After opening up and coming out as gay in a revealing FADER cover story, Kaytranada has made an effort to be honest and open in interviews. This continued during an interview on Sway in the Morning while promoting his excellent new album 99.9%.
During the wide-ranging discussion, the producer talked about growing up in Montreal, discovering FruityLoops, talking with Madonna, dealing with depression, deciding to come out, sampling, and meeting Rick Rubin in San Francisco.
“People around [me] made it seem like it was a wrong thing to be gay, or something,” he says about the time before he felt comfortable coming out. “But to me, I came to the realization that it’s time to think about myself. I wasn’t thinking about myself for awhile, but that eventually happened.”
When he finally did make the decision to be open about his sexuality and “stop lying to myself,” he says he felt a relief and was met warm responses. “Everybody was so positive with it,” he explains. “I guess if people had something negative to say, they didn’t say it. It was mostly positive. People were saying ‘yo, congratulations’ and all that. It felt really great.”
Kaytranada also made it clear that he wants to avoid being defined by his sexuality, “They put you in a box, too. I see all the people who came out and they all get put in a box. I don’t think it’s right. I want my music to reach everybody.”
Watch the interview above and check out his new video for “Lite Spots” below if you missed it the first time around.
