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Introducing Kyzr Blue
89 Plays2 months ago
This week I am joined by upcoming electronic-dance-pop artist KYZR BLUE. Based out of Chicago, he is a master of his craft who writes and produces all of his music from scratch. Together we talking about everything from how he got started to his musical inspirations to what his creative process is like. We also get to take several moments to talk about all the pop girlies including Adele and Robyn.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to Homophonic, everybody. This is your host, Zach Rickel. You might know me from my memes on Instagram, a functioning gay. Today, I am so excited. We are joined by a very, very, when I say new, like brand spanking new artist. His name is Kaiser Blue. He is located out of Chicago. Welcome to the show.
00:00:20
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. I am. I am so excited like this. i So you and I met. Well, we met through yellow Facebook, as some of us like to call it. Shout out to to my friend Michael here in Grand Rapids. But we started to follow each other on Instagram. And I noticed that you had an artist page, Kaiser Blue.
00:00:44
Speaker
And so I clicked on it. you I think that you had actually posted a video of yourself singing an acoustic version of one of your songs. And I was like, hold, hold on just one second. I was like, this is actually really good. And so I clicked on your page.
00:01:01
Speaker
And then went to I'm an Apple music girl. And so and so I went to Apple Music, but I like found your music. I was blown away by your just your discography, everything like I was just like.
Kaiser Blue's Artistic Journey
00:01:17
Speaker
So I guess like I'm rambling now, but I'm just like, how did you get started? like ah Tell me this journey about creating Kaiser Blue and and going into music. Yeah, totally. um I studied theater ah in college, so I technically like went to school for acting. I wanted to be like a film and TV actor. Yeah. um i went through all four years, graduated with a theater degree, um but I actually took a class, like I was on stage shows in college. I was in some student films and like it was great and it was cool and it was definitely like a a great time. Like I got what I think I wanted out of it, but then my senior year of college, I actually took a course called um
00:02:06
Speaker
I think it was just, I don't remember what the name was, but it was a self performance course. So you basically, it's a solo performance, I think is what it was called. So you basically had to, every week we had a prompt and the prompt was to like, basically, you know, tell a story about your family, like very vague, very, you know, you can basically do whatever you want with it.
00:02:24
Speaker
but then it would always be paired with like an action like while you're doing something that like makes you like get out of breath or something. And so you basically could like fill in the blanks and like create something that like is birthed out of this prompt. um And every week, it was so challenging. It was one of the hardest courses I've ever taken because it really like challenged you to like think differently. It was a huge writing course. You had to write your whole thing or you could write nothing and like that could be also, you know, part of the performance. It was just a complete like creation process. And I like found exactly like I think what I was looking for from an artist perspective, which was just like creation and like creating things out of like thin air. And it really let your brain, my brain specifically like just kind of go crazy. And I am quite a weirdo.
00:03:16
Speaker
I love that. I live in my head a lot. um And so my like, to give you an example of that, um my the end performance that I did. So basically, every week we created a piece and then we performed it in front of the class. Yeah. And then at the very end, our kind of like final performance was just like pick your favorite one.
00:03:33
Speaker
Um, the one that I did, it's like, it's, uh, one of my favorite artists, um, who we can talk about later, but she is kind of like an electronic music artist from, uh, Sweden. ah And she kind of has like, you know, very techno-y, but like very kind of like weird, kind of like Bjork, but like.
00:03:51
Speaker
kind of like Bjork vibes, basically. And he, I basically sang, or not sang, she played, I basically created a piece from her music, but I ironed a piece of steak in my complete underwear, like on stage. So I was wearing like tighty whiteys, high socks, white socks, like panties, and I was blindfolded. And so I ironed a piece of steak with an actual iron on stage. And then the last half of the performance,
00:04:21
Speaker
I basically took the piece of steak, which was not cooked, obviously, and I ripped it apart and I threw it all over my body and just started like rubbinging it rubbing it all over my skin.
Musical Passion and Challenges
00:04:31
Speaker
And it was basically like rubbing sex with the piece of steak on stage in front of like an audience. um My family was there. They had to literally give a disclaimer before the performance that was like, if anyone in the audience is a vegetarian, just be warned. You might need to leave because it's cold.
00:04:49
Speaker
um wow Like when I tell you the like satisfaction as an artist to like make something completely like wild and out there and like perform it and like put it out in the world like that was like something that I have like never like really found in acting because I feel like in acting like You're kind of creating art from someone else's words, which is, of course, art and like you put your own spin on it. But like the fact that I wrote things like burst it out of my own brain and my weird cells and all that kind of stuff was, I think, the thing that I was looking for. Yeah. So after college.
00:05:23
Speaker
I basically was like, okay, well, now I don't know what the fuck I want to do because i right acting and now I don't want to be an actor. So like, cool. What the fuck? yeah And I traveled to Europe and kind of had a whole eat, pray, love moment and like finding myself. But within the first like couple of weeks, I'm pretty sure I was like,
00:05:39
Speaker
I think I want to be a music artist and because that music has always been a part of my DNA like you know I think a lot of people really gravitate to music because it's just like such a connective language between people um and it definitely was a special thing for me and so like I was like I want to do music I have always been able to sing for some reason um and my thing was like I don't know how to produce music because I wanted to like create my own music Yeah. So I was like, OK, I'll just download and buy the software I need to watch YouTube videos and do it myself. Are you kidding me? Yeah. Wow. So you're like completely self-taught. Completely self-taught. I do everything on my own. I write. I sing. I mix. I master. I do most of my own album artwork. I don't film my own music videos, but like definitely like have the artistic direction behind it. Yeah. I was going to say you have a vision for sure.
00:06:34
Speaker
That's really incredible. And back, like back to your performance, I was going to say that's got to feel, but you know, regardless of how the ah audience is going to take it, that's got to feel extremely liberating to just give yourself like that, like you've kind of said, just to kind of like put that out into the world and just. And I really admire the fact that you just kind of are able to do that without. Do you like, do you think about it? I mean, I've got to imagine that.
00:07:02
Speaker
yeah Really? like yeah But like in the moment, like you're you're not sitting there thinking, like oh, my my parents are out here. Totally. like Yeah. Well, um it's definitely something that I've like grown into. like I think like kind of what you're kind of touching on is like stage fright in a way, and just the vulnerability of like putting something out there, which I still deal with like all the time. like I think I'm always, it's obviously gotten better over the years and like um coming into my own artistry and my own sound and kind of like being solid in that is something that's taken a lot of work. But the work is just being like, fuck it, putting it out there, letting people listen to it. Like, I am a perfectionist and I know this. I've always known this about myself. yeah So that holds me back a lot because I'm so afraid of like embarrassment and shouting.
00:07:56
Speaker
sounding new, sounding like I don't know what I'm doing and people being like, yikes, like he's ah he's horrible. You know what I mean? That's always my biggest fear, but like i at the end of the day, there kind of becomes this like wall that you just kind of like break through and you're just like, who cares? like like I've come to realize that like like being an artist and having the ability to just show up and access a part of yourself that like a lot of people may struggle accessing and putting that into your art and then creating something and then just throwing it out there in the universe like is so much more satisfying than like
00:08:36
Speaker
allowing the fear of that thing failing get to me. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Which is tough. I mean, I still go through it all the time. Like I'm sitting on like four or five songs and I'm like, Oh, this is a little too vulnerable, but sure. like You know, there comes a point where you just have to be like, who cares? Like ah it's also something that like is special to me and it makes me feel whole. So like, why wouldn't I want to share that? You know?
