Foster the People - Spring 2014 by Variance Magazine

THE SIGHTS + SOUNDS YOU LOVE

FOSTERthe PEOPLE

COMING OF AGE and

DEFYING EXPECTATIONS

CHROMEO

SXSW 2014 SOHN PARADE OF LIGHTS BIPOLAR SUNSHINE ROYAL TEETH + MORE

ALEX DA KID

SAM SMITH KID INK

CHARLI XCX SZA

VOL. 5, ISSUE 2

APR_SPRING 2014

JUNE 13

V SPRING2014

MIXTAPE

A PLAYLIST CREATED BY YOU

zz SZA “Babylon” (Feat. Kendrick Lamar) by @wegahtasword

FUTURE ISLANDS “Seasons (Waiting on You)” by @MikeFard

FOSTER THE PEOPLE “Best Friend” by @Tkbmusic444

CLAIRE “Broken Promise Land” by @flobraeun

CHROMEO “Jealous (I Ain’t With It)” by @DaSherpaMan

KWABS “Wrong or Right” by @bagnese

LYKKE LI “No Rest for the Wicked” by @ohhmygeeg

PORTER ROBINSON "Sea of Voices"

BROODS “Never Gonna Change” by @Mikel_Jollett

The young producer pushes back against preconceived notions with his glowing new track

PHOTO BY ALYSSE GAFKJEN

FIRSTTHINGSFIRST

THE BLACK KEYS' new album, True Blue, coming May 13

s q

WITH 2014 ALREADY flying by, the year’s given us no shortage of rising stars and amazing talent. Familiar voices and brand new ones alike are delivering some stunning music that’s sure to make for a great spring. In this issue, we’re talking to some of the hottest acts making music right now, as well as those working behind the scenes to help create some extraordinary sounds. Sam Smith is undeniably one of the biggest rising stars on the planet right now. After his incredible collaboration with Disclosure (“Latch”), he appeared on Naughty Boy’s addic-

tive “La La La.” And since then, he keeps releasing one winning track after another. After winning the BRITs’ Critics Choice Award and being named BBC’s Sound of 2014, the singer is talking with us about bringing his talent to the States. Then there’s funk-dance duo Chromeo, who are arguably having the biggest moment of their career. Ahead of their highly-anticipated fourth album, White Women, Dave 1 and P-Thugg are talking about their devoted fans and the inspiration for their new material. The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser is preparing to release his debut solo album later

this spring, and he’s talking with Variance about the challenge of venturing out on his own and the inconvenient “hiatus” that sent fans into a frenzy last year. With another big GRAMMY Moment now behind him, mega-hit producer Alex Da Kid is sitting down to talk about his staggering past year and his gameplan for his growing musical empire. As he continues climbing the charts, rising hip-hop figure Kid Ink is giving some insight about his success, sharing his thoughts on two-time collaborator Chris Brown and revealing his plans for new music, which is likely coming sooner rather than later. Also on the roster are some brilliant stars, including SOHN, SZA and BROODS, all of whom just released new projects and are seeing their budding careers skyrocket this year. Charli XCX is also talking about her latest collaborations and her forthcoming album, which was previously named one of Variance’s 40 Albums to Watch for in 2014. Of course, we’re also discussing the Sights and Sounds of this year’s SXSW, the highs and lows of the annual March festival, in addition to interviews from some of this year’s best and brightest. We’ve also extended our Photo Diaries section to include visual captures from this year’s event. And finally, the cover story. Foster the People has returned to the spotlight after an unexpected breakout with 2011’s Torches. Some say the pressure is on for the band to create another smash single, while others have already written them off altogether. But the trio isn’t worried about critics. Instead, the focus is on creating an honest record. And frontman Mark Foster is explaining why it matters, and why now. n

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CONTENTS 14

SXSW RECAP

FUTURESOUNDS

1-ON-1 WITH THE BEST THE SOUNDS YOU NEED TO HEAR

VARIANCE Spring_2014, Vol. 5, Issue 2 Editorial Director Jonathan Robles Managing Editors Rachel Faylene & Weston Shepherd Editor-at-Large Amanda Morad Features Editors Merlyn Hamilton & Emily Hulseberg Editorial Assistants Laurie Tomlinson & Morgan Edwards Contributing Writers Katie Herald Aaron Lachman John Mouser Abby Olsen Eli Provenzano Steven Totten Edwin Wilson

W I N T E R M I X TA P E ( P L AY L I S T ) BROODS SOHN PHOTO DIARIES KID INK H A M I LT O N L E I T H A U S E R SZA

04 10 12 2 0 28 30 4 6

Contributing Photographers & Artists Johan Bauwens Darren Ankenman Anouck Bertin Keith Coleman Jeremy Cowart Dan Curwin Lauren Dukoff Shelby Duncan Alysse Gafkjen Kathryn Hancock Estevan Oriol Tom Overlie John Rutland Timothy Saccenti Christoph Schaller SSENSE Kristin Threadgill Stephen Tilley Amelia Troubridge Derrick Weber Web Production & Design Nicholas Clayton JP Jones Jonathan Robles Project Development Bryan Norris

THE SIGHTS + SOUNDS YOU LOVE

w w w. v a r i a n c e m a g a z i n e . c o m

CHARLI XCX

The British songstress divulges her plans for her future

SAM SMITH

Already one of 2014â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brightest stars, what can we expect from his debut album?

DRAKE IN OSLO, PHOTO BY TOM OVERLIE

CONTENTS 48

CHROMEO

The duo talks newfound energy and subsequent success

ALEX DA KID

Mega-producer shares highs and lows, and what comes next

BY EDWIN WILSON

t’s no secret the music of New Zealand is in the spotlight right now. Over the past year, the Northern Hemisphere has been enthralled with the country like never before. A lot of that is thanks to Ella Yelich-O’Connor (aka Lorde), the 17-year-old songstress who seems to have struck a chord with audiences the world over. But she’s hardly the only act making their way across the 10

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International Date Line. While “Royals” was taking over American airwaves last year, brother-sister duo BROODS were quietly building their own arsenal of infectious music. And successfully so. Their debut self-titled EP made its way to the Billboard 200 when it arrived in January, weeks ahead of their widely-praised live debut in Los Angeles. “We had no idea what to expect

coming over here,” says 21-year-old Caleb Nott, one-half of the band alongside his younger sister and vocalist Georgia. “We would be happy if anyone showed up at all. I mean, to see these lines of people getting into a club to see us play, it’s unreal. And people singing along to our songs. You can’t really explain how cool that is.” Of course, being an act from New Zealand in the wake of Lorde’s

BRO ODS_

YELLIT NEHPETS YB OTOHP

mainstream surge does present a slight challenge for BROODS. Fans may be unsure of what to expect. Should they be seeking another “Royals”? Or maybe the anti-“Royals”? “We write very differently from her,” explains Nott. “But maybe it’s inevitable to face comparisons right now. With Lorde, her lyrics are very visual and interesting.

She’s so talented with her lyrics. But Georgia is talented in a different way lyrically. We both write more emotionally. It’s a very emotional type of music.” As Nott puts it, “it’s awesome to even have our names mentioned together with Lorde. And it’s amazing to know people are looking for talented musicians now from New

Zealand.” While the pair seeks to establish their own identity as musicians, their home country isn’t all they share with Lorde. Their EP and forthcoming album were co-written and produced by songwriter-producer Joel Little, the man behind Lorde’s debut album, Pure Heroine. And with equally addictive, brilliantly written sounds, BROODS seem to be on track for similar success. “We’ve been working with [Little] for like three years and growing as a very collaborative group,” reveals Nott. “Just developing and fine-tuning what we’re doing right now. We have so much respect for him, we really do. He’s worked his ass off for the past 10 years and he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves. We’re glad to be part of what he’s doing.” The duo is also further proof of the power of Soundcloud, emerging music’s unsung hero. With a few clicks, unknowns and lesserknowns have been able to share their music with the world. And in the case of BROODS, they recently opened for fellow sibling trio HAIM and they’ll tour with Ellie Goulding when she hits Australia and New Zealand. “Soundcloud deserves more credit then they get,” says Nott. “It’s a great place to find music. Especially for people who do remixes, it’s a great way to get your stuff out there. They give new artists and artists like us resources that wouldn’t be available to us otherwise. For us, we just put [our music] up for our fam-

ily and friends. But I guess a few more people decided to give it a listen,” he says with a chuckle. As Spotify, Beats Music and other streaming products compete for listeners’ attention, Nott acknowledges he could be easily discouraged by the changes in music consumption, but he’s rather optimistic, having recently toured the Beats offices with a personalized demonstration of the newly launched app. “The reality is iTunes sales and album sales just aren’t what they used to be,” he laments. “But I’m more concerned about people being able to listen to our music and for our music to get out there and be heard. That’s more important to us.” Despite embracing new technology, however, Nott still has a soft spot for a good hard copy. “For me, personally, I’ve got to say nothing beats getting a physical CD or disc. I often don’t buy music online because I just really like having the physical product and having the artwork. It’s something special and I still value that. Overall, we’re just really big fans of music.” As BROODS continues to rise globally, they’re already looking ahead. “We’re working to get the album out in August, definitely late summer, but we always talk about things like collaborations too. Right now, both of us are huge fans of SOHN and we’d love to do a track with him at some point. Outside of the album, that’s our other goal. If we could make both happen this year, it’d be insane.” n VARIANCEMAGAZI N E . C O M

