From voice memo to release day, emerging artists Jereena Montemayor and Pretty Boy Aaron deep-dive into their creative process, sharing the songs and stories that have shaped their journey to date.
From voice memo to release day, emerging artists Jereena Montemayor and Pretty Boy Aaron deep-dive into their creative process, sharing the songs and stories that have shaped their journey to date.
Welcome to the Drop the MIC podcast where we'll dive into conversations with some of the music industry's most established professionals Like all of our episodes, what you will hear today has been created and curated by Stanford students who are breaking their way into the music scene. I'm Jay LeBouef and I lead Stanford University's music industry initiatives. Whether you're aspiring to launch your career in the music industry are already a music industry pro, or just curious to learn more. We've got you covered.
Malachi:Hello, and welcome to Drop the Mic, Stanford's music industry podcast. We're your hosts: Malachi Frazier, a freshman at Stanford.
Clara:Clara, a Senior at Stanford.
Hasan:Hasan, a sophomore at Stanford.
Malachi:This episode is all about songwriting in the music industry. Sit tight as we welcome two up and coming artists with unique songwriting abilities. First we have Jereena Montemayor, a singer song writer, best known for her viral song Rose. And later in the episode, we'll get to talk to Pretty Boy Aaron, whose song Comb My Hair has been featured on Spotify's curated Bedroom Pop playlist. Now let's get straight into it.
Clara:Thank you so much for being here. We're so excited to have you we wanted to ask when did you start getting interested in singing and songwriting? Did you come from a musical family? What was your background in music and where did it all begin?
Jereena:Yeah. So first thing I'd like to say I'm Filipino. So that kind of correlates to a lot of creativeness, I think I grew up in karaoke, like singing karaoke. I don't think there was ever a time where I was just like, nah, I want to sing. It's always just been like, karaoke has been in like every Filipino party I've been in. So it's kind of been embedded in our culture to kind of just sing it doesn't have, we don't have to be good, but surprisingly, like, I just got into it because of my culture and everything like that. So I would lie if I didn't say being Filipino, wasn't a big part of it, but it really has been because everyone is just so creative at like some point either it's dancing or singing or whatever it is like, I think we all just have that kind of aspect in us, so yeah.
Clara:What has been some of your biggest creative influences growing up?
Jereena:Ariana Grande Miss AG. I watched a lot of her videos, so the way. I sung. And like, I always wanted to reach the high notes that she did, like all that. So I guess the technique I use for singing is also stemmed off from her. So that's why some people are like, Oh, you sound like Ariana Grande. And I'm like, which is cool. But I'm like, no, I sound like Jereena.I think I've just always loved her music and like now she's gotten more into like writing and even behind the scenes, for other artists and also Olivia Rodrigo, I know some people are like, okay, Driver's License is like, all right. But I followed her for a while and she's just insanely good at lyrics. I try to, I feel like I tend to just write about the same things or my lyrics are kind of the same, but when I watch her and she's like only like 18, 17 or whatever, and I see her writing all these other different songs, like not even love songs. And I feel like that's what I struggled at. I always write love songs. I always have to write something like what he's breaking my heart or whatever. So that's why I feel like I try to stem off from love songs. Now I try to reach other kinds of perspectives and other subjects to write about, because I've seen like Olivia Rodrigo put in such different perspectives and songs.
Clara:And I know YouTube has been somewhat of a big part of your life and your growth. Like what prompted you to make a YouTube channel? How did that take off?
Jereena:I mean, I've had my YouTube channel for a while and I actually uploaded videos when I was even younger, like seventh grade, eighth grade, but those are like deleted now those are private, but like the recent ones that got popular and stuff. Those are probably like three years ago but that was when Daniel Caesar was popping off but like the reason why I feel like I started my YouTube wasn't because it wasn't because I knew I was going to get followers because I know YouTube is a tough ground to, you know, get followers on. So I wasn't really ever doing it for the views. I just like wanted to have a place to put my covers in thankfully, luckily enough, I got some recognition off of those. So yeah.
Malachi:So I guess we talked a little bit about your process and song writing, and I guess the first place in that is where do you usually start with, with a new song or a new idea?
