‘The Morning Toast’ host opens up to ET about getting in the recording studio to create her radio-ready summer bop.
She’s a millennial morning show host. She’s a comic. And now, she’s a professional singer.
Claudia Oshry is extending her multi-hyphenate with the drop of her debut single, "Toast," and ET has your first listen! The radio-ready track, out today, features a synth beat and lyrics to get you in the perfect, toasty weekend mood.
"I feel like it’s so easy to just get sidetracked with the tough things in life, the world is literally in shambles, and what I try to do ... is just to radiate positivity," the Morning Toast host tells ET of the vibe she aimed for on the track. "You can just listen to the song and dance with your friends, and have a drink and not think about all the awful things going on."
The 25-year-old, who rocketed to fame thanks to the hyper-clickable Instagram handle @girlwithnojob, started work on the earworm last summer, co-writing the song with the man who penned Kim Zolciak Biermann’s latest single, "Wig," Felippe Biatti.
"About a year ago, I was in the Hamptons and ran into my friend, Brian [Kelly], The Points Guy, and he was with a bunch of friends, and one of his friends is a songwriter, his name is Felippe, and he was telling me he just got done writing a song for Kim," Oshry recalls. "I was telling him how much I loved that song, and he and I just started chatting. I was always thinking in the back of my head, 'I'd love to do a song,' and once I found him, it was kind of kismet."
Listen to "Toast" here:
The project took nearly a year to complete because Oshry wanted to ensure it was perfect, and on brand.
"I wanted to have one of my brand-associated terms, like 'toast' or 'grab a spoon,' to be a big part of the chorus, but I didn’t want it to sound silly," she says, calling out two of her most-used catchphrases. "The word' 'toast' is so great, and the reason we chose the word for [The Morning Toast] was because it has a double meaning; it’s food, it’s liquor, it’s whatever you want it to be. The word toast is so... party, and the song is really meant to be a fun dance song. I’m really glad that we got it in there. Now, I feel it can really be the anthem of our community, the podcast, my live show, but it’s also, at the end of the day, it’s a good song."
Oshry first teased her followers that a "secret project" was coming back in March, posting from inside the recording booth while laying down what we now know were the first tracks for "Toast."
"I would like to think of myself as a very young Mariah Carey, but honestly, it’s a little daunting," she says of recording. "I mean, I think maybe I’m a little too confident in my singing abilities. I really feel like I was put on this earth to sing, I got into that booth and was ready to belt like I was on Broadway."
"[The producers] were encouraging me to go a little softer, it was a lot to learn," she adds. "It was a learning experience, not what you think. I just assumed that, because I love to sing and I think I have a good voice, I could kill it in the studio, but it’s very daunting and really intimidating."
It turns out, "Toast" was a long time coming. Like, from the womb.
"When I think back to when I was a kid and growing up, the answer of what I always wanted to be was a pop star," Oshry confesses. "I was always singing, and everyone was always telling me to shut up. Life and God had other plans for me, but now that I have this platform, I keep doing different things."
"Being in the influencer space, you get to create your own path," she continues. "I’ve done a lot of things over the course of my career so far. You know, I tried to be a DJ and it wasn’t for me. I started going on tour and that was really successful. I’m always just trying new, different and fun things. I’ve always wanted to release a song, I had no idea how to produce, or write, or do any of that, so it took me a long time to find the right people. I wasn’t going to release a song if it sounded stupid."
Music has been a love for Oshry, and a refuge of sorts. She hopes "Toast" can help people get through tough times. The track comes nearly a year after Oshry was, in internet terms, (briefly) "canceled" after some family drama and old posts of hers resurfaced online. During that time, she says she turned to feel-good music, too.
"I’ve been through, as anyone has, a decent amount of adversity, and I’ve leaned on music so much," she admits. "I can really recall in difficult times, really leaning on The Greatest Showman album. Music has been so much a part of my life, and really influenced me and opened my eyes to so many different important messages, and I’m so excited to be just a tiny percentage of that."
"I now can consider myself a musician, and musicians have been so influential on my life and just my outlook on the world," she remarks. "I feel like it really is this full-circle moment."
Hopefully, "Toast" is the first of many songs from the mogul-in-the-making, as long as her followers -- whom she and her sister, Jackie Oshry, lovingly dubbed "Toasters" -- want it. In the meantime, Oshry is happy with the debut single and is planning a music video shoot for the song in the near future.
"I’m glad it took so long, because now it’s at a place that I’m really proud of, and I think people will like it," she says. "The same goes for the music video. I’ve never shot a music video before, I don’t know anyone who has, so I want to spend time finding the right people and making it really good. I don’t want to do something half-a**ed that’ll be a joke."
"I cannot stress enough, this is not a Simon Van Kempen song," she quips, referencing original Real Housewives of New York City star Alex McCord’s husband, who dropped his own song, "I Am Real," in 2011.
"This is Luann de Lesseps [quality]," she then adds, noting the RHONY star’s catalog of hits, including "Money Can’t Buy You Class" and "Feeling Jovani."
Beyond the video, Oshry plans to incorporate "Toast" into her live performances (she’s currently on the last leg of her "Dirty Jeans" comedy tour) and then, she’s focused on world domination, naturally.
"It only makes sense that world domination is next," she jokes. "It’s super hard in the industry that I work in to plan more than six months ahead because everything is constantly shifting."
"I’m really trying to do this new thing where I live in the present, and be grateful for the things I have," she says. "Everything is fleeting and nothing is forever. I’m so happy with where the tour is at, and I’m so grateful for The Morning Toast, and the listeners and the community, who are my inspiration for everything. I’m so happy with the song, and I’m just trying to be one of those people who’s super present and really grateful. I’ve gotten ahead of myself many times, and I don’t want to do that again."
"Toast" is available to stream and download today, wherever you listen to music.
