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BANKS

BANKS

Photo: Recording Academy

News
BANKS Talks 'III,' Loving Fiona Apple & More banks-talks-iii-exploring-lifes-messiness-music-loving-fiona-apple-close-personal

BANKS Talks 'III,' Exploring Life's Messiness In Music & Loving Fiona Apple | Up Close & Personal

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The "Gimme" singer stopped by the Recording Academy headquarters to discuss her latest album and the themes and sounds behind it
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Dec 11, 2019 - 11:45 am

L.A. native Jillian Banks, a.k.a. ethereal pop singer/songwriter/producer BANKS, is a creative force of nature. In 2014, she confidently asserted her presence with the first major dose of her sultry voice and trippy beats on her debut album, Goddess. Earlier this year, on July 12, she dropped another powerful project, with a big dose of empowerment; her third studio album, III.

BANKS On 'III,' "Contaminated" & More

Before she finished the U.S. leg of her III Tour, the "Gimme" singer stopped by the Recording Academy headquarters for our latest episode of Up Close & Personal to talk about the new album and the intricacies within. She also shared what she's most looking forward to on tour, which artists drew her in at a young age and more. You can watch part of the conversation above and read the full interview below. You can also visit our YouTube page for a longer version of the video, as well as for other recent episodes.

You released III not long ago. How are you feeling about having this project out in the world?

I feel amazing. I was writing it for two-and-a-half years and so it feels exciting, scary, liberating. I'm just excited to tour it and perform it and all that stuff.

What are you most looking forward to about sharing the songs in that element?

I don't know. The more you perform songs, the more personality they all have. There's a different vibe to each one, and so I'm kind of just excited to get in the groove of each vibe and each world of each song. It's fun to see the reactions of the crowd, which ones resonate the most. I have a lot of movement in my show, so it's going to be fun.

Watch: Omar Apollo Talks Being Young, Indie & Latinx | Up Close & Personal

The album, to me, feels very powerful and bold, and also very vulnerable and honest. Can you tell us about some of the overarching emotions and themes that you explored on it?

Wow, that's a big question. It's a lot of self-love, learning that life is not just black and white. There's a messiness in there, very messy. Perfectionism. Trying to be okay with not being a perfectionist. I have been one and it's been quite painful at certain times in my life. Yeah, owning everything. Owning yourself, what your desires are, who you are, what you stand for, your body, everything. It's just [about] being a woman, I guess. But that's kind of awkward because it's not really just for women. So, being a human.

||| out now pic.twitter.com/XtdQI08L51

— BANKS (@hernameisBANKS) July 12, 2019

There's a lot of really great sonic texture across the album, which you executive produced with BJ Burton. What was it like working together on the production aspect of it?

Yeah, it was really fun just because I have so many layers to who I am, and each song kind of tapped into a different part of who I was. Certain songs, I felt like, needed a lot of grit and distortion and stuff like that, songs like "Stroke." Then there's a lot of songs that feel, I wanted it to be very stripped back, like "If We Were Made Of Water," "What About Love." There's an innocence that I wanted to capture on a lot of it sonically, because a lot of what this album is about is going from this innocent person, like a child turning into an adult. It's like you go from being really quite naive, but maybe in a romantic and a really positive way, you're not jaded or bitter or anything, and then you go through heartache and all that stuff for the first time. Coming out the other side but maintaining that innocence, I think, is really important.

I feel like I captured a lot of that. "Alaska" is a very sassy song, but it has that playfulness to it. Yeah, every song is different, it was fun. Each album I do, I don't really work with a big group of people just because it's almost like therapy sessions every [studio] session. It was pretty much just, I had a few people, and me and BJ went in on every song, and made sure they all flowed.

One song that I want to look at specifically is "Contaminated." Can you talk a little bit about that song?

That song is like a hard lesson in being an adult. It's funny because this album is a lot about how things are not black and white and how things can be messy, and opening your mind and allowing to understand things in a different way. But then there are certain things in life that you wish were not black and white. Like usually the things that you want to be black and white, good or bad, are just really messy and gray and confusing. Then there are certain things that you want to be really gray and confusing, but they're just black and white. "Contaminated" is a song about a relationship that is just toxic and it's bad for you. That's it, it's a black and white thing, and you don't want it to be bad for you.

Because when you want something to continue, it's like you're addicted to it, so it's like you want to find the gray in there. But there are certain things that are not gray, they are black and white, and you have to kind of be a savage about it. And so with that type of situation, I had to be, and I wrote about it.

And then can you speak to the "Contaminated" lyric video?

I think that there's beauty in learning and pain. I guess it sounds kind of cheesy, but the video, it's very human, but it's painted in a million colors. You go through life and you're just this body, and you're just a human, and you have all these emotions and you go through all these experiences that are really beautiful. But they can hurt you, and it could be colored dark and it could be colored light. That video is about showing the earth, but contaminating it in certain ways. So there's the body with paint moving around, and these may be really beautiful ways and there's also really contorted ways. It's a little bit like the graphic part of life. I've always had a lot of black and white in my visuals, so it's been really fun on this album to have a lot of colors, in my own way.

A poem from “Generations of Women From the Moon”
You can order my poetry book now on my website https://t.co/1gvLoNppOz pic.twitter.com/VtGQJqKnRp

— BANKS (@hernameisBANKS) August 22, 2019

You recently published a poetry book, Generations Of Women From The Moon, which is so cool. Were you working on that while you were working on the album? What's the story behind it?

Well, every song is kind of like a poem, and I've always written poems. Before I even got into songwriting, it was more of just this stream of consciousness thing that turned into to having melodic chants behind it, and just turned into a song. But with poetry, I just got really into writing and there's definitely a theme to my poems.

It's funny, writing music and writing poetry comes from, it fulfills the same need in me, but they come from different voices. Sometimes, I feel like my music is about the nitty gritties of life, different dynamics and relationships and stuff like that. And then my poetry feels like it's bigger concepts, like speaking from this wise woman voice that I have in my stomach. There's a lot of moon imagery in my poetry that I didn't even plan on. The first poem in the book is called "Generations Of Women From The Moon." It's a two-part poem.

When do you tend to feel most creatively inspired?

God, I don't know. For me, creativity just comes. There's not really a setting. I mean, I do like to have a nice couch in a studio, a really comfortable zone to get in there. But, I mean, any time of day, it's more whenever a certain mood hits.

When you were younger, were there any artists that you admired that made you think, I want to go into music or I want to make something like they're making?

Anybody with a voice that didn't feel perfectly trained, but you felt their soul in, that was for me growing up, any voice that I heard that had that grit, and lyrics that weren't just—you can tell when an artist writes their own music. For me, that's what it's always been about. Fiona Apple was somebody that I always loved. Ben Harper, I used to listen to all the time. Tracy Chapman. And Brandy's voice kills me, still kills me. It's like butter. My dad would play a lot of Peter Gabriel, which is always amazing. Yeah, I'm really into atmospheres as well, so a lot of stuff that just took you into another world but maybe didn't even have lyrics.