PHOTO BY AMELIA TROUBRIDGE

SOHN

LESSONS LEARNED WHILE

CREATING HIS NEW ALBUM BY ABBY OLSEN

he “Warnings” were all there in 2012 on his The Wheel EP. With only a handful of musical offerings made available to the public, it was already clear Vienna-based English songwriter-producer Christopher Taylor (aka SOHN) was on to something incredible. Over the past year, his moody, sorrowful lyrics have taken shape and his breathtaking production has only tantalized the appetite of anxiously waiting fans. Until now. With the release of his debut album, Tremors, which has finally seen the light of day. The songs themselves were mostly written at night though. “I had been so crazy busy,” Taylor recalls. “I finally got a few months in the studio, in my studio in Vienna, and I actually worked on my own songs for once. And I just sort of went in on it. Hard. I started working on it every night very late, until six in the morning. And it was in those late-night hours when everything would come together.” After building buzz from his EP, working on his own material had unfortunately taken a backseat to his collaborations with others. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as his projects with Los Angeles’ BANKS and London’s Kwabs had earned Taylor a newfound respect. And thanks to well-received remixes of Lana Del Rey and Rhye, his clout was on the rise. “I found myself in trouble though,” explains Taylor. “I had to force myself to take on the attitude that I’ve had from being a producer working on other people’s music and take that into my own work. Disciplining myself to get it done. Because when you’re working on something for BANKS or Kwabs or Erik Hassle, you have to get that shit done. There’s just no excuses. And sometimes you

don’t hold yourself to that same timeline when it’s only yours. With the others, you have labels and managers and they’re saying, ‘We have to put that shit out. Give it to us.’” In a way, working with his new label 4AD proved to be a double-edged sword, as Taylor eventually discovered. “When you’re working on your own and you’re with 4AD, who’s so cool and so laid back—if it took me three years, sure, the pressure would be on then, but they’ve been so respectful,” he says. “But the backside of that is that I’ve had to discipline myself because I knew this was the latest I wanted to release it. Originally, I wanted it to come out in November but I just didn’t have it. I couldn’t do it.” Interestingly enough, Taylor he couldn’t have planned things out more perfectly if he wanted to. After putting so much time and effort especially into his work with BANKS, both artists are now surging and therefore shining a spotlight on each other in the process. “It’s great that we’ve worked a lot together these past couple of years and now people are getting to hear what we’ve done,” says Taylor. “And it seems like things are going well, especially her stuff. Like she totally deserved that, she’s really so good. And it’s just sort of really bizarre probably for both of us because all of this stuff is coming at the same time. Really, we’re just these kids who are making music and I don’t think any of us really understand it, what it all might mean. Because all of this, the past two years has been building, but with no real destination in mind. The album is the destination. We know that now. And it’s becoming clearer.” Now that the album is finally a reality, Taylor says he’s still figuring out his expectations for it, admitting

he’s “not trying to get any specific message across. I’m making music from a very selfish perspective,” he confesses with a very matter-of-fact look on his face. “I’m making the kind of music I want to make. For me, the albums I enjoy the most are the ones where you can really get into them; they’re introspective. Somehow they soundtrack something going on in your own life. And if that were to happen with my record for other people, then I’d be really happy. To be able to soundtrack people’s lives.” Next up, Taylor hits the road in Europe and the U.K. before returning to the States in May. And while he acknowledges he’s not one to speculate, he promises one thing. “When I was at [BBC] Radio 1, I had to cover a song,” he recalls. “They like you to cover very current songs, but I would have loved to do ‘Climax’ by Usher. That song gets to me like very few songs do. Like, I’m going to do that one day, just watch. I’ll probably wait to do it live during a show. That will happen at some point, it’s such a great song.” n VARIANCEMAGAZI N E . C O M

SXSW V 2014

TALES FROM AUSTIN

ROYAL TEETH

PHOTO BY ZACH BREAUX

BY JONATHAN ROBLES

>> New Orleans outfit Royal Teeth continues to rise, having made their third visit to SXSW this year. Each year the band has performed, they’ve seen their career inch upwards, with a record deal after their first year and a music publishing deal last year. But being a young band at SXSW in 2014 “is kind of overwhelming,” according to vocalist Gary Larsen. “It makes you feel small being in the middle of all these bands and so much going on,” Larsen explains. “It’s not what it used to be, that’s for sure. It’s evolving I guess, like most things do. And I know money is probably crazy now, so there’s that. But it’s not bad, because it’s not every day you can see half a dozen unknown bands and then go watch Coldplay or JAY Z in a matter of a hours.” Despite feeling the overwhelmingness of being at one of the country’s most influential music events, bassist Josh Wells says it’s actually encouraging to see the direction in which music is going. “Alternative and the indies are becoming pop. You keep seeing more alternative bands crossing over and finding success on top 40. Everything is just merging, which is great for bands like us. The opportunities now 14

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have less to do with genre.” The band further proved that point only days after SXSW, when they took the stage to perform on American Idol, a platform once reserved mostly for household names. As the group moves forward, they’re aware of the influx of indie-everything. But as singer Nora Patterson explains, “our main goal isn’t to stand out or separate ourselves from other bands.” Instead, they’re “focused on making music that’s honest.” Next, the band plans to tour through the summer, with dates at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Firefly Music Festival, among others. “We’ve been playing a couple new songs on tour and I think we’d really love to be able to record some of the new stuff as soon as possible,” says Larson. Adds Wells: “The longevity of an album is not what it used to be, and everything is also so saturated.” A lot can happen in a few months, but the group overwhelmingly believes they may have a new album done by year’s end. “We’re a hungry band. We’re just ready,” says Wells. n

BIPOLAR SUNSHINE

>> After years in Manchester six-piece Kid British, Adio Marchant (aka Bipolar Sunshine) finally branched out on his own last year and continues to define his own identity as a solo artist. Following two EPs and months spent on the road supporting Bastille, HAIM and Rudimental on tour, Marchant made his solo debut at SXSW in March. He admits it was somewhat overwhelming at first, but “it’s also very moving,” he explains. “I can’t express how incredible it is to perform [my] own songs and hear people sing them back to me.” With buzz building over the past few months thanks to his Drowning Butterflies EP and the irresistible title track, now comes the challenge of turning that buzz into a career. But Marchant feels he’s ready. “It’s intimidating,” he says. “And not that we have it easier in England, but I believe I thrive in a challenge like this because, sure, people may not understand how I talk—the lingo, but sometimes the songs can do all the talking and communicate in a way you can’t on your own. And I think where sometimes

I feel inferior, the songs speak for me.” Marchant, who’s with Polydor Records in the U.K. and Capitol Records in the States, doesn’t have to look far for inspiration as he seeks to expand internationally. Fellow Polydor labelmate Ellie Goulding is proof there’s plenty of room for British musicians in American and beyond. “The label understands the formula,” he explains. “They understand the way that things can work,

BY EDWIN WILSON

and when you go into the [music] business with someone, you want to know their track record. It’s nice to see someone like Ellie Goulding doing so many great things. She’s an inspiration for me and a great example that if you come with the right attitude and great songs, you can do great things. And no matter how prepared you are, you still need that little bit of luck. But that’s what makes this industry so fascinating.” n VARIANCEMAGAZI N E . C O M

SXSW V 2014

TALES FROM AUSTIN

JOHNNYSWIM

BY JONATHAN ROBLES

PHOTO BY JEREMY COWART

>> Ahead of their long-awaited debut full-length, Diamonds, husband-wife duo Johnnyswim made their seventh trek to SXSW this year. Abner Ramirez and Amanda SudanoRamirez—daughter of the late Donna Summer and producer Bruce Sudano— have been making music together since meeting in Nashville eight years ago. And their history with the Austin-based festival runs nearly as long. “We used to work as production assistants for Fader Fort,” recalls Ramirez. “And we watched it grow. We watched the festival grow really.” His wife interjects: “Then there was the one year [in 2008], we were working in the artist suite and a band canceled. And we hear on the radio, ‘Get to the stage, we need you to play.’ So that ended up being our first performance at SXSW.” “I was taking off my walkie-talkie as I’m 16

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getting onstage,” says Ramirez. “We had so little time to prepare that I had been eating a blue popsicle before that to cool off from the heat. And I ended up performing with blue all over my mouth. I blue myself,” he quips with a grin as Sudano-Ramirez shakes her head beside him, just smiling. Despite a general love for SXSW, the couple acknowledges that they may not make it back in 2015, with SudanoRamirez recounting that they had only one show this year that didn’t feel “like an industry, very corporate showcase or where you can hear 17 other bands playing in your ear” as they tried playing an acoustic set. While most duos face various challenges, from band politics to business decisions, Johnnyswim is in the rare sector of music acts who share a bedroom on and off the road.