00:08:59
Speaker
Right. Absolutely. So you are completely self-taught. You use began putting out music was it in 2020 or 2022? Somewhere around there?
Musical Style and Influences
00:09:10
Speaker
I technically started putting out I think I put my first song out in like 2017 but then I took it down because it perfection aside of me, like after it was out for like a year or something, I was like, I don't think I like this sound anymore. And I kind of just took it down. And then I um actually redid that song into something that was released later as a part of my EP. I really like that that song came out because I was like, I just need to put something out. It was called Try. um And I took it down and then I put it into an EP that was kind of more this like body of work and then started releasing that in 2020.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah. yeah so i So I think the first song I listen to viewers is your newest song, I Don't Need Saving. How would you describe that sound? Because I've got an idea in my head, but I want to hear you as the artist to describe your own sound. Because yeah when you when you told me when we were chatting a couple weeks ago, you the way you described your sound, I was like, oh, that's like way better than I would have ever been able to to touch on. So How would you describe your sound to people who are curious about what your music sounds like?
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah, um I would describe my sound as singer-songwriter electronic music. If you want to put like genres on it. Yeah. I used to used to have this saying, um because I also love branding. I think it's so fascinating. And like as an artist, you're branding yourself. Absolutely. you know There was like a year that I was like, I need like a a ah little line to like, like you know oh, I'm Kaiser Blue. and Fill in the blank. Yeah, I made the line. um I make music that is blue, but something you can dance to. I love that, though. That's really cute. Yeah, because really, like, I think my music is very vulnerable. So like there are lyrics in it. So like when you listen, it's like all it's always about a feeling or like something that like, you know, is accessed invulnerability and like motion. You can't fucking write a happy song to save my goddamn life. I've tried so many times.
00:11:14
Speaker
um But that's okay because that's also just part of my sound, you know? Yeah, absolutely. But then I really love electronic music because I love dancing. I love like cry dance music where you're just like in tears, but you're like, oh yes, like, you know, just in the crowd. Yes. So I kind of want to put those two things together and like have this nice balance of like emotional piano lyrics kind of stuff, but then like some more house um music.
00:11:38
Speaker
And the kind of feeling of blue is like it's part of my name because I think it's such a resonant emotional color. And i think that it's also very descriptive of like that sound of like there is some emotional like availability in this song, but it's also like deep and like grounded and like you can just fucking vibe out to it. Like that's very much my.
00:11:59
Speaker
style. Yeah, absolutely. Like so when I first because I don't know ah the way what is it called when people say that they like see colors when birds or see things. Yeah, hear music. I was talking to my friend about this, but I don't remember the name. I don't remember the name either. I know that Billie Eilish talks about this. and In fact, I remember when like she released her first album. I think that she put up like a pop up show of like different rooms that coordinated with the different songs and each room had a color and a vibe and whatnot.
00:12:27
Speaker
And it's interesting that you say this because I think it's called synesthesia. syness Yes, that's exactly what it is. Yes, synesthesia. And so i when I hear your music, and again, like I think i like I listened to it right after Thanksgiving.
00:12:42
Speaker
And so it had snowed here in Michigan. And so it was just, there was just like this cool, like crispy element that just made your music fit perfectly. I was like going on a walk here in Grand Rapids and I was like, wow, this is like feeding everything that I need right now. And just, I was blown away. So like, I'm obsessed personally with like looking at production credits and writing credits and things like that.
00:13:08
Speaker
And so I was just truly blown away at the fact that like it just was like Kaiser Blue, Kaiser Blue, Kaiser Blue. area ah Period. Period. You have such a quality to your sound that like I was like, this sounds like this could have been produced by fucking, I don't know, BT or like Rufus De Soul, I think is how you described your music to me at one point. And I was just like, it's it's so incredible to hear this like, I don't know, like I was just blown away. Like you're so talented, like not to like gas you up, but like it was just, it blew my mind. um So you said that you you taught yourself how to produce your own songs and stuff. Like, do you have ah your own like home studio then?
00:13:53
Speaker
ah Yeah, yeah, yeah. Currently sitting in it. i'm okay um It's my studio slash office. It's full of plants because I love like, I don't know, um air and environment and like homey, like feeling cozy with life. well We stand. Yeah. You know? And then I also, um in my studio, there's like a lot of lights. I'm a very big like um light accent person. You know what I mean? and Absolutely. I mean, I'm getting a very clear sense that everything is about like creating a moment, creating an atmosphere. I would say your music is very atmospheric. I mean, time between the cuts. Yeah. Talk about atmosphere. First of all, first of all, I have to really thank you.
00:14:34
Speaker
I know that we're just getting to know each other but something that I am like known for beating a dead horse over is short songs and how much I hate it and how much I hate it and it's driving me insane and I get it. I completely get why like short songs are a thing and this world of streams and like, especially in pop music and just like anything that's commercial, like you, you know, labels and, and everyone's looking for like, I want to see streams. I want to see sale, yada, yada, yada. So I get it because like, if you just think about it in a mathematical equation, like your, your two and a half minute, two minute song is going to get more streams than a five minute song. The time between the cuts is a five, I think it's like like five minutes and 30 seconds. long
00:15:17
Speaker
I love it, though. It's such a because what I think that people what what is missing in music, because people are always trying to be like, we you know, people keep talking these days about how there's something quote unquote missing in music. And I was like, well, in this era of like everyone trying to recreate nostalgia, right? And people are are trying to go back into synth pop and new wave and like 90s music and now like music from Y2K is starting to get popular again. And You look back at like what makes a lot of these songs great. It's not just the fact that they're quote unquote longer, but like what's making them longer. They've got intros, they've got outros, they've got bridges, they've got dance breaks, they've got guitar solos, they've got build ups and breakdowns and all of these things.
00:16:01
Speaker
That's what makes these songs so exciting is these this anticipation. yeah And that's something something that like Time Between the Cuts has. like And the way that it just kind of shifts and morphs throughout, you you have this like vocal stutter effect that you do. And and it's, uh, anyway, it's just, it's brilliant. well it's ah It's really, thank you, first of all. That's such a good compliment. And it actually is something that I have like,
00:16:24
Speaker
I think about all the time because like in a world where our entire music industry is basically fueled by TikTok sounds yeah and commercializing those sounds like that's such a reason why songs are shorter these days because like people like artists just want you to like or like labels really just want you to like make a quick song put it on TikTok and like watch it be viral
Independence in the Music Industry
00:16:45
Speaker
like that's really what is fueling creativity which is so sad and obviously not every artist like follows that thing but like um it's such a it's such a cog in our music machine these days and it's super sad because it's like stifling what could be such an interesting picture of a song and I think that like
00:17:06
Speaker
I think a good song is like really all about painting a picture right and like creating the like environment of that song. and like i always kind of I've gone back and forth like in my years of making music of like one, I'm very bad at editing, so like like editing down. So I do like to like write and overwrite and like overproduce things, but then I sometimes struggle being like, okay, but this one line might be able to say all you need it to say.