Fiona Apple Pledges Two Years Of "Criminal" Royalties To Immigrant Resource Fund

BROODS

BROODS

Photo: Recording Academy

News
BROODS On "Peach," Finding Strength On "Too Proud" broods-talk-trippy-peach-video-resurrecting-bob-marley-finding-strength-too-proud-close

BROODS Talk Trippy "Peach" Video, Resurrecting Bob Marley & Finding Strength On "Too Proud" | Up Close & Personal

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Hear from the electro-pop group about the inspiration behind their wacky visual, growing up with music as the driving force and who they'd want to perform with, dead or alive
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 23, 2019 - 5:03 pm

Sibling electro-pop duo BROODS, consisting of Georgia and Caleb Nott, love making music but don't take it too seriously. Growing up in New Zealand, their parents encouraged them to sing and learn instruments from a young age and, consequentially, music became, and remains, their lifeblood.

Back in 2013, they released their first (self-titled) EP, co-written by the duo and produced by fellow Kiwi Joel Little. (Little would go on to earn a GRAMMY win for his work with another rising New Zealand alt-pop artist that year: Lorde.) The next year, they followed up with their debut album, Evergreen, with the singles "Bridges" and "Mother & Father" charting in New Zealand, Australia and the U.S., launching a still-growing, global fan base.

BROODS On "Peach," Finding Strength On "Too Proud"

Earlier this year, Georgia and Caleb dropped their third album, Don't Feed The Pop Monster, on Feb. 1. For the latest episode of the Recording Academy's Up Close & Personal, they spoke about their latest album, the creative process of it and why "Too Proud" was a big deal for them.

They also talked about the inspiration behind their wacky "Peach" music video, growing up with music as the driving force and who they'd want to perform with, dead or alive. You can watch a portion of the conversation above and read the full interview below. You can also visit on our YouTube page for a longer version of the video, as well as for other recent episodes.

So you guys released your third album, Don't Feed The Pop Monster, earlier this year. What was your original vision going into that and the overarching themes?

Georgia: When we were making this album, Don't Feed The Pop Monster, there wasn't really—

Caleb: —any kind of vision.

Georgia: We were just kind of in a position where we'd made a couple of albums and we'd been on a couple of labels and been dropped a couple of times. We had an opportunity to kind of just make whatever we wanted and kind of use our freedom to our advantage, rather than get down about being a little bit lonely and isolated.

Caleb: And having no label support or money, so we just did whatever we wanted as a result!

Georgia: I think the fact that we were in that position made the album what it is. The themes of the album are very in line with going through that experience of questioning yourself and, like every creative person, I think, goes through self-doubt.

Caleb: Imposter syndrome.

Georgia: And so it's a lot to do with that and trying to figure out how to be self-congratulatory and sustain yourself without having a clear, "This is what will happen if you release this album, This is what you'll get back," because there's never really anything like that. So you just gotta kind of do it for fun!

I love it. And on the album, you worked with Joel Little again, right?

Georgia: We did a couple of songs with Joel Little.

Can you talk about your creative process specific to this LP?

Georgia: With this album, we didn't work with one producer. In the past, we've worked with one producer for pretty much the whole album. This time we worked with—

Caleb: A bunch of different friends; Tommy English and Leroy Clampitt a.k.a. Big Taste.

Georgia: We did lots of co-writing as well. On the last records, we didn't really have other co-writers. But [for this album] we did this amazing writing trip in Nicaragua where we were working with different writers every day. I think the amount of collaboration that we did on this record was awesome, was definitely—

Caleb: Super fun!

Georgia: It taught us a lot about writing and how to, you know, be adaptable and kind of push yourself and experience with different kinds of music and different vibes, different themes.

What do you think was your favorite part about the collaborative process from that experience?

Caleb: I think collaborating with others is a key part of dodging creative block, number one, because you've got multiple minds working with you that can assist you and you're not just by yourself going, "Ugh, I have no idea what to do," and you can bounce off each other. I think the productivity of collaboration is awesome.

Georgia: Yeah. It kind of takes away a lot of the pressure as well.

Caleb: Especially if you like the people that you're working with, you know?

Georgia: Yeah. It also makes the experience of just making something with your friends and then getting to listen to it and show people and play it on stage. The whole process of this album was so fun and playing it on stage is so fun.

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What have been your favorite songs this go around to perform live?

Caleb: I don't know, I feel like a surprising song to play on tour for us was "To Belong." We didn't really expect that crowd to respond to that one as much as a single or anything but they seem to know all the words. It's also the one six-minute song on the album.

Georgia: Yeah, we start our set with that song second and it's just all about vibes and pulling in the audience into our heads. And it's such a live album, if that makes sense. It's was so easy when we were writing it to imagine it live. And the way that it felt actually playing it live was just satisfying as hell.

I want to talk about the "Peach" video because there's a lot in there.

Georgia: It's very overstimulating, that video!

It's very '90s pop vibes, I love it. Can you speak to the story behind that song and video a bit?

Caleb: I think a lot of people expect there to be a lot more in-depth thought about the "Peach" video, or a lot more planning or writing that went with it, but it was just the right people on the right day, kind of. And we had an incredible director [Sam Kristofski], a friend of ours from back in New Zealand as well, that's based here and basically just let him go—

Georgia: Go crazy!

Caleb: —and do what he thought because we love everything he makes. And he's super funny.

Georgia: We kind of just had one initial idea that we wanted it to be kind of the show that we used to watch when we were kids called "Top of the Pops." Is that a thing here?

Caleb: I don't think it was.

Georgia: No, but it's basically just a music TV show where pop artists from that time would come and do a performance, lip syncing obviously, and it was just like amazing lights and super early-2000s/late '90s. So cringey but in the best way!

And we wanted to recreate that kind of vibe, that nostalgic music show thing but then just trip it out like crazy. And have six different costume changes, because I am obsessed with dressing up. Every time I clean my room it just turns into a big dress up party. And we basically just wanted to have as much fun making the video as we did making the song.

I love that. It does look like it was a lot of fun.

Caleb: It was the hottest day ever. It was 118 degrees that day in Burbank.

Georgia: I'm so glad that we chose to do the video in a studio, wow.

And then one of the other songs on the album, "Too Proud," is the first song Caleb also sings on, which is really cool. And it's such a powerful song. Caleb, what did it feel like for you to offer your voice, literally, to that track?

Caleb: I guess writing "Too Proud" and performing it is something that I had never done before. Singing in front of people scares, you know—can I say sh*t? Living sh*t out of me! And it took me quite a while to even figure out how I was gonna even do that on stage, to be honest.

Georgia: You did it on TV and everything though!

Caleb: It was the first time I sang in front of anybody was on national television.

Georgia: I was so scared for him, I was just trying to walk around and be like, "Keep his energy good everybody. He's about to sing for the first time!" [Laughs.]

