopes one day she’ll get to meet Annie Clark one day soon. “I’d be dying if I met her… I’m her idol!” she said. (Clark told Piper that she was her new idol on the show.) Piper and her dad are coming up to see St. Vincent’s headlining show at  XPoNential Music Festival later this month… but are you? Don’t forget!

You can listen to Piper and Clark’s full chat on Mixtape Delivery Service and check out the playlist on Spotify below!

Playlist:
Depeche Mode – “Enjoy The Silence”
Stereolab – “Barock-Plastik”
New Order – “Blue Monday”
Deee-Lite – “Groove Is In The Heart”
Devo – “Whip It”
Chaka Khan – “I Feel For You”
Erasure – “Chains Of Love”
The Knife – “Heartbeats”
Bjork – “Human Behavior”
David Bowie – “Let’s Dance”
Pet Shop Boys – “West End Girls”
The Pointer Sisters – “Break Out”
Talking Heads – “Once In A Lifetime”

St. Vincent’s Mixtape Delivery Service airs on Beats1 every Tuesday night at 10 p.m. EST.