If you had to describe your music in three words, how would you describe it?
In terms of genres, I’m sort of all over the map. But I would say "catchy," "emotional," and the word that’s coming to mind is "clean."
Do you have any musical influences?
Yeah! A fair amount. In terms of aesthetics, Imogen Heap is someone who I really tried to emulate and learn from. She does a similar thing where she is involved in every part of the music-making process, and she’s just really daring and willing to try new sounds and spend a lot of time making her music sound really unique. Even in her last record, you can just listen to it and ask yourself, ‘How the hell did she make that sound?'
Where do you gather inspiration from?
The songs I write are pretty personal – it’s a way for me to focus my feelings. Usually if I’m writing and the song just isn’t working, it’s usually because I haven’t really thought about what I’m trying to express well enough, or I haven’t gotten to the heart of the issue I’m writing about. So it takes a lot of reflection to make sure that the lyrics are clear to me and that I’m talking about one specific thing.
Sonically, I’m a huge fan of pop music. And it’s so interesting to think of songwriting as a science, as much as an art, because there’s a process to it, and there are ways to write a song that you know people can’t get out of their heads. I’ve been into the upbeat pop songs, and right now I’ve been into making fun, synth pops – similar to people like Betty Who, St. Lucia, RAC – artists that can get people to dance but also have a lot of emotion behind their music.
How do you decide what songs to remix?
Usually, if I’m listening to a song, I can imagine, ‘What if it sounded completely different or put my own spit on it?’ and that’s sort of where it comes from. The act of remixing is so amazing because it can just give a song a completely new world, and an alternate reality almost – to take a song and just warp it.
Can you lead me through your process of making music?
At the base level, I’m listening to music all the time – either that, or I might still have something just playing in my head. It’s kind of crazy. But because of that, a melody will come into my head that’s usually attached to a lyric, and then that lyric has some sort of base reality to it. As in there’s a reason why I sang that lyric, so I try to figure out what that’s connected to, and what I’m trying to express.
It sort of depends on where I am. Sometimes I might be in bed falling asleep, and then so I’ll just take out my phone and record it with a voice memo so I don’t forget it. Or if I’m at my computer, I can open up Logic and do a really quick, rough recording.
From there, I start to build it in my head, and that’s sort of my test to see if that’s really what I want to keep pursuing. Then I’ll keep working with lyrics, and then when I’m really ready to dive in, I’ll start a Logic project to create the sounds and put everything together. And then I record the vocals.
Is there a reason why you use Logic over other software?
I first started working with GarageBand and got really comfortable with it. Logic is also just so professional and high-quality. While it might not be as industry-standard as ProTools, it’s still in the Apple family and is really easy to use after getting comfortable with GarageBand.
I’ve tried a few others like Ableton, ProTools – but Logic is comfortable for me.
Are you interested in collaborating with more with artists?
Yeah, definitely. It can seem daunting since you have to put yourself out there and be honest and flexible when you’re working with someone. But it opens up so many possibilities and can be a great refresher and reminder that there are so many other people doing what you do and that share the same passion.
Even remixing is in a way like collaborating, because I have this vocal and pre-made song that I have to work with – so it challenges me creatively.
Do you have anyone you’re dying to collaborate with?
Oh gosh – there are so many. Like I said, Betty Who, those kinds of artists. While it may seem out of reach to remix some of the top artists, part of it is just asking. RAC, for example, said on his Facebook that he got started by just dropping a line and just messaging hundreds of his favorite artists to ask if he could remix their songs. And if you’re lucky and the original artist likes it, they may promote it…and it can just unfurl from there.
Speaking of remixes, I heard your Lana Del Rey “Video Games” remix a few year years ago, and I had no idea it was created by someone that also went to my high school. I posted it on a playlist on 8tracks, and it definitely became a favorite track. How did that remix reach such success?
The “Video Games” remix was crazy – just how it blew up and is by far my most successful hit. I’m really grateful for how much it has opened up opportunities for me. It hit over 1,000,000 views on YouTube two summers ago. It was really cool.
