- Words Notion Staff
The surrealist dance band talk their new earworm, ‘SEXY IN MY BODYYY’, inspiring confidence through lyricism and their beautifully chaotic live shows.
CAPYAC have never played by the rules. The LA-via-Austin trio, equal parts surrealist dance band, performance art collective, and genre-defying movement, have long thrived in the unexpected. Whether it’s collaborating with Reggie Watts on the iridescent Songs From a Celestial City EP or lighting up stages from Treefort Fest to Elsewhere in Brooklyn with their chaotic, campy live shows, CAPYAC are constantly reinventing themselves. Now, they’re entering a bold new chapter with the release of ‘Sexy in my Bodyyy’, a thumping, tongue-in-cheek anthem of gender euphoria that’s set to become a staple of summer playlists worldwide.
Front and centre on the track is Obie Puckett, the group’s newest member, whose arrival has added a fresh dimension to the already unpredictable CAPYAC sound. “I look in the mirror,” Obie croons coolly, their voice draped in confidence and clarity over a skittering, synth-heavy groove from founding members Delwin Campbell and Eric Peana. The track’s ethos is summed up in a single outburst – “Hot dog!” – equal parts cheeky and sincere. For Obie, the song is a celebration of self-acceptance and the often nonlinear path towards self-love: “It doesn’t matter where you’ve been with your self-confidence, it can always click on one day, and that’s beautiful.”
With over 20 million streams under their belt, CAPYAC continue to blur the lines between house, funk, electro, and something altogether weirder. But more than the numbers or accolades, what sets them apart is their willingness to take creative risks and their refusal to take themselves too seriously. ‘Sexy in my Bodyyy’ is pure, unfiltered CAPYAC: strange, ecstatic, inclusive, and undeniably groovy. We caught up with the trio fresh off the release of ‘Sexy in my Bodyyy’ to talk about embracing change, tattoos as a form of authenticity and why feeling sexy might just be a political act.
‘SEXY IN MY BODYYY’ is such an earworm – what inspired the creation of this track, and how did it first take shape?
Eric: It began with the baseline and some simple funk drums. We were all laying around in Delwin’s studio trying out different melodies when Obie sang the line “I look in the mirror… hottdog.” After that, everything seemed to fall in place very quickly.
You say the song was channelling Talking Heads, what drew you to that reference point, and how did it influence the vibe or arrangement?
Delwin: I grew up on Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club. In general, I find their music so contradictory but approachable, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do with Capyac. Life is already a simulation: hypocritical, post-reality and paradoxical. We’re coming to terms with our privilege to exist in the midst of what is an apocalypse for other people. I think David Byrne was coming from a similar place, making absurd music in response to an absurd world.
There’s a powerful narrative around body confidence in the lyrics. How personal was this song for you all to write and perform?
Obie: This song is incredibly personal! It began as an effortless chant: leaning into camp, big sassy attitude, and exaggerated confidence. After some rehearsing and performing, it actually morphed into a powerful tool for me to step into my own confidence. As a queer little clown who experiences gender dysphoria pretty much daily, I found the song to be a surprisingly effective access point to feeling present and hot in my own skin.
You’ve described the performance as “off the cuff” – can you walk us through how that spontaneity impacted the final recording?
Obie: The most vivid memories I have of creating this song come in two parts. First, Eric and Delwin were sitting by the canal at sunset when one of them exclaimed that we needed a weird, funky song on the album. The next day was hot. I was lying on Jenny’s loveseat, right behind Delwin at his studio desk. He and Eric had already made the beat and Delwin was tweaking it and calling out to us for lyrics. I was sprawled out, feet in the air, wiggling my head side to side. What I was hearing was a mix of frenetic, lopsided energy and sass. What came out of me was more of a chant, full of attitude and grunting.
Your shows have been described as “hyper-improvised” and inclusive, even chaotic in the best way. How does that sense of live spontaneity influence how you approach recording in the studio?
Delwin: I can’t speak for the others, but for myself, they are entirely different worlds. The studio productions are meticulously detailed, often revised hundreds of times. The whole process drives me a little bit insane. During a show, my brain turns off and we go for it, I often don’t even remember what songs we played. Both are extremely fulfilling.
As a tattoo artist and someone with a deep relationship to self-image, how do your visual and musical identities intersect in ‘SEXY IN MY BODYYY’?
Obie: To me, both tattoos and performance are meditations on honesty and authenticity. This song is a celebration of being fully present in both. Western white capitalism often disconnects us from our own bodies, but as a tattoo artist, I’ve had countless conversations with clients about how receiving tattoos can be a radical form of body reclamation. Tattoos are a visceral way of declaring, “This body is mine and mine alone, and it is so sexy.” As a performer, I find that same feeling on stage. When I move this decorated body of mine with complete reverence for the present moment, I tap into that same sense of empowerment. This song is for all my incredible trans and queer clients and fellow tattooers who choose the coolest tattoos as part of their journey toward body reclamation and want to fuckin’ dance.
Was there a specific moment or experience that made you feel the way this song expresses – fully, joyfully at home in your body?
Obie: Getting an incredible tattoo from the cosmically correct person in the exact place on my body that needs me to love it more: That is gender euphoria. That is this song. Truly my moments of feeling the absolute sexiest are when I am alone in my room, I am writhing around like a banshee, and casually sneaking peeks of my new tattoo on this wriggling flesh sack of mine. Absolute euphoria.
How do you hope listeners relate to or use this track when they’re not feeling confident in themselves?
Obie: My hope is that anyone with a body that needs to feel sexy even when it ain’t comin easy can listen to this song, give themselves permission to be silly and return to their presence, their breath, the feeling of their skin, the beating of their heart. Whether you dance to it or lotion up your whole body to it, I hope it brings you joy, cuz baby, you are hot hot hot.
‘SEXY IN MY BODYYY’ is both playful and deeply personal – how do you balance humour and sincerity in your songwriting?
Delwin: The same way you balance it in real life. This is a default state of being for us. It is how we begin life, just observe any child. Maybe it is easy for us to access because we form and maintain so many deep friendships, where we can constantly practice this type of playfulness. Maybe it is easy to access because we refuse to grow up.
How did the dynamic shift when CAPYAC officially became a trio with Obie joining full-time? What changed about the creative process?
Delwin: It felt natural and inevitable, the shift was less “tectonic” and more “the snow melts in spring.”
You’ve said that there is a strong thread of “joy as resistance” running through your work. What does that phrase mean to you personally, and how do you hope fans interpret it?
Delwin: The world is deeply fucked economically. The rich are running governments and killing inconvenient populations, directly with weapons or indirectly with increasing income inequality and healthcare cartels and drug patents. There are very few ways to make an honest living when the system is rigged to favour them. The most honest ways are to do social work, teach children or scam billionaires directly. Failing that, you can make art, which spreads joy and exploits far fewer people than mostwork – of course, exploitation still pervades every supply chain, we are forced into a corner of hypocrisy no matter what. So there are two things here. One is the fact that we are rejecting the easier life path, the one capitalism favours, to make less money but hopefully gain more freedom and the satisfaction of inspiring and entertaining other people. The second is that we’re making our community among marginalised queer folks, and we have seen firsthand how joy is a prerequisite to revolution. If you have nothing to live for, what is the point of fighting the system?
What’s coming next for CAPYAC?
Eric: Hopefully we get to play a concert for some deep sea fish soon.