00:17:33
Speaker
Sure. Put some you know music behind it and like have that be the thing. like there's There's ways to paint the story and tell the story. um But I do think that like I think of every song that I make as like its own little novel. You know what I mean? um like there is always There's usually a start and some sort of like... I mean, obviously there's always a start, but there's usually some sort of like crescendo moment in the song that then like kind of falls off and like you kind of go through that little narrative in each song.
00:18:00
Speaker
Um, and then when you kind of think of the EP and the album, um, ways of writing, that's when like that whole album and that whole EP is going to be the narrative piece. So not every song has to do that, but like, right it's also like a part of our music culture is like singles and there's less albums coming out. There's less full bodies of work. It's just like plug and ch chug and like grind it out for like.
00:18:25
Speaker
the streams and the music part of it. It's really sad. But um yeah, thank you for saying that. Absolutely. And I mean, I thank you. I mean, it's just it's so refreshing and it's got to be really freeing being an an ah an independent artist. are Are you signed to a label or anything?
00:18:41
Speaker
No I'm not. Okay so it's got to be really freeing as an independent artist to kind of create as you will and put things out as you feel like it and it can be as long or short as you want and you just can kind of do your own thing. Yeah it's good and it's bad because it's like Obviously, I would love the support of a label, but at the same time, I hear so many like horror stories of artists being signed by labels and like having that one TikTok song go viral and they're like, oh, my entire world changed. But then it actually is for the worse because it ruins like their entire creative process. They feel like it's a job and not like Artistry anymore. It's something that's I don't know. It's like I definitely feel like our music industry these days is like struggling in a way like the balance between like what is funded and what you have at your fingertips as an artist in terms of like the freedom so many people are like Oh, I'm not signed anymore and I'm independent and it's so much better because you do have the control So I don't know. It's it's a it's a tricky one
00:19:44
Speaker
It is, absolutely. so So a question that I like to ask people as I'm getting to know them, and I think this will also help me and our listeners kind of figure out your sound. And I love kind of like diving into kind of learn people's tastes and like what inspires them and what makes them the person that they are today, the artist that they are today. And so something that I like to ask people is let's pretend we're on a deserted island, okay? We're we're in a plane crash.
00:20:14
Speaker
And yeah, we're we're the only survivors and and the ah island gives you a magical little CD player because that's in my head. That's where I'm still living. We're living in the age of CD players and You can put the discographies of five of your favorite artists. It can be artists, DJs, bands, whatever, but five, their entire discography onto this magical CD. And this is what's going to keep you sane, going to keep you comforted until hell arrives. What five artists or bands or DJs or whomever would you choose to put on this magical CD?
00:20:48
Speaker
Okay, love that question. So my first one is, I mentioned it earlier in that and our chat, um this artist named I am Am I, who am I? She also goes by Iona Lee. um She is an electronic mut music artist. I believe if it's from Sweden. It's somewhere in Europe.
00:21:10
Speaker
okay But she, her music is very electronic inspired. It's very weird and out there, but like her sound is so unique. And I honestly like she also was the first artist that I have ever seen visual albums for. So she like introduced me to like visual albums because she was back in like when YouTube days were really like popping off like in the 2009 and 10 and stuff.
00:21:35
Speaker
Yes. OK. What's her name again? I am. I am. am I am. Am I. Who am I? I am. Am I. Who am I? OK. She's very out there. She's very and she's incredible. Her lyrics are absolutely like puzzles of art. I love them so much. But I still to these days like to this day like listen to several of her albums on repeat and like it's like no skip album kind of a vibe like start to finish like it's amazing.
00:22:04
Speaker
yeah um So she's one of them. ah Let's see, another one. I would say this artist named Self Esteem, who a lot of my artists are probably gonna be women because I'm a very big female like driven um person. that that is That is how we roll here. So that's excellent. Self Esteem is another one. She is from ah the UK.
00:22:30
Speaker
And she I've actually like known about her as an artist like from the beginning of her like um artist days. She used to be in this folk duo called Slow Club. And this is when I was like growing up. like She was on repeat all the time. It was her and other guy. um And then she went solo, like I think, five, six years ago.
00:22:51
Speaker
And her music is so like empowering in like a female independent way that like she has such a like bombastic sound to her. Ooh, good word choice. Yeah, it's also she like the way that she creates music is so like anthemic, but also like different in terms of like its sound that I've like ever heard before. So she is an incredible one.
00:23:14
Speaker
And she just released an album. um I think it's just self titled self esteem. She's also absolutely gorgeous. It's her like in a skimpy little like one piece with a cowboy hat on. You can just like see pussy and everything. It's so I like go off. Love that. Yes. yeah Big fan. um Another one I think would be another female artist named Lopsley. She's also UK. She is kind of in the more like chill ah vibe. She just has like a really incredible voice and I've listened to her every album that she has um like since she really started and got putting on music on SoundCloud and stuff. One of my favorite albums that she has is called, and she's also a self producer too. um She's obviously worked with like other producers, but she makes a lot of her stuff on her own, which I think is like really incredible.
00:24:06
Speaker
Yeah. Through Water. Through Water is like one of my favorite albums. Love. um And then let's see another one. Oh, I mean, I have to. Fred again. I'm Fred again's biggest fan. um And I've seen that. That really tracks. That really tracks. Yeah.
00:24:24
Speaker
he He actually might be my number one um over Iona Lee because like every album that he's put out, every song he's put out is just absolutely like in every fiber of my being. Like yeah he has gotten me through his album and his music has gotten me through so many like emotional times.
00:24:41
Speaker
um And just the way that he creates music is so incredible because he records everything like with a phone, like out in the world, like he wants to recreate a moment in time that like all of us can live in. Yeah. But like amazing compositions behind it, whether it be piano or like obviously like kind of more house beats and stuff like that. But like his ability to capture in something from other artists like in their sound bites and then kind of like put them on repeat is just like so incredible. And I think it's like he's definitely like my peak of like what I aspire to be as an artist. Wow. Yeah. Big fan of him. Love. I think that's four. So you have Fred again. You have Emily. You have like is it Lobsley?
00:25:27
Speaker
Yeah. Lapsley. Lapsley. Okay. That was three. Wait, I'm missing one. Or did you, or did you self-esteem self-esteem? Okay. Yeah. Okay. You got one more. You got one more. That's tough. I know this is a hard question. I yeah i can't answer this question myself. Like I asked when I asked people, they're like, what are yours? And I was like, well, mine changes all the time. It does change all the time. yeah Yeah. I mean, those are, and I'm like, I'm in this moment too right now where I'm kind of like going back to like old albums that I've listened to from like 2019.
00:25:57
Speaker
well um And before, you know, like, yeah there's this one album by a band called Little Dragon. um Okay. They, I mean, this album came out a while ago. And I'm just like, had it on a repeat. um Yeah, so many days. It's called ritual union. It came out in 2011.
00:26:16
Speaker
But it is definitely an album that I recommend everyone like listen to because it's like just very interestingly different music and a sound that like not a lot of people or artists like have these days. Yeah. So that like, I don't even listen to Little Dragon anymore except for that album, which is like interesting. It's just like wild. Yeah. So probably bring that one too. Yeah.
