WEBVTT - Berhana: Fresh Find 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:16.200 Pushkin. I first heard Brahanna watching Donald Glover's show Atlanta. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:18.200 It's one of the few shows I know I'm going 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.520 to discover new music when I watch it. Some tracks 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:23.720 don't stand up to repeat listens outside of the show, 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.800 but Burhanna was one of the artists from the second season. 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:30.480 I kept going back to. Berna's voice really stands out 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:33.200 in modern R and b Whill. Pretty much everyone else 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.159 these days sings with a whispery, atmospheric falsetto Brohanna has 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:41.480 a crisp tenor and it sounds refreshing. Branna doesn't mind 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:45.040 being different. He's first generation American born in Atlanta to 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.800 Ethiopian parents, so he's always felt a bid out of 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.640 place anyway. Still, he managed to find his people and 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.840 eventually his sound. As you'll hear in this episode. The 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.880 song You're listening to Janet is an ode to the 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.840 original Dark Skin Aunt viv from The Fresh Prince of Blair. 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:04.840 I sat down with Brahanna at Village Studios in LA 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.080 to talk about how a young artist can go from 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:10.679 working bad restaurant gigs to earning enough on music to 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.160 eke out a living, and how he ended up in 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:19.440 Tokyo to record most of his album Han. This is 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:23.080 broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richmond. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.640 Just a quick note here. You can listen to all 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:33.399 of the music mentioned in this episode on our playlist, 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.919 which you can find a link to in the show notes. 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.440 For licensing reasons, each time a song is referenced in 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:45.440 this episode, you'll hear this sound effect. All right, enjoy 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.240 the episode. Here's my conversation with Brehanna. But first he 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.680 starts off with the performance of the song that got 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:57.240 me hooked, Gray Love. Yo. That was amazing, man, that 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.320 was beautiful. Appreciates you. Yeah, so that was an acoustic version, 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.720 stripped down version of gray Love, which is from your 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:09.639 first project, your EP, and it's called Brahanna self titled exactly. Yeah, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.760 and uh, that song is actually how I first discovered you, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.600 like I'm sure many people, because it got featured on 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.720 Donald Glover's show Atlanta. Yep, um No, must have been 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:21.760 huge for an up and coming artist like you were 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:23.800 at the time. He might have even been up and coming. 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:25.920 You were just someone putting out music. Yeah, I mean 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.320 it must have been massive. It was crazy. It was 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:33.079 crazy for a few different reasons. That show is my 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:38.320 favorite show on television by far. I was like super 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.400 in tune with it. Um, I loved the writing. I'm 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:45.840 from Atlanta. Um, Donald's one of my favorite artists. So 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.079 just all of that, you know, happening at once was 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.160 a very cool moment for me. Yeah. Yeah, I know, 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.360 like a lot of a lot of younger artists like 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.480 look for placements and fine placements. How big are placements 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.400 for like an artist like you? I think it, you know, 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:04.520 it depends on like the show. It depends if it's 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:09.480 like a movie commercial. You know, it's all different. Um. 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.160 I don't go out of my way to like get placements. 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:14.320 I think there are a lot of people that do. 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.560 They're like, oh, this movie is looking for these style songs, 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.919 you know what I'm saying, Like you, only fifty Shades 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.240 of Gray came out. I was with this other team 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:26.480 at the time, and they were like, oh, like fifty 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.760 shades gray, like you just gotta you just gotta make 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.560 something a little sexy. And I was like, oh, I'm 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.560 not about to do that, you know, um yeah exactly, 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.920 But to like have your own song it feels like 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:42.960 you yeah, and then someone else takes that that's cool. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.840 That's um not going out of my way for it 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:51.440 feels better. Absolutely, So another reason that must have been 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:54.120 like important and big for you because you weren't initially 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.320 trying to be a musician or be you know, like 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:57.880 play music for a living. You were trying to be 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.960 a screenwriter. Yeah, and that's like that's like so it's 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:02.880 like kind of your two worlds colliding in a way, 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.480 like this amazing show with your music, how'd you get 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.400 into screenwriting? My sister, that's like the easiest chance of 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:12.280 My sister's twelve years older than me, and she kind 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.560 of like shaped who I am. She would always she 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.560 wants to NYU, but she would always like come home 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:20.960 for extended amounts of time just to like stay with 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.880 me and still be present in my life, and would 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.839 put me onto different movies. She really liked in television 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.720 shows and would break down A stories, B stories, C 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.359 stories like she she already knew what like she wanted 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.080 me to be in a way, like we kind of 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.719 joke about that all the time. But I like, I 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:42.000 was like, oh, I want to go to n y U. 