Harrison Lipton on His R&B Genre Shift to Create the Explosive “Speedracer”
[UNPUBLISHED:] Hey Harrison! So excited to chat with you. For any of the readers of Unpublished who might not know your music, can you give a quick introduction and let us know how you got started in your music career?
[HARRISON LIPTON:] I make Indie music that also has a lot of R&B influences. It serves as the intersection of all the music that I like to listen to, with artists like Frank Ocean and Chiiild. I’ve been making music my whole life but I only really got started recently. I put out my first record in 2018 and that was more Indie. I self-produced the entire thing but had no clue what I was doing. In some ways, I’m relatively new to this even though I've been pushing out a lot of singles over the last few years, and now we’re here.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I’ve been told your first headlining show is tonight, is this true?
[HARRISON:] I did headline twice before in my life, but it was all pre-pandemic… So is it even the same lifetime?
[UNPUBLISHED:] That’s debatable, depending on how you look at life. Everything has changed so much in the last few years.
[HARRISON:] We’re going to roll with this being the first headline show because, honestly, it feels new. It's my first headline at Baby’s, which is such an amazing venue. I love playing here and I'm very excited to be joined by my friends The Booyah Kids and also Fake Dad. I’ve got a lot of friends coming, it's going to be a super fun time!
[UNPUBLISHED:] That’s so exciting! It’s even better that the show is to celebrate the release of your new single “Speedracer,” which I also want to give you a massive congratulations on! I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. What are you feeling now that “Speedracer” is out and now that you’re about to play it live?
[HARRISON:] It is a massive sigh of relief that the track is finally out. It’s been over a year in the making. It feels like a big step for me, I don't think I've ever put this much energy and effort into a release. The amount of time put into the video and the song… so much went into this. I made merch for the first time in my life, which is also super cool. Having “Speedracer” finally out just feels so good, and I'm so excited that so many people are coming out to celebrate with me tonight. I’m so grateful.
[UNPUBLISHED:] That is so exciting to hear! I wish I could be at the show, but I’ll be supporting you tonight from Ohio.
[HARRISON:] It’s just a quick drive, right? Just a quick seven or eight hours?
[UNPUBLISHED:] Yeah. You go on in an hour… I’ll just race over! I’m sure I’ll be there in time, right?
[HARRISON:] You’ve got plenty of time.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I know you said it's been a long time in the works, so I'm curious. What was the process like creating “Speedracer?”
[HARRISON:] I started writing it right before the pandemic, and then I was upstate and sheltered away from the city. I really missed the feeling of collaboration so I reached out to Hadji Gaviota and he helped bring on Ivy Sole, and then the song became this great collaboration between all of us. I produced the track and they wrote their verses and it all just felt so fitting. I was workshopping the song and, with both of them, it finally felt like it was what I was looking for. Especially with the choices that I made as a Producer to go in the R&B direction. Fast-forward to the summer of 2021, we shot the video with my ex-girlfriend who is in the video a lot and directed it. We’re on good terms now, but it became this soundtrack of what happened to us. When we filmed, it was all love and all bliss, but now it represents the line of “it's all love ‘til it's over babe.” The fact that I wrote that, this is the song we did that video to, and now it's over…. What a weird self-fulfilling prophecy that became.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Working with your ex-girlfriend, what has the process been like of going through that break-up and now still releasing this song and video?
[HARRISON:] Honestly, it's the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I’m in a much better place than I was when we first broke up, but it's one of the hardest things to have ever happened to me. I was very heartbroken at the time, but we wanted to finish the video and have it see the light of day. For all the back and forth, I am just so grateful to her for helping me finish the video and working with me to create something so beautiful. She is an amazing Director and so talented, pure brilliance. No matter what happened it was such a pleasure and honor to work with her. I think we made something that felt like our project, and at the end of the day, I just look back and feel so grateful.
[UNPUBLISHED:] That’s a really beautiful way to look at it, and I am so excited that you are at the point where you find gratefulness and some fond memories within the creation of the video. I loved getting to watch the video and knowing the story behind it, the fact that the beauty of the relationship being preserved in the video is stunning and raw. I also really connected with the lyricism of “Speedracer” and how you talked about love and loss. Do you have any personal favorite lyrics?
