April 14, 2020 • 28 mins
This week, Sammy Jaye is joined by musician & activist Lauv to talk about his new album ~how i'm feeling~, his foundation focusing on mental health and healing from depression, loneliness and anxiety, and what it's like being quarantined with his collaborators. Lauv also tells us what drives him to write music, why he created a way for his fans to reach out to each other, and why he always answers the phone for his mom.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey guys, It's Sammy J. And welcome to this week's episode.
Today I got to talk with Lou, which was so exciting.
We talked about how he's doing in Quarantine, his new album,
how I'm feeling the process of creating that, his mental
health struggles, and his foundation, the Blue Boy Foundation, which
you should totally check out, and so much more. I
hope you guys enjoy it and I cannot wait for
(00:27):
your feedback. Hi, Low Hi, how are you doing. I'm
doing pretty well. How are you? I'm good? How are you?
Are you at home right now? Yeah? I'm at home.
I'm actually in my studio. So is that where you
do all your music? Yeah? Um, pretty much. I just
got make a really cozy couch behind me and a
(00:48):
little set up in little piano, a couple of cents
and uh survivee. Is that how you've just been spending
your days in mid Yeah, it's like the one of
the only things that's keeping me saying, I'm rantined to
the couple of my best friends and um, we just
like almost every single day we're down here, like twelve
hours a day, just like writing, writing, writing. How many
songs do you think you've written well, we might start
(01:10):
like five or six ideas, but usually we don't make
like five or six songs in one day. We just
find like which whatever we like vibe with the most,
and we might make like a couple of songs in
a day. But I would say probably since we started
locking up together, we've probably made about ten songs and
then like probably another ten ideas. Um. Yeah, and a
few of them I really really like. So Okay, So
(01:31):
do you think the next album would be a quarantine edition?
I don't want to call it that because I think
that kind of dates it, but a lot of the
songs will be made during quarantine for sure. So I
don't know about you, but during the quarantine, I've been
listening to How I'm Feeling, which is your most recent album,
And I know you call yourself the one man band.
So my question is, if you could have anyone else
(01:55):
in a band, who would it be? Um, it would
be it would probably be like Harry Styles. Um, I'm
gonna say Jim Carey, I'm gonna say Chris Martin from Coldplay,
I'm gonna say Drake and um uh, Tony the Tiger
from Frosted Place. Man. I think that would be the
(02:18):
most iconic band of all time? What would it be called,
We'd be called we would be called the most iconic
band of all time? Pretty simple. Yeah, for the cover
for your album, it is incredible. How did you come
up with the idea to have uh, your different kind
of personalities formed in colors? Yeah, Basically it was like
(02:40):
when I was listening to the music as I was
finishing the album, I was like, there's so many different vibes,
like so many different kind of genres and and like moods,
and I the album for me was sort of born
out of this place of feeling very boxed in in
terms of identity, you know before, And I wanted the
whole album to be about kind of embracing all the
different parts of yourself because I think that humans are
really complicated, and I think that the world and the
(03:01):
internet tries to mold you into having a singular identity,
but I think we're way more complicated than that. So
I wanted the artwork and everything to represent like different
versions of me and kind of like how they all
work together to create this one man boy band. So
who came up with like each one? And how do
you assign the color it was just me and then
um and then like my creative directors were just sitting
in the room together just like homies and just like
(03:23):
chatting through the concepts and and um, yeah, we come
up with six different characters in addition to the real me.
So it's brilliant. I think this. One of the things
about this album is there are songs. What is the
process of eliminating songs and choosing what has to be
in like an album, because I'm sure that's so stressful. Well,
(03:46):
first you get rid of all the ones that suck.
I wrote probably about I wrote probably about fifty songs,
and then originally my idea was to make it fifteen songs. Um.
But then like I tried to narrow it down to
fifteen and it just like it just wasn't enough. So
I kept like, okay, no sixteen, no eighteen, No, it's
twenty not twenty one. And at that point I was like, Okay,
it's not gonna be any longer than twenty one songs.
(04:08):
It's like a lot. So yeah, yeah, do you have
a favorite song off the album Modern momentas for sure, Okay,
let's I want to talk about that song because I
think it is so representative of just like where we are,
especially with social media these days. I always say that,
you know, social media, it brings people closer that you
(04:28):
don't see, but it takes you further away from the
people you are with. How have you I'm looking for
advice for this. How have you maintained or kind of
formed a healthy relationship with social media? I mean, I'm
always working on that. I mean, because it's very addictive,
you know. Um, So it seems like we have an
endless like an endless um whole for attention, like we
(04:52):
you know, like I feel like there's like I'll be
in a mood and I'm like, I just want to
post something so people give pay attention to me, you know,
And I'm like that never fulfills that anything. And I
think just trying to get into moments where I actually
have like deep conversations with my friends, are like actually
talk to my parents, Like I find myself a lot
of the time, you know, avoiding calls from my parents
are like my sisters are like my best friend because
(05:13):
I'm like doing something else, And I'm like, then you
can't complain about being lonely if you're the one who's
you know, not not engaging in those conversations. So I'm
trying to be aware of that, and um, especially now,
I think it's actually been a little bit better because
like we're forced, this is like our only way to
connect with people right now. We can't see people. So
I'm finding myself actually doing things like going on live stream,
like really like doing productive things that hopefully are helping people,
(05:35):
you know, talking to my parents more often, talking to
friends that I haven't spoken to in a long time. UM. Yeah,
That's what I've been trying to do too. It's so
hard though, especially with social media to find um you know,
if you look at comments, a lot of comments are
kind of fake nice and they're like, oh my god
all that. So how do you separate that from finding
who your real friends are and all that? Um? I
(05:58):
feel like I just don't take trying to take anything
on social media like with anything more than a grain
of salt. I mean, just the people that I know
are the people that I actually know. UM. And aside
from that, it's like I kind of just everything is
everybody has something to say. I don't know, Yeah, I
guess I don't really think about it. I think one
of the things that I love about your music is
you speak so candidly about things that people just aren't
(06:18):
talking about. For example, your song Changes. I hate change
so much and I haven't heard a song about it.
How do you just get to be okay with change
because you wrote a song about it, so you must have.
I mean, I had to get to a literal rock
bottom before I decided I needed to make changes, like
I was at the beginning of January nine. I was like,
(06:41):
that was like right at the end of that month,
I was diagnosed with m O c D and clinical depression,
and up until then I was just struggling with it
on my own and not really like realizing what it
was and sort of downplaying it and being like trying
to deal with it myself, and like I was just like, oh,
I don't know. I kept like thinking like it would
go way or something, and and I started that song
(07:02):
Changes in that time, and it was like when I realized,
like I need to be open to something else, you know,
are also I'm gonna be stuck here forever. So I
think it took me hitting a rock bottom to realize
I needed to make changes. Now I'm just trying to,
like after I got through that. I'm trying to just
be like a little bit more brave when it comes
to making changes, like just be like, you know what,
Like it always works out, you know, if you have
(07:23):
to change something in your life, whether that means like
a relationship with a person or you know, something in
your career that's not working for you, or something that's
not working, you're not being maybe you're not even being
a good friend, and you have to make a change.
