‘Drowning’: An Interview with Armen Paul

[UNPUBLISHED:] Tell us about yourself. 

[ARMEN:] I’m Armen and I have been singing since I was in third grade. I started by doing choir and rapping in school lunch lines outside of class but I never really took it too seriously. It was just a unique musical background in the way that I started out – I grew up in Massachusetts in a suburban town and I would memorize rap albums and subconsciously dissect them. When I was younger, I was into writing a lot and I would write poems and create songs out of them, but I never really considered them songs. Then in high school, I got into music lessons and creative writing. I was also introduced to a very encouraging music teacher who helped me consider myself as a writer and a singer. I then started to take it more seriously. I first went to school for music and economics in Connecticut but transferred to NYU. At NYU I did a finance and management major with a music minor, but I was doing music outside of class anyway. I was so immersed in the city; it was a unique place to get into sessions and go to school.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Tell us about your new single ‘Drowning’ and the inspiration behind it.

[ARMEN:] I wrote the song a little while ago and it was a very short session, it only took about three and half hours which is on the shorter side of doing something top to bottom in a song. I didn’t think about it for a while. Then, in this past year, I listened to it again midway through the year, when things were particularly isolating. The song reached out to me and I started to notice especially on a personal level that people usually have a hard time reaching out to others when they need help. Mainly as there is a lot of uncertainty in how the other person is going to react or the fear of imposing some sort of burden on them. When in reality it will probably be so more beneficial to the person reaching out, and even the recipient because internally they might feel the same way. So, midway through last year all these emotions kind of hit me at once and encouraged me to finish up the song and put it out there. On a basic human functional level, I think it's important that people hear that.

[UNPUBLISHED:] How has lockdown been for you? Is it hard to write music?

[ARMEN:] To be honest, it was obviously different as I wasn't getting any in-person sessions, but it forced me to make full songs top to bottom by myself. So, that's what I did. I wrote a little with other people, but it was mainly me writing songs and finishing them on my own just over the course of lockdown. Everyone's experience of writing is different, but I prefer to write my own as it allows me to be the most authentic self without having to filter anyone else's opinions. I believe allowing yourself to be that creative can be so beneficial. In short, it gave me more time to do that, so I took advantage it. 

[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have a process when it comes to making music?

[ARMEN:] What I used to do when I was much younger was to write out full poems and turn them into songs. Then that developed, I used to do was write song titles before I went to bed, at least 10 a night. After months I would just have this book of song titles that I would go through and pick out ideas I liked, but also tried to start a song or spark an idea just based on a song title. Other times I'll write mainly at the piano as it is very visual to me and melodically makes sense.

[UNPUBLISHED:] What did you listen to growing up and how did it affect your music?

[ARMEN:] I listened to a bunch of different styles of music, I would go from James Taylor, Sam Cooke, Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder to the more singer-songwriters like Ray LaMontagne. I liked to absorb every type of music because it is more about how different songs resonated with me more so than specific artists. I then studied the writing, the vocals, the form, and the flow of the songs. That was the most important thing for me, I love crossing genres. I have recorded stuff that's more ‘funk’ or ‘hip-hop’ and I have written with rappers and tried to do everything and see what can help me find my own creative voice.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have a dream collaboration? 

[ARMEN:] I actually fulfilled one of my dream collaborations this year, which was Moby – I listened to him a lot growing up. What happened was my co-writer and I had a song we were working on and my co-writer knew him from working on his ‘Hotel’ album. It was a complete surprise when I got told he was putting a beautiful production on the song. Since then we managed to collaborate on more songs, this is with someone that I had in my headphones growing up. In terms of other people, I would like to work with in the future – Frank Ocean, Labyrinth, Ray LaMontagne. It would be more songwriters as I appreciate and admire the writing process. 

[UNPUBLISHED:] What do you have in store for 2021?

[ARMEN:] Along with  ‘Drowning’, I have a follow-up single coming out on February 12th. I also have some exciting collaborations and features in the near future and possibly a full body of work later. 

[UNPUBLISHED:] What are your ambitions as an artist?

[ARMEN:] My goals are a little more holistic in terms of what I want out of music. I want every body of work and music I create to be reflective of where I am and how I am evolving as a person. Say it was centered around individualism or being introspective or about collectivism, it is more about having music that reflects the human transition. That’s what I'm looking for to be satisfied on an emotional level. Another thing I would love to provide for someone is being a musical mentor. I was very lucky to grow up with musical mentors who would coach me on the craft, and I wouldn't have made it this far without that help. Lastly, I only recently got into the dance world, but I would also like to play a big EDM festival. I really love the idea of fleshing out new genres of music and diving into new styles to see where that takes me.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Back in October you made your debut on national TV on WWE, tell us about that experience.

[ARMEN:] That was a lot of fun. I do a lot of sync writing and vocals for WWE, and my friend Anthony works as a producer for a production company that works with WWE very closely. Anthony’s production company made an album with one of their wrestlers ‘Elias’, and Elias then reached out to his company asking if they knew anyone to help showcase his album. Anthony then reached out to me and my friends Steve and Mike who are also producers and asked us to help. We then flew to Orlando, did one rehearsal, then we were on stage. It was so much fun, and I can say I've never done that before.

[UNPUBLISHED:] How would you describe your style of music?

[ARMEN:] Lyrically, it is very metaphorical as I like to create very outlandish analogies. Sonically, it's tough to say as part of what makes me unique as an artist is that I don't want any song to sound the same. I think the way I harmonize my vocals, the chord progressions, and the vocal arrangements really reign in my musical style. I could have some ‘trap’ elements or ‘R&B’ infused within it and then the song is what makes it familiar to the listener. That is possibly the only way I can describe it, if I was going to brand it, I could say indie-pop but even now that genre so broad that it wouldn't be accurate. Melodically, structurally, and lyrically there is a center of gravity to it, but that is the best way I can verbalize it.