Caleb: During the performance, my arms went completely numb and it was slowly going up my arms. And so I was singing and at the same time I was thinking, "You better not pass out on live television." I took my hand off the mic stand for one second and it went like this. [Shakes hand.] I had to put it back on the mic stand.

Georgia: It's scary! It's scary singing on TV.

Caleb: I guess, yeah, writing that song, there's a large stigma around men and mental health and that, you know, you gotta be tough and keep your feelings in. But it's actually really relieving to let out feelings and talk about them and, I guess, just trying to encourage that with more men and—

Georgia: People.

Caleb: —especially men, but everybody. Therapy's pretty awesome. [Chuckles.]



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@j_corden had us come over to @latelateshow last night and perform a song that’s really special to us.

A post shared by BROODS (@broodsmusic) on Feb 8, 2019 at 4:19pm PST

Growing up in New Zealand, it sounds like you guys had a pretty musical upbringing at home. When did you first start making music and then when did it maybe shift to, "Okay, I think I wanna be a musician"?

Georgia: I think music has just been the focal point of our lives, since day one really. Our parents have always, you know, made it such a huge part of—

Caleb: Just day-to-day life.

Georgia: Yeah, day-to-day life, like connecting with other people and just literally something to do if we needed something to do.

Caleb: It was entertainment for us, really. It was just instruments everywhere.

Georgia: We'd just get pushed up in front of, like, the piano.

Caleb: And we weren't allowed to watch any TV shows basically, just because they were like, "Well you can do something better with your time. Go play guitar or sing or something."

Georgia: Thanks mom and dad. [Laughs.] And we started writing music pretty young too. I think I started trying to write music after my dad told me, about my favorite singer, "You know, she writes all of her own music. You can do that too!" And I was like, "Oh, okay!" I just went into my room and started writing songs. I was, like 10 and then I didn't really get good until I was about 16, 17 and had something to sing about. I guess for us, we didn't really have a choice really. We've just always done music and always had music be the main event everywhere we go. Every relationship that we've had that's lasted has been brought together with music. And I think for us it's just such a necessity for our own survival and sanity. To be in a career now that we get to do this and share our music specifically with people is pretty amazing.



View this post on Instagram


Throwback to these crisp do's

A post shared by BROODS (@broodsmusic) on Dec 22, 2016 at 10:31am PST

Were your parents also musicians or where did that influence come from them?

Caleb: I don't know. Our parents were musicians in a hobby way, not professionally.

Georgia: Yeah, mom taught me to play the guitar though.

Caleb: She didn't teach me. I had many guitar teachers but I only had a couple lessons with each one because I couldn't really handle it. I ended up teaching myself. I wasn't very good with direction as a child.

Georgia: Just a little bit too all over the place.

Georgia: But yeah, our parents sang a lot. They'd sing at weddings and church and my mom ran the choir at our elementary school.

Caleb: Which I was very upset about because she made me stay in it. Georgia wanted to be in it, didn't you?

Georgia: Well, she'd do this thing, where she goes—

Caleb: It was at recess, so you had to go and sing at choir during your break time.

Georgia: I kind of just wanted to play.

Caleb: I just wanted to kick balls around.

Georgia: My mom, wow, she'd do this thing. Every time I tried to quit the choir she'd be like, "Oh I thought you wanted to be a singer..." And I was like, "I do! I do want to be a singer, mum!" And she's like, "Well, you gotta take every opportunity then."

Caleb: I said, "Mom I don't want to be a singer. Why do I have to be here?"

Georgia: Well look at you now! I think our parents were huge in making us actually stick to all these comments about wanting to pursue music. They saw how much it was a part of us and I think they never forced it but they did tell us, "If you want to do it, then you're gonna have to work really, really hard and have to have really thick skin. And you're gonna have to be able to deal with disappointment and discipline." So I think that was really important.

Caleb: And I still can't handle any of those things.

Georgia: It's really hard. But it's also really worth it.

What was each of yours first CD and first concert you attended? Your early musical loves.

Caleb: I think we got cassette tapes, didn't we?

Georgia: Yeah we got cassette tapes. You got Robbie Williams, I got the Vengaboys.

Caleb: No I got Ricky Martin, "Livin' La Vida Loca."

Georgia: And the first CD I ever bought myself was the single "Lucky" by Britney Spears.

Caleb: Mine was Bob Marley: Greatest Hits, the gold album.

Georgia: Yeah, that's definitely had more spins than the Britney Spears. Sorry Britney.

Caleb: "Toxic" though, many spins.

If you could perform with any artist dead or alive, who would it be?

Georgia: Probably Bob Marley. I don't think I'd want to perform with him though, I'd just want to watch him. I think that still makes me pretty sad sometimes when I know that I'm never gonna see him live. I just feel like it would complete me as a person.

Caleb: Yeah. I'd have to almost agree fully on that one. I think there were a couple years where I strictly listen to Bob and pretty much nobody else.

Georgia: Which meant that I strictly would listen to Bob.

Caleb: So I think that's where it came from. My big brother introduced me to Bob Marley when I was 13 and that was the end of it.

Georgia: I'm surprised that we're not a reggae band!

Caleb: Yeah. I feel like I'd want to see Blondie. Done. Like a king.

Georgia: You'd want to perform with Blondie? I'd want to perform with Blondie.

Caleb: Yeah I feel like that would be so fun.

Georgia: I feel like we'd be great together. Me and Debs. I kind of look like Debs in this sexy tank. Have you seen that picture of Debs in the sexy tank? It's a good one!

I love it. So we're gonna resurrect Bob Marley and see him perform. You'll open with Blondie for Bob Marley?

Georgia: We'll open with Debs. Yep.

Caleb: At Red Rocks.

Billie Eilish On Her Long Relationship With The GRAMMY Museum, How Rihanna Shaped Her Fashion Sense & More

Dermot Kennedy

Dermot Kennedy

Photo: Recording Academy

News
Dermot Kennedy On 'Without Fear,' Bon Iver & More dermot-kennedy-without-fear-bon-iver-coachella-close-personal

Dermot Kennedy On 'Without Fear,' Bon Iver & Coachella | Up Close & Personal

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The Irish singer/songwriter talks new music, gratitude for his growing fan base, love of Bon Iver and more in a recent interview with the Recording Academy
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 16, 2019 - 10:53 am

Dublin-born folksy singer/songwriter Dermot Kennedy has had a great run recently, and he's just getting started. This year alone, he's shared his smoldering vocals and uplifting lyrics with major performances at Coachella, Glastonbury and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, to name a few. Later this month, on Sept. 27, he'll drop his debut full-length album, Without Fear.