00:26:35
Speaker
Okay, good choices. Five. My five. Well, I'm gonna be very quintessential, like stereotypical gay for mine. Okay. Um, so my number one will always be Madonna work. I love I love Madonna. She's been she was Like, I don't know that, that like I discovered her music in 1998 when I was 12 years old and going on to like being 13 and I just, I don't know, something clicked in me with her and I just absolutely love her. Um, I love Janet Jackson. So Janet Jackson would be in there. Love Janet. Again, I kind of, um,
00:27:15
Speaker
1997 and 1998 were like really special years just like that's where I kind of like really became entranced with music and really like dove headfirst. My dad was a big he collected CDs and collected records and he was just such a huge music fan and he would be like not only would he just like love to listen to the music, but he would love to like collect the artwork. And so he just knew like he just had this gigantic, like wardrobe looking case that just contained thousands of CDs. And um so I
00:27:47
Speaker
definitely like kind of like latched onto that. and so um so Let's see, who else? let so Madonna, Janet. This is where it starts getting hard. um I'm going to say Kylie Minogue. I love Kylie Minogue. I'm actually really excited. so I went to a holiday party yesterday. My friends Joey and Jacob were hosting. and They were like, well we have we have to give you a gift. and I was like, oh my gosh. I was like i didn't get you guys anything. like I'm so sorry.
00:28:12
Speaker
And so so they like hand me this card the card feels very ah Very light so I'm in my head and like I'm like, oh the gift is a card. That's that's very sweet You know, that's like very sweet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks guys. And so I open the card And like there's no writing on it. like It's just like kind of like ah just a completely blank card on the outside. And I was like, oh, it was like cute, like it's very chic. And so I open it and it says, we would cordially like to invite you to see Kylie Minogue with us on April 2nd in Chicago. That's amazing. I'm so excited. i was like Is that the Charlie XCX show as well?
00:28:54
Speaker
No, this is like her own. just i Just Kylie. She's going on tour for her attention albums. And so exciting. I cannot wait. I because like like she announced the tour back in the fall and I was just like, you know, I was like, I probably could do it. But like the way that just like my paychecks have been lining up lately, I was just like, you know, it's been it's been really hard to just like save for anything. Like, and also like last year i had a lot of car trouble. So it was just like,
00:29:26
Speaker
you know, like just one of those things. So I was just like, I just don't think it's gonna happen. And that's okay. Like I like made peace with it. So completely gagged me. I was just like, like the entire I was like, wow, like we're about to start this holiday party. And I'm just supposed to sit here and just be like, Oh, yeah, like no big deal. Like I'm just gonna go see Kylie Minogue in April, like it's gonna be a whole thing. Like, oh, I'm so excited. So I love so fun. Yeah, I love, love, love, love Kylie Minogue. So that'll be really cool. Um,
00:29:54
Speaker
Beyonce. I love Beyonce. Love, love, love Beyonce. I'm very excited for her Christmas show coming up. um And oh this is where it gets really challenging. Okay. My fifth. I'm going to so ah i'm gonna say,
00:30:13
Speaker
you know what, for the sake of this episode, yeah I'm actually gonna go ahead and say BT. Are you familiar with BT? I'm not familiar with BT. BT is an electronic artist. I i think he's from the US. And he, I believe is kind of known for he didn't invent it per se, but is known for really pioneering trance music. Oh, yeah, for sure.
00:30:36
Speaker
And so he, are you familiar with the song pop by NSYNC? Never heard it. I never heard it in my life. no He produced that song. Oh, that's wild. So he's been around for a long time. then He's been around for a long time. And he is also, I want to say at one point, I don't know if this record has been broken, but at one point he was in the Guinness Book of World Records for most vocal edits in one song. Wow. That's wild. Yeah, so he has a song called Somnambulist that came out in like 2003. And three yeah and um it was like that that song was used in a bunch of like car commercials at the time. So it was like one of those things, one of those songs, but um very very but I'm obsessed with his music. Like he does a lot of trance music. He's done a lot of like ambient style, very chill out um music. He's had a lot of scores for movies. Like he's done scores for
00:31:25
Speaker
like I'm like blanking on them. Like I want I think monster the that Charlize Theron movie from like the early 2000s. He did the score for that movie. He has collaborated with every he's done remixes for Madonna. He's done remixes for Seal. He's done remixes for Lenny Kravitz he's done stuff with Tory Amos. He's done stuff with ah David Bowie. Like he is truly a genius and a mastermind. And like the way that you were kind of describing your sound and how you kind of got started and how you produce everything like and just listening to like I can hear some of his stuff in
Emotional Connections to Music
00:32:03
Speaker
your work. Yeah, totally. And and yeah, I just think that he's absolutely incredible. He also he did produce a song. It was a bonus track on Britney Spears like Britney album in like 2001. It was called before the goodbye. It's
00:32:17
Speaker
in an incredible song and like starts off with like the stuttery ah kind of like ah like a mid tempo hip hop R&B-ish type of sound and then it turns into ah just a four on the floor progressive house beat halfway through the song. It's incredible and kind incredible. I'm definitely checking him out then. I will send you like a million songs of his and I'll be like come back with the full report. I also really love like finding artists who do different types of music, like people that can do scores for a movie and like full panic, panic piano and orchestral compositions and stuff like that. And then can just like throw down a trance track and be like, yeah, whatever. Yeah. It's so impressive to me. It's really, really incredible. And the way that he produces his music, too, I don't know how else to say this, like, OK, hear me out. Yeah.
00:33:11
Speaker
I'm a huge pop music lover, clearly. And so but a lot of pop music, I don't want to say it's like, simple, because like, obviously, when you break things down, and you look at all the stems, like there's clearly a lot that goes into it. But like, it sounds very kind of almost cut and paste a lot of the times, right? You've got your, yeah, very formulaic. And so his music, while there's definitely a formula to, I mean, without all music, right? There's gonna be a formula of and in some way, but there are just so many layers throughout it that you can just hear that just like kind of come in and come out. Like he also does a lot of sampling with like,
00:33:52
Speaker
like he has an album called emotional technology, where like, all the songs are synced together. So like everything kind of just flows into one another and you hear samples of like the rainforest you hear samples of like train tracks and all of these things that are just like, it's just bound together so beautifully. And yeah, I don't know. i just it's it It just takes you on a journey. yeah And and like he's got you know songs on his albums that are like seven minutes long, eight minutes oh yeah and it' long. And I'm just kind of like, fuck, let's go. i love that yeah I'm also going to change my last one too, as you were talking.
00:34:33
Speaker
yeah Cause I feel like I'm very under indexing on the pop divas and I feel really sad about that. violently gay man I would probably switch my last one for an Adele album. Cause like, she is my fav. Love that. Again, that makes sense with your, with, with the emotion that you put into your work, like talk about an emotional queen. Do you have a favorite Adele like album?
00:34:58
Speaker
Oh, that's tough. I kind of feel like it might be I think it's 21. Okay. I think that's my favorite one. Yeah. That's the one that's like black and white, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. My favorite song, I think of all time is someone like you for sure. Yeah. Oh, really? Tell me about that. Like what what makes Oh, we're we're knocking down microphones here. we're noting down Tell me about like what what makes you what resonates with you when you hear that song? Like what what draws you that that being your favorite song?