“Luckily for us, we haven’t had any issue with keeping things fresh,” says Sudano-Ramirez. “But people, or fans, don’t always understand the things some musicians give up being on the road all the time. I think if you look at some other duos, like even The Civil Wars, it’s hard being away from your family. So I feel for them. You’re on the road for weeks or months at a time. “The thing about our situation is that we’re traveling together, so if we have a night off, we make it a date night. Whatever city we’re in, we can make it special. And there’s no feeling of being away from home, because home for me is where he is, and vice versa. Wherever we are, as long as we’re together, that’s home.” Coincidentally, “Home” is the name of Johnnyswim’s single which will appear on the forthcoming Diamonds, set to arrive April 29 on Big Picnic. n

PARADE OF LIGHTS

BY RACHEL FAYLENE

PHOTO BY KATHRYN HANCOCK

>> Parade of Lights is an electro-rock group that has clearly benefited from being in the right place at the right time. The group was originally formed by Ryan Daly and Anthony Improgo, picking up members Randy Schulte and Michelle Ashley along the way. Daly and Improgo are longtime musical collaborators but are recently reaping beginning to reap the benefits. Formerly known as POLUS, the band eventually went on hiatus due to an unfortunate episode. “I actually dislocated my

knee on stage at a sold out show at the Troubadour and I couldn’t walk,” recalls Improgo. “I was on the ground and I had to be carried out on a stretcher and call 911. Randy was holding my leg together.” Unable to walk for quite some time, Improgo’s injury and other demands forced Daly and Improgo to put their band on hold and pursue individual ambitions. But when their respective tours allowed them time in Australia, they came together once again to launch Parade of Lights. “We decided to write some stuff that we really liked, stuff that we would want to listen to,” says Improgo. “As soon as we did that we started to get a reaction and were like, ‘Okay, we’re on to something.’” And fans agreed. The group went on to release their self-titled EP at the end of 2012, spurring the viral hit single “We’re the Kids.” The song was picked up by radio and from there it just snowballed. The band went into SXSW this year with plenty of buzz, having had their single “Golden” pushed

all February long as part of NBC’s Winter Olympics promos. “Basically what happened is we started working on the EP and then we wrote [‘Golden’]. It was pitched at NBC by our label afterward. So there’s just these things that keep happening that keep the momentum going. We’re really lucky.” Lucky as the band has been, Improgo does not intend to build Parade of Lights on luck alone. “I’m a firm believer in, ‘you need to write quality music.’ Because buzz only lasts for so long. People are only excited about this for so long. If you continue to put out quality music it’s not even buzz any more, it’s a dedicated, cult sort of following. Buzz is great, but you have to have the product to back it up.” Parade of Lights will be spending the rest of the year touring as much as possible. They also plan on working closely on their visual representation and writing diligently. “We’ve got to keep the music coming,” says Improgo. “We try to beat ourselves every time we write a song.” VARIANCEMAGAZI N E . C O M

SXSW V 2014

TALES FROM AUSTIN

WHITE SEA

BY RACHEL FAYLENE

PHOTO BY ANOUCK BERTIN

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>> Morgan Kibby’s success with M83 has helped create the ideal launch of her first solo album, In Cold Blood, which arrives on May 20. The record was a natural next step for Kibby as she narrowed in on her individual identity White Sea. “It was a story that I really needed to tell and it really flowed out of me,” she confesses from the rooftop deck above Brazos Hall in Austin. “It’s a full piece. I look at it like a bunch of movements or chapters from a book. It really has a beginning, a middle and an end. And as far as this collection of songs are concerned, I want it to be listened to as such.” Although White Sea is currently Kibby’s main focus, she is quick to point out she doesn’t intend to close the door on M83. “I think Anthony [Gonzalez] and I will make music on and off for the rest of our lives,” she says. “We have an extremely beautiful connection when it comes to music and we have a good collaboration.” Kibby admits it’s not easy starting a new music act, regardless of her past success: “Look, I’m coming out of a hugely successful band with M83. [But] it’s starting from the fucking bottom—pardon my French. And it’s fine, I’m OK with it, but

everything is so temporary. I really don’t like today’s music culture where it’s just more information, more information, more information. While M83 has previously found a cult following thanks in part to niche media and blogs, the industry has changed, making it a challenge for newcomers. “You’ll have a song premiere on a website and it’s old news in 24 hours. It doesn’t really allow an atmosphere for people to grow with you. That makes me nervous starting out again. I think with M83 we had the luxury of the blog culture; it hadn’t quite evolved into what it’s become even over the last couple of years.” Referring to hype as “empty carbs,” Kibby says her goal is develop a true connection with fans that lasts. “Hype is just sugar, it doesn’t mean anything. Yeah, it’ll get you attention for a second, but there’s no lasting value. Ultimately, you make music that you’re proud of and the cream rises to the top. Hopefully people like my album enough and that it stands out.” After years under the reliable M83 umbrella, Kibby is now trusting fans will embrace White Sea and “have a creative dialogue. It’s so rewarding connecting with music lovers.” n

† † † (CROSSES)

>> When fans found out Deftones’ Chino Moreno and Far’s Shaun Lopez, along with Chuck Doom, were working on a “witch house” project, some fans weren’t sure how to respond. There was a lot of mystery surrounding the group, known as ††† (Crosses), and in many ways, there still is. “We were never trying to be witch house though,” explains Lopez. “I think a lot of that came from fans who saw the visuals, and of course there are a lot of these religious elements. But I think we’re just fascinated with religions, the idea of it and the psychology of it.” Being able to perform this year at SXSW, the band hoped to shed some of the misconceptions and instead put the focus on their music. “I know especially these days it’s hard to categorize,” admits Lopez. “I think we’re definitely electronicinfluenced, but we’re still rock. That’s at the core of what we’re doing and who we are. That’s what we know. Chino and I have been friends for years, and

BY EDWIN WILSON

even though this is new for us and for our fans, it’s still rock.” While their self-titled debut album is finally out now, it was a slow process getting to this point. But Lopez says the freedom he has now and the lessons he’s learned from his past experience in the music industry are priceless. “Sometimes I would think people at the labels or a writer at a magazine or booking agent was way smarter or way better at what they do and they just know more than you,” he recalls. “I remember being younger and having these thoughts about, ‘Maybe we really shouldn’t do this’ or ‘It would make more sense to do it another way.’ But I would hold my tongue because I didn’t have

the confidence in my own beliefs; I felt intimidated. When it came to marketing the band or handling an album, sometimes I didn’t go with my gut and I regret that. So now that we’re doing something new, I know better. Maybe we don’t need all these traditional methods of doing things, and that’s OK.” Moving forward, Lopez says the band still likes having some mystery about them, but he hopes people don’t just see the album as “a collection of songs. And I know that’s hard to say nowadays, but we hope people hear it as a complete album. If they buy or if they steal it, so long as they hear it.” n

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P H O T O

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D I A R I E S

LORDE performs at Lollapalooza Chile, by Liliane Callegari

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PHOTO DIARIES

L TO R FROM TOP: RUDIMENTAL PERFORMS AT FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL BY JOHN GOODRIDGE; FUTURE ISLANDS PERFORM AT SXSW IN AUSTIN; SURFER BLOOD PERFORMS AT THE SAINT AT ASBURY PARK; CAGE THE ELEPHANT PERFORMS AT SXSW; THE 1975 PERFORMS AT SXSW BY MADDIE CASEY; TRASH TALK PERFORMS AT SXSW BY L. ALEX FRANK; DANNY BROWN PERFORMS LIVE BY MONA MARUYAMA

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L TO R FROM TOP: MS MR PERFORMS AT SXSW; DAVE 1 OF CHROMEO PERFORMS AT BUKU MUSIC + ART PROJECT IN NEW ORLEANS BY APRIL SIESE; CHANCE THE RAPPER PERFORMS AT SXSW BY L. ALEX FRANK; ZAC BARNETT OF AMERICAN AUTHORS PERFORMS AT SXSW BY MADDIE CASEY; SARAH BARTHEL OF PHANTOGRAM PERFORMS AT SXSW; SNOOP DOGG PERFORMS AT SXSW

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V LEFT TO RIGHT, CLOCKWISE CHRIS CORNELL of Soundgarden performs at SXSW in Austin SCHOOLBOY Q performs at SXSW KRIS ORLOWSKI performs at SXSW DAMON ALBARN performs at SXSW Photos by Maddie Casey

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PHOTO DIARIES

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CHARLI XCX

VARIANCEM A G A Z I N E . C O M

STORY BY

RACHEL FAYLENE

PHOTO BY DAN CURWIN

ngland’s Charlotte Emma Aitchison is no stranger to the spotlight. Known best by her stage name, Charli XCX, the singer-songwriter started her musical journey recording and performing when she was only 14. Her first live shows were in London, where she began setting the stage for wild warehouse raves. Aitchison found herself working alongside various labels and releasing music quite frequently until taking a yearlong hiatus, allowing her to refocus and began working on future projects. Having landed touring spots alongside the likes of Coldplay, Santigold and Ellie Goulding, Aitchison lent her writing and vocal abilities to Icona Pop’s 2012 smash “I Love It” and most recently Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.” And after releasing her longawaited sophomore album, last year’s True Romance, she’s quickly moving forward and ready to write the next chap-

ter of her career. “There were a lot of people who didn’t believe in me at the beginning of my career,” she recalls over lunch in Austin. “I wasted a lot of time with people—with older men—in the industry who didn’t think I had potential because I was just a girl. Now that I realize how ridiculous that was, I feel like I have a lot to do.” Having come a long way since those days, the 21 year-old musician says her forthcoming material will likely show a more mature side of her. But that doesn’t mean she’s ditching the party vibes her fans love, noting that her appearance at SXSW this year pretty much affirmed that. “I think [SXSW] went pretty well, it was good,” she says. “It was crazy, we had balloons, and there was dancing and confetti.” While fans are still enjoying Aitchison’s latest album and collaborations, that hasn’t stopped her from working on her third studio album.

