First of all, what’s up Jeremih? How are you doing?
Yo yo. All good. Just got off the plane.
Sooo, first off, I personally want to congratulate you on the success of your single “Birthday Sex” which officially went platinum & of course your album. How did it feel to debut at #1 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop albums and #6 on the Billboard Top 200 AND have your debut single go platinum?
It’s a great feeling. I wouldn’t even say it’s a dream come true, cause I didn’t even know that it would even get this far, you know what I’m saying? It’s still shocking to see how there’s a lot of people today are responding to the record still, you know? It’s actually been playing in Chicago since October but now I mean just being able to travel through the states & pretty much get the same reaction as I did in my hometown and even now going overseas & hope to make people aware of it & promote it. But knowing that I’m going out there & people still know it is kind of crazy, like they’re singing with me word for word for word. I don’t know; it’s a great feeling.
Now who was your biggest supporter & your foundation for pursuing a music career and encouraging you to reach the current position you’re in now?
If anything, my mom and my manager. They always supported & said “You know Jeremih, you can be this & that. It’s going to happen.” They always said it but I always kind of brushed it off like “Okay whatever.” I knew I could do music; I knew that it was always in me & I held the gift, but never to the point where I felt like I could be a professional singer. I was always just a musician; I was always a producer and never thought the world would accept me as a singer coming from not only my talented family, but just a lot of other talent that are out right now that can sing, to me, twice as better. But I think it’s more than that; I became a writer and I think that’s what really helped me out. I was no longer just looking for records, I was doing records & knocking them out on my own, and I think that really made the difference. Yeah so my mom, my manager, & my partner, Mick Schultz; he believed. We didn’t know each other; we just met each other in 2008 in January. Here we are now in 2009, and who would have known. All you hear from people are stories that say they’ve been doing it for years and trying to get on, and it just kind of happened for us. It’s a blessing.
Oh okay so how does the rest of your family feel about this? Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Yeah, I have an older sister and a younger sister.
How do they feel about your current stardom?
Oh you know, they’re like “whoa!” right now. I grew up with them, and they always believed in me; like I said, it was just more-so like who would have known. I’m almost shocked myself that people are really embracing me now as much as they have with my first single, and now my album. I think people are really looking at me like “the next,” you know, it’s not “the now” So it’s cool. They’re all kinda crazy; they’re blown too how quickly things have happened. They gotta drive around Chicago now and see my billboard. *Laughs. You know, it’s crazy to go home now and see that. And it’s the big ones too, not the little small cheap ones on the side of the buildings, but like the highway ones. It’s a great feeling knowing that I’m going home to my family and be the talk of the main town.
Now I know your followup single “Imma Star (Everywhere We Are)” is already making its way up the charts.. So why did you choose this song from the album as opposed to any of the other tracks especially “Break Up To Make Up”?
Matter of fact, that’s actually one of my favorite songs, “Break Up To Make Up”. And as of right now, I believe they’re pushing both of them of them as my singles. “Imma Star” to me, it was a good record, and still one of my favorite, but not to the extent that I feel towards “Break Up To Make Up.” It was more-so that we wanted to make a transition from “Birthday Sex” to the other records because all of the other records on the album, to me, are different. I’ve gotten from other people that “it all sounds the same” and I’m like “Cause it’s all just me” and no collabs for people to think it’s a different voice or anything; it’s all me.. I don’t know, it could have been anything, to me, but I feel like both of them are being pushed now as a single. We just shot a video for “Imma Star” which should help that out. But I think they’re going to help move on to “Break Up To Make Up” which to me is the stronger record.
Alright a lot of people don’t realize that you, Mick Schultz & LA Reid were the executive producers of the album. How were you able to get so much control over your debut project as a new artist & how did it feel?
Great. You know, it was more-so we actually came to the label with the project already, and being able to keep what we came with was the great part. I know a lot of times people want to be in more control and take over. Once they feel that your music is cool, it’s just probably not good enough to come out with as a new artist. You want to leave the best impression on people. You don’t want to drag. I think for us to go there and actually get the “okay” and the support from L.A. We were constantly in the building and he would be playing our music. When we would come in unannounced, he’d be playing our songs and knowing all the words. So I was like… whoa! This is the legendary L.A. Reid; you’re talking about from LaFace, TLC to Mariah Carey. So I think he really believed. That’s when it hit me that he might really believe in us. And sure enough when we got down to making the tracklist, I didn’t know whether he wanted to put me back in the studio, possibly working with other producers and writers which he does have an abundance on the label; like I didn’t know. Once we got the “okay” that we got a solid 13-14 tracks, of about twenty-something, we were able to pick and choose for the album. It was great that he allowed us to do that and even let us to be executive producers; for me writing the whole album and Mick to produce the whole album. We came there with it, so it was hot.
