2:00

landed in a positive mindset of,

2:02

okay, I'm going to make the album

2:04

that I always wanted to make.

2:07

What was the situation with the old label and

2:09

what you were doing versus what you wanted to

2:11

do? I think

2:13

in the UK and especially at

2:15

the time, it's all about having

2:18

hits and specifically with dance music.

2:20

I was explicitly told, you know, until

2:23

you have more big hits,

2:25

you can't do your album. So then

2:27

I went on this whole journey of

2:29

trying to do that. Just

2:31

trying to make music that would be commercially

2:33

successful. Exactly. So I did

2:36

that, did that for years and I absolutely

2:38

hated it. You were writing those

2:40

songs though. I was creating within confines.

2:43

You know, you get a brief, you get the boundaries in

2:45

which you need to create. So I

2:47

was ashamed of the artist that I was at that point

2:49

in time. I hit my breaking

2:52

point of like, I

2:54

can't do this anymore. I've wanted

2:56

to be a musician since I was seven years

2:58

old. It's the only goal I've had in my

3:00

life. But I got pushed to the

3:02

point where I was like, I'll give up

3:05

because fuck this, this

3:07

is horrible. So

3:10

I became independent and it happened very

3:12

quick. And so when the time came that

3:14

I was like, I'm ready to like put an album together,

3:16

I was like, like, let's

3:19

do it. I'm ready now. And

3:23

then I remember Mike played me with C,

3:25

the revital, into

3:30

the suitable.

3:37

Mmhmm I

3:39

hear that. And

3:42

then I remember Mike played me with

3:44

C, the inspections. Can

3:52

you tell me about Mike? You said he was your best

3:54

friend. Yeah, he's one of my best

3:56

mates. I would say we met before Mike had

3:59

facial hair. I

6:02

think the conscious decision you have to

6:04

make especially when you want

6:06

to create something a bit more honest or

6:08

personal is the wrestle between

6:11

lyricism and melody.

6:14

You know, you want melody, you want it to have

6:16

catchiness, you want people to be able to connect

6:19

to the melodies but I'm

6:21

a lyrics girl like for me the

6:23

story or painting in the picture, I want you to close your

6:25

eyes and see it all in your head. I

6:28

kind of chose one note so

6:30

in that I'm prioritising the lyric, it's not like,

6:35

I don't want you to sing it, I want the

6:37

lyric to be the priority of the melody. One

6:42

note, one note all about the story. So

6:44

you get a little lalais, little sprinkly melody thing at the

6:46

end and then when you get

7:02

to the chorus, I don't want to feel,

7:04

you get a little sweet

7:07

emotional breath. I don't

7:10

want to feel, I

7:12

don't want to feel sorry. I

7:14

don't want to feel reality and I don't

7:17

want to feel honest feelings. Those

7:19

times of me specific times in my

7:21

life where you're

7:23

just trying to run away from reality as fast as

7:25

you can, you'll take whatever

7:28

is on the table, whatever is on offer, whatever you

7:30

can get your hands on, wherever you can run. Do

7:34

you think you could have written about this period in

7:36

your life while you were in it or do you

7:38

think you needed to have this many years distance from

7:40

it to be able to write this song? I

7:43

think it's complicated to say whether I

7:45

could have because at the

7:47

time I didn't feel like I had permission to

7:49

tell the truth in such an intense way.

7:52

Maybe the artist that I've decided I want to

7:55

be today is explicitly

7:58

honest no matter I'd

8:01

rather be explicitly uncomfortable and

8:03

glaze over the truth. Half

8:06

night really was a cherry on the cape, been

8:08

some dark days lately and I'm finding it crippling.

8:10

Excuse my state, I'm as high as your hopes

8:12

that you'll make it to my bed, get me

8:14

hot and sizzling. If I take a step back

8:16

to see the glass half full, at least it's

8:18

the fraud of two-piece that I'm tripping in. I

8:22

wanted to ask you about this one part that

8:24

I just love and I didn't

8:26

fully appreciate it until I got the stems.

8:29

Just a heart broke bitch, high heels six

8:31

inch and a beard, picking night clothes with

8:33

a champagne. Ah,

8:35

the harmony. Yeah, can you tell me about writing

8:37

that part? Yeah, I

8:39

do so many layers and so

8:41

many harmonies and then it'll be a case

8:43

of take it out, definitely take it

8:45

out. I'll keep it there, it's nice over that

8:48

one phrase. We'd originally

8:50

done a three-part, four-part harmony over that section

8:52

but it took away the kind of grit

8:55

of it. It softened it, it didn't

8:57

need to be soft. In the back

8:59

of the taxi, sniffing cocaine. They

9:03

pay for the things, they

9:05

pay for the things, they pay for the

9:07

things that are in

9:11

the hotel hallway. Jaxa position

9:13

is something I love in

9:15

music. If you were to really zone into the

9:18

lyrics, you'd be like, oh shit, this is

9:20

a sad story. But musically

9:22

is the opposite thing. So

9:25

we went back to LA, I remember listening

9:27

back to all the demos we'd made and

9:30

escapism was my favourite. I loved

9:32

it so much. But it

9:34

had a lot of work to do, I had way more things

9:36

I needed to add. We needed to take

9:38

the production to the next level. And

9:41

so we woke up one morning, we were kind

9:43

of all slept at the studio. We'd

9:46

been there for a couple of days. I

9:48

woke up, hadn't showered. I was just like, can

9:50

we just play escapism really quickly? So

9:53

there was a choir section. We were like, did we keep this in? Did

9:55

we take it out? Was originally going to be the out chose, that bit?