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WHAT COMES NEXT FOR THE YOUNG STARLET?

“I feel like I don’t really take time off,” she admits. “I always write, so I wanted to just keep going. I wanted to make the record really fast because I felt really creative; it’s very inspired. I am constantly writing, even if it’s not for myself.” Nurturing her career and building her catalog have certainly kept her busy, but she’s found a soft spot for working with others who inspire her. And while some collaborations these days seem to be rather frivolous, Aitchison instead says she puts great thought into hers. “I’ve done a lot of collaborations just because I enjoy working with other people,” she confesses. “Like I only collaborate with the people I trust, people I admire. And it has to be fun, not just to create some hype. It’s just exciting for me, especially with people like Danny Brown. I love getting to work with other creative people and seeing what we come up with.” Looking ahead, Aitchison says she’s done writing for her next full-length but she’s unsure what the final product will sound like, as she’s currently reviewing recordings to decide which songs will eventually make the cut. “[The album] is coming along; I have been working in L.A. for a while, finishing off, and I think it’s coming along now,” she says. “It’s really done now, I feel. I have a lot of songs, I’m just inspecting them.” And while collaborations have been a big part of the young singer’s path to success, she surprisingly has no immediate intentions of including any guest features on her next release. Instead of doing what she knows, she’s aiming to venture into new territory this time around. “I am not a very in-the-box artist and I feel like that’s why I want to make a record that isn’t a simple record, I don’t want to put it in the box,” she declares of her forthcoming album. “I think there are a lot of great new voices in music right now and it’s an exciting time. I don’t want to do the same thing over again. We have to keep pushing forward. And this is going to be my way of doing that.” n

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KID INK IN HIS OWN LANE BY EDWIN WILSON

rian Collins is hardly the littleknown, indie producer he used to be. After cultivating a rabid underground fan base, Collins, better known as Kid Ink, signed with RCA Records last year and has since claimed a top 20 hit with his Chris Brown collaboration “Show Me.” Part of the challenge for indies-turnedmajor is maintaining their artistic integrity while still trying to expand their audience, something Collins is now very familiar with. “Fans sometimes want to keep you in this box,” he explains, sitting in the green room before opening for Ludacris in Austin. “It’s the downside of the hipster culture. They are behind you when you’re underground, but then it’s like, ‘You trying to be a radio artist or something?’ And I think, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.’ I appreciate the fans who support me, but I’m not trying to just be cool, I’m trying to be successful.” In just a short amount of time, he’s already achieving certain levels of success, having claimed his first gold record with “Show Me.” But Collins admits he’s still got a long way to go. “I feel like I am in the middle ground right now,” he says. “Not indie anymore but I still feel like an underdog in some ways. I’m just trying, I’ve got so much work to do. But at the same time, I have been able to do a lot. Maybe next is platinum.” He continues, while opening a York Peppermint Patty: “But I’m just trying not to take anything for granted.” Part of what Collins says keeps him grounded is the unpredictability of the

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path he’s followed so far. Even his Chris Brown collaborations, the aforementioned “Show Me” and his newest single “Main Chick,” weren’t really planned out. “I came to the studio and I played him about five records from the album,” Collins recalls. “I just let him decide which one he wanted to work with and he ended up choosing both ‘Show Me’ and ‘Main Chick.’ Then we worked on something brand new, from scratch, so we got three records out of that session. One maybe for the future.” “Main Chick” was first featured on Brown’s X Files mixtape last year, with no intentions of including both DJ Mustard-produced tracks on Collins’ newly released My Own Lane album. But that all changed when fans heard the song. “The people spoke,” he says. With a lot of the negative headlines surrounding Brown lately—in addition to being a generally polarizing figure in music, Collins says he was prepared for backlash from some listeners. But the opposition was tame. “At first, there was the—being scared of the negative sides, just with everything he is going through,” Collins remembers. “There’s a lot we see and hear about him, yeah, but to be able to have the Chris Brown records, that’s a big deal. I think everyone kind of just respects the good music at the end of the day and aren’t really putting it towards anything, we just have the songs. I know it’s easy with Chris’ situation to get really wrapped up in all the bad things we hear. And he’s had his struggles of course. But I think music always just overtakes the negative

stuff, as long as it’s good music.” Ultimately, that’s Collins’ focus, making good music and being able to deliver it to fans on a regular basis. “That’s probably one challenge with being on RCA, the planning and the timing. And I’m not one of those artists who wants to put out an EP and then album with all the same songs from the EP.” But the perks outweigh the obstacles, according to Collins. “I feel like I get more support from my peers now. Once people knew I was getting those [RCA] checks and I could get airplay, they knew they weren’t wasting their time. It helps getting more features and getting in the studio with more people.” He also believes while some fans may cry “sellout,” most of them support his current rise. “They’ve been grinding with me for so long, and they get to see that it wasn’t for nothing. And to really get that respect, like, ‘he’s not an underground artist anymore.’ I can actually make the music that I wanted to make, that might be a little more commercial. I didn’t want to be an underground artist forever. It works for some but not everyone.” As for what’s next, Collins says he’d love to grab a session with Swizz Beatz or Timbaland. In the meantime, he’s scheduled to tour through at least June. And then “getting back to the music. Summer’s coming up again and I want to have something out for the summer, some new music.” n For Kid Ink’s current tour dates, go to kidinkmusic.com.

PHOTOS BY ESTEVAN ORIOL

Q+A

THE WALKMEN’S

HAMILTON LEITHAUSER HIS SOLO JOURNEY | THE EXCITEMENT,

THE UNCERTAINTY

The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser is set to release his debut solo album, Black Hours, on June 3. This solo release marks a new chapter in Leithauser’s already growing repertoire. He is currently touring his new music and has dates set with the talented Ray LaMontagne. The emotional album is a great introduction to the multi-hyphenate’s solo material, which happens to feature plenty of familiar faces. Variance got a chance to chat with Leithauser before he kicked off his tour and learned about how the album came together and what’s next.

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BY EMILY HULSEBERG

We’ve been listening to your album the past few days. How does it feel to finally be about to put it out?

It’s been a long time writing it, so I’m really ready to do it. And I’m very excited for people to hear it.

You were doing other things back then (still touring as The Walkmen). Had you set out to do a record, or did it just kind of happen?

You know, I always work on music. I sort of do it obsessively, whether that’s good or bad. I’m working on a new song right now. It’s just something that I enjoy doing. Even when I don’t want to do it, I’m just sort of always doing it. I sort of can’t stop. So when I work on a lot of songs, once you get a big batch is when you feel you should go pay some money to get into a recording studio. It’s basically just a process of coming up with enough songs to feel like you got a good thing, and then when you’ve finally got enough to make it into a record, that’s when it becomes a record. Was it always the plan to kind of take a break and then you’d have time to release your album?

Yeah, I mean, I had started writing stuff right when we finished our record Heaven. When we’re already in the studio I find that’s a good time to be writing on the side. So I had some new ideas and things that weren’t ready to go for Heaven. When we were done with that I [had] a few demos I really liked; only one of those has survived, but it’s made it on to this record. Originally I didn’t know what it was going to be. When you’re starting something new it’s always difficult because you have nothing to base it on. I didn’t know what everybody wanted to do. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do … Eventually, over the course of a year, we decided to do stuff separately because other people had songs they wanted to write on their own and it just seemed like a good idea. Were you surprised at all by the reaction from people when they found out, “Hey, we’re going to do separate things”?

I’m happy that people cared. It’s nice, you don’t ever know people care about you at all. We never planned on making any announcements. It was kind of a shame that it became public knowledge. We didn’t want to have a “final concert,” we didn’t want to celebrate ourselves and we didn’t want to do all that … It got a little bit away from us and what was the last [show] on the books suddenly became our final concert.

By not announcing anything formally, was that to kind of leave things open for the future?

Yeah, maybe. I have no idea what we’ll do. I really don’t know. I had such a great time making this record, so I’ll definitely do this for a long time. For you, moving into this new phase, do you feel any kind of pressure? Or is this just a clean slate?

It’s definitely—there’s still history. Everybody wants to know about The Walkmen and wants to know how this relates to that and why I’m doing this separately. Everybody’s gonna judge you based on your history, there’s nothing you can do about that. But that’s fine. I like our history and I like The Walkmen. It is nerve wracking, though, because suddenly people are writing about you by name instead of ‘The Walkmen,’ so it gets a little more personal. [And] there’s a lot of pressure to not flat-out sound like The Walkmen. That was always there before though. We were always like, let’s not sound like this band or let’s not do this because we’ve already explored that before. I sense a lot more soul and emotion [in this album]. It just feels more in-depth. Did you tap into a different energy?