Like I think just being aware of those things and
being like, you know what, Like we're humans, were able
to grow and we're able to evolve. I really believe that,
and I think we're naturally programmed to be afraid of
(07:44):
those changes. But I think that, you know, we can
override that fear. So yeah, you know, I actually, in
the same time when you were going through your lowest point,
I was two, I actually have O c D two
and I find it I'm curious what your opinion is
the misconceptions, because a lot of people will be like,
oh my god, I'm so O c D when they're
just not into becoming a try and actually with me
at least, it's like obsessing over thoughts. Yeah, I mean,
(08:06):
I know exactly what you're talking about. I mean, I
feel like, um, I don't want to be like sometimes
I want to be frustrated, but then I'm like, don't
because it's like, you know, like I don't think people
mean wrong when they're like, oh, I'm so O c
D about this, Like if they don't, if it's not
really like a thing. Um, but I think what when
I realized it's like, I mean c O c D
definitely comes in many forms. You know, people really Oh
(08:28):
it's like you clean obsessively or blah blah blah, you
have to turn the light switch off seven times exactly
the right way or whatever. And I know that that's
definitely a very classic form of O c D. But
you know, in my situation, it's probably sounds kind of
similar to yours. It's like very similar have very obsessive
negative thoughts that I like constantly need to get reassurance about.
So it's like when I was in January, I was
(08:49):
like having these negative obsessions about my past, and like
like really really intense ones that I would just journal
about over and over, trying to recall events from my
past and thinking if I could recall them correctly, I
could be happy again, and I would like call my
parents multiple times a day, my friends, my sisters, like
trying to tell stories from like two or three years
(09:09):
ago and be like I didn't I don't know, Like
how did it happen? Like what happened? And like it
just got to the point where I was so stuck
in this hole that it was like I was fully
withdrawn from reality and it felt like it felt like
what I needed to do. And that's the thing about
I think a lot of like stuff like O c
D or anxiety is the voice becomes so loud that
it tells you it's what you need to pay attention
to no matter what, and it fully takes over your
(09:30):
ability to live your life. You should write a song
about O c D. Yeah, I mean it's hard to depict,
and you kind of did it really well. So yeah,
thank you for giving me a chance to openly talk
about it. I appreciate it. No, I feel the same way.
That's actually why I started this podcast because when I
was really anxious, I had nothing else to do, started
listen to podcasts and then I was like there's nothing
(09:51):
talking about what I want to and then here we are.
That's amazing. Well, thank you for doing that. I'm really
excited to talk about just the song Sad Forever, because
I love that You've given a lot of the proceeds
to different organizations to help with mental health. When did
that journey start? And I know you wrote that song
(10:13):
during a really difficult time, So what was it like?
Was it like singing a song that it kind of
brings you back to that time when ye're in a
good place? Now it's actually quite beautiful. Like I would
sing it on tour, and I expected to be really
sad on stage when I sing it, and maybe I
do at the beginning, maybe I'm a little sad, But
by the time I'm like halfway through and everybody's screaming
the words, and like it's just this beautiful moment where
(10:34):
I'm like everybody is at some different point in their
journey right now in this room. You know, some people
are really in a low place, some people are probably
in a great place. Some people are fighting through it,
Like it depends depending on the day. For me, I'm
in any of those places, but especially like when I
can have that perspective of like, look how far I've come,
and look how possible it is to get to know
to know what it's like to be in a place
where you don't think it's possible you'll ever be happy again,
(10:55):
and you'll ever want to really live your life and
to actually be in the place where you are happy
and you do want to live your life full lead.
It's like it makes you break down and you're like,
I'm so thankful. You know that song is such like
a grounding song for me. It really is. And I
know you talk about just like the importance of talking
about mental health. Um, what is the fan responsibit like?
Because you know you trapped like minded people. So what
(11:17):
has that process been like? It's been actually really positive.
You know, I was really nervous let's kind of start
opening up about it. But people are really appreciative. People
shared their own stories, like a lot of people, you know, fans, friends, family,
people haven't spoken to him forever started texting me and stuff.
And um, it's also kind of heavy though, because now
a lot of people I think like they think I
have the answers and like, um, and yeah, I'm still
(11:40):
going through it, and I wouldn't want I'm not a professional,
you know. All I can do is speak about my
own experience, and you know, it's it's like it feels
like a responsibility and I'm happy to share everything I
go through. And I started believe that's like my purpose
as an artist, you know, is to share what what
I go through and what you know, what my life is,
because I know if it if my life is this thing,
that somebody else's life is likely also that thing. And
(12:02):
that's one of my favorite things of the human experience,
is like kind of relating to somebody else. So what
is it? What was the hardest song on the album
where that you were most hesitant to put out just
because it was so like true to you. I mean,
modern Aluness was definitely a hard one. Um. Yeah, I
think also, you know, Julia and I'll and I'll let
that song speak for itself, but just you know, um,
(12:25):
I think that's like the first time I've just kind
of written basically like an apology song, just straight up
put it out there. But yeah, I think it's very
strong to just put your your life in the public eye.
So how how do you deal with everyone put putting
in their opinions? And I don't do that. I don't
always do that well, I try, I try to remember
(12:47):
not to care. I mean, that's one of my biggest
things right now as a person that I'm working on
is I think a big part of like self security
and like confidence is getting to a point where you
don't really care about other people think about you, except
for the people that you know know you really well
and that you love and like they love you on
like a real deep level. And then it's like, oh,
if my friend, if my best friend thinks I'm a
(13:08):
bad person or I did something not a bad person,
but if I did something wrong, Okay, I'm listening, but
like to not let the like the endless you know,
endless voices on the internet dictate my mood. You know,
it's like the worst. Like, So, I'm trying to just
get to a point where I'm like, do I feel
good about myself? Do I feel like I did the
right thing? And yeah? So I know you talked a
(13:28):
lot about meditation and journaling, and I'm curious because I
could never get into this. Okay, help me. So I've
heard so many great things about it, Yeah, meditation. Meditation
is an interesting one. I couldn't get into it for
a long time either. I would try to use apps
and stuff and I would just get I would do
it for a week maybe if I forced myself, and
then I would fall out of it again. I get bored,
(13:50):
but no, I feel you, and I would get anxious
like during it. What really helped me as a certain
type of meditation that I do that Like one of
my best friends in the world, Show of Me, he
used this form of meditation to really get me out
of my lowest points. And it's it's pretty simple basically,
I mean, and I want to do more like guided
(14:11):
meditation stuff like out there on the internet. But it's basically,
you know the basics of its finding a comfortable position,
closing your eyes, putting your arms out, palms facing upward,
you know, taking an initial breath, and with that initial breath,
imagine everything that's weighing you down, everything that's making you anxious,
stressed out, worried, everything that doesn't serve you. Imagine it
(14:31):
falling away and basically speaking through this whole thing. Like
whenever I do it, I do it with people or
I speak to myself and um, yeah, it's basically like
kind of starting from that place of like letting things go,
kind of imagining, you know, thoughts that are hitting your
mind kind of bouncing away and acknowledging to yourself and
to whoever you're with that it's okay to take a
moment for yourself, your spirit, your mind, your heart. Um,
(14:54):
talk about just like imagining the front of your chest
opening up and opening your heart entirely to receiving energy
and giving love. And then it becomes sort of it
becomes sort of like I'm not really a religious person myself,
but it becomes a bit like prayer, Like I start
talking about, you know, like sending love to various people
in my life, like people, you know that, my family
and my friends, people that are suffering right now. Um,
(15:15):
And and then sorry, I'm kind of rambling, but this
is all that's very helpful. It's really nice. And then
I kind of it's a lot of it's also like speaking,
like because I find when you speak from your heart,
there's almost no better way to be in the moment.