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.040 I want to be in the dramatic writing program. And 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.039 that was like I was like Oh, that's what I 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.680 want to do. I love TV, I love film. So 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:52.200 I was like, oh, I just want to like write 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:53.800 for the rest of my life. I just want to write. 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.359 And I did music, but it was more so like 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.599 a passion project. It was for me. I show a 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.279 couple of friends here and there, but I never thought 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.120 it was going to be the driving force by any means. 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:06.960 And what were the first songs you wrote. The first 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.120 song I wrote was about like my dad who like 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:13.400 left I was like seven or eight. My sister left 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.240 the house at the time, but my brother was still there. 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.159 And it was to no music. It was just like story. 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:21.200 It was just like writing. I had no I wasn't 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:24.440 playing piano. I wasn't I was just like creating the 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.479 melody and just writing the thing. And I showed my 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.320 brother and he was the first person to really encourage 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.880 me when it came to music, because he saw it 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:33.960 as like almost like a journal. He was like, yo, 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.560 you have to make sure that you keep doing this 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:38.440 and letting out how you feel this way. He was like, 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.839 I had no idea you felt like this, And that 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:43.479 was Yeah, that was the first song I wrote. That's 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.920 amazing to start trying to write songs at seven? What 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.440 were you I mean in Atlanta? Is you grew up 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:52.400 in Atlanta and that's like such a diverse musical town. 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:54.400 Like there's so much music going on and all kinds 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.760 of music. You know people think now just think of 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.159 like trap music or whatever, but there's so much KNTO 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.440 music going on atlant So what was there just a 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.000 lot of music going on in your home? Um? In 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:05.919 my home, yeah, there was. There was a bit of music. 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.960 I'd say, like there was a lot of like oldies 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.120 like Sam Cook my mom loved, like Stevie Wonder. There 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.400 was also like Ethiopian music being played a bunch, and 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:18.640 then whatever my brother was listening to, whether it was 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:22.480 like BC Boys outcasts, and my sister as well used 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:26.159 to always make me CDs mix CDs. So and we 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:28.919 were in the church. But I didn't have, like, you know, 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.040 one of those parents. I was like, listen to all 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.520 apprentice discography, like this is amazing. You have to understand 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.359 why I didn't have that. And I think the first 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:42.000 thing I gravitated towards was storytelling. It was just like, oh, 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.000 they're telling a very like unique story. I like how 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.800 the words sound together and That's what drew me in first. 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.240 How steeped in Ethiopian culture were you growing up as 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:59.320 a kid? Um, It was interesting growing up in Atlanta 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:04.080 and like having being first generation African because you go 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:08.080 home and it's, you know, the smells are Ethiopian. The 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.560 language that you're hearing your parents speaking us from Ethiopia, 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:17.560 the decor, you know, everything is is Ethiopia. And then 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.760 you like walk outside and it's like this Georgia. So 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.120 there's like the southern pride aspect, and it's also Atlanta, 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:27.880 so it's like very black and it's like very proud 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.800 as well. So to be in like these three different 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:34.720 worlds at once was it was a lot at times, 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.960 but as an observer I began to like really take 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.840 it all in and appreciate it as you know, the 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.400 older I got. Yeah, those are the three really strong 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:46.800 culture exactly. Yeah, you're just like I didn't even think 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:48.760 about that part because I think of Atlanta sometimes it's 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:50.600 like on an island, you know, same as like New Orleans. 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.160 But yeah, there's like that southern sort of element to 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.640 it too, right, especially if you're not specifically in Atlanta 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.280 right outside of it, Like, did you ever feel I 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:00.000 don't know, so I know a lot of first generations 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.800 sometimes struggle with feeling like, you know, maybe you don't 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.560 want to accept your your heritage because you want to 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.120 sort of just you want to be if you want 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:09.760 to fit in at school. You know. So you did 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:12.840 you ever find yourself wanting to be more more fit 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.920 into more one culture than the other or yeah, yeah, totally. 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.160 There were definitely different times because I went to a school. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.200 My mom put me in this private school that was 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.720 predominantly white that she worked at so that I could 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.280 go to the school. But I remember once there was 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.480 like a show and tell and my mom brought some 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.439 different Ethiopian food and like kids were like spitting it up, 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.200 like what is this? What is some of my favorite foods? 