Dermot Kennedy On Debut LP, Bon Iver & More

The "Power Over Me" singer recently stopped by the Recording Academy headquarters for our latest episode of Up Close & Personal to share what fans can expect on the new album, as well as insight into the story behind one of its lead singles, "Outnumbered." He also spoke to his biggest influences, which include David Gray and Bon Iver, and how he stays fresh while on tour. You can watch a portion of the conversation above and read the full interview below. You can also visit on our YouTube page for a longer version of the video, as well as for other recent episodes.

You're releasing your debut album, Without Fear, soon. How are you feeling about it?

Excited. These are a bunch of songs I've known for a long time, for the most part. I've struggled with that for a while, the patience you need to have if you've got a certain song that you are super proud of but need to wait because it will exist on a project. So this is that moment where all of the things I'm most excited about get to come out. And up until now, there's been so much singles and EPs and stuff, and I'm excited to have a body of work out in the world.

What was your favorite part about working on this project in terms of that it was a full album?

I think that's always been really, really important to me. I think it would be very easy to just work away and find the songs that click and then put them all together and have a project of these songs, but any time I think about artists that I'm inspired by, like Kendrick [Lamar] or Hozier and stuff like that, I think about these bodies of work that are cohesive projects and every song works with the next and all that kind of thing, so that was really important to me to do that. I think it's like another thing where you put a bit more pressure on yourself, but it's worth it, for sure.

One of your most recent singles is "Outnumbered," which, to me, feels very powerful and empowering. Can you talk a little bit more about the backstory on that song and then the video that came with it?

They line up in a way. I wrote the song quite a while ago, and it was one of those lovely things that kind of came together in a day, almost. It was this really organic thing where—my favorite days in studios are when you don't second guess everything. I didn't know it was going to be a single, and I didn't know what the plan was for it, so I guess it was a good thing I was just there to make music. If it worked, happy days, and if not, then it was fine.

It was a different stage in my life, I guess, and a different set of circumstances. What it meant for me was just I wanted to almost send a message of comfort to somebody and to just remind someone that despite how difficult things might be and how. You know that feeling of being in a rough patch, and realistic-you knows there's the next chapter, and that will end and you'll be on the other side of that. But when you're in it, it's not very easy to see that. It was me trying to remind somebody that there is that next part where that bad patch has just gone away.

Then, I guess it was written by me for someone in particular, but on a bigger scale that message could translate to anybody.

It feels like that for sure, especially with the music video specifically, as there are different people in the video.

For sure, yeah. I thought that was important. We did that with the video for "Lost" too, because, again, it was like, be aware of everybody because everybody's got their own thing going on. You might think you've got the worst set of circumstances out of anybody, but everybody's got their own struggle. You know what I mean? I think that's a big part of my songwriting, to try and just provide comfort to people.

I think if even one person can relate, you know?

Oh, exactly. I'm sure, through the ages, so many artists are thinking of one specific person when they do that, but you end up writing a song that can work for a lot of people, hopefully.

Once the album comes out, then you'll be touring in the U.S., and then Europe and U.K. this fall and winter. What are you most looking forward to with this tour?

The venues. The venues are getting better and better all the time. It's this really lovely way of gauging how your career is going, too. It's really cool. I try not to take it for granted because I know some people can come and tour the U.S. and play to 10, 15, 20 people, and so I've been so lucky that gigs sell out. It's that lovely thing of you play to, say, three hundred people and then come back in a few months and you play to a thousand people. It's this beautiful way to watch the rooms grow.

This tour, I'm just excited. I feel like there's certain things on the journey that you figure out. Currently I'm fixing the way I sing to have proper technique locked in, things like that. I can't wait to not be exhausted after a gig. And I can't wait to play all the new songs. It's constantly evolving, yeah. It's this lovely thing of always, when you finish a tour, you're like, maybe this could have been better, so you address that next time. But then you are on to a new set of things that you think you could improve, so it's this cool thing to chase.



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Thank you Glastonbury! For showing up, for your energy, for singing with me, and for making my first time to play this iconic festival so memorable! Lots of love X . by @lucyfosterphoto

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Speaking of big shows, you did Coachella and Glastonbury, which are both epic in their own right. How did those two experiences feel for you when you were in them?

Coachella was awesome because I was shocked by the amount of Irish people there. Obviously, you do the two weekends, and the second weekend I was quite sick. I was like that guy before I went on stage with my face in the steam, trying to melt everything here, so that was a tricky one. But I went out and it was just a lot of Irish flags. So many Irish people go to things like New York and Boston, but I didn't know if people went to Coachella from Ireland so it was this really lovely boost to get when I walked out onstage.

Then, Glastonbury was amazing because leading up to it you just realize it's a really important thing to be a part of. Even if you never do it again, you've had your little moment of Glastonbury history where you play your part and do your best. It was just fun.

I think one of the things that touring a lot does for you is it means I don't necessarily—I'm sure this is case-by-case—but I don't get nervous before I go onstage. I get excited. Obviously, there's a certain amount of nerves, because if it goes wrong, that's a bad thing. But it's mostly just excitement.

Also, things are so fast-paced, so I like that you play Glastonbury and then literally you're back on a bus and you go play a different festival. I think that's something that is quite difficult. Sometimes you don't get to let things sink in and you just move on very quickly. To play Glastonbury, if you told me that eight years ago, not in a cheesy way, you would not believe it. To do those things now week in, week out and then move on so fast, you've got to check yourself and take a moment.

When you are on tour, is there anything that you do to keep yourself grounded?

I think two things that are really important when you're on tour is obviously to stay in touch with home. I think that would keep me grounded, for sure. And then I think it's also important to try and stay active creatively because it's very easy to fall into a routine of bus, venue, gig, bus, sleep and just be like, "Perfect. This is what I do for a month," and not necessarily feed yourself any art.

If you have a day off, to go to a museum or go to the cinema or something. I feel like that stuff is really important, if you don't, when you come off tour and go to the studio its like, oh, I haven't used this part of my brain for a long time.

It's a very strange bubble to live in. We're really lucky because everybody's close in our crew. It's not this thing where I show up to the venue and then we do a show and then we all split up. Everybody spends all day, every day together, so it's this lovely thing. That's really important in terms of if you're down, just knowing there's people to lift you up and talk to and that kind of thing, so I am really lucky with the crew I've got too. There's a lot of things that have fallen into place in a really nice way.

Last year, you worked with Mike Dean for your collaborative mixtape. I was curious if you had any other dream collaborators, be it producers, songwriters, other vocalists.

There's a few, for sure. There's an act from Ireland, it's not traditional Irish music, that's where its roots are, but it's this really interesting, sort of a step on from that, and they're called The Gloaming. I won't even try and describe it, but it's just this super ethereal music. It's just really magic. They play the National Concert Hall in Dublin. I've seen them like five, six times, and it's just the best. The [Irish] President always goes to see them. They are the best at that.

And then in terms of people who, say, influence me, I would love to ever be in the same room as Justin Vernon or anybody from Bon Iver and just be involved in that. When I watch interviews with him and when I watch things about Bon Iver, I just realize they've been so successful but just maintained the same values the whole time. It's always only been about music, and that really appeals to me.

