Meet Quinn Lewis

Quinn Lewis by Jonathan Benbaruk exclusively for On The Move

QUINN LEWIS

It’s time for us to introduce you to another promising pop artist that is set to work his way up in the industry in no time. Originally from Brisbane, Australia but relocated in Nashville while splitting his time between the “country town” and Los Angeles, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter sat with the team to discuss everything music, from his inspirations to future endeavors. Meet Quinn Lewis.

Quinn Lewis by Jonathan Benbaruk exclusively for On The Move

Quinn Lewis by Jonathan Benbaruk exclusively for On The Move

On The Move: How are you Quinn? Happy to be back in LA?

Quinn Lewis: I’m very good, thank you. Life is very good. This split time between Nashville and LA makes me love both places even more because it’s always a different atmosphere.

On The Move: Do you feel like there’s a difference in the music scene between LA and Nashville?

Quinn Lewis: Definitely. I feel like LA sets the trends. No one’s chasing anything here but I think songwriting wise you can’t be chasing. Sorry, I probably sound like a crazy person (laugh). Songwriting wise there are rules and trends that people stick to in LA that they don’t in Nashville. I think more so than ever, I write to titles in LA, like “this is a word that nobody said” or “this is a phrase that somebody said before”. In Nashville we might not have the title the entire session. It’s just a story. I love that part of the songwriting because it’s dangerous and scary, because you have to merge the two worlds but in Nashville it could be the catchiest thing ever, and if it’s not the story, then the writers in the room will be like no. In LA if it’s the catchiest thing ever and it makes no sense, people will be like “SICK!” (laugh), which is good and bad for different artists. I guess you have to choose.

On The Move: I feel like artists in Nashville have more knowledge when it comes to music theory and all, but people in LA are more creative and not afraid to think out of the box…

Quinn Lewis: Definitely! There’s a guy in town who records guitars on iPhones because they sound better and then he gets it to stereo. In Nashville it would be like “no, that’s not the rule. You’re going in a room and sit this way and you do this.” That’s just a production thing but it’s very symbolic of how the world works, writing wise. I love both. In Nashville, the pop there is gonna break and it’s gonna be a place in the city and I want that so badly but everyone thinks they are doing it now, like “we are doing it now, we are setting the trend now”. I try to surround myself with people who are like «we are not doing it yet, we love what we are doing but we know that you have to come out to LA and bring some stuff back». I think the coolest thing about Nashville is being surrounded by people who know what LA is doing, let’s take some of that and doing that here.

On The Move: Tell me more about your writing process because I feel like all the tracks you have so far are heavily inspired by your personal experiences.

Quinn Lewis: Definitely. When I started writing and really diving in it, it was when I was in Nashville. I write everyday If I can. It’s weird for me if I go one week and a half without writing. I was like «let’s write a lot and write whatever comes to mind, and you write everything down and someone will find it and you’ll have cuts for days…» and then I got to a point where I was like this thing isn’t good because I don’t care about it. It was a very eyeopening thing for me, if I’m not being honest with what I’m saying, then what’s the point. My thing is I’m trying to figure out why I freak out in a relationship or why I messed up in a friend group so when I go into a writing room it’s my form of therapy to talk about it with people. For my songs specifically I’m trying so hard to understand why I feel this way and then once I get into a song I’m like that’s why, that makes sense now.

« For my songs specifically, I’m trying so hard to understand why I feel this way »

On The Move: In terms of influences, who are the artists you look up to?

Quinn Lewis: I think looking at Ryan Tedder and Pharrell made me realize that people did more than one thing in the industry. Looking at Ryan Tedder and checking out which song he wrote for who and which song he produced for who while also being the head of One Republic is crazy. That’s the first time I was like “Oh, I should be doing more than one thing”. That’s why I downloaded Logic and started doing stuff with Garage Band. I look at Frank Ocean, The 1975 and Sam Smith who are album artists and put themselves in the stage of life and share that stage of life and then kind of step away from it. I’m really inspired by the projects they put out and looking through the way the projects work together. The dream would be to have a body of work like one of those artists and also do the Ryan Tedder thing.

On The Move: Let’s break down together some of your songs, shall we?

Quinn Lewis: Let’s do this!On The Move: First song… “How you’ve been”Quinn Lewis: So, I bumped into my ex and it’s the first

Quinn Lewis by Jonathan Benbaruk exclusively for On The Move

time I wasn’t jealous or was thinking something like “Oh, I wish we were still together”. She’s also an artist and we’ve always had this subconscious back and forth and it was the first time where I really wanted to know what she was up to, how things are but I don’t really care on the hot streams level, I just want to know how you’ve been. We had that song for ages and a year to the day when we wrote it, we get an email from R3HAB who said he loved the song and wanted to put it out. I was freaking out (laugh).

On The Move: Next one: your first major label release “Hanging On”

Quinn Lewis: Same kind of situation. I was in this fling and I realized she loved the control she had over me, like she would text and I’d be there. But also I realized that it’s not going where I think it should go, and I found out later that there was someone else for her. I just wanted to write stuff that actually happened. For example the line: “Forgot my watch at your apartment, a lot of time I know you won’t get back”, well, I really left my watch at her apartment (laugh). Same kind of thing, I was working through why I was hanging on to it, and giving her the power. It was more like “don’t keep me there, it’s not fair”. Writing that song was one of those sessions where we didn’t have it all day and then we probably got the entire song in the last thirty minutes. I love those kind of moments.

« I’ve been fighting for the songs that are the most honest »

On The Move: “Weekend love”?

Quinn Lewis: I care really deep between stages, and I was not doing the best thing saying to someone “don’t do that to me” but I realized that I was the one doing it. I just didn’t want to be stuck in that phase of going out in the weekend and not seeing each other outside of that.

On The Move: What are you working on at the moment?

Quinn Lewis: I’m working on a lot of music, new ones and songs I’ve had in a while. It’s very exciting and I’m very passionate about it. I’ve been going through the catalogue of the songs that I’ve been writing and fighting for the stuff that is the most honest and the things that I feel to my core and that I can talk about for hours. I have to get people to tell me to shut up about the music (laugh).

On The Move: You’ve opened for Kevin Garrett, which was a dream come true for you, what do you want to achieve now?

Quinn Lewis: Oh man, it’s hard. Hmm… opening for The 1975 would be dope! Or even do my own US or Australian tour would be amazing!

INTERVIEW BY PAM CHARBIT // PHOTOS BY Jonathan Benbaruk

On The Move: Next one… “Pushing All My Friends Away”

Quinn Lewis: I tried to write that song maybe five or six times in different writers’ rooms, and I wrote down “Pushing All My Friends Away” in my notes, on my phone. I brought it up so many times to people and they were like: “that’s cool, let’s workshop the title and the concept, let’s do something else.” And I was like no, I know exactly what I want it to be. The first time I’ve ever wrote with Jason Rabitt - who produced the song - I had a very strategic meeting in my head in the music business and what’s the next step was supposed to be, and he was like «let’s write something that we’re both passionate about and don’t care what people would say or think». I was going through my notes and I asked for his opinion about the title and he loved the idea. He was really pushing me to follow the idea I had.

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