I agree with that completely. When you’re on your own like this, you become so involved, personally involved with everything. For this being a new phase—a new venture for you, you called on some old friends. What inspired you to bring back some familiar faces?

Well Paul [Maroon] was one of the main writers in The Walkmen too. And he and I—before any formal discussion of, ‘Let’s take a break from The Walkmen’—we had like five songs that [were] sort of halfdone. And when we had decided to take a break, I talked to him and we agreed that in a very different capacity we were going to keep working together. Then I got an email from Rostam [Batmanglij (of Vampire Weekend)] and he was sort of a friend of a friend, and he heard that I was doing stuff outside of The Walkmen. So we started writing together. And we really hit it off. That was great because I spent a lot of time working alone. It is really nice to have support outside of yourself.

"I LIKE OUR HISTORY AND I LIKE THE WALKMEN. IT IS NERVE WRACKING, THOUGH, BECAUSE SUDDENLY PEOPLE ARE WRITING ABOUT YOU BY NAME INSTEAD OF ‘THE WALKMEN,’ SO IT GETS A LITTLE MORE PERSONAL."

Why Black Hours?

I think it was strong and had sort of a dark tone to it. The record’s not necessarily that dark, I thought you needed unapologetically dark when you hear that title, but it’s—if you listen to the music, it’s fun. There’s a fun to the darkness. In the past, I always worried that maybe we were getting too dark and heavy and stuff, and I thought this time the music isn’t necessarily like that. Are you excited to get back on the road?

I am. Our new line-up is gonna really be something special. It’s really weird putting together a band, I’ve never done that before. I’ve only ever played with my high school friends and The Walkmen. It’s weird, you know. You like, hire people; it’s like you’re their manager. What do you hope people take away from this record?

I just hope people like the songs. I hope people can see why I thought it was worth it. You’ve got a busy few months ahead of you. Where do you hope to see yourself once the year closes out?

I’d like to still be alive and kicking. It’s hard. You’re starting over with a new band. A lot of people have no idea who I am. It definitely requires putting aside a lot of stability and stuff. I’d like to be able to say that I can still work on music. And I’d like to just have the opportunity to play these songs for a while. n

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SAM SMITH

The Rise of

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BY EMILY HULSEBERG

ritish soul-pop singersongwriter Sam Smith has been taking listeners “to church” recently with his out-of-this-world vocal range and electric persona. The 21-year-old was earlier this year named BBC’s Sound of 2014 and Variance caught up with him the day after another big win, taking home the Critics’ Choice trophy at the U.K.’s BRIT Awards in February.

Although Smith has been working at a career in music for a few years already, his first break came with his feature on Disclosure’s 2012 single “Latch.” Following the track’s success, reaching No. 11 on the British Official Singles Chart, Smith began sharing his solo material. While first single “Lay Me Down” quietly showcased Smith’s incredible vocal range, his subsequent offerings continued to blow fans away, one track after another. But despite his indisputable superstar talent, the young singer is still taken aback by his swift rise over the past few months. “It’s unbelievable and actually overwhelming,” he says. “And because it’s so insane, I need to stay focused and keep working hard. [But] I’m certainly having fun,” he adds. With great success has certainly come great opportunities. But Smith admits his roller coaster calendar has been a challenge, given his preference for having a routine. Of course, that shouldn’t be a concern for long, as he just hit the road again, including multiple dates in North America. “I love touring,” admits Smith. “You wake up, go to the venue, you sound check, you have some dinner and then you perform. I love that. I like that routine. It’s nice to have that.” Despite his youth, Smith’s work ethic is apparent and it shines through in his music, both in writing and performing, as many attendees of his live per-

formances have been quick to attest. It’s something that “comes from training every single day,” reveals Smith. “I’ve worked really hard on my voice,” he recalls. “Believe me, when we wrote and recorded ‘Latch,’ it was so painful to sing… But I’ve been singing it so much this past year that I’m used to it now.” Having been propelled to center stage by fellow rising stars Disclosure and Naughty Boy as a ‘featured artist,’ some critics have suggested Smith may ultimately surpass his peers. But when it comes to comparisons, Smith is quick to dismiss such chatter as apples and oranges. “I’m grateful for the work I’ve done before with other artists, but ultimately, every artist is on their own journey. And this is mine,” he says. Although he earned the spotlight for himself with collaborations, there won’t be any guests when it comes to his own album, In the Lonely Hour, which arrives June 17. Instead, “it’s just me,” he says. “And it was important for me to do that, just because I’m coming off two features and I wanted to put myself out there and—to be honest, the album is a body of work. And I’m not sure how I feel about collaborations on bodies of work.” Beyond musical style, Smith has also received kudos for his signature sense of fashion. “It’s definitely different because I didn’t get this kind of attention before,” he says. “When people compliment the way I look or

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say flattering things, it’s new to me.” But according to the singer, part of that is thanks to a weekly cut from Knightsbridge (London) hair stylist Paul Edmonds, who keeps Smith’s hair looking fresh. “I think it’s like this for anyone. Getting compliments makes you feel good. But I don’t think I’m blatantly a good-looking person,” he confesses. “I was very surprised when I started getting comments like that.” With such success not even halfway into the year, Smith has thus far remained sin-

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cere in his efforts and seems genuinely grateful for all that has happened to him. And he still has a ton of things to look forward to for the rest of the year as he solidifies his status as one of the year’s biggest stars. “I’m looking forward to traveling and seeing the world a bit, seeing as many people as I can. That’s what motivates me the most right now,” he admits. “Especially when you’ve got so much going on leading up to the album and the tour, that’s what makes it worth it, knowing I’ll

soon get to see the fans and meet all these people who have been supporting me.” As Smith’s debut quickly approaches, the singer says he’s trying to remain modest with his expectations. But having an undeniable connection with his fans, the singer says he hopes people “feel a little less lonely when they listen to this album,” he says. “I just hope it helps them as much as it’s helped me.” In The Lonely Hour arrives on June 17 via Capitol Records.

future sounds } G

ermany’s self-described “neon pop” five-piece CLAIRE is ready to make the jump to North America. After an impeccable string of performances at SXSW, the Munichbased outfit is destined to be one of this year’s breakout acts. Although their debut album, The Great Escape, isn’t set to release in the U.S. until this summer, they’ve developed a loyal following back home and they’re anxious to spend much more time across the pond.

CLAIRE

Working in their favor is the fact that they’ve already nabbed support from some familiar names. Their single “Games” received a blissful remix from Passion Pit last fall, which came on the heels of CLAIRE’s tour opening for CHVRCHES and Bastille overseas. With a handful of viral tracks already under their belt through Hype Machine, CLAIRE brings a certain kind of intelligent pop to a market flooded with sugarcoated drivel. And their extraordinary

arrangements and breathtaking production are further brought to life by singer Josie Claire Bürkle’s lush vocals. Another major strength—and likely the one that foretells the band’s longevity—is CLAIRE’s ability to deliver an intoxicating live performance. Unlike many of the Web-savvy acts in today’s auto-tune friendly music culture, their flawlessness isn’t limited to post-production. And it’s one of many reasons CLAIRE is one to watch right now. n

V THE SOUNDS YOU NEED TO HEAR

aught a Ghost, the brainchild of Los Angeles native Jesse Nolan, is quickly becoming a music-licensing gem, with prime placements on musically-savvy television series such as ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, USA’s Suits and the CW’s The Vampire Diaries. But the neosoul outfit isn’t just some novelty act. There has been no shortage of retro-everything in music over the past few years. And Caught a Ghost certainly has a vintage R&B aura, recalling influence from Motown to the Rolling Stones. The band isn’t a Smokey Robinson wannabe, but rather a testament of the greatness of past music eras while progressively pushing the art forward. It’s a crowded field, the genre of modern retro. But part of what makes Caught a Ghost an exception is how effortlessly they cross genres, thus creating a magical fusion of pop, soul and electronic. Fans of Mayer Hawthorne,

CAUGHT A GHOST

Fitz and the Tantrums and LCD Soundsystem should find a lot to love about this collective, which also includes singer/percussionist Tessa Thompson. Additionally, their must-see live shows typically consist of a large ensemble of various musicians and dancers. Sure, it’s somewhat crowded for the

stages they’re playing right now. But rest assured, stage size won’t be much of an issue for long as Nolan and Co. continue to rise. Caught a Ghost is currently on tour through May, with upcoming dates supporting Wild Belle. The debut full-length, Human Nature, is out now. n

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V THE SOUNDS YOU NEED TO HEAR

WATERS

ot long after West Coast outfit Port O’Brien disbanded in 2011, singer-songwriter Van Pierszalowski quickly released a new full-length under the moniker WATERS. Pierszalowski has laid low for the past couple of years, but he made a rousing return in February with an incredibly addictive new single, which is appropriately titled “Got to My Head.” And as the title not-so-subtly implies, it’s an earworm. It should come as no surprise WATERS is heading in a more hi-fi, melodic direction this time around. But it’s a

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welcome change. Pierszalowski has always had a knack for catchy hooks, but he recently revealed he’s been working with Ryan Rabin of GROUPLOVE and Chris Chu of POP ETC. In fact, they actually recorded on the new album, which is expected to be done sometime this spring. While WATERS is hardly a “new” band, the new material is promising this is the beginning of a new and much more interesting chapter in Pierszalowski’s career as he’s likely about to go from that small fish in a big pond to flat-out ruling the ocean. n

future sounds } N

orway’s Sampda Sharma (better known as Samsaya) has been defying music genres since the start of her career, but as she prepares for the release of her U.S. debut fulllength, Bombay Calling, the Indian-native singer is fusing modern pop with a slew of international sounds and hip-hop vibes, evidenced by her new, club-worthy single “Stereotype.” Fans of M.I.A., Amy Winehouse and some of St. Vincent’s newer material will love the song’s bubbly, funkpop sound that seems to leave listeners anxious for more.