I would love to get way outside my comfort zone too. If I could be involved with the likes of Stormzy or J. Cole or anything like that. Yeah, stuff like that would blow my mind.

Speaking of musical influences, who would you say are your biggest influences to this day?

I started off wanting to do the acoustic thing, like to play in theaters with just a guitar and a piano. When I started out it was like David Gray and Glen Hansard were the people I wanted to be, basically. Then, obviously, that evolved. Again, Bon Iver were instrumental for me. The reason I wanted to do that [acoustic performance] was because lyrics were what impacted me most, and when I saw someone telling a story through a song, it just hit me. It was this really potent thing. That's why I love hip-hop so much, because to me it's the same type of thing.

I figured if you put too much music around that or if you had these big arrangements, you'd lose that intensity or that intimacy and the power of the lyrics getting across. Bon Iver were huge for me in terms of realizing the amount of people on stage can grow, the arrangement can grow, and you can still keep that closeness between you and whoever's listening. That helped me get out of my own way and start working with musicians and wanting it to grow. I was lucky enough in the last few years to start working with producers who could bring that to life.

I would say it started off like acoustic, lyrics; folk music, basically. Then the Bon Iver thing happened, and then hip-hop started influencing what I do, in a way, so it's just this big mess of things.

What was the first CD you every bought and first concert you attended?

The first CD I ever bought, it was a live album by an Irish band called The Frames. Do you know them? It's Glen Hansard's band from when he was like 19 to this day. Every now and then they'll play a show in Dublin, they're the best. Couldn't tell you what age I was, maybe 11, 12, I saw them on TV. I barely even owned a guitar yet, so I hadn't awakened that part of my brain where I would judge music, but just whatever Glen Hansard was doing, I was locked in to him expressing himself. I was so drawn to that, so I bought the album the next day. Just incredible.

It's so funny because even when you tour, and every night you're like, oh, my vocals were okay but not on it. But if you listen to that album, it's like every single thing is perfect. It's super demanding music vocally and he just nails it. And the first concert I went to, which I won't talk about much at all, was Westlife. It was because of my sister, I had to go.

Victoria Kimani Talks New Album, Repping Kenya, Dream Collabs With Lauryn Hill & Rihanna | Up Close & Personal

Victoria Kimani

Victoria Kimani

Photo: Recording Academy

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Victoria Kimani On New LP, "Swalalala," Rihanna victoria-kimani-talks-new-album-repping-kenya-dream-collabs-lauryn-hill-rihanna-close

Victoria Kimani Talks New Album, Repping Kenya, Dream Collabs With Lauryn Hill & Rihanna | Up Close & Personal

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"That is the goal ultimately, to be a global artist and to show other girls in Kenya that you can do the same thing locally as well as on an international platform," the Kenyan-American artist recently told the Recording Academy
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 13, 2019 - 11:52 am

Kenyan-American singer/songwriter Victoria Kimani grew up in a very few different places, moving with her parents from Los Angeles to Tulsa, Okla., to Benin City, Nigeria and finally to Nairobi, Kenya when she was 16. She spent her first sessions in the recording studio not long after moving to Kenya, and as she found her calling in music she also began to find her voice as a young woman.

In 2012, the R&B/Afropop singer began releasing her first singles and, in 2016, dropped her first album, Safari. After parting ways with initial label, she released the Afropolotian EP last year. Now, with the forthcoming release of her sophomore album, dance floor-ready music, killer style and an inspirational sense of self, she is ready for global takeover.

Victoria Kimani On New LP, "Swalalala," Rihanna

The "Swalalala" singer recently stopped by the Recording Academy headquarters for our latest episode of Up Close & Personal, and shared what fans can expect on her next album—more of her—and explained the empowering backstory behind "Swalalala." She also talked dream collabs, biggest musical influences and becoming an independent artist. You can watch a portion of the conversation above and read the full interview below. You can also visit on our YouTube page for a longer version of the video, as well as for other recent episodes.

So, you're working on your next album. What can fans expect?

On my next album, fans can expect a lot more of me actually being myself in the music. I think the first project I was still trying to figure out how I fit into African music because I'd come from an R&B/pop background, so I didn't really understand how I can ride the rhythms and really still fit in that same space, even if I don't speak Swahili or sing in a different dialect.

And you can kind of hear that, "This artist is good, but they're still trying to figure out their sound." But I think with this project, well I know for a fact, I've definitely figured it out. I feel a lot more comfortable in my space. So just good music. It's still very much African music, but it's also very much Victoria. It's in my lane and I think it tells my story a lot more, especially with the instrumentation that we used this time around.

My story is a bit different than like a typical person from where I come from in Kenya. I was born in Los Angeles, so L.A. still very much defined my sound and who I am right now. So I don't know, I'm looking forward to it. I think it's totally different. It's still very Afro-fusion, but it's very L.A. at the same time.

And then what are you most excited about when you finally get to share the album?

I think the most exciting part is hearing the reaction from the fans. When you release something new, as an artist, it's still a surprise. Whatever you end up coming up with can be a surprise to your fans.

And I think that's what I'm looking forward to most from releasing the project is hearing my fans reaction and what they think of me as, not a new artist, but as someone who has figured out their lane. So I think I'm just looking forward to seeing how my fans think about it.

Let's talk about one of your recent releases, "Swalalala." The music video was filmed in Kenya, right?

Yeah.

And the video and the song feel so uplifting and positive; can you tell us a bit about it?

"Swalalala," shout out to Masterkraft, he produced it for me. It was very much like a spur-of-the-moment type of record. It is uplifting. It was something I put out to kind of uplift myself. I received a bit of a backlash at a particular time, because a lot of times back home as a woman, you don't really have a voice. It's like "You're female, keep quiet, sit in this corner, don't say anything." And I had said something about a particular subject and it was taken—it went crazy on the internet back home.

And so when I released this song, it was very much like, hey, I do have this voice. I can say whatever it is that I feel like I need to say, especially through my music. And even though we're in this space where we're not supposed to have a voice, I'm still going to use it.

And so for me it was like the ultimate—I don't think I can say it on camera, but it was the ultimate like "F you" moment. For me that's kind of what that record meant to me, just I'm in my lane, I'm elevating. You shine, I'm going to be able to shine just in my own right as well. So it was very empowering for me and I hope for other people it was too.

So when I was watching some of your videos and looking through your Instagram, one of the first things I noticed was just how dope and fun your fashion sense is. I think you're starting a fashion line too, right?

Thank you. Yes. I just started a little one, a little baby project.



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What’s your favorite line from Swalalala ?

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Do you style yourself in your music videos?

Yes, I do. Sometimes I work with other stylists, but for the most part, I style myself. If I can't go out and buy an item, I literally have things made. There's a lot of that culture back home in Africa. Inevitably, I think, a lot of people end up being designers just because it's in the culture to make your own traditional wear, to go out and get the fabric, get your measurements, take it to a tailor and make it based on the event. So when I was going to the stores and I didn't find what I wanted, I would have it made. I've done a lot of that over the years for my music videos.