In terms about the album, you decided to only have you & Mick work on the album. Why is that so? And what was the recording process like?
Well that was just how it was. I would usually just go afterschool or when we had free time and it was just fun making music. We weren’t thinking about record labels, radios, or anything. Or well at least I wasn’t. I was just in there doing what I pretty much did at home, except just finishing it there. They definitely had a better quality sound that I didn’t have, like I didn’t use ProTools. I used other programs and I used other keyboards and I didn’t have a mixer or master; I just did it at home. That was pretty much the difference between what I was doing at home and what I was doing at Mick’s spot. Over the year, that was just how it happened, not even intentionally, even when it came down to the tracklisting process. I was always usually the only dude in the studio, so it’s like how would a feature come out. And usually when I started a song, I just wanted to finish it. After singing, there were some parts I felt that maybe I should rap or talk in it, so I was just able to knock it out like that. And with him being the only producer and us two being the only ones in this little bitty room, in which we recorded everything, that’s about twice the size of this hotel bathroom, with only a mic and a computer.
So I know you originally wanted to be a songwriter. Do you have any particular methods of coming up with ideas & concepts for your songs? Like do you get in a zone or get inspired?
Yeah, the beats. *Laughs. Sometimes I have a concept in my mind, sometimes I already know where I want to go. But usually for the most part, we pretty much start from scratch with the snap of my fingers. While creating a track, I began to hear as if the music speaks to me, as crazy as that sounds. *Laughs. I went with what the beats told me, and that’s how we were able to knock out a lot of the records, and pretty much have the beats match a lot with the way I was singing because even when it came to drops. For instance, in “Break Up to Make Up” with the birds chirping in the 2nd verse coming in, you know, it went hand in hand. We’re doing pretty much everything organically, so that’s how it was created.
Your album definitely has a distinct sound to it. What influenced it and do you plan on experimenting with any different styles in the future?
Oh yeah, futuristic sounds. I feel that I want to keep going with the wave of that sound. We even have more records that, to me, should have made it; and I’m not mad that they didn’t make the album, because now I really got something to top off and build off for the second go-around. It’s gonna continue; it’s all about growth. You always want to continue with a new sound & new flavor. I just went home the other day & we didn’t have the live instruments, but now we purchased the congas and some other drum percussions. That’s my niche; I’m a rhythmic dude so now that we even got live instruments, I’m sure that it will crank out a whole new sound and I want to continue to just make our sound unlike a lot of other people. R&B right now is just a broad genre full with all different types of now R&B music, but I’m here. It’s all about making that futuristic sound which I’m sure will work out especially since now we have live instruments which will be able to bring out the passion and heart in me at least.
Speaking of sounds, I’ve noticed that you usually start off your performances for Birthday Sex playing your keyboard & of course we’ve noticed the tattoo of the piano keys on your arm. So aside from music, what other interests & hobbies do you have?
Well I’m into sports; I like to hoop when I get free time. I’m really into audio, and that’s a side of music. I used to always kit out cars.
*Laughs.
Forreal. Just this past week, I’m mad I didn’t get enough time, but in my old school, all my 6 by 9 speakers are busted. I just find enjoyment putting stuff together. If anything right now, I’d probably be soundboard or something for a studio or something in the engineering aspect of shows. I’ve just always been into audio and acoustics, so who knows?
So why did you get those piano keys tattoo?
Cause that’s my first love. I feel like that’s what represents me. Now it’s like my trademark if people are skeptical as far as who I am. *Laughs. So I’m sure they’ll know it’s me. It’s a grand piano; it’s all 52 keys. It’s how it all started. I feel like once I learned how to play the piano, I really learned how to play every other instrument. I mean of course the percussions were the first ones that I got, but once I got down to the keys, that’s when the sax came. Cause the keys are all the same, but it’s just different ways to play the instruments. But once you learn the basics of the keys, you learn everything.
Do you have any other tattoos?
Yeah I got one more on my back and I was mad. *Laughs. I wanted to get this other one on my left arm but I just didn’t have time. *Laughs. Yeah so I don’t know, gotta see if I’ll have time after this first go-around.
What artists are you currently listening to at this moment? And what artists and producers do you wanna work with in the future?
Well I’m listening to Drake, Gucci Mane, little bit of