Sharma has said she longs to make music that comes from an emotional place, “and sometimes, that may not sound pretty.” But she’s never been one to conform to outsiders’ views of beauty anyway. When major labels approached her, asking her to fix a noticeable, three-millimeter gap between her teeth, she turned them down and launched her own label, 3 Millimeter Records. The singer has carried that perspective into her live shows, including her stunning stateside debut at SXSW, with a heart painted over her left eye, as a reminder to

SAMSAYA

look at things with her heart and with an open mind. Inspired by the likes of Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige and OutKast, her unique brand of pop is just itching to make its way to top 40 radio. And that’s a very good thing. n

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FOSTER THE PEOPLE

THE ALT-POP FAVORITE THAT "NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN" COMING OF AGE AND DEFYING EXPECTATIONS BY JONATHAN ROBLES

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IT I

PHOTOS BY DARREN ANKENMAN

t’s a sunny late winter afternoon in Austin and Mark Foster is enjoying a day off ahead of the release of Foster the People’s sophomore album, Supermodel. The next day, the band will perform their first show in the city in nearly two years. A lot has changed since the group was last on tour. The “kids” that first took over the Web in 2010 with their infectious free download “Pumped Up Kicks,” well, they’ve grown up. Now 30, Foster says he had to do a great amount of “soul-searching” following a seemingly non-stop tour in support of their debut record, Torches. “I had a lot of questions on the heels of that tour,” he recalls. “I kind of needed to clear my head. There was just a lot of information that had been coming at me without really having a release or a way to process it. So I felt like I had a big load of dirty laundry that I had to go through. I took some time to travel by myself and get away.” Despite the time off, by late summer of 2012, Foster was back in the studio. In September of the same year, he was already in Morocco with producer Paul Epworth working on what would eventually become Supermodel. The initial plan was to dive into the new album, but Foster ended up scoring Alejandro Monteverde’s new film, Little Boy.

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“Look back, I probably took too much on,” says Foster with a slight chuckle. “I just like to work. I don’t like to sit around. And I loved scoring that film, but it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever worked on. It was over an hour of original music. I bit off a lot and we didn’t end up finishing until February [2013]. The good thing is we had already written some ideas for the new album, so by March, we were working on it again and recording.” The result was “something more human,” according to Foster, who credits Epworth with “capturing the soul in the room with some grit.” While the new material focused less on synths and electronic drums, instead being more guitar-driven, it wasn’t what the band expected going into the project. “It was probably the longest I had gone without recording,” Foster explains. “So when I started up again, I was just like, ‘Where did that come from?’ Like ‘Pseudologia Fantastica’ and ‘Beginner’s Guide to Destroying the Moon.’ Those heavier, kind of shoegazing songs. When those songs started coming out, we just started laughing because we thought, ‘Foster the People doesn’t sound like this!’ But now it does. So we went in with our own ideas, but those were just a platform to dive off of. The greatest freedom came when we let ourselves just explore and not be too contrived

“I may never write

another song like ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ again, but we were never supposed to. So I don’t have to defeat these expectations, we already did that.”

(( with the sound of the record.” While Foster says he pulled from past musical experiences to provoke his songwriting, his time spent overseas ultimately served as a greater inspiration than he had anticipated. “After the first album, I kind of got thrust into this Hollywood world,” he recalls. “I’ve lived in L.A. for the past decade, but suddenly I’m at a party with people I only knew from TV or magazines. I’m in the same room as these people who have everything they want, but they’re so unfulfilled. And I go to these other countries where they don’t have access to clean water or basic medical care, yet there’s a spark in their eye like you don’t see in the States. So much love. And that broke me. It forced me to deal with things within myself.” What was supposed to be the making of a record turned out to be somewhat of a battle. As time went on, it wasn’t only himself and his own demons but also outside elements. “I could feel the expectations of people on this record,” he con-

fesses. “I could hear them when I was in the studio and when we were recording the songs. Eventually, I had to take all that chatter in my head that represented our audience and our critics, and just leave it out of the studio.” Fully aware of the expectations, fueled by their unexpectedly successful debut, Foster says he had to let go of the idea that he had to somehow prove critics wrong. And while he understands that not everyone will embrace the new record, he admits it’s puzzling to be referred to as a “one-hit wonder.” “I had a guy recently ask me recently, ‘How does it make you feel when you think of ‘70s or ‘80s bands that were one-hit wonders?’ And it really caught me off guard and made me think about that whole idea in general,” says Foster. “It bums me out that it’s even a conversation that’s been had regarding my band— and a lot of the others lumped into that category—because it’s a derogatory term when you’re describing something that was extremely successful. Like, we’re an

alternative band. ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ never should have been a hit, never. It never should have been top 40, or even top five. Same with Lorde. The fact that it did happen is a huge success for music. The fact that there are these alternative songs sandwiched between Rihanna and Beyoncé. I see it only as a good thing. I may never write another song like that again, but we were never supposed to. So I don’t have to defeat these expectations, we already did that.” That’s not to say the new album is absent of hit-like singles. “Best Friend,” in particular, is driven by a catchy hook and like “Kicks,” the chorus, which is about a friend strung out on drugs, is ironically driven by an upbeat, radio-friendly melody. “Somethings lyrics just download themselves into my brain,” says Foster of “Best Friend,” a track he’s admittedly hesitant to label as a possible hit. “With that song, it was that first melody, that was what came first. And I didn’t know what was gonna follow, and so it became this whole

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chasing bit, writing the music around that part and using that lyrical piece to write the rest of the song. But halfway through writing the lyrics for it, I got stuck. Because of the subject matter, I felt trapped in how to approach it. If I wrote it one way, it would be glorifying drug use to the tune of a children’s chorus singing this innocent melody. If I wrote it another way, it could come off as patronizing or preachy, like, ‘Don’t do drugs, everybody!’ And I got stuck with a massive case of writer’s block. So everybody was waiting on me to finish it because it was the last piece needed to complete that particular phase of the record. I felt like I was running out of time and I had a lot of pressure on me, so I wrote about writer’s block. Because that’s what I was feeling. My best friend being creativity. And creativity for me at that time was strung out.” While the band’s label Columbia was ready for an album to arrive last year, recording delays weren’t the only factor influencing the set’s eventual postponement. According to Foster, the goal had been to release it this past fall, but there were a lot of changes that had to be made. “When the record was finished and it was going into being mixed, it was 30 minutes longer than it is now,” he reveals. “I mean, dude, it took the full five more months. Five solid months. I was still so close to the project that it was really just hard to let go of certain parts. When I was writing the record and when we were in the studio recording, it was such a myopic process because you’re looking only at that song through a microscope, so nothing else matters. With lyrics and the vibe and 44

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everything, it’s only about that one song at a time. The scariest moment is when you step back to listen to the album all the way through for the first time because you don’t know what the arc is going to be and how it’s going to make you feel. For this record, when we listened to it all the way through for the first time, it was exhausting. There was so much information. All the songs were about six minutes long and there were about 14 tracks. We didn’t even think it would fit on a CD. It was just too much.” So the group began collectively “trimming off some of the fat,” trying to make the recordings fit together like pieces of a puzzle. “How do you make this record so that when it’s been played all the way

through, you want to start it over again?” That was their challenge. “Our goal was to release a cohesive body of work,” says Foster, explaining that despite their success on radio, they’re “not a pop band, so we don’t play by those rules, the radio rules. I want to build a career. I don’t want to just be the flavor of the month. And I feel like a lot of times if you put out a great single without a great album, you’re gonna live and die by that single. People don’t have any sort of loyalty or connection to you if you’re just putting out vapid singles. Sure, the songs may do well because they have a hook that’s undeniable, but there’s no substance. For me, growing up, one of my favorite bands was Blur. I would fall in