00:35:27
Speaker
I well it was when I was growing up too so I like was in 2011 so I was like just about to go to college um and so it was like my high school years I was still kind of like figuring out like whether like what being gay is you know I had a lot of like repression of like being gay because I'm from Tennessee so like growing up in that area is You know, nothing it's a gay metropolis is what you're saying. Just gays everywhere. Very accepted. Exactly. So much acceptance. It's like crazy. Crazy. So like there was obviously a lot of like personal like, you know, trauma and stuff like that growing up.
00:36:06
Speaker
as alawt a closeted gay man in Tennessee. and like my family I'm not super close with my family, but obviously love them dearly, but like I was definitely like the black sheep of the family. shout Very different, um still supported, but like I just was on my own like journey and finding myself and stuff.
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah. And that song and definitely that album was so like, I don't know, just like resonated with me on like such an emotional level, um yeah specifically that song, too, because one of my it's is ah also kind of a sad story. So I also like me and my friend at the time who now passed away would listen to that song on the way to school every day because I would drive her to school. And then she ended up in a car accident and passing away, which was obviously incredibly heartbreaking and like going through that. But I remember like, I think we were listening to that song like a couple of days before the accident. And then her album had just come out like the week before or something. And so I was like, it was on repeat. And like, yeah once that song came on in my car, like the day, like, I think it was like the morning of my friends calling me and being like, Oh my God, they're in the hospital, like blah, blah, blah. Um, and I put that song out on, on the way to the hospital to go see them and bawling my eyes out. And so it was just awful. Like it's such a.
Vocal Identity and Transition to Music
00:37:21
Speaker
tied to a ah moment of life that like was filled with so much emotion as well. And so like yeah there was even like I think five years after that whole situation that I couldn't even listen to that song because it would just bring up so many memories of her. I was going to say, yeah, that would be really, really challenging to yeah to revisit that. It was very tough. but Now, obviously, I listen to that song and it brings me like so much like like emotional i don't know investment. And I just like love listening to it because it just like puts such a ah memory in my head of her and also the time of my life that I was going through. And like just her emotion on that song is just so insane because I think that she was also like and think she had just put out 19. So she was still kind of like coming into her own. like She hadn't like popped off yet, really. Right.
00:38:12
Speaker
So it was really cool seeing Adele also go through like, early stages of her artistry and like seeing who she is now, which is like this absolute powerhouse. I remember like in Tennessee, I was going to go see a show of hers in like North Carolina and I got the tickets for like 30 bucks. It was like a small ass fucking like bar, like local place. That's wild. And I couldn't go because she ended up getting like throat nodules or something like that and had to like remove or something. So she had to like cancel the rest of her tour and reschedule all the dates.
00:38:45
Speaker
And then at that time, I was already in college, so I couldn't like go back home and see her. which a so Yeah. Yeah. I actually remember that. I actually remember her having to do that. And I remember, because I remember it being really scary, like because it happens with singers. like There's always that possibility that that could. Because didn't that happen with Julie Andrews, is that she had nodules removed from her vocal cords, and then she lost her ability to sing? Yeah, it fucks up with your vocal cords a ton. Yeah. It's also funny, because i when I was in high school, I was in theater. um for I think my junior and um senior year. And I also was an acapella group at school and my teachers.
00:39:23
Speaker
and When I joined acapella, they were like, why is your voice like so raspy? And I was like, I don't know. like It's always been this way. They straight up were like, we think that you need to go to the doctor before like we accept you into this class because you might have cancer. It's like, oh my God. I was like, um I'm like 16. Yeah. Like what the fuck? They literally like like made me go to, I mean, they were like, if you want to join this class, you have to go to this like doctor to make sure that like everything's safe.
00:39:51
Speaker
I was like, fine. So I ended up going to ah an ear, nose and throat doctor and they shoved like a camera, like up my nose and down my throat to like check everything. And they were like, Nope, your vocal cords are completely normal. Like everything is fine and healthy.
00:40:02
Speaker
They did say though, um, my vocal cords have, they're a little bit more spaced out than normal people. So like as they vibrate and like, you know, go together, like it just takes more air for them to actually vibrate and make sound, which is where the raspiness comes from. Which makes sense because like I, I was in one musical theater show, I was in hairspray.
00:40:22
Speaker
And I was part of the ensemble. So it was like singing nonstop. And I would get really lightheaded after like one song because of how much like vocal breath work it took. And like, I didn't know a lot about, you know, vocal techniques and breath work and stuff, which I learned more in college. So I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. I was just belting my little gay lungs out. You're like, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,
00:40:50
Speaker
Wow, congrats on that one song. did you Great job. Wow, that's incredible. yeah Well, that I mean, okay, so back to then creating your own music. So you started, when did you, in this timeframe, like start actually, you're like, I'm going to start creating, like, how long did it take for you, I guess, from beginning to learn how to create your own music to actually putting out your first song? Like, what was that timeframe like?
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah. Um, it's a great question too. I feel like, cause I really started like learning and like teaching myself in 2016 ish, maybe end of, and then I didn't really like put out my first, like, like besides that one song, but I kind of feel like it's a throwaway.
00:41:38
Speaker
Sure. My first song in 2020 because like at that point I had really like figured out the like picture and vision of what I wanted to do. So like the first one was kind of a throwaway because i was like I just wanted to put something out but then like I really like took time to like understand what I wanted to create which was like more of an EP style thing.
00:41:56
Speaker
um I write a lot. I kind of write, you know, wherever it just kind of comes up for me. So like my notes, my notes happen. My phone is just full of like one liners or completely full fleshed out songs. Wow. And sometimes like write a full song on the train to have work. And then sometimes I'm like, a line will just come up to me and I'm like, interesting. That sounds like something could be you know, could come from this line. So I'll write it and then I'll kind of like work it out for like a little bit and then I'll just like move on. yeah So I don't really remember like or know how much like ah time had passed really from like when that song first came out to then like releasing the EP, which I think I released the EP in 2022, which I would say was like my first real like body of work. um But I will say it took a lot of like
00:42:47
Speaker
understanding the story that I was trying to tell, which was, um, this relationship that I was in after I got back from Europe after college. And I like figured out that I wanted to be an artist. Yeah. One thing that I also told myself on my Europe trip that I figured out was like, damn, like I'd had, I'd had like two boyfriends, uh, two or three at that time. And they hadn't gone well, even like when I went to Europe, I basically broke up with my boyfriend, which was like, obviously a horrible thing for me to do. But I was like, Hey,
00:43:16
Speaker
I'm going through it. I really need to like, go figure my shit out. And like, it's not you. It's literally me. And he hate hated me for it. And I was like, totally understandable. I'm a piece of shit. Bye. Um, yeah and then and on this trip, I was like, damn, I don't think I've ever really like, like fully loved someone or like felt like true love before. Sure. And you know what I mean? It's just like, yeah like, you can love people in a lot of different like variations and versions, but like,
00:43:45
Speaker
I wanted like guttural, like painful stomach butterflies like love. you know what i mean I think what I was also probably searching for was like drastic heartbreak. I really wanted to feel like my heart was like punctured and stabbed and like taken out and bleeding out. That kind of a pain.
00:44:06
Speaker
yeah um And so when I came back from Europe, I ended up meeting this guy and and like our relationship was so tumultuous. like I like definitely like loved him for sure um and for sure wish him the best. We don't really talk anymore, but our relationship was so messy that we broke up and got back together like four different times. So he would break up and then like this was after like six or seven months of getting into the relationship.