And then I started making other things like boots and jackets. I wanted to see thigh-high African print boots, but there's nowhere I can buy that. So I was like, you know what? We're going to make it. We're going to take the print and we're going to put it all over the boots and we're going to try and create this urban look that still very much ties into African culture.

And that's what I did with my first line, Kimani Couture. I came up with African-inspired bubble jackets. I love bubble jackets, but I haven't seen any, that really represent my culture fully. So that's really what fashion meant to me; it started off with my music videos and then performances and now, it's like this is a great way to really show and define who I am. Yes, I'm African, but I'm still very much in an urban setting and this is the next generation.

How would you describe your style, in a few words?

Well, that's a good question. I'd describe my style as edgy. I think it really just depends on my mood. I'm a little bit moody, especially when it comes to my makeup and how I decide to express myself that way.

The other day I went to Beautycon. It was two days, and the first day I was dumbed down. I had sneakers on, I had kind of natural makeup, and then I saw all the drag queens come out and upstage all the girls that were there. So the next day I was like, I need to go several notches up. So I had the leopard gloves and the matching hat with a black lipstick and that was just my mood. I was like, I need to show them that we're peers in this game. So I need to step it up a bit more. I need to have a more bossy, commanding look.

So I guess it just depends on my mood. But overall I definitely would say it's edgy. I think it's fun and there's a tad bit of culture in there. So I'd say it's a little cultural as well.



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Day 2 #beautyconla #maybellineNY

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And then you've also released a few collab tracks this year as well. I think the most recent was "Miracle," with Hakeem Roze.

Yes.

What's your favorite part about collaborating with different artists?

My favorite part about collaborating is, not only do you get to explore different people's sounds, like it's not just you on the song, you get to join forces with someone else in sharing creative ideas, but also you share your fan base.

I think that's really cool, because for instance, with Hakeem Roze, he's based in Toronto and I actually just came back from Toronto now and I was able to shoot the music video there and meet a whole bunch of people that are part of his team and a few of his fans.

And for me, I've never been to Toronto before. So what the collaboration meant is I'm also broadening my space, and now they've figured out who I am, and now they're listening to my music. And vice versa, and people are like, hey, who's Hakeem? So I just think collaboration really is like, it's the present, it's the future. It's where I see African music growing, is in collaboration.

And do you have your eyes on any future collaborations that you're about to make happen?

Yes, I do. I do have my eyes on some dream collaborations that I would love to—do I need to say them?

Yeah, do you want to share any of them?

Speaking into existence?

Yeah, you got to manifest them.

There are so many great artists that I'd love to work with. Oh my goodness. Just off the top of my head, I've always wanted to work with Kanye [West]. I just feel like he'll understand where we're going with this African music and how we're getting into this global space and people are starting to hear us, and how can we fuse that in with like hip-hop? I'd like to hear that. And not only that; him as a rapper, his perception, I just feel like that would be really dope.

Lauryn Hill, I don't even know how that would sound, but I would love to hear her on one of these very rhythmic type of, it's like instruments and then with her vocal range, I just feel like it would be a really dope fusion. I have a whole long list. I don't know if we have time, but like we can be here all day, literally. But yeah, I love, god I love Lauryn. I grew up listening to her album, Miseducation, but it got stolen like at least 10 times and I just kept buying the CD over and over again and it would keep getting stolen.

Wyclef [Jean]. Wyclef would be amazing. I feel like he's already been dabbling in so many different genres, just on his own, and then the fact that he's from Haiti, he would definitely understand the rhythm. Oh my God, top of my head, it's just hard to come up with. I mean Rihanna, hello! These are people that I can see in the creative space. I could see them fusing really great together with African music. So goals, you never know. Maybe I've spoken it into existence.

More Conversations: Burna Boy Talks 'African Giant,' Damian Marley & Angelique Kidjo Collab, Responsibility As A Global Artist

Who are some of your biggest musical influences to this day?

I've had several music influences. One of them for me was Brenda Fassie, may she rest in peace. She's from South Africa, but she was one of our first African female pop stars. You know how here you've got your legendary singers, but she, for us, was very legendary, because she spoke out, she would dress wild. She would perform wildly, especially at a time where, again, African women, you're supposed to keep quiet, you're not supposed to have an opinion, you're not supposed to dance too wild, like that type of thing. She came out and just broke that whole thing down.

And when she did her interviews, she was very unapologetic. So she empowered me a lot as an artist, as an African female to see her and the way she came up and she stuck to everything that made her original. I think for me, she's one of them.

Another one is, obviously, Beyoncé. She's just done so much for just female pop. The respect I have for her, just for her craft, the time that she takes into doing things. Even when she's at a point where she could put anything out and people would probably still appreciate it, she doesn't. She's still goes an extra mile. So that's very inspiring.

You know the term, "We all have the same amount of time in a day as Beyoncé"? I've heard this type of thing over and over again. But it's really true. This is someone who pushes themselves beyond, and she shows me, especially as a black woman, that you can. You can, you just have to work really, really hard and sometimes harder than others. And that's two, jeez, I have a whole other list, we can have a whole other interview just for that. There are so many people.

Fela Kuti. I mean, he was revolutionary. He was really, really calling out a lot of people on their stuff through his music, and empowering the people and letting them know that they had a voice. I think that is very important for African music as well. Of course, Lauryn, I said her name earlier, but I just love her so much as a storyteller. She's very powerful with her words and she can really shift a lot of people's minds for the greater good.

I love Lady Gaga. I know that's random, but I love how far she went and continues to go, not only in the aspect of her pop career, but I loved how she transitioned into jazz. I love how she's just stuck true to herself, and what I really love is how she pushes so hard for the fashion. I have so much respect for her because for so many years, every time you saw her, you saw something different.

But yeah, there's a lot more, especially the legends that came before Gaga, like you can go into Madonna and Janet [Jackson]. But just off the top of my head, these are the few that really stuck out to me.

Did you watch Lady Gaga's Met Gala carpet walk, when she has a 16-minute costume change?

I saw that. I watched the whole entire thing. This is exactly what we're—just give me life, please give me life. I'm getting chills, just thinking about that. That was iconic. Iconic Gaga.

So you moved to Kenya with your family when you were a teen, and I think it was then when you started recording music for the first time. How and when did you decide that you wanted to start make making music professionally?

I decided that I wanted to make music my profession right after we took a mission trip when I was 14, me and my parents, and we went to Nigeria for the first time. That was actually my first time going to the continent. My first introduction to the continent was Nigeria, even though we're from Kenya. We stayed there for two years and I joined the choir.

I know this is a random story to tie into, but for so many days there was no electricity in the house, but we had like three guitars in the house, and my dad and both of my elder brothers play the guitar. So sometimes when there was no lights, we'd turn the candles on, play guitar and I would sing.

