SHAED

We had the pleasure of interviewing Chelsea Lee, Spencer and Max otherwise known as SHAED. This Indie-pop band have amassed a whopping 2 Billion Streams worldwide and are swiftly making a global name for themselves. We get to know more about them and what 2021 has planned, singles, debut album and so much more.

SO, ANYONE THAT ISN’T FAMILIAR SHAED IS SOMEWHAT OF A FAMILY AFFAIR WITH CHELSEA LEE AND SPENCER BEING MARRIED AND SPENCER AND MAX TWIN BROTHERS, TAKE OUR AUDIENCE BACK TO WHEN YOU FORMED ALMOST A DECADE AGO, HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?

Chelsea Lee: I met these guys when I was 15. And we've kind of been inseparable ever since. They welcomed me with open arms and we've just kind of been, you know, we're always together. It's actually a surprise that Max is at his house, you know. He's generally here. But yeah, we met when I was 15. We started playing music together probably five, six years ago. And yeah, so Max is my best friend. And so is Spencer, but Spencer is also my husband. So yeah, it's been really great.

THE ONGOING ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM THAT WE WILL GET OUT OF THE WAY IS OUR FRIEND COVID, HOW HAS THE PAST YEAR BEEN FOR YOU PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY? DID YOU SINK OR SWIM?

Spencer: Yeah, I'm gonna say a little bit of both. You know, we were ready to go on like, a crazy, pretty much world... I mean, we were gonna do Europe, and Australia, and all these shows, and those were all cancelled. And we'd been touring for about two years. So, to go from playing shows every week, to no shows for an entire year and a half. It's definitely a shock to the system. But we used this time to write an entire album. And so, in that sense, we're very grateful for this break, where we also produce everything, we write everything together. So luckily, we were able to just record, writing everything from home, in our little home studio. So yeah, I think it was a bit of a sink and swim.

I READ THAT THE 3 OF YOU LIVE TOGETHER, IS THIS COVID RELATED?

Chelsea Lee: So, right before the pandemic, we moved to separate houses. But we previously have lived together for three years, in a really small house in Maryland. And then we moved right before the pandemic hit. And that actually was really great, because it just gave us something to do. You know, get our homes ready. But Max is so close. And he's always over anyways. He might as well live here, honestly.

ARE YOU CONSTANTLY CREATING/ REHEARSING AT HOME OR IS HOME AND WORK KEPT SEPARATE SO TO SPEAK?

Spencer: We do. There's a small window between like 7am and 8am, where Chelsea and I work. Max sleeps in a little later than us. So we get to get up, and we have about an hour every morning to go for a walk around the neighborhood. And, you know, make some breakfast together, make some French press coffee. That kind of thing. And then after that, it's pretty much work, you know...

HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL WHEN YOU HEAR FACTS LIKE YOUR MUSIC HAS SURPASSED 2 BILLION STREAMS?

Chelsea Lee: It's definitely crazy, for sure. That song kind of changed our lives. So we had a crazy 2018 just playing those. We got to do more travel. We got to go to Japan. We got to go to Europe. So, it's just been so incredible.

HOW DID THE COLLABORATION WITH ZAYN COME ABOUT AND DID YOU GET TO MEET ZAYN, WONDERING WHAT HE WAS LIKE?

Max: We were thinking about who we want as a feature on the song, and we thought of Zayn now as like a total pipe dream. We’re big fans of his voice. And yeah, we just kind of threw it out there. We were doing a late night TV, and it was a long night so the best morning, I slept in. I woke up a little later than Chelsea and Spencer. So I woke up to the sound of Zayn singing 'Trampoline' acapella. And Spencer was already up in the living room, listening to the vocal. So, it was such a shock. He just kind of showed up in our inbox one day. And then within 24 hours, we'd finished the new version and sent it off to Spotify and everything. And got it out there. So it's very cool.

YOU GOT TO PERFORM AT MARGOT ROBBIE’S CHANEL FRAGRANCE LAUNCH, TELL US ABOUT THE NIGHT. DO YOU GET AWE STRUCK IN A ROOM WITH A LISTERS?

Max: We're big fans of Haim, as well. So, they were there. And I mean, they were a big influence on us. Like, you know, when we were transitioning from the kind of folk music we were doing, into this kind of more electronic hybrid today. And we got to meet them and hang with them, which was also really rad.

NOW ON TO OSAKA, YOUR NEW SINGLE, WHICH IS AWESOME BY THE WAY, IS OUT NOW, THE INSPIRATION FOR IT CAME FROM YOUR TOUR IN JAPAN A FEW YEARS AGO. WAS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME IN JAPAN? AND TELL US WHAT YOU LOVE ABOUT THE PLACE AND PEOPLE?

Chelsea Lee: That was our first time being in Japan, and we had heard amazing things about it, but definitely nothing could have prepared us for the incredible trip we had. It was just so much fun. The food was incredible. I mean, we're just eating the most amazing food. Oh... we were there for two weeks too, so we really got to explore different places, which was so cool, and everything was just beautiful. It was so hot. It was like 95 degrees every day, and supersuper-humid, but we just had an absolute blast. I love Japan. I would go back in an instant.

