16 Music Week 28.11.14 INTERVIEWLABRINTH Released in September 2010, Let The Sun Shine
hit No.3 on the UK Singles Chart. His next release, Earthquake, hit No.2 and Electronic Earth has since been certified gold. Still a busy producer on the side (“as soon as
this album is done I’m going to be in bed with everybody”), Labrinth also has his own record label, Odd Child Recordings (founded in 2011), that’s currently developing London singer Etta Bond.
Why has Take Me To The Truth taken so long to finish? I feel like my fans have given me a new studio and new tools to make an album so why wouldn’t I do the best I can to make the thing as extravagant as possible? Whether I’m going in the right direction or doing the right thing in terms of making money and becoming a massive artist worldwide, I don’t know, but I can only go in the direction I believe the music is taking me. My debut album [Electronic Earth] was like
going to school for the first time, looking at all the kids and going, “What group do I want to be part of and what would make me popular?” I’m not discrediting it. It was an amazing experience because I learnt so much, I went around the world learning how to write songs, but on this album I needed to be an artist and have people hear the real shit. They need to hear what’s really happening inside my head.
How do Syco feel about this new-found mentality? High credit to Syco, I can’t believe it, super credit to my A&R Sonny [Takhar] and Simon Cowell, these guys are like, “Lab, you’re an innovator, you’re making fresh stuff that no-one has ever heard, just keep doing that.” They said it’s not about sales, it’s about making the music that you believe is going to push music forward. It made me go into the studio with a lot more confidence. I was like, “Okay, cool, let’s make some fresh music,” but then also I hope its going to sell! I’m not sure they are going to say the same thing if it doesn’t connect.
That attitude they have towards you, is it different to the X Factor artists on the label? Maybe so, X Factor is a conveyor belt. X Factor is like a televised Motown really in terms of people coming off the streets and becoming stars overnight. It happens so fast for them they’ve got to micromanage what they do because they haven’t had the time that maybe Mumford & Sons have had in terms of growing as a band, being shit in front of an audience, getting booed off stage, all those things that put hairs on an artist’s chest. I respect that Syco are trying to do it both ways. They want to have both artists and people off the show so I’m just their first venture in terms of that direction. It’s a harder route because you have to do much more work, you haven’t got the TV show to televise this person, to show ten million people their whole journey and their sob story about when their dog died. [My route] is literally going, “Guys, here’s the music, do you like it?” And constantly having to build it up from nothing. It is nerve-racking being on this side of it. Sometimes you’re like, “Fuck it, I wish I [was on the X Factor],” because then it would just be easier.
Do you have any songs on the album that are straightforward pop tunes? I do have some. I love pop music, I love the idea that you can squeeze so many amazing moments
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ABOVE
Labrinth: The singer performed Jealous - the second single from his upcoming
second album on the X Factor results show last Sunday (November 23)
“People are trying to look after their house and their kids so are not taking risks musically. Everyone is nervous to try something new. When making this album I stayed away from producers that were like, ‘Lab, another Earthquake wouldn’t hurt’” LABRINTH
into three minutes of a song and also connect to millions of people all at the same time – it’s not easy. The bedroom guitarist and people that want to be ‘cool musicians’ always go, “Pop is shit” but it’s actually a craft to be able to make a song that millions of people love at the same time. With pop sometimes you have to chop off the foreskin as they say. If you’re trying to make something that connects to millions of people you can’t be self-indulgent. You’re almost giving more than you are receiving in pop and I think after a while it does become hard for a lot of artists to constantly be like, “Okay, let’s just write the chorus that everybody is going to sing instead of the chorus that I’ve always wanted to write.” For this album I’ve tried to find a balance between the chorus I’ve always wanted to write and the chorus that people are going to sing along to. I don’t know the balance; I don’t know how much salt and pepper to put into the mix but I’m just trying it out to see where it goes.
How impatient did Syco get during the 18 months it’s taken to finish the album? I got impatient because it’s so necessary to hold onto your relevance in this industry. One thing I’ve learnt is that this industry is not just about music and that’s one thing that a lot of artists have to learn. Twitter followers matter, YouTube views matter, all of these numbers matter in terms of the way people react to you and whether you’re relevant in this industry and whether Radio 1 will play your
music. I knew I had to sacrifice something for the music, I had to do less shows, less Twitter and less Instagram and I knew that was going to have an effect but I was like, “Fuck it, I want to make something good and something that I’m proud of.” I know now I have to do a lot of work to win some fans back. When you’re not on social media it’s like not calling your girlfriend for a year. I would have to take her out to some nice dinners…
I don’t think she’d be your girlfriend anymore… No she wouldn’t, but then if you’re talking about a person that really loves you…I have fans that have been massively supportive and I really appreciated them because they waited. It’s like having a girlfriend that is there for you. My fans are equal in the amount of love that they show.
Why did you shy away from using pop producers? I am a little bit bored of pop producers, I feel that everyone is trying to look after their house, their kids, and people are not taking risks as much as they used to. There’s not that much money in the music industry, well there’s money but it’s not the ‘80s, because of that I feel like people are more nervous to be out there and just go, “Flip it, let’s try something new.” It’s usually the new guys that do that rather than the guys that are already circulating in the industry because everyone is trying to hold onto their buck. There’s millions of talented guys in the music industry but I didn’t feel like I was finding the right people to give me what I needed to achieve the things that I wanted to. The guys that I used were up and coming and they were enthusiastic, they wanted to try something different and weren’t going: “I’m not sure if we’re going to make money off that chorus, or that verse doesn’t sounds like $1m verse.” I didn’t want to be around that kind of energy so I exempted myself from it when other people were like: “Lab, another Earthquake wouldn’t hurt.”
Despite your freedom, did Syco give you a brief? No, Syco has never given me a brief. Even on my
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