Jereena:Well, first I have to have the chords. I have to have the music, at least like the background of it. For me, I usually start off with my guitar. Majority of my songs come off from the guitar and if, if anything, sometimes I do the piano, but I have to have the chords first. I'm not the person that thinks of lyrics in their heads or melodies in their heads just like that. I have to have the background. So it's kind of hard for me because sometimes I'm not too musically inclined where, I can hear everything by ear and I know which chord can go with what. I literally have to pick every single chord and play every single chord before I could ever try to transition off a next one. But yeah, I have to kind of have that first and then I'll go on my phone and I'll use my voice memo app and I'll just start humming melodies. And I just be like, whatever. Once I like something that I hummed or whatever, I'll try to put the words into it. that's also kind of hard because like I said, I feel like I always do love songs. So finding the inspiration to write something about is kind of hard, but sometimes it comes off quick, but at the same time, majority of the time, it's, it's hard to find something to write about that I don't want to be too, you know, too similar to my other songs or too similar to any other songs. So, yeah.
Malachi:So when you're doing the voice memo thing, when you're mumbling, the melodies, do words ever come out naturally? Or is that kind of something you'd pick and choose?
Jereena:Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does, but majority of the time, no, it doesn't like I have like a hundred voice memos. I was just going nnnnn whatever with my guitar, not knowing anything and majority of the time, it sounds bad, but the ones that are like cute and stuff, of course I pick it up.
Malachi:So take us through the journey of writing your first song, if you can remember.
Jereena:Yeah. It's a song on SoundCloud, a ukulele song. Shoot. I don't even remember what the song title is called, but it's on SoundCloud and I was really inspired by Latiya and lullabies. Also lemonade by Jeremy Passion. And I was like,"Ooh, I really want to make a really cute ukulele song too." So I bought this condenser mic that was like$50, the USP, like plugin one and I was like, yo like this will work, you know, no one will ever know, no one will ever know. I was in my dad's apartment and I was in the bathroom because I didn't have a place to record or whatever. So I had it in my condenser mic and just my ukulele, I had no plugin, it was just my ukulele on the mic. And it was so bad, but yeah, it was, it was just me trying to be like, Oh, I wanna make a cute song about a boy, I meet a boy and he likes me and whatever. So it was typical. It's not, not my best work, but hey, we've gotten far.
Clara:And you mentioned that you have a friend who mixes and masters for you, how did you find that person? What's the process with that?
Jereena:It's actually. I don't know if you guys know the artist Rini. Rini, if you hear this, I love you. They found me actually. A blessing. Yeah. Aldwin commented on one of my, singing videos on Instagram and tagged Rini. And I was like, Stop. I was like nah, and this was when Rini wasn't as big we met like three years ago or something, but yeah, they were like tagging each other and I was like, Stop. And then they followed me and I followed them back. And then we just DMed. Then I was like, Hey, I literally watched y'alls YouTube videos, a while ago and it's insane and stuff. So it was cool. I don't know if you know this, but Rose was produced by Aldwin too. And Rini's playing the guitar in Rose. I was supposed to actually just have Rose, my acoustic version, just me and my guitar, like no bass, no, beats, no nothing. And Aldwin actually saw the acoustic version and was like, Hey, let me get on this but I was already trying to work on it with someone else and I just wanted the guitar and just my voice kind of thing, so this raw acoustic. But then like after I just didn't really like how the other one turned out, I asked him, cause I remembered. I asked him, I was like, Hey, did you still want to be on it? And he was like, yeah, For sure. And literally, I don't know how many days it was probably like two days after, he sent me what you hear. And I was like, Whaaat? I was like, I didn't ask for any of this, but it's everything I've ever wanted. Like what the heck? If I were to ever decide, I always told them if I were to ever describe my genre or just my music, it would be Rose. Like Rose is such a distinct song to compare me by, because that's what I feel like I represent in my music. So it was really cool. I didn't give him any direction. I sent him the guitar recording, the three minute guitar recording, and just my voice. And he literally did not use a second of my guitar recording. Yeah. But he was like, I felt really bad, so like I tried to add it in the end. I was like, dude, no worries. You made it better.
Clara:That's amazing. Do you work with them now? Like, are you signed to them or what's that relationship?
Jereena:No, but I, I still talk to them and I still have stuff working with them. I have an EP coming out. Majority of the songs is mixed and mastered by Aldwin and one of the songs is produced by him. So, yeah, it's cool. It's cool, I still talk to them and they're really cool and supportive too.
Clara:When you dropping the the EP?
Jereena:Shoot girl! I'm getting the pictures today for the EP cover. So I'm trying to figure out which ones I want. And then after that, I just have to send my EP to my label and then we can decide on a date, but girl, it's done. It's literally done.