TODAY EXACTLY 1 MONTH TODAY UNTIL THE RELEASE OF HIGH DIVE, ITS SO EXCITING...

for sure. This is our debut album. So I think that a lot of people have been waiting for this, from us. And you know, we really have a body of work that we absolutely love and it's super-special to us, so we can't wait for people to hear it. We're really excited.

IT IS PACKED WITH GREAT TRACKS, TELL US YOUR OWN PERSONAL FAVOURITE SONG?

Max: There's a song called 'Colorful' on the album, that is special to me, and Spencer and Chelsea. The lyrics are about my coming out experience to them. Spencer and Chelsea were the first people that I came out to. And so that experience kind of really brought us all a lot closer together. And so, the lyrics are kind of about, similar to 'Visible Woman,' in finding confidence in yourself. And having the courage to step into this new chapter of your life, where you're living truthfully. And embracing what makes you different. So, I’m excited about that song. And another thing about it too, is that we've been talking to this amazing nonprofit in DC, called Capital Pride. And they, in normal years, put on huge Pride parades in DC. And, obviously, this year, because of COVID, they're not going to be able to do that. We're kind of working on this project together, where we can do something very special around the song. And hopefully it will launch a new fund, that's gonna help the people in DC.

MAX IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE YOU CAME OUT, CAN YOU BRIEFLY TELL US HOW IT WAS FOR YOU, DID IT CAUSE ANY RIFTS WITH YOUR BROTHER AND FAMILY, OR DID IT JUST MAKE YOUR RELATIONSHIP STRONGER AND BETTER? AND CAN YOU TELL ME IF YOU THINK SOCIETY IN YOUR OPINION HAS PROGRESSED IN RECENT YEARS?

Max: Definitely, the latter. I mean, the craziest thing was that Spencer didn't know. No one had any idea. I guess I hid it very well. I went to like a Catholic all-boys high school where there was nobody in the school who was out for, oh, four years. There definitely were other gay kids in the class, but just the environment was that it wasn’t something people really talked about, including in the community we grew up in. But my parents are both very, incredibly supportive. Super-liberal.

So I was accepted with open arms from Spencer and Chelsea, and my whole family. I think it was more just the internal worrying about how people would react. I felt some kind of pressure to stay in the closet, for some reason. We didn't have Sam Smith or Troye Sivan out there. You know, it was, kind of, a different time, times are changing.

WE HEARD YOU HAVE A PRIDE PROJECT IN JUNE; CAN YOU TELL US ANYMORE ABOUT THAT?

things are slowly but surely opening. So, we would love to travel and get back on the road. It's like our favourite thing to do. So, fingers crossed. Max: Well, I don't think ...I think it was more just the there's going to be an actual physical event, internal worrying about how like a Pride in DC in June. There's talks of people would react... also postponing, and then doing something special music at an early age too: I in the fall. But I think it's going to be more about felt some kind of pressure to raising funds for people in need. And using this stay in the closet, for some song, using 'Colourful', as an anthem, the reason. We didn’t have Sam soundtrack. So, it's exciting. Smith or Troye Sivan out YOU HAVE SO MUCH there. You know, it was, kind IN THE PIPELINE ALREADY, WHAT’S of, a different time, times are NEXT ON THE AGENDA? changing. Max: I think the album for us is really just the culmination of 10 years of knowing each other, and finally having the opportunity to really sit down and write a full album together. So, for me, in my sight, I feel like once that's out, then we can recalibrate, and think about what's next. But we're still in the thick of making another music video, a couple of music videos for the album, and trying to get remixes and all. So, it's still like very much an album cycle. So, it's kind of hard to have YOU HAVE A FEW TOUR DATES one thing above anything else, right now. ALREADY PLANNED FOR CLEVELAND, Spencer: Yeah. I'll say that we are very CHICAGO, AUSTRIA, VEGAS TOUR, ANY excited for live shows, and we want to put PLANS FOR THE UK/IRELAND? on an incredible live show when we come back. So, shout out to our friend Andrew Chelsea Lee: We would love to. I mean, Marshall actually is here now. Incredible honestly, we're just kind of pointing out drummer, and he's helped us design this to see what comes our way, just because really sick live drum rig. That's going to be

a big part of our show.

WE MUST TALK ABOUT YOUR WORK WITH TEEN LINE, WE HEARD YOU PLAN TO DONATE A PORTION OF YOUR PROCEEDS TO THEM, FOR ANYONE NOT FAMILIAR CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE WORK THEY DO AND HOW YOU BECAME INVOLVED?

Chelsea Lee: Yeah, absolutely. So, this past single that we just released, Part Time Psycho, we really wanted to partner with a mental health organisation. Just because that song is so much about how this pandemic has made us all feel manic, and anxious, and depressed. So, we partnered with Teen Line, which is, basically, an organisation where teens, if they're feeling suicidal, or need to talk to someone, they can call Teen Line, and another teen, a trained teen, would be there, to answer the call and talk through. So, it's a peer-topeer. They can talk to peers, and it's just so much easier, potentially, than talking to an adult. And so, they're a really incredible organisation that does really, really great work. And so, we wanted to make sure that we were raising some funds to support them and yeah, they've been really amazing.

THAT’S AMAZING, THANKS SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME WITH ME, BEST OF LUCK WITH THE ALBUM AND HOPE TO SEE YOU IN THE U.K SOON

Album High Dive is released and available from 14th May.