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.839 Like some of my favorites. And then seeing that made 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.160 me feel like, you know, ashamed because I was really 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:43.360 young at the time, and I was like, oh, I 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.280 guess this isn't good, So I don't I don't want 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.280 kids to come over and smell my house and eat 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.240 the food we have. I'd rather go to your house, 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:53.959 right yep. Um, So there was a lot of that 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:55.800 when I was really young, and then the order I 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.600 got the more of that just like went away and 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.000 I found a community of a lot of different like 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:06.920 first generation Africans through church and sports. We became super 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.840 close and those were the people I really identified with, 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.240 even though they weren't Ethiopian or they didn't go to 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.760 the same schools or whatever. It was just, oh, we 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.560 share that that thing of being in different worlds than once. Yeah, 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.800 you're sure being different in this place exactly. That's heartbreaking, man. Yeah, 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.959 that's just like, Yeah, the one that spit out, it 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.240 wasn't even crazy like food. It's like ginche. It's like 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.600 kind of like similar to like rice or it's like 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:37.199 something that no one should spit out some dump kids. Yea. 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:42.160 His name was Casey. You remember the name still at 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.560 His name is Casey punk. I saw you went to 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.199 Ethiopia recently right there? Often to go back there. That's 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.440 my first time actually the first time a month ago. Yeah. Yeah, 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:52.440 I had an opportunity to do a show over there. 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:56.280 My mom hasn't hadn't been back for forty seven years. Wow. Um, 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.840 so I was like, this is the time we should 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.199 both go. And I got to bring her with me 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.120 and see the country through her eyes, and it was 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.600 a surreal experience. And how did you connect with him 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.640 a lot to a stocky out there man's that's insane. Yeah, 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:16.680 that was amazing, brilliant if you Opian musician, like incredible discography, 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:19.959 incredible absolutely. Um. He's been one of my favorites since 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:21.480 I was young. That was one of the ones my 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.520 mom put me onto at an early age. And I'll 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.280 be um, a girl from our team who's incredible. She's 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:33.400 right over here. Yep, she uh she she made that happen. 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.920 She yeah, she I knew, she knew I really liked 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:40.000 Mulatto and she had a connection. Yeah, she got us 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:42.960 sometimes so we could sit down and really chop it up. 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:45.480 Super thankful. It's crazy. How was that time? Man? What 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.800 did he It was crazy? Man. I like came to 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:51.320 him kind of like approaching him with an idea I 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.160 wanted to do and it kind and he was like, 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.200 you know, kind of down, but then it totally clipped, 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.640 it totally flipped. He was like immediately went into He 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:01.360 just like taught me so much. It was like we 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.280 sat down for nearly three hours and he just talked 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.920 to me about the history of music, how Ethiopia like 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:13.200 plays into that. What instruments started in Ethiopia, then no 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:18.200 one knows about and he's really like championing this kind 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.959 of like no one really knows like that much about 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:25.240 Ethiopian music in its history, including Ethiopian people, and he 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:30.360 really wants to educate others. And he yeah, he did that. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.079 He taught me so much. Was crazy. That's like sitting 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.760 down with like the that's like the Ethiopian Quincy Jones exactly. Yeah, 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:40.480 I just shut up. I like didn't. I barely talked 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.640 those three hours. What instruments are from Ethiopia. I didn't 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.199 even realized it was. The massinco is like a really 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.360 big one. It's kind of like a cello. That's one 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:50.680 of the things he said. He was like, oh, what 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.440 came first, the massinco or the cello? And I was like, 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.079 I guess, Yeah, I guess the massinco because just how 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.640 he was praising question and then he kept doing that 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:02.400 with different instruments, horned and whatever it was, and then 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.280 he would go into the history of it and how 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:10.000 how that instrument was built in which tribe made that instrument. Um, yeah, 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.559 there are a lot of unique instruments Piopia. That's amazing. Yeah, 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:15.040 you can hear. When you listen to the music, it 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:17.920 sounds like it's like orchestras full of like instruments. You 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:19.760 feel like what is that? You know, either they playing 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:21.439 in a way I've never heard this thing played, or 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.800 some completely different instruments, but it's just it's such a beautiful, 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.280 like like sound that it's just you know, when you're 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:29.080 when you're not used to hearing those sounds. It just 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.600 sounds especially just like like mystical or something. You know, 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:36.080 