Like once I start not thinking about what I'm gonna
say in the meditation, I just say whatever naturally comes up.
It really becomes powerful and I get to a flow
state where I feel totally unaware of any thought except
(15:38):
for right this moment. And so I'll talk about you know,
like like say things like let us pray for guidance,
like let us have you know, the courage to to
follow our you know, to follow our guts and to
and to you know, always becoming be becoming a better person.
And it's it's a lot of kind of speaking things
into fruition and and if you're with other people, speaking
your love for them, you know, because sometimes it's hard
(15:58):
to express the way you feel towards people, um in
a normal social setting for whatever, at least for me.
So this is like I love to meditate with my
best friends and just um, you should just you should
do it alive, like just meditating because I would listen,
because just to kind of get everyone in their own head,
because that's hard to do, especially in quarantine by yourself.
I know, I tried to do an Instagram live meditation,
(16:20):
but I think it was kind of weird because I
was just alone speaking to the phone. So I think
you should like join, you should guess with somebody in
that way. It's like that would be nice, that would
be really nice. And then journaling, yeah, oh, journaling is
one that I've tried in the past, but I'm not
going to at I don't really do it anymore, right,
I like I can like do it like speaking to
my phone, but like I just when writing it just
(16:42):
I don't know. I'm actually taking a creative writing class
and every morning they make you journal for its keeping
me accountable with it. Nice change of paste for one's.
I'm gonna talk about your foundation that you started, um,
the Blue Boy Foundation. How First of all, why did
you want to set a foundation? UM? I wanted to
(17:04):
do that. Well, it was it was tied into Sad Forever,
you know, when I when I wrote Sad Forever, and
then I was starting to get to a better place.
Um um Mentally, I wanted to one tell the story
um of kind of like what I was going through,
um really Sad Forever, tell the story through that music
(17:25):
video as well, and then take all the proceeds from
the song and find various organizations to that you know,
that are working in the field of mental health and
to you know, allocate that money and basically, UM, with
my team and a couple other friends and actually my
my family, a couple of people in my family are
on the board, We've made this foundation called Blue Boy Foundation,
where yeah, we're just um, trying to find ways you know,
(17:49):
collecting money and donating money to various organizations all over
the world. Um, collecting a dollar on ticket sales each
there was like a ticket tax on each concert ticket
that's going you know through the foundation. And I mean
my goal with this year, my big goal was to
sit down with an organization in every city that I
go on toward too and to meet a local organization
that's you know, in the field, and learn how like,
(18:10):
other than just raising money, what are other ways to help?
Because you know, I think there's a lot for everyone
to learn, and especially myself. Um, but yeah, I just
kind of wanted to start doing something like that. So
I think one of the things that people relate to
most as an artist is just your honesty. Do you
remember the first time like you felt a connection with
(18:30):
a fan that was beyond music and you lay connected
with your life. I'm trying to think. Um. I think
one of the thing that first kind of tripped me
out was when I started to see people get tattoos
in my lyrics, because then that kind of like hit me,
like for me to get a tattoo of the lyrics,
like I would have to love that song so deeply,
(18:51):
like I would have to do it in a song
that changed my life. And I think that's when I
was like, okay, like this is something serious, you know. Yeah,
I mean I think that's a big one that that's
crazy to think that people get. Do you remember the
first time that happened? Mm hmm it was I think
it was the first one I saw. I think it
was in Chicago, one of my very first shows, and
it was like, I forget what I said, but it
was on it was on her finger, But um, yeah, crazy.
(19:13):
I'm always surprised with musicians with anxiety how they can
just perform in front of a bunch of people, because
I can't imagine doing that. Yeah, it's interesting, like I
feel like I get more anxious around a small group
of people than I do a big group. Really, I
feel like it's so interesting how it's different for everybody. Yeah,
do you have your favorite tour memory. I played a
(19:34):
show in New York a couple of years back where
I just remember for I don't know why, it was
so pleasing, but like it was like the first time
I took my shoes off on stage, and it just
felt like such a moment to me. I felt so
calm and so grounded, and it was so amazing. It
was so good. I don't know, it was such a
good show too. It was like I think it was
kind of around a little bit after I Like Me
Better came out, and it was like, you know, songs
about living in New York and I wrote it in
New York and then being back in New York playing it,
(19:56):
it was just special. You went to n y U, right,
what we York? Because I live in New York, Okay,
and I'm about to do the whole college thing. So
can you give me any advice because I'm looking at everywhere.
I'm mainly looking at schools in California because I love
a California. But I'm always I'm always curious at NYU.
(20:17):
What did you study there? Music technology? So that must
help with your career. Yeah, I mean so basically it's
like audio engineering. Um, I feel like I feel like,
I mean, honestly, some of my favorite parts of school,
like school wise, where I did a minor in psychology.
I really like that. The I feel like a lot
of what like, don't get me wrong, like having a
(20:40):
music degree definitely like helps, you know, I learned a lot,
but I feel like a lot of really what it's about,
especially in something like music, you don't I mean, first
of all, I don't want anybody to think they have
to go to school to be a successful artist, successful producers,
like so many people who don't do that, Like I
just I just don't, like, I don't subscribe to that
you have to go to school for this, like you know,
whether or not you can even afford it, Like I
wouldn't even say you should feel like you have to go.
(21:02):
Um yeah, and I was lucky I was able to go,
and um, I really enjoyed my experience. But it was
really about like in that time, making you know, the
connections and meeting other people who were like minded and
creative and making music with them, working at studios in
turning all of that was super important. But I think,
you know, if you have the luxury to go to
school and it's something you really want to do, just
(21:23):
finding a good like atmosphere, you know, finding a place
that you feel like you can imagine making a lot
of great memories at and a school that feels like
in line with like in terms of a program that
feels like who you are and that you'll find like
minded people and also people that are not like minded
that will help you know, expand your perspective on life.