“If you put out a great

((

love with the whole record. And their singles might not have even been my favorite songs. The songs I connect to are the deep album cuts, because they put thought into what they did. They weren’t doing it for success, they were doing it because it was what they loved.” In an industry increasingly driven by players such as Spotify and now Beats Music, Foster acknowledges subscription and streaming products do present an additional test for musicians, but he says he has no qualms with those services, insisting it’s the responsibility of the artist to make a desirable album. “People are going receive music somehow,” he says. “I personally like to put [an album] on the first song and listen to it all the way through. And if the music is good, I’ll listen to it over and over again. I love it when an artist really puts thought

into the whole album and creates a journey for the listener. Like Yeezus. I feel like Kanye did exactly that. I love the flow of that record. And at points, it feels like a mixtape. It’s a roller coaster. That record wasn’t meant to be cherry-picked. It was meant to be played from the beginning through the end.” Of course, a full album takes time to create. And in today’s swiftly moving market, a year might as well be a lifetime to wait for new music. So for a band like Foster the People, finding the right balance is crucial. “The culture that we’re living in is so fast-paced,” Foster assesses somewhat reluctantly. “So do you give them what they want because their appetite is like this insatiable beast? Or is it OK to make them wait, while you work on something great? And if it’s great, they’ll forget about all that time they waited and they’ll love it. And you satisfy that appetite, that hunger. It’s like Dr. Dre with Detox. We’ve been waiting forever for that album, and I don’t know if it’ll ever come out. But I’ll tell you what, if that record does come out, it’ll probably sell the most [copies] in its first week out of anyone in the past five years. The appetite is still there. I don’t what the winning formula is yet. But I do know that once an album is out, it’s out forever. The time in between will be forgotten, but the music won’t. This time around, it was important for us to take the time to make the record we wanted to make and give ourselves time.” In the process of making this new album, the former jingle writer says he’s learned the importance of time. Despite his unyielding desire to constantly stay busy, he admits he has a newfound appreciation for down time. “When I’m home, I home,” he says determinedly. “I don’t go out. I’m an introvert really, so I’ll just sit on my couch. I just finished True Detective and House of Cards. They’re so good, and they’ve really switched the game up in television. I enjoy stuff like

single without a great album, you’re gonna live and die by that single. People don’t have any sort of loyalty or connection to you if you’re just putting out vapid singles.” that. And I’m also realizing when I need to have a couple weeks to myself or time for meditation. So if I’m super overwhelmed, I’ll plan some time off. Otherwise, you feel yourself falling apart. But I guess that’s also how I arrived at this new album.” Ultimately, Foster hopes his pain will lead to solace for others. “I put blood into this record, lyrically,” he says. “I cut a piece of myself and bled into this record. And I hope if anybody takes anything from this record, it’s a piece of myself. I hope they’ll feel closer to me. And in the vulnerability of talking about all the things I’m really bad at—because I think the record is so much of a confession of my weaknesses and my struggles, I hope it gives someone courage. I hope it gives them a sense of camaraderie in knowing that someone else is going through the same thing.” One thing Foster doesn’t anticipate to be identical is the band’s new tour schedule compared with their last, which consisted of more than 300 stops by the time they finally wrapped. He doesn’t expect to duplicate that this time around. “We needed to tour last time,” he admits confidently. “It was important for us to show people that we were a band and not a song. I never want to tour like that again though. We were building a foundation then. Now I just want to be more prolific. I want to put more stuff out regularly. I don’t want to have a three-year album cycle. Not just for my career but for my health. I’m thinking tour maybe for a year, then get back in the studio and put out another album.” n Foster the People’s current tour schedule can be found at fosterthepeople.com/tour.

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NEO SOUL’S NEXT QUEEN She’s different from the rest, and she’s just what music needs BY RACHEL FAYLENE

P HO T O B Y S S E NS E

olana Rowe (aka SZA) is the newest and currently only female addition to Top Dawg Entertainment, joining the company of Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and others. The 24-year-old neo soul songstress is also the first traditional singer to be fronted by the label, which has made a name for itself with a roster of rappers. Needless to say, the recent release of her debut album, Z, is a new venture for Rowe as well as TDE. In fact, she admits the significance can be a bit overwhelming after releasing two EPs. “I guess the term ‘album’ freaks me out,” she confesses days before the new project’s arrival. “It’s really like a long-ass EP; it’s 65 minutes, 10 songs. It’s definitely an LP. I worked like a year on this, it’s definitely an album.” This time around, the collection is accompanied by some big names, a sign of the singer’s rapid ascent. With a little help from her friends Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Mac Miller, Toro Y Moi and others, it’s clear things are moving quickly for the former cosmetics saleswoman at Sephora. “If it were up to me, I would wait forever and I—would really like to just wait forever,” she admits with a laugh. “Just until I had things exactly the way I wanted them. They told me, ‘You have to stop recording and release it.’” Rowe can’t ignore the fact that her style is new to the label. And she admits that they’ve handled her talents in a different way than recent projects from Lamar or ScHoolboy Q. “There’s definitely way more conversation,” she confesses. “This is the first time for all of us. So this is their first time to release anything that isn’t really rap, so everybody’s a little nervous. And I think everybody is just trying to make sure this is done right so that we make the mark we want to make [and] we can be proud of ourselves.” Being a young woman in music can be daunting with comparisons to peers sometimes applied more freely than with men. But Rowe is hoping Z will be the statement that distinguishes her from the crowd. “I think for a long time it was easier to box me into a group of other women,” she says. “Or just a sound in general because it was like, ‘Oh, this is what they’re doing’ or ‘This is what’s new, blah, blah, blah.’ There’s something different about this project and there’s something I think will separate me from the pack a little bit.” Reaching new heights of her career has been as personally enriching as it has professionally, according to Rowe, pointing to her appreciation for the growing camaraderie between her and her

TDE family. And recent appearances at SXSW only further strengthened that bond, most notably with Schoolboy Q. “He’s the most jokey-joke of the group,” she says. “Everybody’s a serious jokester, and Q takes it really far but it’s awesome. I made mac and cheese for them at South By, just played around. And they cursed me out,” she recalls while laughing. “We all just have like a legit good time. We are definitely family, but that takes legitimate time. It’s one thing to say that it’s a family, but you have to have somebody curse you out or you have to get into an argument to be able to say that you’re closer to somebody. And I’ve definitely had my share of being ragged on and joked on. Before one interview [at SXSW], Q talked about my vagina for like 10 minutes It was so crazy, but it’s just funny.” SXSW was undoubtedly a new kind of experience this year, with fans scaling fences to watch her perform when just last year she was the one sneaking into shows at the Austin festival to see her favorites perform. And while it’s name appearing on the bill these days, Rowe admits she’s very much a fan of music first, with an eclectic playlist that includes Mumford and Sons, Beiruit, Little Dragon and Jamiroquai, among others. “I’ve [also] been spending a lot of time with Thundercat,” she says. “With people that play instruments. I used to play the saxaphone [but] I’ve been hanging around legit musicians, like people who play bass, electric guitar, chord organ.” One such musician is her recent collaborator Mac Miller, who “plays like four separate instruments—and well. It’ll be like a whole jam session at his house with me, him and Thundercat. And we just make really fly music and it’s just very inspiring. You want to just let go because you’re no longer in the constraints of just singing to a beat. I don’t play an instrument, so now i’m pressured to make my voice more of an instrument, to let go and be free.” While many artists might take a break from writing to enjoy the release of an important debut, Rowe has instead been flexing her muscles. Those intimate jam sessions have opened her up to a new array of sounds which fans can surely expect to experience with her soon. “It’s funny, the stuff I’ve been recording now, post-album—it’s even more over the top, it’s edgier.” SZA’s debut record, Z, is now available via Top Dawg Entertainment. VA R I A N C EM A G A Z I NE.COM

Chromeo A DECADE IN AND HAVING THEIR

BIGGEST MOMENT YET

IT'S

been more than a decade since Chromeo first began sharing their electrofunk sounds with the world. But the duo is in the middle of a surge unlike anything they’ve experienced before. As they prepare to release their fourth studio album, White Women, David Macklovitch (aka Dave 1) and Patrick Gemayel (P-Thugg) are suddenly one of the most buzzed-about acts of the year, with appearances slated at many of the major festivals, including Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, as well as the U.K.’s Glastonbury. While the attention is certainly long overdue, it’s actually caught the guys somewhat by surprise. “It feels kind of affirming to us,” explains Macklovitch, relaxing at an Austin hotel the day after a triumphant performance at SXSW. “In today’s environment, you go away for a couple years and you’re dead to the world. So when we go two years without feedback from the fans, without them knowing what’s going on, that’s really hard.” Adds Gemayel: “We’d have moments of thinking, ‘What are they gonna say?’ Especially when some of the bands that

VARIANCEM A G A Z I N E . C O M

PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY SACCENTI

BY JONATHAN ROBLES

WE WERE "CHAMPIONED BY

BLOGS. THEY GAVE US A SHOT WHEN THE OTHER GUYS SAID IT WOULDN’T WORK. AND WE’RE FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR THAT CULTURE."

started around the same time as us aren’t around anymore. That can be discouraging.” Despite having laid low for a couple years, just like old friends, the pair seems to have reconnected with fans right where they left off. And while they acknowledge they didn’t change their sound too dramatically, there’s an undeniable new energy about them. “We really feel rejuvenated,” says Macklovitch. “As hard as it was to spend that time away from fans, we had to take a full two years to work on the album, not really to reinvent our sound but to kind of polish it up. We needed to revamp it, or reupholster it,” he says as Gemayel laughs. “We reupholstered the couch, guys. Made it like new. It’s even got plastic on it.” While the duo may jive about their latest evolution, the inspiration for the new material was actually rather meticulous. Motivated by photographer Helmut Newton’s first book title, White Women, the band set out to create a conversation that would extend beyond just ‘70s erotica imagery. “When we learned about that Newton title, we thought, ‘That would sound so cool as a Roxy Music album title or a [David] Bowie title,’” recalls Macklovitch. “But then we realized, that’s a Chromeo album title. And of course we knew we’d have some explaining to do, but it prompts a lot of questions. Outside of the visuals, which are huge for us, we wanted to talk about gender politics [and] racial politics if need be. We’re an opinionated band so we’re used to that. If you look at the artwork, it’s Pee and 50

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I so that it looks like we’re marrying the same girl. And she’s not white but she’s wearing white. So it was kind of a way to open up a conversation.” Macklovitch and Gemayel also intentionally spent more time on the new album than previous ones, listening to a lot of ‘70s disco and Electric Light Orchestra, drawing once again from different eras. But this time, they “came at it with a little chip on our shoulder,” according to Macklovitch. It wasn’t so much a grudge as it was a determination to be better and to grow. And

even though the album has yet to hit fans’ ears in full, the growth is evident. Not just in their sound but in their fan base. “Daft Punk’s success this past year definitely helped open that door to the mainstream,” admits Macklovitch. And while their pair’s new music is undoubtedly reaching a much wider audience than their past projects, in more than 10 years, they have yet to see one of their singles chart. “Radio’s a fucking mystery,” laments Macklovitch. “We don’t know how radio works. We can’t influence that, or at least that’s how we’ve looked at it so far.