it's incredible. We'll be back with my interview with Brehanna 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:44.319 after a quick break. We're back with Brahanna. How do 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:46.839 you How so you have two siblings, Yeah, and you're 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.400 the youngest youngest, and they're both putting you on to 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.920 movies and TV shows and music totally. And so then 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:57.080 you decide you want to go study screenwriting and are 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.719 you making music in college or are you? I was 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.680 when I got there it was like I'd put music 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.760 behind me. I remember I did one show in Atlanta 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.440 right before I left, where I just did like covers 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:11.679 and a couple of my songs, and then after that 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:13.920 it was kind of like my all right, I'll come 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:15.679 back to this label. How you how did you how 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:17.840 the performance look? Like? What? Was it just you? It 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.280 was me in a band of like people I just 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:24.360 like recruited who were who were great. Um, But we 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.640 rehearsed like maybe for a week, and they like played 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.960 this show with me for free. I had like no money. Um. 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:32.160 And then when I came to New York, I was like, 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:33.559 all right, I'm gonna put that behind me and I'm 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.760 gonna go all into this writing. Did you put it 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.360 behind you? Because did it go well or did it 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.760 just feel? No? It went it went fine, but it 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:43.319 was like, oh, this isn't what I'm pursued. I'm going 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.200 to New York to be successful in this field. So 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.520 I was like, I'm gonna I'll just revisit this later. 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.320 And so yeah, I was just for the most part 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:56.120 only doing writing in turning its shows, I'm doing a 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:59.719 lot of different stuff like UCB, Upright, Citizens Brigade. And 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:04.600 then into like my senior year, I started like getting 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:09.240 kind of restless because I really wanted to do music, 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.880 but I just didn't know how. I hadn't been like 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.400 there were a lot of like jazz school kids I'd 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:17.439 been hanging out with, but it wasn't people I was 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.560 like necessarily trying to make music with. And then this 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.680 one kid, his name was Jimmy. He had heard I 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.080 like sang because I used to like go to the 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:30.040 piano room downstairs at the dorm and play songs now 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.440 and then and people would come listen. And he was like, Oh, 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.760 we should just do something together, just for the fucker 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.840 to see how it goes. And I was like, yeah, 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:38.880 for sure, let's do it. And we did one song 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:43.080 called Kingdom together for his project and then it did 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.880 pretty well, like for the first time i'd ever like 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.480 put out a song, it like got right up, so 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.720 it was like he doing really well for him, and 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.160 I was like, oh, you know, this is cool. I'm 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.280 gonna try and make my own stuff, or at least 0:14:57.280 --> 0:14:58.960 one song. I'm gonna try and make one song under 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:03.080 my name, see how it go. And then I wrote 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.600 like basically the outline of Janet, the song that I 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.320 ended up putting on my EP. And I had connected 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.400 with this kid's name Sapphire, who also went to my 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:15.480 school for jazz, but he had dropped out because he 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.320 was like, I know exactly what I want to do. 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:21.000 I don't need to like be in school for it, 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.240 and I loved that. I was like, oh, this is cool. 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:24.680 I want to work with you. I want to like 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.440 see if we can create something, and we ended up 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.920 making the full EP together. Wow, how did you write 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.920 so I love Janet too? Because it's a again, it's 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:38.160 combining both of your world's right, it's music and it's 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.880 combining like it's like, it's clearly someone with the love 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.120 for TV how to write that? And I think probably 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.040 everyone in our age grew up loving, like obsessed with 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.120 the Fresh Prince. So it was such a beautiful send 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.760 up to Ann Viv. Yeah, how did you come up 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.120 with the idea for that? And how did it kind 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.200 of develop? I saw a tweet from one of my 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.680 really close friends who was one of those first generation 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:58.200 kids I was trying about that I was super tight 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:02.520 with in Atlanta. He tweeted it, if you fuck with 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:07.200 the light skin on Viv, I can't trust you. And 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:09.320 I thought it was so fun. I just like started laughing, 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.720 you know, I like I retweeted or whatever. Um. But 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:15.920 then it like kind of was this. I was like, man, 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.360 what did happen? You know? It kind of like planted 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.600 the seed. And then I started just researching, like going 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:27.000 in like this wormhole, what is like what happened? Why 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.440 was she kicked off the show? Does anyone really know? 