But um, yeah, and he was. It was a great
experience for me. I know, you interned out a lot
(21:45):
of places and Brutland for a lot of people. What
was the was memorable story you have from your interning days?
Mm hmmm. I think probably there's two. One was standing
in an elevator with jay Z when he's up and
I just didn't say anything. It's like him in a
security guarden. I just stood there because like as an intern,
(22:05):
you're like they're like, don't talk, like, don't talk to
these people, you know what I mean. It's like just
like shut up, like you know, I'm like, okay, fine,
because I wouldn't even know what to say. In general,
that was probably the craziest. Yeah, there's like pretty strict rules,
like when you bring in the food, like don't say anything,
like don't like. I think it's actually nice, like I
would feel more comfortable to be in the situation where
it feels I mean, this is kind of why I
don't love big studios because it feels so like formal
(22:26):
to me. Sometimes I love working in my house because
it's just like me, my friends, whatever, no rules, do whatever.
How much of your album did you write in your house?
Most of it? Yeah, I would say good, like sevent
it or something that's crazy. Do you have any I
know you have crazy collapse on this album, like you bats,
you a Lessia karl All incredibly talented people. If you
(22:51):
could have any other person for the future, like nothing
off limits, Drake, let's do some of that'd be so sick. Yeah.
And then I'm just growing up with such a huge
Coldplay fans, so I think it would be crazy to
do something with Coldplay. Well, you're doing the band, so yeah, right,
he's gonna He's gonna be in the band. Okay, I
(23:12):
know you've dyed your hair, and I actually like dyed
in my hair purple. I don't know if you can
see with this like it's fat, Yeah I could, I
can see a little bit. Yeah, if you could dye
your hair and other color, because I know you dyed
it like a bunch of colors, I don't know. I'm
kind of I think I'm over all the crazy colors. Honestly,
sometimes I think I would maybe go back to a
certain type of purple or blue if it was short again.
But I think I'm gonna grow out. I'm gonna see
(23:33):
what happens as I grow it out. I don't know.
Is it gonna become curly again? Do you think with blonde?
I don't know. I mean probably if I let it
grow keep being curly. I just don't want to go
back to the curly brown hair. I want to do
something different. So we'll see. You could always like do
a mohawk. That could be your thing. That could be crazy,
or like you can die like a smiley face on
your head, or like a blue leg m. H keep
(23:58):
keep coming with the ideas, Okay, okay, I'll keep thinking.
Do you have a favorite quote? Maybe you can put
that on your head? WHOA, I don't know if I
do have a favorite quote. Maybe just it's lit. That's
a pretty good quote, I think so. I've actually when
I can't turn my mind off, and I have like
(24:18):
a list of quotes on my phone, and some are
so stupid and some are the best. But this one
is like when I first heard it, it blew my mind.
Okay already. It's anger is a punishment we give ourselves
for someone else's mistake, Like I don't even know who
said that, but so true. I don't know when I
(24:40):
heard that. It just blew my mind and it gave
me a different perspective on any Sometimes when I'm mad
or something, I realize you have to look back and
you're you're you're hoping that you're going to affect the
other person, but really you're just affecting yourself, you know. Yeah,
I'm always really curious, like the process of things. And
I think a lot of people they just see like
a music and on and it's out and you don't
(25:01):
realize the work that goes into it. So like, well,
for sure, so like what is the process of creating
a song? Because I'm always very curious because every artist is. Yeah,
I mean for me lately, it's been a little bit
different than it used to be. Like it used to
just be like sometimes on piano, sometimes on guitar, like
I'll get a melody, or I'll be walking and I
get a title, or I'll get a lyric, or I'll
(25:22):
just be making a beat. But usually it's been like
sitting with my friends, somebody else, one of my friends, um,
Johnny starting like a beat, I pick up the microphone.
I just freestyle stuff and then we're like, oh, that
sounds really cool. And then I'm like, oh, so the
song is about this now? Like I never go in
being like the song is about X y Z. It's
sort of like playing around until like the music feels
like the concept and I feel at all, and then
(25:43):
I just kind of like flesh it out from there
freestyle and stresses me out. Me too, I just started
doing this here, But like the more you do it,
the more fun it is and the better you get.
So that's cool. The way I see, like the way
lyric writing should be or the way I want it
to be for me is the same way I'm having
a conversation with you. I'm not okay. I just said
the word yellow, so I need to It's just the
(26:04):
words come out of my mouth because they are the
true words that I want to say, and I feel
like That's what I'm trying to do with my new music.
Is just here a chord progression or hear a beat
and say whatever it is that I feel with a
melody and then just go cool. You know, how how
long does it take to write one song? Would you say? Um,
as short as like an hour and then as long
(26:24):
as I don't know, a couple of months, I guess,
but usually usually in like a few hour range. Yea,
I asked us to a lot of people, but what
do you want to your music to be remembered as
in your legacy? Mm hmm. So I never really think
about that kind of stuff because it freaks me out.
I just focus on right now. That's what I try
and do. But I like to ask people. Yeah, I
(26:47):
don't know, because I think by the time I get there,
my answer is going to be so different, you know.
I guess. I just hope that my music will always
feel like it's evolving and that it's it's honest for
whatever wherever I was at that time. Um, and yeah,
I think it's just genuine and evolving. Are kind of
like the things that are important to me, and you
know that, you know, I think includes this idea of
(27:09):
like what's really important to me at least right now,
and I imagine forever it's making music that that I
think really connects to people in a vulnerable way. So, yeah,
what's your goal for It's been a weird so far,
it's been a very long A few goals for another album,
get a girlfriend only, if it's natural. Uh, but that's
(27:32):
hard though, especially with Like I've been joking around with
my friends and I've been saying, you know, if I
find love in isolation, then I can write a book
called Finding Love and in Isolation and that will be
like just pretty tight. Well you should write it anyways,
and that should be about self love, finding love about
self love. That's pretty good. I feel like that could
just be your next song. You can take real I'm
(27:53):
have to steal that. Okay, you can take it. Yeah,
you'll get some percentage though. Okay, sounds good. Y Well,
thank you so much for coming on my podcast. No,
thank you, and thank you for all the questions. It's
really good vibes. Thank you. I think what you're doing
with music is so important. Thank you for talking about
things that need to be talked about. Of course, I'm
(28:16):
just doing what feels right. Thank you guys so much
for listening to this week's episode. Make sure you listen
to how I'm Feeling. Check out the Blue Boys Foundation.