It’s always felt out of reach.” That’s about to change though, as their addictive singles such as “Jealous (I Ain’t With It)” have already begun collecting radio spins, likely fueled by the track’s virality online. And although the duo takes responsibility for modifying their own sound, they believe asking for outside input played an equally important role in the breadth of their recent success. “We’ve been taking more suggestions than we have in the past,”

reveals Gemayel. “We started asking for help and for feedback from a lot of people. And that was a change for us because we’ve always been very protective of what we do.” To their surprise, they started receiving “really dope suggestions,” as Macklovitch explains. “You can only create music in a vacuum for so long. You can only go so far working in isolation. We’re learning the importance of that feedback. It makes the whole experi-

ence better. And it makes us better.” Among the third-party contributions to the new LP are a handful of collaborations, which Gemayel describes as “very organic,” explaining that “Solange worked on the last record, and we love working with her. Ezra [Koenig of Vampire Weekend] is a good friend of ours, and we had been wanting to do something. And Toro y Moi [aka Chaz Bundick], we had reached out to him and we knew he was a fan. We have mutual respect for each other’s music.” For “Jealous,” the duo once again sought outside influence. “Pee already had the melody for the verse and I already had one for the chorus. And we worked on the bridge together. But we took it to Oliver [DJ-producer duo on Fool’s Gold Records], and we worked on a few of the songs with them. They made changes we never would have considered and it was amazing.” The biggest challenge of all came when it was time to decide which tracks would actually appear on the album. “There’s a lot of stuff we liked but discarded because it didn’t fit in this body of work,” says Macklovitch, explaining that it was important to them to release a true record. “We’re album guys. To us, every album tells a story. If anything, Kendrick and Beyonce and Drake are proof that the album is still alive. And Kanye.” While the focus was certainly on making a consis-

tent body of work, Chromeo has also thoroughly and openly embraced the bite-sized culture we live in today. And that has worked tremendously in their favor. “I read everything people are saying,” Macklovitch confesses. “So we do stuff knowing and anticipating what people want to post. We do it for blogs to share and tweet. We think in those terms. ‘Is this going to work online?’ The day our new shit comes out, I’m on Twitter reading everything. I spend my whole night reading it all. I analyze it, even when people dis us. I take that feedback because it’s not us versus the journalists, we’re all together.” As Chromeo continues in this great but unfamiliar chapter, it’s likely new accolades and benchmarks are in their future. But for two guys who vividly recall being written off by the music industry as “just a novelty act” or “ridiculous caricatures,” their loyalty remains with the people who gave them a chance: the blog culture and indie music fans. “If we make Billboard, it’ll be a great day,” says Macklovitch. “But we know where we came from. When Fancy Footwork was coming out around 2006-2007, we were championed by blogs. They gave us a shot when the other guys said it wouldn’t work. And we’re forever grateful for that culture. We’ll forever be a blog band.” n White Women arrives May 12 on Big Beat/ Atlantic.

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ALEX DA KID

THE

BY ABBY OLSEN

OF AN 52

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RISE

EMPIRE

hen Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar joined forces onstage at the GRAMMYs this past January, the two acts not only created the night’s biggest buzz on social media (what the Recording Academy refers to as a “GRAMMY Moment”) but their collaboration also signified a major victory for their young, onceunderdog record labels—KIDinaKORNER and Top Dawg Entertainment, respectively. In many ways, it was yet another sign of the changing landscape in the music industry. Just two years prior, neither act was anywhere near “Music’s Biggest Night,” much less performing on music’s biggest stage in front of 29 million viewers. While all eyes were most definitely on the elaborate performance on stage, mega-producer Alexander Grant (aka Alex Da Kid) was behind the scenes immersed in his own

“IF SOMEONE HAS ENTRUSTED ME WITH THEIR

CAREER, IT’S A MASSIVE RESPONSIBILITY. I JUST DON’T TAKE THAT LIGHTLY ... I DO EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE TO HELP THE PEOPLE I’M WORKING WITH, I JUST DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT ANY OTHER WAY.” victory, his own GRAMMY Moment. Of course, Grant’s no stranger to the GRAMMYs. He produced Eminem’s GRAMMY-nominated “Love the Way You Lie,” featuring Rihanna, who earned an Album of the Year nod for 2011’s Loud, which was co-produced by Grant. He also garnered a Best Rap Song nomination with Dr. Dre, Eminem and his own artist Skylar Grey for “I Need a Doctor.” This year was different though. “It was insane,” Grant tells Variance. “The last few months really. It’s been a real roller coaster. And of course winning with an artist that you’ve helped build and develop. It’s not like the others. That journey.” Not everyone, however, was thrilled about Imagine Dragons’ big night, in which they also beat out Queens of the Stone Age and Led Zeppelin for Best Rock Performance. Grant isn’t bothered by some of the negative feedback though. “If you put something out into the world, you have you be prepared for the critiques,” he says. “And I think the band understands that. Not everyone is going to like it. But the fact is, a lot of people do. I’ve never had so many texts on my phone as after the GRAMMYs, the performance. Overwhelmingly, it was a positive experience. The whole thing is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.” This coming from the guy who counts 50 Cent, Nicki Minaj, T.I., Christina Aguilera, Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B and Hayley Williams among the artists he’s worked with. But despite his superstar-filled resume, he says “there’s something special about what I’m doing right now.” Remembering a time when he couldn’t get the time of day from the people he now calls his peers, Grant finds himself now on top of the world. “I still remember sending the ‘Love the Way You Lie’

beat around,” he recalls. “I sent it to everyone, but nobody wanted it. It’s crazy to think about that now. But I don’t like to look back, only forward.” That’s exactly what he’s doing, looking ahead. Despite massive success with superstar acts, Grant is focusing now on his imprint and cultivating his roster of rising artists. But he’s certainly not closing the door on the big names. “If there’s someone I really respect and if it makes sense, then I’ll do it,” he says. Fortunately, the young producer no longer has endure collaborations “simply for the sake of getting your name out there. I’ve been in situations before where you get with an artist and you’re on two different pages, but you still try to make it work because they’re a ‘big artist.’ So if I’m going to work with a bigger artist now and I understand what they’re trying to do and we’re on the same page, if they’re pushing music forward and doing something different, I’ll work with them outside of my label.” One such exception already in the works is Grant’s forthcoming collaboration with Rihanna, having been in the studio with her earlier this year. “I already know I like working with her,” he admits. “So it’s familiar. And she’s been consistent with releasing albums every year, just not last year. She’s already got a lot going this year.” As he finds himself further embedded in the careers of his artists, what separates Grant from many of his colleagues is not only his determination to achieve personal success but to help others do the same. “If someone has entrusted me with their career, it’s a massive responsibility,” he explains. “I just don’t take that lightly. I know in my own career, I take it very seriously who I work with and what I put in their hands. I do everything humanly possible to help the people I’m

working with, I just don’t know how to do it any other way.” Ultimately, Grant says his main goal is simply to maintain a certain level of happiness. “Like I want to make sure that I enjoy my life. I guess I figured out early on that creating music and being involved in all these strategic decisions and things like that—these are the things I love. I would do it for free because I just love it. And even if something doesn’t work out the way I wanted or hoped, it’s not a failure. It’s never a failure. I love the journey of it.” As Grant’s journey continues, he’ll be focusing on his artists such as Jamie N Commons and Candice Pillay, the latter of whom has an EP expected later this year. Meanwhile, New York rockers X Ambassadors seem to be brewing KIDinaKORNER’s next big hit record, with a small but stunning catalog already in place. “[They] have been doing the groundwork for a while and we’re getting a lot of great feedback,” he reveals. “You’re going to be hearing a lot more from them for sure. I’m really excited for what they can do and what they can become. They just have that something special.” As for Imagine Dragons, Grant suggests they’ll lay low for a while but return next year with new material. “They’ve been on tour for a couple years and it’s been hard to really sit down and get new stuff,” he explains. “But we’ve been working and doing stuff when we get time. As we get through April, May, we’ll start focusing more on the album. The idea is for it to be [out] next year.” n

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