And we would just keep that going. And my dad's like, wow, you really have a good voice. You can do this. And when my older brothers co-signed me too, I was like, well maybe I could, one day, actually record something. It started very organically at home and in the choir.

And after that, when we moved to Kenya finally, that was my first time in the studio. I've always written poetry at home, but I never actually went into a recording studio to actually record anything. So that was my first time and I just never stopped. I think if I wasn't encouraged by my dad, I probably wouldn't have known that I was good at all, because for me I was just naturally singing, because I knew this is how the song goes, this is the melody, like this is it.

I didn't know that I sounded good. My dad was the first one to say, "Wow, you sound nice. You should practice more, maybe you can be really good." So that's how it started.

Was there a moment when you feel like you started to find your voice musically and really feel confident about it?

Yeah, it definitely wasn't the first time. The first time was probably the most depressing song in the world. It was called "How I Feel" and was really sad. But after going to the studio, probably like on the twentieth time, I started to really feel confident.

I still didn't understand how the headphones work, and how can I hear myself when I can't really hear myself? Should I take a headphone off? I was still trying to figure out the technical side of recording or making music, because I was just singing at home. But I was understanding how to stack my vocals and how to arrange things. I didn't know that there was something called vocal production. I didn't know that I should warm up before I record. Like so many different details that I didn't know, but as I continued to record and started to learn those things, I became way more comfortable in the studio.

That's so cool. And then, I read that you're an independent artist and that you were on a label, but then you parted ways after your first album.

Yeah, well five years after that. It's a long time.

I was just curious as to why you chose to be an independent artist and what you feel are the benefits of representing yourself?

Well, I was signed for five years to another, sort of indie label in Nigeria. While I was still on the label I was doing a lot of things myself and I felt like, well I could continue to just do these things that I've already been doing while I was signed and just see how it goes. I won't say I had planned to be independent as the ultimate plan, because there are so many challenges that come with that. And who knows, I may not always be "independent." But overall, I think that how aggressive I was, even when I was on the label, has been the reason why I've been able to get the fan base, I've been able to create and release as much music and visuals as I have. So I felt like, well, let me just continue what I'm doing. It's been good so far. I'm still learning. As I go, there are so many things I still need to learn. But that's the process of growing.

The independent thing is cool, and a lot of artists have been able to be very successful from it. And then I think it's important to be in a space where you're constantly learning and picking up different keys here and there. And I think that's the space that I'm in right now, I'm still picking up things, still learning things. You never know, though. I might not be independent for too long, you know. Although that probably sounds crazy.

"That is the goal ultimately, to be a global artist and to show other girls in Kenya that you can do the same thing locally as well as on an international platform."

Afro-fusion music is really gaining popularity globally, including here in the States. To me, your music feels like such a natural fit with what I'm hearing here now. What is your biggest goal right now, as a global artist?

That's a great question. My biggest goal right now is, not only to get the music out to a bigger platform and to the rest of the world, but also to be in a space where there is musical rights. Where I live, we're still fighting for royalties. We're still fighting against so many different, little thieves in the industry that we still haven't really, all the way, created a positive ecosystem in Kenya for music to thrive. And so, for me, it's very important to leave that space and in every way really represent for my country in a global space.

I always use Lupita [Nyong'o] as an example because she really was like the first person in entertainment from Kenya to get this global appeal. And when she said that "your dreams are valid," I really took that to heart. Like, hey, this is a girl that was an actor right home in Kenya and she was doing local movies, and then she did something so iconic and now it's just up and up and you continue going higher and higher. That's an encouraging story for me. And that is the goal ultimately, to be a global artist and to show other girls in Kenya that you can do the same thing locally as well as on an international platform.

Afropop Queen Victoria Kimani Is Kenya's Best Kept Secret

Conan Gray

Conan Gray

Photo: Recording Academy

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Conan Gray On "Checkmate," Debut LP, Lorde & Adele conan-gray-talks-checkmate-feeling-inspired-adele-what-expect-his-darker-debut-album

Conan Gray Talks "Checkmate," Feeling Inspired By Adele & What To Expect On His "Darker" Debut Album

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The Texas-raised, L.A.-based indie-pop star also discusses his self-directed "Crush Culture" video, his love of Taylor Swift and why he wants his songs to be as honest as possible
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 5, 2019 - 1:12 pm

20-year-old singer/songwriter/video director Conan Gray just released his first EP, Sunset Season, last year, but he's already making noise in the D.I.Y. pop world. Spending his teen years growing up in quiet Georgetown, Texas, he began writing and singing songs and uploading them to what swiftly became his popular YouTube channel, which now (at the time of this writing) has 1.4 million subscribers. In 2017, the creative teen left his small-town life for Los Angeles to purse undergraduate film studies at UCLA.

"I started making the EP the second I moved from my hometown in Texas to L.A. I was going to college at UCLA and I was going to classes and I was recording at the same time. I wasn't signed yet, either," Gray recently told the Recording Academy. It wasn't long after relocating to La La Land that he got signed to Republic Records, who released Sunset Season. Despite his fast-growing fan base and rise towards pop stardom, the charismatic artist is incredibly humble and remains in awe of where he is today.

Conan Gray On Adele & Lorde, Music Videos & Tours

The "Generation Why" singer recently stopped by the Recording Academy headquarters for our latest episode of Up Close & Personal to share what he's most looking forward to for his upcoming Comfort Crowd Tour, and how he tends to visualize music videos as he writes songs. He also explains how hearing Lorde's and Adele's music for the first time inspired his own songwriting, what fans can expect on his forthcoming debut album and more. You can watch a portion of the conversation above and read the full interview below. You can also visit on our YouTube page for a longer version of the video, as well as for other recent episodes.

Last time I saw you, you were making your Lollapalooza stage debut, your first festival show. How was that experience for you?

That was pretty crazy. I didn't really know what to expect. I think the seven-year-old, tiny, afraid me would have thought no one comes, but a lot of people came and it was really bizarre. I feel like I have moments every once in a while where I'm just like, this can't be real. That was definitely one of those moments.

And how was the crowd?

The crowd was great. I was like, oh maybe since it's like a festival they won't be as interactive, but they were wild and they did everything that I wanted them to do, their little hands and stuff. It was awesome. I was very much, "I don't know what's going on right now." I think this is just a glitch in the simulation or something.



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how the fuck is this real life

A post shared by Conan Gray (@conangray) on Aug 4, 2019 at 12:39pm PDT

Starting in October, you have a bunch of shows lined up for your Comfort Crowd tour. What are you most excited about performing in all these different places?

I feel like my favorite part about being on tour is just being busy all the time. I feel like you have this unique routine, like you wake up and you do a bunch of things, you meet a bunch of fans and you go to sleep, the whole entire day is packed. And I just love being able to go out there and see all the different kinds of people. I feel like touring kind of just made me realize how people are just so different but also like we're all kind of just exactly the same. Like no matter where you go. So it's pretty incredible. I think it's my favorite thing about being able to do this.