00:44:32
Speaker
And then we would like come back to each other, like the next day crying and being like, I'm so sorry. And then we'd have like amazing passionate sex and then be like, okay, moving on right we' back together four times. And all of our friends were like, you guys, this is absolutely exhausting. Like, please get over it, like yeah move on, just figure it out. yeah Um, and so we eventually did like call it quits, but then from that, like.
00:44:56
Speaker
experience and like feeling the chaos of like love and heartbreak and all that kind of like those feelings that like are just indescribable started becoming the ep which is um called his name was mine and i like always rick repeated that like phrase in my head for like three or four years and so a lot of the songs i was writing at that time was like They weren't necessarily for that EP, but they were definitely like like birthed from the feeling of that like experience. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so like eventually I started like pieced together all these like little puzzles of like I was starting to release like one song here or there like time between the cuts was them because it was like literally the time between breaking up with this person and like what those kind of feelings in that time is. Oh, oh my God. And then like the other song that I released first that like I took down and then rerelease is called Try.
00:45:50
Speaker
And that you know is all about like really putting your whole heart and soul into something that like you believe is correct and right and like you're just getting giving all of it to that thing. um A lot of these songs were being written and like I was creating them and I started to be like, oh my god, the story of this relationship is basically being told through all of these songs that I'm writing about.
00:46:10
Speaker
yeah um And so that's eventually then when I was like, OK, I'm going to piece these together. This is a story that I really want to tell. And then the EP came out while I like, you know, really sit in. And it was really great because I definitely also also felt like one of those feelings of like, oh, my God, I worked so hard on this whole vision, like artistically, like sonically, like this is the whole narrative that I wanted to tell.
Creative Process and Future Plans
00:46:33
Speaker
And then I put it out and I was like, oh, my God, I feel like I understand like myself in that time of the relationship and this relationship like therapeutically, like
00:46:41
Speaker
so much better than I ever have like it was just like such an amazing feeling to be like putting a bow on that time of my life and putting it out into the world like I made something from it and I'm just gonna like move on and that's incredible and bet myself kind of a thing I love that yeah like you did it I mean you did an excellent job with that and it it's it's again there's just this quality to your music that like when I listen to it I'm just kind of it in awe that like you're doing it on your own
00:47:12
Speaker
It sounds like it sounds like a team of people like worked on it. Totally. Yeah, it's like it's it but it truly blows my mind. I'm like, you're telling me that there's like no one else in there. It's the the fact that you do it. And yeah, you should be really proud of yourself. Like it's really, really cool. Thank you so much.
00:47:30
Speaker
You're so welcome. So so then, OK, so I know that, again, being like a little nerd and just like looking at things and stuff, I saw that your last release was released in August of last year. So when can we expect new music from you? Yeah, so I have like three or four songs coming out um next year. They're like my favorite thing to do is like create songs until like they're 80 percent done and then not actually finish them until like I'm like, okay, you need to like really like focus on this one thing. I just have like all of these different ideas and like, you know, random things of like creating something and then throwing it away. Cause one thing that I'm also trying to do these days is like, one, give myself a lot of grace because like, it's just something that I think naturally we as humans don't do a lot. yeah Um, which is just like slowing down and not putting pressures on yourself, blah, blah, blah. But then also, um, like.
00:48:26
Speaker
In order to not make like music feel like a job, like I have to treat it as like a playground. I feel like almost every time that I you know go into mode, um which is tough because I feel like sometimes I always need like an hour, two plus hours to do it because I like and don't like to get into I don't like to do music unless I'm able to get into like a music flow. You know what I mean? Oh, absolutely. E-pop booping around, like I'm in the zone. Cause otherwise I just like get distracted and I'm on my phone or like something like that. Um, yeah which is definitely one of the like hardest parts of like doing it all by yourself. Cause like, I have to be the one to be like slapped out of it and like focus, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but then the other thing that I'm like trying to focus on these days is like.
00:49:14
Speaker
collaborating and working with other artistic people. And even this, for example, like talking with kind of another creative person is like really helpful because it just kind of like builds this world around it that like makes it really fun to be a part of. So um so I'm always trying to like make it a playground just to like explore and like I still always like like make music as like a piece of therapy. You know what I mean? And and so I just kind of like always put myself in ah in a place of like freedom and exploration and like creativity and stuff whenever I do it. um But I have songs coming out next year. um I think there's going to be like three or four of them. I don't really have an idea of like an EP or anything yet. I'm still kind of in the like
00:49:55
Speaker
create and just put out kind of a mode. Love. Yeah. It's also a completely different writing process. Like I'm in a very like like singular like writing one song, putting it out kind of a mode right now and not really like in a long term because a lot of like EPs and albums like you do kind of have to have the like vision behind it. And I don't really have anything like that right now, which is like totally okay. That's totally fine. Yeah. When you're making a song, like do you, do you like instantly have an idea? Well, let me, let me backtrack. Do you think of like how you want something to sound first or do you have like the lyrics first? How does that work for you? Like, or does it kind of just vary? It sometimes varies. Like there are sometimes
00:50:42
Speaker
like verses that I will write and I'll be like I just really like have a specific sound for like this verse or like melody that I really want to try and recreate and it usually like starts from like piano and like kind of you know minimal take it back to acoustic kind of vibes and kind of build it from there but a lot of times I think like sometimes I can literally sit down and make a song in two hours and I'm like Okay. And then some heads of while sometimes it'll literally take me like eight to 10 months to make one song too. You know what I mean? Like, right I don't need saving. I think was the fastest song that I like made. And it took me, I think seven months fully. And it started as something completely different and it started as two different songs. And then I combined them together. Cause I was like, they're kind of saying a similar thing and like, could be fun to like figure out how to like combine these two sounds together.
00:51:31
Speaker
Yeah. And like, I just figured it out, you know what I mean? But yeah, sometimes I can write a song in two hours and um Sometimes it takes me a really long time. Sometimes I listen to a lot of different samples of like sounds. I have this thing called Splice, which honestly is like one of the best things as an artist. If you're an artist listening to this, Splice is a godsend. It's like eight dollars a month, and it basically you get like credits to like download different sounds. And it could be anything from synths to beats to like you know random atmospheric things.
00:52:04
Speaker
um And sometimes that will like really inspire me because I'll like listen to like something that someone has made on splice and I'll be like, Oh, that's like super cool. Like I can kind of twist it and tweak it here and there and then I'll like add some beats and then you can just basically layer it from there. Yeah, I do still like to even if I do that because a lot of there's this other thing with artists were like, I don't know.
00:52:25
Speaker
some DJs and people like producers in the music industry are like poo pooing artists that like basically create entire songs out of samples because they're like, well, that's not like real art. But it's like, sure, it's stupid. Because like, I understand that because you don't you don't have as much flexibility. Because if you're using sound samples, you're basically tied to that like one sample. We don't have the freedom to like work it in different ways. you know yeah But I'm also like and like, shut up, who cares? like Every art is subjective to however someone wants to make it.
