Natalie Cleveland has new music to record and promo videos to create for Tangerine Cassette’s new single “CLICK CLICK FLASH.” But right now her biggest decision is whether or not to order the pickled peaches with duck prosciutto.
Tangerine Cassette’s vocalist is sitting in a booth inside Maple Ridge Grocer enjoying a vanilla latte while she peruses the fall lunch menu. This is a routine spot for her, and she’s invited me to learn the true secret ingredient in her formula for success.
“This is the best vanilla latte in the city,” Cleveland said. “I tell everybody you have to get a vanilla latte here. I don’t know what they do to make them taste different than everywhere else, but it’s my absolute favorite. A vanilla latte hates to see me coming.”
Since launching Tangerine Cassette in February 2024, Cleveland and Josh Roach have been working nonstop and having fun while feeding the machine that is Spotify. TC’s monthly listeners are climbing along with their plays — multiple tracks have surpassed 300,000 streams and counting. Their music can be heard in MTV’s “Teen Mom” and “The Challenge,” plus in Ulta Beauty commercials.
Roughly every six weeks, Tangerine Cassette does what is known as a “waterfall release,” which is a brand new song, plus all the previous recently released songs following it on the track list. The belief is this aids the algorithm and allows each song to gain more attention.
“Right now the music world feels like it’s just one big guessing game. It seems like all of my artist friends that I talk to, all of us, are just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks for us,” Cleveland said. “We’re just taking guesses. And sometimes it works for us. Sometimes it doesn’t. We’re just trying to have fun along the way and make music that makes people feel good.”
For Tangerine Cassette, it’s working.
Categorized as “brat pop” a la Charli XCX, the duo’s music has been featured on the streaming platform’s Fresh Finds, Fresh Finds Pop, All New Pop and Salt playlists. They were also featured on the cover of Spotify’s Fresh Finds Pop playlist during the release week for “FLIP IT BACK AGAIN.” “HELLO IT’S THE NEW ME” was among Spotify’s Top 50 songs of 2024 on Fresh Finds Pop.
“We’re just trying to make stuff that makes people feel good and connect with people, and so far it’s just been a fun ride,” Cleveland said, shortly after ordering the pickled peaches.
Songs from the ‘spaceship’
The songs are created in Roach’s neon-lit home studio, which the duo has dubbed “the spaceship.” The goal is to create music that surpasses 120 beats per minute “so people want to play our music at times they’re feeling energetic or need to pump me up or a feel good moment,” Cleveland said. She often posts Instagram videos of the pair working on songs, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at each song’s creation.
Roach, formerly a drummer in local pop-rock band Stars Go Dim, was ready for an opportunity to create music that didn’t include smashing cymbals and stomping on a bass drum pedal.
“I have played drums my entire life and found my mind gravitating towards the ‘creation’ side of song making/writing,” Roach wrote by email. “As for my role in TC, I generally stick towards the sonic creation side of things. Nat will give me a song topic or idea and I will try to figure out what that sounds like to me, which is usually nothing like what she had in her head. So we’ll go back and forth till we’re both vibing.”
Cleveland signed a record deal in Kansas City at 15, then recorded an album that was shelved and never to be heard. The Missouri native dabbled in music a little longer before shelving her own musical ambitions to start a family that eventually moved to Tulsa.
Fast forward to a few years ago, when Cleveland realized she had been hard at work helping others make their dreams come true. In the process, she pushed her personal aspirations aside. She had a good cry, then decided it was time to get back to writing songs and singing them.
“Some of this — even though it’s been to make other people feel good — has helped me in so many different ways,” Cleveland said. “It’s been a fun journey, and it’s been a cool learning experience.”
She and Roach were good friends with very different musical tastes before they became creative collaborators. They took a couple years to find a sound that worked for both of them.
They both loved Elvis Presley as kids and considered him a major music influence, but their tastes diverged from there. They tried the indie rock sound, which didn’t feel right. Eventually, they tried a little bit of everything, Cleveland said, resulting in a “melting pot” of genres.
“Working with Nat is like having a picnic on a rainy day and realizing you don’t mind rain that much,” Roach stated. “We think so incredibly differently, which caused a lot of spats in the beginning, but with time I’ve realized that’s what pushes me to get better every day. Before we can win over anybody with our music I have to win her over first. And vice versa. It’s the thing that galvanizes us to keep pushing ourselves to get better. And I do love that.”
Their sound captures the zaniness of creating fun lyrics to go with the booming high-energy beats Roach has produced. One song can feature dozens of samples the duo captured in real life.
“We always make it a point to try and throw something fun or funny in the song, like, even if it’s just a joke that maybe him or I would get or something that a friend sends us, to throw in there as a sample, or make it a backbeat,” Cleveland said.
Cleveland’s contributions include the sounds made by an escalator in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and a hibachi chef’s knives during a birthday dinner. For Roach, who previously worked in commercial mixing and sound design, it was “a steak knife in the sink” for “GIMME MORE.”
Visualizing TC’s next chapter
As a contract video editor and social media content producer, Cleveland said the creative project has given her a chance to use her skills to create complimenting visuals for TC. While videos sometimes include Roach, Cleveland has emerged more and more as the face of their music.
That’s partially because Roach is a drummer who has grown accustomed to — and enjoys — being in the background, but also due to time constraints of rapidly producing all the content.
“We don’t have a label, we don’t have a team, we don’t have a manager, we don’t have booking,” Cleveland said. “It’s just Josh and I making stuff on our iPhones and cheap little cameras, and just kind of putting it out there and doing the best that we can do between the two of us and our hodgepodge of skill sets, and so far, that’s led to a lot of really cool opportunities that we would have never thought we would have had.”
TC has yet to do a live show, but there have been calls as far away as the United Kingdom, asking them if they’ll come play.
With the pickled peaches consumed and only some foam remaining in her latte glass, the real goal on Cleveland’s list for the day is finishing visuals for “CLICK CLICK FLASH.” Beyond that, Cleveland said, the duo’s goals are simple.
“We just know we want to stay consistent with pumping out music that makes people feel good, and hopefully is a little bit weird, because we feel like anytime there’s something weird, it encourages people to be their weird self and that’s what makes them special,” Cleveland said. “I feel like I’ve been surprised at what we’ve been able to do so far, just the two of us. So I’m kind of excited and hoping the sky’s the limit on what this next year has for us.”
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