Follow Loud on Instagram at loud Songs. You can also
follow me on Instagram at j That's I P S
S A S M Y j A Y. And if
you haven't already, Please subscribe to the podcast and leave
(28:38):
comment if you'd like. I'd love to hear your feedback,
and I will see you guys next week. Bye.
Hey guys, It's Sammy J. And welcome to this week's episode.
Today I got to talk with Lou, which was so exciting.
We talked about how he's doing in Quarantine, his new album,
how I'm feeling the process of creating that, his mental
health struggles, and his foundation, the Blue Boy Foundation, which
you should totally check out, and so much more. I
hope you guys enjoy it and I cannot wait for
(00:27):
your feedback. Hi, Low Hi, how are you doing. I'm
doing pretty well. How are you? I'm good? How are you?
Are you at home right now? Yeah? I'm at home.
I'm actually in my studio. So is that where you
do all your music? Yeah? Um, pretty much. I just
got make a really cozy couch behind me and a
(00:48):
little set up in little piano, a couple of cents
and uh survivee. Is that how you've just been spending
your days in mid Yeah, it's like the one of
the only things that's keeping me saying, I'm rantined to
the couple of my best friends and um, we just
like almost every single day we're down here, like twelve
hours a day, just like writing, writing, writing. How many
songs do you think you've written well, we might start
(01:10):
like five or six ideas, but usually we don't make
like five or six songs in one day. We just
find like which whatever we like vibe with the most,
and we might make like a couple of songs in
a day. But I would say probably since we started
locking up together, we've probably made about ten songs and
then like probably another ten ideas. Um. Yeah, and a
few of them I really really like. So Okay, So
(01:31):
do you think the next album would be a quarantine edition?
I don't want to call it that because I think
that kind of dates it, but a lot of the
songs will be made during quarantine for sure. So I
don't know about you, but during the quarantine, I've been
listening to How I'm Feeling, which is your most recent album,
And I know you call yourself the one man band.
So my question is, if you could have anyone else
(01:55):
in a band, who would it be? Um, it would
be it would probably be like Harry Styles. Um, I'm
gonna say Jim Carey, I'm gonna say Chris Martin from Coldplay,
I'm gonna say Drake and um uh, Tony the Tiger
from Frosted Place. Man. I think that would be the
(02:18):
most iconic band of all time? What would it be called,
We'd be called we would be called the most iconic
band of all time? Pretty simple. Yeah, for the cover
for your album, it is incredible. How did you come
up with the idea to have uh, your different kind
of personalities formed in colors? Yeah, Basically it was like
(02:40):
when I was listening to the music as I was
finishing the album, I was like, there's so many different vibes,
like so many different kind of genres and and like moods,
and I the album for me was sort of born
out of this place of feeling very boxed in in
terms of identity, you know before, And I wanted the
whole album to be about kind of embracing all the
different parts of yourself because I think that humans are
really complicated, and I think that the world and the
(03:01):
internet tries to mold you into having a singular identity,
but I think we're way more complicated than that. So
I wanted the artwork and everything to represent like different
versions of me and kind of like how they all
work together to create this one man boy band. So
who came up with like each one? And how do
you assign the color it was just me and then
um and then like my creative directors were just sitting
in the room together just like homies and just like
(03:23):
chatting through the concepts and and um, yeah, we come
up with six different characters in addition to the real me.
So it's brilliant. I think this. One of the things
about this album is there are songs. What is the
process of eliminating songs and choosing what has to be
in like an album, because I'm sure that's so stressful. Well,
(03:46):
first you get rid of all the ones that suck.
I wrote probably about I wrote probably about fifty songs,
and then originally my idea was to make it fifteen songs. Um.
But then like I tried to narrow it down to
fifteen and it just like it just wasn't enough. So
I kept like, okay, no sixteen, no eighteen, No, it's
twenty not twenty one. And at that point I was like, Okay,
it's not gonna be any longer than twenty one songs.
(04:08):
It's like a lot. So yeah, yeah, do you have
a favorite song off the album Modern momentas for sure, Okay,
let's I want to talk about that song because I
think it is so representative of just like where we are,
especially with social media these days. I always say that,
you know, social media, it brings people closer that you
(04:28):
don't see, but it takes you further away from the
people you are with. How have you I'm looking for
advice for this. How have you maintained or kind of
formed a healthy relationship with social media? I mean, I'm
always working on that. I mean, because it's very addictive,
you know. Um, So it seems like we have an
endless like an endless um whole for attention, like we
(04:52):
you know, like I feel like there's like I'll be
in a mood and I'm like, I just want to
post something so people give pay attention to me, you know,
And I'm like that never fulfills that anything. And I
think just trying to get into moments where I actually
have like deep conversations with my friends, are like actually
talk to my parents, Like I find myself a lot
of the time, you know, avoiding calls from my parents
are like my sisters are like my best friend because
(05:13):
I'm like doing something else, And I'm like, then you
can't complain about being lonely if you're the one who's
you know, not not engaging in those conversations. So I'm
trying to be aware of that, and um, especially now,
I think it's actually been a little bit better because
like we're forced, this is like our only way to
connect with people right now. We can't see people. So
I'm finding myself actually doing things like going on live stream,
like really like doing productive things that hopefully are helping people,
(05:35):
you know, talking to my parents more often, talking to
friends that I haven't spoken to in a long time. UM. Yeah,
That's what I've been trying to do too. It's so
hard though, especially with social media to find um you know,
if you look at comments, a lot of comments are
kind of fake nice and they're like, oh my god
all that. So how do you separate that from finding
who your real friends are and all that? Um? I
(05:58):
feel like I just don't take trying to take anything
on social media like with anything more than a grain
of salt. I mean, just the people that I know
are the people that I actually know. UM. And aside
from that, it's like I kind of just everything is
everybody has something to say. I don't know, Yeah, I
guess I don't really think about it. I think one
of the things that I love about your music is
you speak so candidly about things that people just aren't
(06:18):
talking about. For example, your song Changes. I hate change
so much and I haven't heard a song about it.
How do you just get to be okay with change
because you wrote a song about it, so you must have.
I mean, I had to get to a literal rock
bottom before I decided I needed to make changes, like
I was at the beginning of January nine. I was like,
(06:41):
that was like right at the end of that month,
I was diagnosed with m O c D and clinical depression,
and up until then I was just struggling with it
on my own and not really like realizing what it
was and sort of downplaying it and being like trying
to deal with it myself, and like I was just like, oh,
I don't know. I kept like thinking like it would
go way or something, and and I started that song
(07:02):
Changes in that time, and it was like when I realized,
like I need to be open to something else, you know,
are also I'm gonna be stuck here forever. So I
think it took me hitting a rock bottom to realize
I needed to make changes. Now I'm just trying to,
like after I got through that. I'm trying to just
be like a little bit more brave when it comes
to making changes, like just be like, you know what,
Like it always works out, you know, if you have
(07:23):
to change something in your life, whether that means like
a relationship with a person or you know, something in
your career that's not working for you, or something that's
not working, you're not being maybe you're not even being
a good friend, and you have to make a change.
