young friend on His Label Debut Track "CRASH COURSE"
[UNPUBLISHED:] You just had your label debut? How do you feel?
[YOUNG FRIEND:] I feel really good! It’s been a long time in the works. It’s also been a long time since I’ve put out music at all. So, it feels really good to be doing it with a team of people that I care about, that are super passionate about the music. It feels really great.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I bet! Now, in the time between your last release and now, have you been mostly writing?
[YOUNG FRIEND:] Yeah! Just piling up all these new songs. And now, thankfully, “CRASH COURSE” is out and we’re starting to roll out some of the new songs. There’s gonna be a lot of new music out.
[UNPUBLISHED:] So why “CRASH COURSE” first? What does “CRASH COURSE” say about this new era of music for you?
[YOUNG FRIEND:] For me, “CRASH COURSE” was the perfect comeback song. Mostly, because I feel like it’s the most me. It’s very “here I am!” I feel like it’s pretty unapologetic in that way. That’s one of my favorite things about it. So, when we were talking through it with the team and everybody was listening to all the songs, we were all like, “Yeah, ‘CRASH COURSE’ feels like a good jumping-off point to dive into all of this new music from.’”
[UNPUBLISHED:] Yeah, like you said “CRASH COURSE” is truly unapologetic. When I was listening to it, the lyrics stood out to me. Even with its very upbeat feel and occasional witty metaphor, you get quite vulnerable. How do you get yourself in the headspace to write songs as vulnerable as “CRASH COURSE?”
[YOUNG FRIEND:] Yeah, it’s funny because I feel like when I go to write songs like that, I’m not necessarily thinking that I’m going to write something so raw and honest and vulnerable right now. It’s just what happens when I start writing. Sometimes it’ll be one of those more vulnerable kinds of songs, and then, other times, it’ll be something totally different. I try not to go into a writing session with a certain mindset or a certain headspace. I just try to go in with an open mindset - whatever happens, happens. I’ll do whatever I feel like doing in that moment. Sometimes I feel like “today, I want to write something upbeat.” If I’m happy, I’ll try to go along with that feeling. But sometimes I feel like I need to talk about something a bit more vulnerable and difficult to talk about - and then I’ll go with that. So I guess it’s just following your instincts each day.
[UNPUBLISHED:] So, as a songwriter, what usually comes first: lyrics or melody?
[YOUNG FRIEND:] For me, it’s the lyrics that come before the melody. But usually, I have chords or some sort of structure of an instrumental before I write any lyrics.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Speaking of instrumentals, you’ve been working closely with Marinelli, producer for Unpublished’s faves Wallice and spill tab. What is it like working with him?
[YOUNG FRIEND:] He’s incredible! One of my favorite producers. We’ve worked together before. He worked on “PINCH ME” with me, which came out last year. But yeah, David, I really can’t describe him with words. I just feel like he understands what I’m trying to do. And, he’s able to put his own special style and touch into it. Working with him is always really easy. I’ll send him a rough demo of a song and tell him what direction I want to take it, and then he’ll send something back that’s always way better than I thought it could be. He’s just got such a good ear. I’m very excited to be working with him. He’s the coolest.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Now, I also got to see your visualizer. It felt almost less like a simple visualizer and more like a full-scale music video. Tell me about the brainstorming process. What were some of your biggest inspirations?
[YOUNG FRIEND:] Our biggest inspiration for the video was Place Beyond the Pines, which is that Ryan Gosling movie from 2005 or something. My Creative Director, Zack, and I love that movie and we always wanted to directly reference it in a video. And when we sat down and we were listening to the song and thinking about what to do, visual-wise, that was the first thing to come into our heads. So, we decided to follow that. As soon as we had that idea, we knew we were going to use the truck and the dirtbike and we knew what setting we wanted it to be in. It all just snowballed out and came together really quickly.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Now I read online that you were a dancer. How has your dancing influenced your music, more specifically, your songwriting?
[YOUNG FRIEND:] It’s funny because I don’t think about how it influences my songwriting. I only ever think about how it influences the way I perform on stage. But I guess if you break it down, dancing is all about rhythm and being in touch with the music. And I guess being around so much music so early on helped me find my rhythm and changed the way I interact with music. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but it makes sense in my head.
[UNPUBLISHED:] No, it makes perfect sense! What are some goals that you have for this year and the next few years with this new music that’s coming out?
[YOUNG FRIEND:] It’s all about the new music. I’m really excited to play it live for people. One of my biggest goals is to go from city to city and play it for everybody. I’m just really proud of it. I would learn how to play along with a band. I also want to make more music videos. That’s another big list item of ours: making more visual content. So, those are what I’m most focused on. Overall, I just want to write good music and collaborate with the people that I love and the people that I’m inspired by - the people I look up to.