10:05

So we

10:13

took this section and we had to loop it round and round

10:15

and round. And

10:20

then done this thing where you couldn't send it

10:22

left, send it right, send it left. When

10:25

you've got headphones on, it will rotate between ears.

10:27

It's just so good. We

10:32

can't end it here. We just got to keep going. I'm

10:34

like, whoa, I've got a great idea. He

10:37

voice noted some thunder that he

10:39

had. He held his

10:41

phone up during a thunderstorm. He's

10:48

like, we've got to add this thunder in. I'm like,

10:50

you're sick. And I was like, fuck it. Let's do

10:52

a key change. Just pitch shift

10:54

everything. He's like, give me

10:56

a second. He's

11:05

like, I need a free. It's just dust all over then. That

11:10

bit of the end made me

11:12

just imagine the blurry chaos just

11:15

coming to a head. Music came and I sounded like to

11:17

me. And

11:21

then I was like, I need to

11:23

wrap it in that bucket. I don't care.

11:25

I want to wrap it again. So

11:28

in the morning in my pyjamas, just

11:30

in the mic, like lipstick, smile tonight,

11:32

mud and all. Trying

11:34

to figure out the right little egg

11:36

parts going there. Lipstick,

11:38

mud and all. I don't know where

11:40

the fuck I am. I was driving the

11:43

fucking car, beating down the highway, sitting down

11:45

the building. I

11:47

love everyone I love on the road.

11:50

And I think it's a strange M.I.

11:52

I remember nothing because nothing was good.

11:55

I remember the whole game. I

11:58

feel like it's a strange M.I. story

12:00

of someone who's having a really bad night dressed

12:02

up as a good night. Yes. And it just

12:04

gets worse and worse and worse. Absolutely. It

12:07

is a bad night, but you don't

12:09

realise it's a bad night because you're

12:12

in the product of escapism.

12:14

You're standing on top of a bar

12:17

screaming and singing lyrics, both

12:19

hands in the air, you're in a

12:21

car with your hands out the window, like

12:24

I'm in a movie. Like, obviously

12:26

it's not a good night, but it feels like it is.

12:30

The last thing that happened with the song is

12:33

getting I-7 O'Shake's vocal. Her

12:41

name is Danny, but she goes by I-7 O'Shake

12:43

and she's one of the, in my

12:46

opinion, greatest artists making music

12:48

today. I

13:03

met her a couple

13:05

of years before and, you know, when she's like, oh,

13:07

you know, what

13:17

music do you make? Whatever. I was like, don't listen to

13:20

anything that's released, you know, like don't.

13:23

I really wanted her to think that I was

13:26

good because I was such a fan of her.

13:29

This was around the time, two, three

13:31

months before I went independent.

13:34

I FaceTimed her and we were talking and I was like, I was

13:37

just explaining what a tough time I was having and

13:40

I was really struggling and her

13:42

perspective is Ray. Like, nothing else

13:45

matters but the music. None

13:47

of these other things matter. I'm

13:58

O'Shake. I'm

16:00

sitting on it, all of my diamonds are just in order. I

16:09

met him at the bar, it was 12 o'clock, I

16:11

go to two more clients, and

16:17

tonight I want to send a little context if

16:19

you care to listen. I find myself

16:22

on the track to do the same. The

16:24

man that I love, that was an odd man,

16:27

I'm not a long time into that. I don't

16:29

want to feel how my heart is looking back,

16:31

I don't want to feel how it's looking. I'm

16:34

a king king, I'm a black

16:36

man, I'm a shit king. I'm

16:39

a king king, I'm a

16:41

king king, I'm a king

16:43

king, I'm a king

16:45

king king king king

16:49

king. Can

16:53

you hear me? I'm sitting

16:55

in the bar, to the bed, leading the whole

16:58

town, come on, please. listening

17:20

Teleste remain

17:31

green k

17:37

you loyal

17:50

mean Why

18:30

not? ears?

18:36

Someone's green. Ah,

18:39

I love you, too, yeah, Crimson. Thought

18:44

I'd be why that day. How

18:48

do you do? How do you

18:50

do this with my baby? Something...

19:01

Cloud? I love you, too.

19:05

These days, and

19:22

your folds are Disney. How

19:26

long does it take for us to find bored yelling? I'm

20:04

going to try and get the fucking coffee. I

20:07

have nothing to do with that. I

20:13

have nothing to do with that. I

20:19

have nothing to do with that. I

20:22

have nothing to do with that. I

20:31

have nothing to do with that. I

20:57

have nothing to do with that. RadioTopia

21:30

from PRX If

21:58

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