Capturing the Moment With 44BLONDE in His Latest Single “Like You Love Me”
The St. Louis born, Los Angeles based artist 44Blonde promises to capture the moment in “Like You Love Me,” his latest single that was released on November 18th. Delving into feelings of passion and heartache, he asserts that the single “cuts deep to anyone who has ever had a crush or felt that glimpse of euphoria over someone who they never want to let go of.”
44Blonde took a novel approach to creating this single, incorporating more pop and even EDM-like sonic spheres to his process. The product of this exploration gives us the invigorating feeling that exudes from “Like You Love Me.” The song illustrates aspects of infatuation that take you past a physical level. He sings about butterflies and moments that are unforgettable, with lyrics like “we lived a hundred lives just last night.” 44Blonde truly hones in on a certain beauty in the connections people make with one another, packed with addicting alternative rock tones and pop-punk sensitivities.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You just released your latest single "Like You Love Me" on November 18th. Congratulations! The title and song itself are very emotional and raw, but also really fun. Can you tell me about the inspiration behind it?
[44BLONDE]: That whole song was really just about capturing being in the moment, living in the moment and not really thinking about any sort of consequence of the next day or whatever. So it was really just all right here, right now. Just like, let it all out, do whatever.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Did you take any new approaches when creating the song? What was your creative process?
[44BLONDE]: This one, I wanted to have more of a pop realm to it and it was all because the producer of the song Sean Cook had sent me this loop, it almost sounded like an EDM song. And I was just in the car with the guy I actually wrote the song with, [Matthew] Marino and we just kind of started singing over it and suddenly got the whole chorus down over this EDM kind of beat. And we're like, "Well, this is kind of fun. Let's go and see what we can do with it." We took a few elements from that and then brought it back to more of a rock world in some parts as well, a kind of mesh of the two. So, it was definitely a different approach, but I like how it turned out.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You said that your main goal with the music video was to “capture the essence of a moment.” Can you tell me more about what your vision was for the music video? Do you have a favorite shot or moment from it?
[44BLONDE]: I'm friends with Sam [Fine] who shot it and I really wanted to give her creative freedom to just do whatever she thought was good for it. I like doing that with videographers, I think it's fun to see other people's takes on the song. So, I sent her the song and she had this idea of making it more of a love story type thing. So that's kind of what it turned into, just one night but living like you've known each other for ages. The whole thing was really fun to shoot, I would say probably the scenes in the pool near the end were definitely fun to do because we stayed up till like five in the morning to get those shots while the sun was coming out. It made the song feel real, it made the story of it all just feel really real.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How did you originally get into music? Are there any defining moments that you would like to share?
[44BLONDE]: It was like years and years and years ago because I had a different project before this one, before this 44Blonde project. I kind of just started this almost two years ago. In high school and college, I was making really poppy stuff and I was hitting a wall with it all. So, I just stopped for a while and restarted with this 44Blonde project. I had a really good friend back in college, his name's Reed, and he really helped me find my direction of where I wanted to go. Then that led me out to getting signed and moving out to Los Angeles and putting me where I am today. I'm still to this day trying to find my sound, my image, everything.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How did you come up with the name 44Blonde?
[44BLONDE]: I just thought it sounded cool. Sometimes I tell people it came to me in a dream like an angel, it came down and told me it's my name. But, the truth of the matter is I just thought it sounded cool.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Do you think moving to LA has affected your trajectory at all?
[44BLONDE]: Yeah, it's definitely helped my trajectory of succeeding and getting in rooms of people that I could never have imagined. I'm living with lil aaron, who I made my first song under this project kind of inspired by one of his songs. So it's just been a crazy kind of circle of it all. He's just been able to put me in situations that I've never could have imagined with certain people. So it's been great.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Is there a favorite lyric or instrumental from your latest single?
[44BLONDE]: I really liked the, "your lips feel like euphoria / you could be my Rue cause I need more of ya" because I love the show euphoria and I wanted to sneak that in there. And I just like how it sounds. And then the instrumental part of it, the beginning of it is cool with the vocoder stuff on it and all that.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You've released four singles this year, are there any that have a special memory attached to it that you'd want to share?
[44BLONDE]: Each and every song has a lot of truth to it. I don't really make up a lot of stuff for the songs I'm putting out. I think the whole thing is just kind of building this whole story that's gonna keep building as I put more stuff out. The ups and downs, the highs and lows of everything that I've been experiencing, and just trying to make it relatable to others. I don't think there's necessarily a story yet. I think there will be and that's kind of building right now around all the songs coming out.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What does this upcoming year look like for you? Any projects we should keep a look out for?
[44BLONDE]: I'm going to go back to Los Angeles in January and then I've got a lot of songs that I'm going to put out, a lot of big features. Then eventually, probably an EP to kind of put them all together. At first I was gonna do an album but I think now it's just gonna be an EP and a bunch of singles. Yeah, that's my plan right now.
[UNPUBLISHED]: In the past year, what have you learned as an artist?
[44BLONDE]: Hmm, what have I learned? I've learned that the internet is not really real. That a lot of people that I've met out in LA and wherever, they're nothing like they are online. That everyone was just a human, that everyone is just doing their own thing, that it's all just kind of a big act. That's what I've learned.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You have this very nostalgic, punk rock, alternative sound, but you’re also mixing in those new pop sounds. Who are some artists that have influenced you either lyrically or instrumentally over time or more recently?
[44BLONDE]: I think with the newer stuff I'm doing, Post Malone has been a big one I've referenced a lot in some stuff I've been making. I grew up on Southern rock and roll stuff. That's what I really love. So it's nothing really like what I'm making. But, I would say Post Malone was definitely a big one. Jean Dawson is really, really great. I look up to him. Post Malone's probably number one on that.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Who did you listen to when you're younger?
[44BLONDE]: The Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, all sorts of that type of stuff. My dad has a big record collection that we listened to growing up
[UNPUBLISHED]: Is there anything else you want readers to know?
[44BLONDE]: Really just keep an eye out for what I've got coming.