00:52:57
Speaker
I was going to say it's just a different way of making art. like it's like i I feel like with music specifically, people get really hyperfixated on how many people work on a project. how like yeah Are there samples involved? Are there not samples involved? is it real Is it real instrumentation, quote unquote, or is it like done digitally? is it it's like People will just go over and over and over. a bit like Can someone, quote unquote, sing or not? like That's a discussion that happens a lot specifically with female artists.
00:53:26
Speaker
and it's like they're at the holiday party last night. We were wrapping up by we I had met an older gay couple. Oh, hopefully they don't hear that. We mean not we mean just normal age, normal age, normal age, they're probably actually brought my age. Um, but um, no, we but we were talking about is that one of them had brought up like Ken Madonna sing or not. And I and I was like here I was like, here's what I have to say about that. I was like,
00:53:53
Speaker
I know I'm biased. I'm some completely biased when I say, yes, Madonna can sing. But I was like, I was like, hear me out, though. I was like, no one's running around saying that Bob Dylan can't sing. No one is running around saying Paul McCartney can't sing. No one's running around saying Drake can't sing. Why are we so fixated on whether or not a female artist can sing the way that Ariana Grande can or sing the way that Whitney Houston can? Like, there are just different abilities. And there are so many different ways to make music.
00:54:23
Speaker
Yeah, like, like, I don't know. and And yeah, I don't know. I was gonna say and like, to your point, like, male artists don't get that much scrutiny. Like, they don't. It's it's garbage. Yeah. Like, I'd never ever hear like, once in a while, I'll hear people talk about ah male vocal ability. But I'm like, you're never like no, and and it's no disrespect to any of those artists. But like, Paul McCartney cannot sing like Mariah Carey, right? Right. Bob Dylan cannot sing like,
00:54:50
Speaker
Cynthia Arevo. There's just completely different vocal stylings and vocal abilities, and that's okay. like Not everyone needs to be able to do all of like the vocal gymnastics, and not everyone that like there's always going to be different tones and all of these different things. I don't know. I just- Well, and like as a singer, like you all that singing really is, is the ability to like tell a story, in my opinion. You know what I mean? Anyone can do that.
00:55:18
Speaker
like I don't think that anyone is not a singer because as a producer, you can make someone sound pretty good in very different ways. You know what I mean? But like yeah as a singer, if you can tell a story through a voice, like that's really like all it comes down to. Yeah, you know absolutely. Which is a beautiful tool. Oh, there was something else that I was going to say too. Oh, I was also going to say that like because like art is so subjective and personal to the artists, like every person can basically be an artist, like creativity, like exists in everyone.
Underrated Songs Discussion
00:55:55
Speaker
You know what I mean? And a lot of people just are, they are like afraid to access it, but like just creating something is I think art, you know, yeah, making food, food is art can make a beautiful meal and it's like absolutely delicious and all the ingredients that it took to get there. That meal wasn't there.
00:56:12
Speaker
before you started. Period. great three That's what creation. That's what the Bible's about right there. literally ask you like a million more questions about your process and and your taste and your influences, but um we are getting to that point in the show. Famous, famous little portion of the show where I always like to ask our guests, uh,
00:56:42
Speaker
Is there a song that we don't talk about enough and the reason why I even bring this up is that, you know, being really immersed in the pop culture world on the Internet. You know, I am constantly seeing fan accounts and stan accounts talk about, you know, we, we all talk about, and I use the song a lot as and is an example, Britney Spears toxic, right? Yeah. Incredible song, groundbreaking song, influential song. We all love it. We all talk about it at nauseam at this point. And I'm like, Britney Spears has other incredible songs, hit singles, but also a ah lot of incredible deep cuts. So I had started this thing on my Instagram a couple of years ago where I was like, songs, we don't talk about enough. We'd like, we should just talk about other things. So that all being said, Kaiser Blue, do you have a song that you feel like we do not talk about enough?
00:57:32
Speaker
Can it be a Britney song? Of course. and the In the fashion of like our queen savior of the show Britney, Freak Show by Britney Spears is one of the best Britney songs and I just like love that song so much and it like does something to my body that no other song of hers does.
00:57:58
Speaker
I love that. You know what I mean? Do you agree? Oh, it's incredible. It's it's so underrated. Arguably, arguably, and this might be controversial, but arguably one of the first pop songs to incorporate like a dubstep sound.
00:58:13
Speaker
100% yeah like like it's like dubstep light for sure but it is like like and that came out what 2007 yeah yeah like like way before dubstep really like took over the mainstream and like the edm days like this relics era of dubstep which was the earlier days yeah yeah yeah and it was like a new sound for her too i feel like absolutely oh my god that whole album the blackout album is just incredible and it's filled with the black album underrated Britney album, for sure, pop album. like I feel like people, when that ah when that album came out too, people were like, oh, isn't she like kind of crazy now? But like that album is so absolutely incredible. like It's so good.
00:58:56
Speaker
It's fucking solid like solid. Every fucking song, the bonus tracks, there's like some unreleased stuff, because I remember that album like came out during the time of like leaks, you know ah ah lots of stuff would leak and whatnot. And so there's a lot of like stuff that didn't make the album that is also just as good. like you know like She doesn't get enough credit for her creativity. I know that people love to label her as just like this puppet in the music industry, but like And time and time again, people talk about how ah amazing she is and to work within the studio and how creative that she actually is. I love that you said freak show. That's so good. And I also add um I the an artist that I can't get out of my head right now. Uh huh. Maybe it'll be a new part of the segment. Dochie.
00:59:48
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Have you been listening to her album? Not so I have not given myself permission, if you will, yet to fully dive into Dochie. My sonic landscape right now has been elsewhere. Yeah. But but she I love the recognition that she's getting because talk about like an artist who's like really creative visually. Mm hmm. Her music. What was the music video where everyone was naked? Was that was that the song Crazy?
01:00:17
Speaker
or positive. I think so it was one of her song. I want to say this is like back in like 20 somewhere between like 2020 and 2022. But like there was like like everyone in the video was naked. She was like they were like dancing in like some sort of um what looks like maybe like a like a parking garage of some sort was like like lots of concrete and stuff. Oh, yeah, it was crazy. It was what?
01:00:39
Speaker
It like I remember watching that video and then and being like, oh, this bitch is like going to be the next thing. Something else I like. I mean, again, like i she's very, very new to me. Like i I've heard her on like featured on other songs and whatnot. But like, yeah, she's done a couple of live performances for um her album that just came out. And I was like, who the.
01:00:58
Speaker
fuck is this? Like I am a hooked. And I also don't think like as a black female rapper or like in hip-hop like a visual sonic person like her style like hasn't really been around in a minute. You know what I mean? Like yeah going back like ah every like all the reviews and stuff that I've been like reading about her or like oh my god finally like 90s old school hip-hop is back because of that. I think it's like so cool because like that's just like such a power and like she's also a weirdo. Like I've definitely definitely seen some interviews with her and I'm like obsessed with her personality and just like who she is as like a human. I'm like oh my god you are. She's gonna be massive and I can't wait. Yeah. Oh she deserves it. She absolutely deserves it. i Any sort of artist that is able to be themselves, let their freak flag fly,
01:01:53
Speaker
I just I always resonate with those types of artists because I'm just kind of like you're doing something different that no one else is doing. And I get that that's easier said than done. Right. Because with the record labels and things like that, of course, you're going to have teams of people being like, you can't do this or don't do that or whatever, whatever. So like I get it. um And there's also like just that tug and pull of just like, I don't know, some like you do a weird thing and then you'll do something. Maybe it's more commercial or whatever. Like I think both things are great.
