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Image via Shamir on Facebook
The last 12 months have been surreal for 20-year old dance pop diva Shamir Bailey. The Las Vegas native has gone from buzzing artist on Brooklyn indie label Godmode (where he released the scintillating Northtown EP in June of last year), to signing with London-based XL Recordings in October, and then delivering on huge hype at SXSW in March. Not long after, a giant billboard with his face on it appeared in Times Square, and to complete the cycle his debut LP Ratchet is due out on May 19. The hype is REAL.
Ratchet is a collection of ten tracks, spanning everything from the electro-disco dance-floor bounce of “On The Regular” and “Call It Off,” to the jazzier “In For The Kill,” and the chilled out singer-songwriter feel of “Demon.” We kicked it with Shamir in San Francisco after a show (hugs were being given out left, right, and center) and then caught up with him again over the phone to talk about Ratchet, crumbling notions of gender identity, and why he wants to do so much more than music.
You told me in San Francisco that There’s something for everyone on the record and that really holds true. What made you want to experiment with so many different sounds and styles?
It’s mostly because I have a lot of different influences myself, and I like to bring that across in my music and in everything I do. I wanted Ratchet to be really accessible for everyone. Even if someone doesn’t like the whole album, they can still be like, “Well…I like that ONE song,” you know?
Talk about your working relationship with Nick Sylvester, your producer. How do you normally work together?
It’s usually both of us working on everything. Sometimes I might do a scratch track, or write something on my guitar or piano, then send him a really rough demo of it and he’ll jump into it. Or he’ll send me a full instrumental track and I’ll write to it. The album has more of his instrumentals. Maybe three or four of the songs started from scratch from me.
Even if someone doesn’t like the whole album, they can still be like, “Well…I like that ONE song,” you know?
“Head In The Clouds” might be your most active song off Ratchet. It closes the album and you’ve been typically closing your live set with it. What’s that song about and why is it such a good closer?
Well if you’re going by BPMs, its the fastest song on the album. I close out with it, because its really good for improv for my backing band and a good time for me to do my usual hop in the crowd. [Shamir hops into the crowd to give out hugs to the crowd “every time.”]
It’s about leaving your mark and making sure that what you’re doing is something substantial, something bigger in your life after you’re gone. I’m just trying to make good art and good music and I hope it inspires other people that want to do the same.
So we talked about the higher energy songs but I think my favorite from the album might be a slower track, “Demon.”
Thats everybody’s favorite… Literally every single person says that!
It sounds like it’s inspired by Alex G and it’s just generally reminiscent of indie singer-songwriters. Is that a style of music that means a lot to you?
That’s how I started off. Just me and my guitar, making music and writing. It’s natural. It’s actually harder and more of a challenge for me to do more upbeat and danceable stuff—you know, your typical pop music—than it is for me to do something like “Demons” or “Darker,” which is like OG Shamir to me. And that’s funny you say about Alex G, because I wrote that song almost two years ago. But that’s why I love Alex G, cause we’re both the same in that we’re both low-key, simple and straightforward songwriters. That’s why I vibe with his stuff a lot.
So you mentioned “Darker.” The video just came out and it’s visually stunning. It’s filmed in the Joshua Tree desert and not Vegas where you’re from, right?
Yeah, Joshua Tree was just easier for people to meet in the middle than in the Vegas desert. But also, the Vegas desert is super, uber monotone. No foliage, just pure dirt. So that’s why I love Joshua Tree. But honestly, that video was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. There was no driving, I roughed the fuck out of it. I had to climb that mountain, do all this shit, walk around and a lot of exercise. And I was really sick with a sore throat and maybe even a fever. My lungs felt like they were gonna explode and on top of that I’ve got all this extra moving and activity.
What kind of thoughts were swirling in your head in the wide open desert, how did shooting the video make you feel?
It goes with the song, because it’s is about death, the afterlife and looking at it in more of a positive light. Assuring yourself that you only die once you’ve done what you’re supposed to do in this life. So being in a wide open space like that makes you feel infinite and complements the feel of the song really well.
You also have the “Call It Off” relationship hotline, where people can leave a message for you to help them solve their relationship woes. What are some of the deepest calls you’ve gotten on that so far?
I actually just answered some last week and a video is gonna come out of it. The funniest calls are the people that are actually shocked that it’s real. They’ll call in and won’t know what to do.
Are you actually giving people relationship advice?
You know what? I wasn’t actually expecting people to come in asking for serious relationship advice! I thought it was gonna be really satirical, but people are coming in with real questions and need real help. Originally, when I first came in and started answering and listening. I thought it was gonna be all fun and games, but I ended up having to get on my Dr. Phil and really help out people.
My whole life, I’ve never felt like one gender and I’ve never felt like I need to do something because I’m one gender or another.
Was there a question in particular that you had to really think about?
Yeah, there was one that was really serious because I felt the same way… This one guy was asking how to meet other queer people outside of hooking up or going to gay bars or whatever. And that’s really hard, cause I don’t do either and that was something that needed a really serious answer and I hope I gave him a really good one.
So in that vein, you sent out a tweet that was amazing and really resonated with a lot of people. You said, “I have no gender, no sexuality and no fucks to give.” Talk about that tweet and talk about your stance on gender themes in general.
It’s like… all three of those things to me, it’s weird that it’s even important. Cause my job is just to give you music. And it wasn’t really a problem up until the “Call It Off” video came out for the YouTube video awards and I had a bigger push. I was getting an overwhelming amount of people asking me “Are you a boy? Are you a girl? No he’s gay. No he’s straight. Blah, blah, blah.” And that’s kinda where that came from. But me personally, I don’t put myself in a box. That’s obviously playing into my music and that’s how I live my life in general.
My whole life, I’ve never felt like one gender and I’ve never felt like I need to do something because I’m one gender or another. You can ask my Mom, when I was growing up I’d play with toy cars and super hero action figures, but I also had an Easy-Bake oven. That’s just how I am as a person and how it’s been. I think after that, it definitely opened people’s eyes to realize that it doesn’t matter, cause it really doesn’t to me.
Things have happened really fast for you in the past 12 months. How do you envision your career playing out from here?
Yeah. It takes a lot of people a whole career to do what I’ve done in 12 months sometimes, and that’s super insane for me to think about. I’m happy that it’s happening so early on in my life. Who knows? Even if I do music for the next ten years, I’m still gonna be super young. Music might not even be something that I’m going to be known for eventually. I have so much other stuff I want to do outside of music and having this happen so fast and so young, it makes my life feel endless, in that I can do so much.
It takes a lot of people a whole career to do what I’ve done in 12 months sometimes, and that’s super insane for me to think about.
Do you think people take that for granted? Fans and listeners thinking that artists are gonna be making music forever?
Well artists think like that. I’ve talked to other artists and there were some who were trying to intimidate me, saying like, “You want a slow build up and you’ve been going really fast,” and I’m like, “Who said I want to do music for the next 30 years?” Let’s say that I only have five or ten years of hype, that’s no problem for me. I’m just blessed with what I’m doing right now.
Pre-order Shamir’s Ratchet here.