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:33.280 Like did? And then and then that led into being like, oh, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:37.760 the situation's kind of like fucked up. She hasn't worked 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:41.360 in since that show really really she like has had 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:46.680 small stuff but like too yeah she was, and she 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:51.120 was kind of like, yeah, excommunicated from this community. She 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.000 worked so hard to be a part of UM. She 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:59.160 had you know, she was a really talented dancer, singer, actress, 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.040 went to Juliard was in the first production of Cats 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:07.280 on Broadway, finally snags this UM series regular on NBC, 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:10.919 does so well, people love her, but because of a 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.560 couple of TIFFs she gets in NBC is like you 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.520 know what, No, we're gonna you're crazy. We're gonna tell 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.760 everybody you're crazy, and you're off of this thing. And 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.480 it's just like that, it all went away and it 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.760 made me so sad, and I was like, wow, I 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.840 have to I want to write something about this. So 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:30.800 I wrote the chorus first UM at my house in 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.400 Atlanta over like my piano, and I was like, oh, 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.359 this is I'm gonna keep going with this, and then 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:43.560 you called it Janet because that's Janet names the actress 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:48.440 who played the initials right the O GM viv um. 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.120 And then the verses are those are those about her too? 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.800 Because it seems like those the verses are maybe, yeah, 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:55.520 that's all about her. It's all about her. It's funny 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:57.320 a lot of people when I first put it out, 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:59.879 it's like girls would come up to me and be like, oh, 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.119 like my name's Janet, or like I want to be 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.400 like I want to be your Janet. And I was like, yo, 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:09.480 if this song completely went over the head. This is 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.800 not about a love interest. This is not about anything 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.560 of that sort. It's about you know, it's an ode 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:21.720 to Janet Hubert, and it's about like being forgotten and 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:26.159 what that's like and how I'm afraid of that. You know, 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.640 you're afraid of being forgotten? Yeah, of course a man. 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.119 That's a good songwriting man, because it's like it's about 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:37.000 something so specific and and because the dressing around it 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.919 is sounds so great. It's like you can hear almost 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:41.600 whatever you want to hear in it, you know, Yeah, 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:43.000 like you could hear that song and totally think it 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.600 was about, you know, being left behind by a lover 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:49.840 or you know, it just depends on certain I love 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:52.479 that it's open for a trip. That's always been my 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:54.600 favorite stuff. And it took me a long time to 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:56.640 be like, Okay, this is what it means to me 0:18:57.400 --> 0:18:59.800 because I like that people were taking away their own things. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.919 That's one of my favorite things about music and something 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.720 that I did with like the music I was listening 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.120 to when I was younger in college. Even now, it's 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.040 like I can I make my own interpretations and that's 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.960 what makes it special. Yeah, all the time. Often sometimes 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:16.720 I like sometimes I like to look at lyrics and 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.040 then sometimes they don't sounds I'm disappointed. Not the lyrics 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.000 are bad, but I'm like, wow, I thought this whole time, 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.600 this was about this and identified it with this, and 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:25.240 when I was feeling this way, I put this on 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.640 and it made me feel so like, you know, so good. 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.280 Oh it's like room now. Yeah, And I don't want 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:33.680 to ruin it. You know. That's the same reason why 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.160 I don't look up lyrics a lot of the time. 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.440 It's because I don't want it to be ruined. So 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:41.840 when you put out the EP you worked with Sapphire, 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:44.719 what was your intention for that just to put it 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:49.640 out or yeah. My intention was well, a little bit 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.800 before i'd put out the EP, I like I was 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:54.639 working on it, but I wasn't fully in. I was 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.199 still doing so many other things. And I remember I 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.680 was sending in a lot of like different packets, like 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:07.440 applying to shows and writing packets. And there was one 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:11.199 show I thought I was gonna get and I was like, oh, 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.040 if I get this, I'm gonna go all in with 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.399 this and I'll like marinate on the EP and i'll 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:21.400 you know, it'll come out when it comes out. Uh. 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:27.720 It was a Colbert when he like took over and 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.239 then I ended up not getting it, and I was like, oh, 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.280 I'm gonna finish this. I'm gonna finish the EP right now. 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.760 I was like, there's nothing else I want to do. 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:41.480 I'd stopped um sending in packets at that point, and 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:43.119 I was like, all right, here I go. I'm just 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:45.720 gonna go for it. I'm gonna put this out. I'm 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.840 gonna move to LA before it comes out, and then 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:53.960 I'm gonna see where it goes. And it went fine. 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.040 It was a slow you put it out what you 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:57.439 want you want on the label at the time, right, 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.760