RL Grime is a Los Angeles born and raised producer. He has made a huge name for himself within the underground scene and according to Hot New Hip Hop, is “known as one of the kings of electronic trap production.” Recently, RL Grime released his latest 15 track LP, Nova and because it was in the works for such a long time, many of his fans wanted to hear more about each song, how he created each one and where he drew his inspiration from.
Luckily, Billboard was able to get an exclusive interview with him detailing each of the tracks on the album. We are going to touch on a few of the songs within the album RL Grime talked about and his reasoning for the mixes, structure, and sound.
“Feel Free”
RL Grime talks about how “Feel Free” ended up being the first song on the Nova album as the opener, even though it was one of the last ones he had recorded. He believes it was the perfect beginning to the type of feel he was going for with the album, starting out softer and then building with each song.
“Pressure”
“Pressure” was a song RL Grime created to explain the emotional rollercoaster of putting together an album. He alludes to all of the constant questions about when it will be released, what the feel of this album will be, etc. and all of the emotions surrounding him. Like “Feel Free,” this was also one of the last songs he had recorded and served as a way to help get those emotions out.
“I Wanna Know” Featuring Daya
This is considered RL Grime’s first real experience in collaborating in the songwriting process. In working with Daya, he felt like no one could have sung this song better. He was entering a new, unfamiliar field as he had previously stayed more within the production side. The reason he wanted “I Wanna Know” to be one of the singles on the album was that he wanted everyone to see where this new territory he was venturing into.
“Atoms” Featuring Jeremy Zucker
RL Grime’s final song of the album, “Atoms” was inspired by more post-rock bands he had grown up on. He had been looking to create this type of sound with more of an emo-ballad, but it had to mesh with the sound of the rest of the album. RL Grime used more distorted and washed out guitar sounds that were recorded live and used a layering of different textures to create what he was looking for.
Originally published at DJGriF8.net on November 1, 2018.