Like I think just being aware of those things and
being like, you know what, Like we're humans, were able
to grow and we're able to evolve. I really believe that,
and I think we're naturally programmed to be afraid of
(07:44):
those changes. But I think that, you know, we can
override that fear. So yeah, you know, I actually, in
the same time when you were going through your lowest point,
I was two, I actually have O c D two
and I find it I'm curious what your opinion is
the misconceptions, because a lot of people will be like,
oh my god, I'm so O c D when they're
just not into becoming a try and actually with me
at least, it's like obsessing over thoughts. Yeah, I mean,
(08:06):
I know exactly what you're talking about. I mean, I
feel like, um, I don't want to be like sometimes
I want to be frustrated, but then I'm like, don't
because it's like, you know, like I don't think people
mean wrong when they're like, oh, I'm so O c
D about this, Like if they don't, if it's not
really like a thing. Um, but I think what when
I realized it's like, I mean c O c D
definitely comes in many forms. You know, people really Oh
(08:28):
it's like you clean obsessively or blah blah blah, you
have to turn the light switch off seven times exactly
the right way or whatever. And I know that that's
definitely a very classic form of O c D. But
you know, in my situation, it's probably sounds kind of
similar to yours. It's like very similar have very obsessive
negative thoughts that I like constantly need to get reassurance about.
So it's like when I was in January, I was
(08:49):
like having these negative obsessions about my past, and like
like really really intense ones that I would just journal
about over and over, trying to recall events from my
past and thinking if I could recall them correctly, I
could be happy again, and I would like call my
parents multiple times a day, my friends, my sisters, like
trying to tell stories from like two or three years
(09:09):
ago and be like I didn't I don't know, Like
how did it happen? Like what happened? And like it
just got to the point where I was so stuck
in this hole that it was like I was fully
withdrawn from reality and it felt like it felt like
what I needed to do. And that's the thing about
I think a lot of like stuff like O c
D or anxiety is the voice becomes so loud that
it tells you it's what you need to pay attention
to no matter what, and it fully takes over your
(09:30):
ability to live your life. You should write a song
about O c D. Yeah, I mean it's hard to depict,
and you kind of did it really well. So yeah,
thank you for giving me a chance to openly talk
about it. I appreciate it. No, I feel the same way.
That's actually why I started this podcast because when I
was really anxious, I had nothing else to do, started
listen to podcasts and then I was like there's nothing
(09:51):
talking about what I want to and then here we are.
That's amazing. Well, thank you for doing that. I'm really
excited to talk about just the song Sad Forever, because
I love that You've given a lot of the proceeds
to different organizations to help with mental health. When did
that journey start? And I know you wrote that song
(10:13):
during a really difficult time, So what was it like?
Was it like singing a song that it kind of
brings you back to that time when ye're in a
good place? Now it's actually quite beautiful. Like I would
sing it on tour, and I expected to be really
sad on stage when I sing it, and maybe I
do at the beginning, maybe I'm a little sad, But
by the time I'm like halfway through and everybody's screaming
the words, and like it's just this beautiful moment where
(10:34):
I'm like everybody is at some different point in their
journey right now in this room. You know, some people
are really in a low place, some people are probably
in a great place. Some people are fighting through it,
Like it depends depending on the day. For me, I'm
in any of those places, but especially like when I
can have that perspective of like, look how far I've come,
and look how possible it is to get to know
to know what it's like to be in a place
where you don't think it's possible you'll ever be happy again,
(10:55):
and you'll ever want to really live your life and
to actually be in the place where you are happy
and you do want to live your life full lead.
It's like it makes you break down and you're like,
I'm so thankful. You know that song is such like
a grounding song for me. It really is. And I
know you talk about just like the importance of talking
about mental health. Um, what is the fan responsibit like?
Because you know you trapped like minded people. So what
(11:17):
has that process been like? It's been actually really positive.
You know, I was really nervous let's kind of start
opening up about it. But people are really appreciative. People
shared their own stories, like a lot of people, you know, fans, friends, family,
people haven't spoken to him forever started texting me and stuff.
And um, it's also kind of heavy though, because now
a lot of people I think like they think I
have the answers and like, um, and yeah, I'm still
(11:40):
going through it, and I wouldn't want I'm not a professional,
you know. All I can do is speak about my
own experience, and you know, it's it's like it feels
like a responsibility and I'm happy to share everything I
go through. And I started believe that's like my purpose
as an artist, you know, is to share what what
I go through and what you know, what my life is,
because I know if it if my life is this thing,
that somebody else's life is likely also that thing. And
(12:02):
that's one of my favorite things of the human experience,
is like kind of relating to somebody else. So what
is it? What was the hardest song on the album
where that you were most hesitant to put out just
because it was so like true to you. I mean,
modern Aluness was definitely a hard one. Um. Yeah, I
think also, you know, Julia and I'll and I'll let
that song speak for itself, but just you know, um,
(12:25):
I think that's like the first time I've just kind
of written basically like an apology song, just straight up
put it out there. But yeah, I think it's very
strong to just put your your life in the public eye.
So how how do you deal with everyone put putting
in their opinions? And I don't do that. I don't
always do that well, I try, I try to remember
(12:47):
not to care. I mean, that's one of my biggest
things right now as a person that I'm working on
is I think a big part of like self security
and like confidence is getting to a point where you
don't really care about other people think about you, except
for the people that you know know you really well
and that you love and like they love you on
like a real deep level. And then it's like, oh,
if my friend, if my best friend thinks I'm a
(13:08):
bad person or I did something not a bad person,
but if I did something wrong, Okay, I'm listening, but
like to not let the like the endless you know,
endless voices on the internet dictate my mood. You know,
it's like the worst. Like, So, I'm trying to just
get to a point where I'm like, do I feel
good about myself? Do I feel like I did the
right thing? And yeah? So I know you talked a
(13:28):
lot about meditation and journaling, and I'm curious because I
could never get into this. Okay, help me. So I've
heard so many great things about it, Yeah, meditation. Meditation
is an interesting one. I couldn't get into it for
a long time either. I would try to use apps
and stuff and I would just get I would do
it for a week maybe if I forced myself, and
then I would fall out of it again. I get bored,
(13:50):
but no, I feel you, and I would get anxious
like during it. What really helped me as a certain
type of meditation that I do that Like one of
my best friends in the world, Show of Me, he
used this form of meditation to really get me out
of my lowest points. And it's it's pretty simple basically,
I mean, and I want to do more like guided
(14:11):
meditation stuff like out there on the internet. But it's basically,
you know the basics of its finding a comfortable position,
closing your eyes, putting your arms out, palms facing upward,
you know, taking an initial breath, and with that initial breath,
imagine everything that's weighing you down, everything that's making you anxious,
stressed out, worried, everything that doesn't serve you. Imagine it
(14:31):
falling away and basically speaking through this whole thing. Like
whenever I do it, I do it with people or
I speak to myself and um, yeah, it's basically like
kind of starting from that place of like letting things go,
kind of imagining, you know, thoughts that are hitting your
mind kind of bouncing away and acknowledging to yourself and
to whoever you're with that it's okay to take a
moment for yourself, your spirit, your mind, your heart. Um,
(14:54):
talk about just like imagining the front of your chest
opening up and opening your heart entirely to receiving energy
and giving love. And then it becomes sort of it
becomes sort of like I'm not really a religious person myself,
but it becomes a bit like prayer, Like I start
talking about, you know, like sending love to various people
in my life, like people, you know that, my family
and my friends, people that are suffering right now. Um,
(15:15):
And and then sorry, I'm kind of rambling, but this
is all that's very helpful. It's really nice. And then
I kind of it's a lot of it's also like speaking,
like because I find when you speak from your heart,
there's almost no better way to be in the moment.
