Courtney Barnett on Grammy Chances, ‘Bouncy’ New Songs

“I’m sitting in a hammock right now, so I can’t complain,” says Courtney Barnett from her hometown of Melbourne, Australia, before playing on a session for girlfriend Jen Cloher’s next album. Barnett is nominated for the Best New Artist category alongside James Bay, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelly and Meghan Trainor. Barnett doesn’t know what to expect from the ceremony – “it’s totally not our world” – but will be at the ceremony with her band on Monday, February 15th. It’s just one accolade Barnett has received for last year’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit,  including a nomination for the Australian Music Prize. Barnett spoke about her chances of winning, her new music and whether she’ll release a new album this year.

I really like “Three Packs a Day.” How did you decide to release a one-off single?
We recorded it as part of the Milk! Records compilation, which is a record label I started to have six bands record one song over one weekend. It’s just to do something kind of different that wasn’t an album or an EP or something.

The twist is that the song isn’t about cigarettes, but ramen noodles. How’d you come up with that idea? 
Well kind of started to write over holiday. And it was just me and my girlfriend, and I was playing guitar, and it was kind of a joke. I started singing it to her because I was talking about how much I love noodles. And then I was like, “Oh, that’s kind of catchy.”

It sounds a little Lemonheads influenced. 
Yeah, fuck yeah. I think I was listening to lots of Lemonheads and Smudge at the time. I kind of tried to write a real pop song. I was like, “I’m going to make this as bouncy and catchy as I possibly can.” And that’s what I came up with.