Let's talk a little about one of your most recent releases, "Checkmate." The video is amazingly creepy and hilarious; what's the backstory on that song?

"Checkmate" is a song I wrote about this person who was always playing games with my heart and I just needed to get a little revenge. So I figured, with the song and video, I was like if you're going to play with my heart all the time, if you're going to treat love like it's a game, then I'm going to win the game. So in the video I just tried to get as much of my cathartic revenge out as I possibly could and, you know, kidnapped the people who are cheating on me and sent them to a deserted island to starve to death because, I mean, what else am I supposed to do? I did what I had to.

Speaking of music videos, you edited and directed the one for "Crush Culture." What was your vision going into that video?

With "Crush Culture," I knew that I just wanted to ruin a bunch of couples' dates. That was my main intention. I'm the kind of person where like if I'm not happy, then no one's going to be happy. Or at least I used to be. I think I've gotten a little better hopefully, [I'm] growing up or whatever. But yeah, I just wanted to have a lot of wrecking.

I feel like everyone who's ever been single, especially when you're young, where like every one of your friends isn't single, you just kind of want to punch someone in the face. When they're like talking about, "Oh and then he did this and it was so cute." I don't want to know. I don't care. I don't relate. Like leave me alone, I'm going to punch you. That's kinda what that video is about and what that song is about.

Do you feel like when you're filming the video and creating a visual element for the song, that it kind of creates a new life for it or takes on a different form?

Absolutely. Every time I write a song I usually have an idea of what I want the visuals to be. It's all very much hand-in-hand to me. But I also feel like the second you put out the song or make the video, it's not really yours anymore. People can interpret it how they want to interpret it and everyone has interpreted every single one of the videos in completely different ways, which I feel like is kind of the point, you know, the song is what it means to you and I can only do so much by explaining. Also, that's what makes the song special to someone. I guarantee like all of my favorite songs don't actually mean what I think they mean. But I think they're special because I feel like they're written for me even though they're totally not.

When you were younger, was there an album or artist who really resonated with you?

Well I think the first person that kind of opened me up to songwriting was Adele. I was like 12 probably when that first album [19] came out. And I feel like that was when I first realized that you can actually write a whole song. And before that I was always kinda writing jingles and stuff like that. But I didn't really realize that you could express an emotion. And I feel like Adele was the first person that made me realize that humans have emotions that you can relate to. And then I think, you know, when I was a teenager, the older I got the more into like pop music, I really started to just like grow really fascinated with and I was just obsessed with it.

And then I think when Lorde's first album [Pure Heroine] came out it just blew my mind. Because it was the first pop music that I'd heard ever in my whole life that wasn't about, you know, like this wild fantasy life that I couldn't relate to. It was about being in suburbia and I grew up lower-middle class. So I, you know, I didn't relate to those other songs and that's the first time I was like, oh my God, this song is about me. Like I relate to this. All I do is sit in the car and that's what she wrote about. So yeah, she was a big point for me.

You started songwriting and putting your music online when you were 12. At that time, did you think you were going to be making music professionally in the future?

Honestly, I don't think I really knew what I was doing when I was putting songs up on the internet. I just really loved writing songs. And the second I started writing music, I didn't stop. I had a journal and I wrote a new song every single day. And I think by putting them up on the internet it was just kind of like my way of like spitting them into the void. I wasn't expecting to get signed and I wasn't expecting, you know, everything that happened. I was just really bored and I lived in a small town, and what else are you supposed to do, I guess? And I think, you know, I just was very surprised when people started to listen. It wasn't something that I was expecting or really even wanted. It just kind of happened and then I just kept doing it because it just was very interesting to see the way that people were reacting to these, you know, very weird songs that I was writing as a 12-year-old and just kind of snowballed into a career. But I had no clue, no.

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What was your dream job when you were a kid?

I really wanted to be specifically a middle school biology teacher. My middle school biology teacher had a pet snake and I was like, if I'm going to be a teacher, I should be a biology teacher that way can have a pet snake. And I've always been really obsessed with science and I'm also such a nerd. I was definitely a big school kid, so that was the route for me. So I guess conceptually I failed at that career and I'm a failure.

I want to talk a bit about the Sunset Season EP, which "Crush Culture" was on. What was your main goal with that, your first EP and first project?

I started making the EP the second I moved from my hometown in Texas to L.A. I was going to college at UCLA and I was going to classes and I was recording at the same time. I wasn't signed yet either. I think that, you know, most of the songs on the album I wrote during my senior year of high school, so basically I wanted the whole EP to be like a time capsule of what my senior year felt like. All of the missing home and also just like not really knowing what's going on and having all these like extreme emotions that make no sense all the time, which I still feel. But I think when you're in high school it's this kind of like very specific feeling that you just never ever have ever again. I wanted to just get it all into a little package, that way I can remember it forever.

"For me, the best way to be good at songwriting is to just tell the truth… I think my goal always is just to be as honest as I possibly can."

Another of the songs on the EP, "Generation Why," stood out to me as kind of a statement on just being a young person and the uncertainty that comes with it. What is your biggest goal right now as a young artist representing other young people?

I feel like my main goal is just to be as honest as I can. You know, "Generation Why" was a song that I wrote literally about me and my friend. I wasn't like, "This is my generation." I was just me and my friend, like "Our parents don't believe that we're going to do anything good with our lives." And that's what I wrote about.

For me, the best way to be good at songwriting is to just tell the truth. Because people relate to the truth and people relate to problems. Sometimes you feel like you're the only person who has them, but you're not the only person who has those feelings. I think my goal always is just to be as honest as I possibly can. I feel like I say so much more in songs than I ever do to people in real life. And I feel like if I just keep my head on and try to be as genuine as possible, hopefully people will keep relating.

If I'm not mistaken, I don't think you've put out any collab songs yet. So if that's something that you're interested in doing in the future, do you have any dream collaborators in mind?

I mean, there's so many people, like all the people that I was raised on. I would like chop off my finger to make a song with Taylor Swift. Honestly, I'd chop off my hand just to sit in a room and write a song with her. She was my big pop music icon growing up. "Teardrops On My Guitar" was the first YouTube video I ever really watched of her. So yeah, that'd be really fun. But I mean, there's a ton of people. I feel like with my [upcoming] album, a lot of the writers that I've really wanted to work with and stuff I've had the opportunity to work with. So I feel like I'm satisfied, I'm happy.

In terms of your debut album, do you have anything that you want to tease about it? I'm sure your fans have already been asking about it a lot, but what can they expect?

I think they can definitely expect the music to get darker. The past year has been really chaotic and I feel like my album absolutely represents how chaotic it was. Also, I think they can expect a good cry and a good little riot. Just a good like package of chaos, is what my album sounds like so far.

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