Like once I start not thinking about what I'm gonna
say in the meditation, I just say whatever naturally comes up.
It really becomes powerful and I get to a flow
state where I feel totally unaware of any thought except
(15:38):
for right this moment. And so I'll talk about you know,
like like say things like let us pray for guidance,
like let us have you know, the courage to to
follow our you know, to follow our guts and to
and to you know, always becoming be becoming a better person.
And it's it's a lot of kind of speaking things
into fruition and and if you're with other people, speaking
your love for them, you know, because sometimes it's hard
(15:58):
to express the way you feel towards people, um in
a normal social setting for whatever, at least for me.
So this is like I love to meditate with my
best friends and just um, you should just you should
do it alive, like just meditating because I would listen,
because just to kind of get everyone in their own head,
because that's hard to do, especially in quarantine by yourself.
I know, I tried to do an Instagram live meditation,
(16:20):
but I think it was kind of weird because I
was just alone speaking to the phone. So I think
you should like join, you should guess with somebody in
that way. It's like that would be nice, that would
be really nice. And then journaling, yeah, oh, journaling is
one that I've tried in the past, but I'm not
going to at I don't really do it anymore, right,
I like I can like do it like speaking to
my phone, but like I just when writing it just
(16:42):
I don't know. I'm actually taking a creative writing class
and every morning they make you journal for its keeping
me accountable with it. Nice change of paste for one's.
I'm gonna talk about your foundation that you started, um,
the Blue Boy Foundation. How First of all, why did
you want to set a foundation? UM? I wanted to
(17:04):
do that. Well, it was it was tied into Sad Forever,
you know, when I when I wrote Sad Forever, and
then I was starting to get to a better place.
Um um Mentally, I wanted to one tell the story
um of kind of like what I was going through,
um really Sad Forever, tell the story through that music
(17:25):
video as well, and then take all the proceeds from
the song and find various organizations to that you know,
that are working in the field of mental health and
to you know, allocate that money and basically, UM, with
my team and a couple other friends and actually my
my family, a couple of people in my family are
on the board, We've made this foundation called Blue Boy Foundation,
where yeah, we're just um, trying to find ways you know,
(17:49):
collecting money and donating money to various organizations all over
the world. Um, collecting a dollar on ticket sales each
there was like a ticket tax on each concert ticket
that's going you know through the foundation. And I mean
my goal with this year, my big goal was to
sit down with an organization in every city that I
go on toward too and to meet a local organization
that's you know, in the field, and learn how like,
(18:10):
other than just raising money, what are other ways to help?
Because you know, I think there's a lot for everyone
to learn, and especially myself. Um, but yeah, I just
kind of wanted to start doing something like that. So
I think one of the things that people relate to
most as an artist is just your honesty. Do you
remember the first time like you felt a connection with
(18:30):
a fan that was beyond music and you lay connected
with your life. I'm trying to think. Um. I think
one of the thing that first kind of tripped me
out was when I started to see people get tattoos
in my lyrics, because then that kind of like hit me,
like for me to get a tattoo of the lyrics,
like I would have to love that song so deeply,
(18:51):
like I would have to do it in a song
that changed my life. And I think that's when I
was like, okay, like this is something serious, you know. Yeah,
I mean I think that's a big one that that's
crazy to think that people get. Do you remember the
first time that happened? Mm hmm it was I think
it was the first one I saw. I think it
was in Chicago, one of my very first shows, and
it was like, I forget what I said, but it
was on it was on her finger, But um, yeah, crazy.
(19:13):
I'm always surprised with musicians with anxiety how they can
just perform in front of a bunch of people, because
I can't imagine doing that. Yeah, it's interesting, like I
feel like I get more anxious around a small group
of people than I do a big group. Really, I
feel like it's so interesting how it's different for everybody. Yeah,
do you have your favorite tour memory. I played a
(19:34):
show in New York a couple of years back where
I just remember for I don't know why, it was
so pleasing, but like it was like the first time
I took my shoes off on stage, and it just
felt like such a moment to me. I felt so
calm and so grounded, and it was so amazing. It
was so good. I don't know, it was such a
good show too. It was like I think it was
kind of around a little bit after I Like Me
Better came out, and it was like, you know, songs
about living in New York and I wrote it in
New York and then being back in New York playing it,
(19:56):
it was just special. You went to n y U, right,
what we York? Because I live in New York, Okay,
and I'm about to do the whole college thing. So
can you give me any advice because I'm looking at everywhere.
I'm mainly looking at schools in California because I love
a California. But I'm always I'm always curious at NYU.
(20:17):
What did you study there? Music technology? So that must
help with your career. Yeah, I mean so basically it's
like audio engineering. Um, I feel like I feel like,
I mean, honestly, some of my favorite parts of school,
like school wise, where I did a minor in psychology.
I really like that. The I feel like a lot
of what like, don't get me wrong, like having a
(20:40):
music degree definitely like helps, you know, I learned a lot,
but I feel like a lot of really what it's about,
especially in something like music, you don't I mean, first
of all, I don't want anybody to think they have
to go to school to be a successful artist, successful producers,
like so many people who don't do that, Like I
just I just don't, like, I don't subscribe to that
you have to go to school for this, like you know,
whether or not you can even afford it, Like I
wouldn't even say you should feel like you have to go.
(21:02):
Um yeah, and I was lucky I was able to go,
and um, I really enjoyed my experience. But it was
really about like in that time, making you know, the
connections and meeting other people who were like minded and
creative and making music with them, working at studios in
turning all of that was super important. But I think,
you know, if you have the luxury to go to
school and it's something you really want to do, just
(21:23):
finding a good like atmosphere, you know, finding a place
that you feel like you can imagine making a lot
of great memories at and a school that feels like
in line with like in terms of a program that
feels like who you are and that you'll find like
minded people and also people that are not like minded
that will help you know, expand your perspective on life.