[HARRISON:] My favorite lyric within the song is one I did not write. In Ivy’s verse she wrote, “My heart don't bend to your corners no more” and that just really says it in so few words. It is so concise and so true, and I think that's what I love about the way this song unfolds. In the beginning, I'm setting the scene, but we're still trying to figure out what's going on as we get these impressions of images and places. Then Hadji comes in to tell a story, and then Ivy comes in and she analyzes the story. There is this multilayered thing where we're all doing something different in how we express these emotions. Hadji said, “You left your Fenty on my counter / I might just sell that shit on eBay.” It's just so fun! It's what Hadji wrote and what Ivy wrote that is my favorite. They captured those emotions in such a brilliant way.
[UNPUBLISHED:] The three different perspectives read to me. It was so beautiful how we as the song’s listeners were able to experience the various thought processes in the final product. You do have some beautiful lines on there as well though, so you should also love what you wrote for your own track!
[HARRISON:] In a cute way, you know, we were all bored out of our minds at the beginning of the pandemic and I just started writing the first verse…“Stay awake till the sunrise (sunrise) / I’m the one you should confide in (your touch) / shoot that arc and it don’t lie (swish swish)” came out. It was so funny with the little swish swish, and I just loved it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] “Speedracer” is a shift from the Indie Rock of your first EP, opening the door to a synth-heavy R&B styling. What inspired this shift for you sonically?
[HARRISON:] I have wanted to do this shift for two years now because this song has been in the works for that long. All of the new songs I have coming are from two years ago and are similar to “Speedracer.” This is now very me and what I want to be releasing. It takes me forever to put something out because it takes a while to put everything together the way that I want it. I feel like this is where I've wanted to be for a while and I'm moving into more of a general R&B direction. In a way, it's like coming home. I grew up singing gospel music even though I grew up Jewish, and all of the R&B greats grew up in that gospel tradition. I grew up listening to Marvin Gaye, Sade, and Prince, and I've always loved R&B music. I think I started in Indie Rock because I thought that's what people would like, and now I'm releasing R&B because it’s what I want to hear.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I am so glad to hear that you’re putting out music that is speaking to you now. It's always my favorite thing when an artist finds their comfort zone and just finds their authentic sound. That really comes across on “Speedracer.” I can’t wait to hear what comes next!
[HARRISON:] I can’t wait for people to hear it!
[UNPUBLISHED:] I’m curious, given your history of singing from a pretty young age, is there any advice you wish you had been given or things you wish you knew when you were starting your music career?
[HARRISON:] Yeah, I wish someone had told me what a compressor actually did. Honestly though, I almost feel like I had all the advice and I just chose not to listen to it. We live in a world that is increasingly about numbers and she wants to be an actor, but she's so deterred by someone who has more followers and views and likes. We live in this world that makes it so easy to fall for just making what sells and where the numbers are, but try to resist that urge. As Andy Warhol once said, “What is in fashion is a pendulum.” Do what is right for you with no fucks given. Absolutely zero fucks, do what you love. Hopefully, people will recognize you and praise you for sharing what you love, but if they don’t, that's fine. If you do what you love, then that’s all you need.
[UNPUBLISHED:] That's the kind of advice that I always wish I listened to, so I'm glad to hear we’re both now aware of the need to take that advice.
[HARRISON:] It took me a while to get there, but that’s what life is. You have to do what makes you happy. We’re not on this planet for a long time, especially as it is actively dying and feels darker and darker each week...If you can find purpose and happiness and meaning in what you love, then it makes life worth it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Is there anything you want to share?
[HARRISON:] Oh… I could really out myself here.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I would say go for it, but that’s just me.
[HARRISON:] I’m a competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! player.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Are you really? Please, tell me more!
[HARRISON:] I like to play the older formats. I was never into the show or anything, but I didn’t have video games growing up, so I loved the cards growing up. I left it for a while but then came back to it. It's a great way to relax and have fun.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I don’t know what I expected you to say, but that wasn’t it. I’m so glad you shared that.
[HARRISON:] Oh! Second fun fact, I did actually get “Speedracer” tattooed on my leg for the video.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I couldn’t decide if I thought it was real! That’s commitment.
[HARRISON:] It is very real! It’s a great tattoo.