01:02:20
Speaker
But yeah,
Exploring Music Through Remixes
01:02:22
Speaker
I love that. Yeah, i I need to get more into her. I need to give myself. I always say I have this thing where like I'm so connected to music that like I i won't like something unless I like give myself the allowance to like actually fully immerse into it. Totally.
01:02:37
Speaker
because I'm like certainly, it so right now I've been revisiting a lot of like early, I would say like early 2000s, late 90s dance music has been like where my brain has been at for the last couple of months. And so, and that's also like my sweet spot, but I've just been like allowing myself to like discover things that I've never listened to prior, yeah you know? And so, um but yeah, I need to get on the doji train because she's pretty incredible. What's an artist that you have on repeat right now?
01:03:05
Speaker
That is a great question, other than you, of course. um Yeah, period. um That's a really good question. So I have been revisiting a lot. ah So like I said, I've been listening to, you know, maybe I'll use this as my song, we don't talk about enough. um We so I have been revisiting again, a lot of like,
01:03:26
Speaker
late 90s, early Y2K dance music. And so again, being like, you know, loving all the pop divas and loving all the pop girlies, I was a huge fan of their remixes as well growing up. So I'm a huge remix person. I love remixes.
01:03:43
Speaker
You know, that's controversial for a lot of people. A lot of people hate remixes. I personally love them. I just love the way that DJs and remixers can like reinvent a song and like just breathe new life into it. Because again, like when we talk about, I guess radio play isn't so much of a thing anymore, but like back in the day like you'd turn on the radio and you'd hear the same songs over and over again and it would just kind of get really tiresome, right? Kind of the same way how like you hear songs on TikTok or Reels kind of used over and over again you're kind of like okay I've heard this a million times now, right? I love that these remixes are able to breathe new life into songs and so now lately what I've been doing is dive like diving into
01:04:25
Speaker
remixes by more obscure artists or like maybe they're not pop artists, but they're like people in like the in the club scene and which I didn't really dive into back then.
01:04:38
Speaker
even though like I was familiar with their names and whatnot. So anyway, that's a long long story short. um I so this artist, she ah we all know her. Wait, hold on. I have to make sure that I'm getting this right. I want to make sure I don't want to sound like a fool. People are like, who are you talking about? Um, um, um, um, um, um. um long dramatic pause. So everyone knows her song 100% Pure Love, Crystal Waters. 100, yeah. Which is arguably one of the most influential like house music songs ever, yeah right? um But she has a song called Just a Freak that came out in like 97 that features Dennis Rodman. Dennis Rodman. That's so fun. Yeah. And the remix by Hex Hector and like my listeners are going to laugh because I always bring up Hex Hector. But I had never heard this remix until like maybe two months ago. And it is just like this really fun like house. It was a track that was that definitely during a time where like progressive like tribal music was starting to kind of become a thing. And so it was like very like into the anyway.
01:05:50
Speaker
It's a very fun song. The lyrics are just so chaotic. She's like, Oh, where my hair green? And we're down to my feet. And and it's just like, it's such a group. It is. I'm obsessed with it. So everyone go stream just a free tech sector remix by Crystal waters. Oh, it's also so great seeing Crystal Waters like get her flowers again, like, yes, up and up and I'm like, Hell yeah. Yeah. She's so she's so good. So yeah, but yeah, we've been down this like this dance train. I need to get out of it. I need to like give myself a break, give myself. It's just such good music to work out to.
01:06:26
Speaker
Yeah, I'm also kind of in the same boat. Like I've been listening to Robin's old music again, like Queen Dida Robin. Like, like, like dancing on my own Robin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, i you know, her album, it has like Stars Forever on it. Body Talk. Body Talk. That album is absolutely phenomenal. Like,
01:06:48
Speaker
phenomena Also underrated album. I feel like we could talk about underrated songs for like a whole hour, but like we really, really could. That whole album is so incredible. And it just like makes me so happy to listen to it. And like, yes, it's yeah. it's i So that album came out. It was really fun because it was like kind of the first of its kind. She had put that album out initially as like separate EPs in three different yeah parts.
01:07:13
Speaker
Yeah. And so I loved that because you kind of got the album in real time as it was coming out in 2010. And I remember Specifically when she released part two of the album I had just so I I lived in Grand Rapids for a little bit but then I had to move home because I was just like going through like a Moment where I was like I was a cosmetologist in this era of life But then I realized I didn't want to do that anymore But I was like I didn't have any money saved up and I was just like I don't know what to do So I ended up moving back home to my hometown of Benton Harbor, Michigan for a year and this is in 2010 and when I moved home that summer I That summer of 2010, for me, a magical time in music. I think that we don't really recognize that enough. Like we got we got like Teenage Dream from Katy Perry that summer. I got it. We got Kylie Minogue's Aphrodite album that summer. We got Christina Aguilera's Bionic album that summer, which it was panned at the time, but is now revered as like being ahead of its time. um We got Body Talk that year and specifically the song Hang With Me.
01:08:17
Speaker
ah so good. I am obsessed with hang with me and like that version like my heart it's just so good yes it's just oh my god like she talk about an artist that will make you cry in the dance floor mm-hmm yeah she's like she really is and my number one pop diva for sure I love I love that. Oh, my God. Let's manifest right now. You and Robin collaborating at some point because you because you two have a vibe that would really work well together. And again, she's she has immersed herself more and more into club music and and the dance music. I mean, it it's a no brainer, in my opinion, like Robin. Hello, if you're listening.
01:09:00
Speaker
Yeah, like that would be that would be monumental. I had one more thing before we go. You said early Robin, are you familiar with her like first album? Oh, yeah, Cobra style. No, before that, even before that. Yeah, why not? Okay, so in the nine in like 1990. Well, it was released in the States here in 97. But like in 1996, she released an album that was like very like 90s pop and so it was like one of the first big hits for Max Martin and Wow, and so so one of my favorite songs of all time is a song called show me love. It's gonna be very different now Show me love show me love so me that yes. Yes. it Yes. Yeah
01:09:43
Speaker
Yeah. And so my friend Jeff and I, we always joke around calling her a white woman of color because on that album, it's very like R and&B influence. And you hear like, like the kind of swagger that she has going out and like her whole like visual vibe that she had going on at the time is very white woman of color. I mean, Robin has like, she's like the original like,
01:10:04
Speaker
she has swag like yeah very it's wild she is such a beast like and just such an interesting human being like i would love to like that is someone that i would love to have dinner with like out of all the artists is robin because i feel like that woman can probably tell stories on stories Absolutely. You know, yeah, that would be. Yeah. To be in that room. Oh, yeah. Sign me up. I'm there. I'm totally there. I love it. Well, Kaiser Blue. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Homophonic. Like this has been a true treat. I cannot wait to hear and see what you do next. Your music is absolutely incredible. um Yeah.
Conclusion and Thanks
01:10:42
Speaker
And when you released your next song, will you be back on the show so we can like promote it?
01:10:47
Speaker
110%. This has been such a pleasure, Zach. Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. Well, everyone, thank you so much for listening. And until next time, peace out. Bye.