But um, yeah, and he was. It was a great
experience for me. I know, you interned out a lot
(21:45):
of places and Brutland for a lot of people. What
was the was memorable story you have from your interning days?
Mm hmmm. I think probably there's two. One was standing
in an elevator with jay Z when he's up and
I just didn't say anything. It's like him in a
security guarden. I just stood there because like as an intern,
(22:05):
you're like they're like, don't talk, like, don't talk to
these people, you know what I mean. It's like just
like shut up, like you know, I'm like, okay, fine,
because I wouldn't even know what to say. In general,
that was probably the craziest. Yeah, there's like pretty strict rules,
like when you bring in the food, like don't say anything,
like don't like. I think it's actually nice, like I
would feel more comfortable to be in the situation where
it feels I mean, this is kind of why I
don't love big studios because it feels so like formal
(22:26):
to me. Sometimes I love working in my house because
it's just like me, my friends, whatever, no rules, do whatever.
How much of your album did you write in your house?
Most of it? Yeah, I would say good, like sevent
it or something that's crazy. Do you have any I
know you have crazy collapse on this album, like you bats,
you a Lessia karl All incredibly talented people. If you
(22:51):
could have any other person for the future, like nothing
off limits, Drake, let's do some of that'd be so sick. Yeah.
And then I'm just growing up with such a huge
Coldplay fans, so I think it would be crazy to
do something with Coldplay. Well, you're doing the band, so yeah, right,
he's gonna He's gonna be in the band. Okay, I
(23:12):
know you've dyed your hair, and I actually like dyed
in my hair purple. I don't know if you can
see with this like it's fat, Yeah I could, I
can see a little bit. Yeah, if you could dye
your hair and other color, because I know you dyed
it like a bunch of colors, I don't know. I'm
kind of I think I'm over all the crazy colors. Honestly,
sometimes I think I would maybe go back to a
certain type of purple or blue if it was short again.
But I think I'm gonna grow out. I'm gonna see
(23:33):
what happens as I grow it out. I don't know.
Is it gonna become curly again? Do you think with blonde?
I don't know. I mean probably if I let it
grow keep being curly. I just don't want to go
back to the curly brown hair. I want to do
something different. So we'll see. You could always like do
a mohawk. That could be your thing. That could be crazy,
or like you can die like a smiley face on
your head, or like a blue leg m. H keep
(23:58):
keep coming with the ideas, Okay, okay, I'll keep thinking.
Do you have a favorite quote? Maybe you can put
that on your head? WHOA, I don't know if I
do have a favorite quote. Maybe just it's lit. That's
a pretty good quote, I think so. I've actually when
I can't turn my mind off, and I have like
(24:18):
a list of quotes on my phone, and some are
so stupid and some are the best. But this one
is like when I first heard it, it blew my mind.
Okay already. It's anger is a punishment we give ourselves
for someone else's mistake, Like I don't even know who
said that, but so true. I don't know when I
(24:40):
heard that. It just blew my mind and it gave
me a different perspective on any Sometimes when I'm mad
or something, I realize you have to look back and
you're you're you're hoping that you're going to affect the
other person, but really you're just affecting yourself, you know. Yeah,
I'm always really curious, like the process of things. And
I think a lot of people they just see like
a music and on and it's out and you don't
(25:01):
realize the work that goes into it. So like, well,
for sure, so like what is the process of creating
a song? Because I'm always very curious because every artist is. Yeah,
I mean for me lately, it's been a little bit
different than it used to be. Like it used to
just be like sometimes on piano, sometimes on guitar, like
I'll get a melody, or I'll be walking and I
get a title, or I'll get a lyric, or I'll
(25:22):
just be making a beat. But usually it's been like
sitting with my friends, somebody else, one of my friends, um,
Johnny starting like a beat, I pick up the microphone.
I just freestyle stuff and then we're like, oh, that
sounds really cool. And then I'm like, oh, so the
song is about this now? Like I never go in
being like the song is about X y Z. It's
sort of like playing around until like the music feels
like the concept and I feel at all, and then
(25:43):
I just kind of like flesh it out from there
freestyle and stresses me out. Me too, I just started
doing this here, But like the more you do it,
the more fun it is and the better you get.
So that's cool. The way I see, like the way
lyric writing should be or the way I want it
to be for me is the same way I'm having
a conversation with you. I'm not okay. I just said
the word yellow, so I need to It's just the
(26:04):
words come out of my mouth because they are the
true words that I want to say, and I feel
like That's what I'm trying to do with my new music.
Is just here a chord progression or hear a beat
and say whatever it is that I feel with a
melody and then just go cool. You know, how how
long does it take to write one song? Would you say? Um,
as short as like an hour and then as long
(26:24):
as I don't know, a couple of months, I guess,
but usually usually in like a few hour range. Yea,
I asked us to a lot of people, but what
do you want to your music to be remembered as
in your legacy? Mm hmm. So I never really think
about that kind of stuff because it freaks me out.
I just focus on right now. That's what I try
and do. But I like to ask people. Yeah, I
(26:47):
don't know, because I think by the time I get there,
my answer is going to be so different, you know.
I guess. I just hope that my music will always
feel like it's evolving and that it's it's honest for
whatever wherever I was at that time. Um, and yeah,
I think it's just genuine and evolving. Are kind of
like the things that are important to me, and you
know that, you know, I think includes this idea of
(27:09):
like what's really important to me at least right now,
and I imagine forever it's making music that that I
think really connects to people in a vulnerable way. So, yeah,
what's your goal for It's been a weird so far,
it's been a very long A few goals for another album,
get a girlfriend only, if it's natural. Uh, but that's
(27:32):
hard though, especially with Like I've been joking around with
my friends and I've been saying, you know, if I
find love in isolation, then I can write a book
called Finding Love and in Isolation and that will be
like just pretty tight. Well you should write it anyways,
and that should be about self love, finding love about
self love. That's pretty good. I feel like that could
just be your next song. You can take real I'm
(27:53):
have to steal that. Okay, you can take it. Yeah,
you'll get some percentage though. Okay, sounds good. Y Well,
thank you so much for coming on my podcast. No,
thank you, and thank you for all the questions. It's
really good vibes. Thank you. I think what you're doing
with music is so important. Thank you for talking about
things that need to be talked about. Of course, I'm
(28:16):
just doing what feels right. Thank you guys so much
for listening to this week's episode. Make sure you listen
to how I'm Feeling. Check out the Blue Boys Foundation.
Follow Loud on Instagram at loud Songs. You can also
follow me on Instagram at j That's I P S
S A S M Y j A Y. And if
you haven't already, Please subscribe to the podcast and leave
(28:38):
comment if you'd like. I'd love to hear your feedback,
and I will see you guys next week. Bye.
Host
Sammy Jaye
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