Clara:With the photography how do you get connected with that and figuring out what to do? I had someone in mind actually to do my EP cover, who was like a friend, but it, it was just not working out. And luckily someone that I was already following and I loved his work already, tweeted in the reply on one of my tweets,and was like, when are we working? And I was like, Oh, Perfect. I was like, I have an EP that I'm dropping and I don't have pictures for it. And I had someone that was gonna take pictures for me, but it was just not working out. So this is perfect for me. When are you free? And then we just started deciding off on a date and he lived in Dallas. Which is like four hours from Houston. So he had to make a day trip or not a day trip, but like he had to go home right after the shoot. So it was insane, but I was definitely thankful that he hit me up because it came all in perfect timing. Cause the other photographer was just not working out. So yeah.
Malachi:I guess I do have a few questions about just your journey as an artist. Did that start fully on YouTube or were you on Spotify?
Jereena:I think it started off on Twitter actually. I made a Twitter like jokingly, because I was like, dang, obviously I've had that idea of like I wanna be a superstar, you know, like as a kid and stuff. And like I knew I could hold a note. So I was like, I know that things get viral there more quickly, because you can retweet, you can all that. So I made my, I made my Twitter pretty late. I made mine sophomore year of high school. So 2016 I made it and then I was just posting covers on there. And for a year it was getting 20 likes. And if it broke a hundred, I'd be screaming at the top of my lungs, you know? And then my first viral cover, it was Redbone. And I remember freaking out, cause I was in high school. So there was school the next day. And I was like, Oh my God, I'm going to have to like walk down these halls, I don't want to see anyone. I don't want to do anything. Because like I knew a whole bunch of people from my school were retweeting it. And I was like, okay, cool, whatever. I mean, at the same time, I still sat alone in my second, my second class, I was just like, Hey, cool. Somethings they're not you know, some things don't change, yeah, it started off on Twitter and I was just posting a whole bunch of covers. And it got a lot of attention. And after that, I just was like, okay, cool. People will like the songs that I make on Twitter. Cause I would post a lot like of my song, like one minute songs that I wrote on Twitter. And people are like, seem to enjoy it. And I was like, okay, maybe I should actually not just stick with SoundCloud and also put it on Spotify and Apple music, because for awhile, I was like, I was one of those artists, well, I don't know if a lot of artists are like this, but I was like, I'm going to make my music free. I don't get why people would like make people listen to music for money. Like, I'm going to put everything on SoundCloud, all those, all those. But like,at a certain point, like, you girl gotta eat, you know, like I gotta, I gotta make some money somehow, but yeah, I started putting it on Apple music and Spotify. And I asked my friend Dane, I was like, how do you get your stuff on like Apple music or like Spotify. And he showed me the website and those literally the easiest thing. And so I was like, okay, cool. I have a route, I know what to do with that. So. After, knowing what to do with putting it on Apple Music and Spotify it was just kind of whether or not I wanted to post or not. So, or if anything it was enough for me to post, because as you can tell, I don't post a lot, but it's only because I feel like I value quality over quantity, which is also which sucks sometimes because I know people do want a little bit more of my songs and stuff. So it's a battle for sure.
Malachi:How purposeful were your song drops when you did them and did, did you kind of get more purposeful with it over time? Like on social media or just on any other platforms as well as Spotify?
Jereena:The first song I posted, I was like, okay, like, it's a song, it's a cute song to start off from. I wouldn't say it was my proudest song, but I felt like I just wanted to post something to just keep people realizing like, Oh, I'm going to start posting on Apple music and stuff. But when I was making Rose, I don't know if this is the same with any artists. But when I was making Rose, I was like, oh, this is that song. It's going to be that song that breaks it for me. And of course it was a tough couple months, because after I posted it, I posted it around April. It was not, not blowing up, it was getting like 4,000 plays per day, which is, which is a good amount. But at the same time, time, when you felt like, Oh, it's going to be that song that blows up. And it's just not like, of course you get a little discouraged, but it was that December where I was on people's taste breakers, like on the end of the year kind of playlists. And I was on like everyone's. So it went from like 4,000 plays to like 15,000 plays per day. And that's when I'll was like what the heck? Yeah. I was like, what's going on? And keep in mind, I literally didn't do any, I didn't promote anything. It was just luckily I was on people's Spotify, like algorithms, you know, which is cool and stuff. So for a while, of course I was a little bit discouraged because I was like, dang, I thought it was going to be that song. You know, that song that blows me up. But it wasn't for, I don't know, five months. So it was a little discouraging, but at the end, I definitely realized that I just gotta give it time. I'm a little impatient.
Malachi:So every stream for Rose, you never promoted it or anything? That's impressive.
Jereena:I literally did not put anything into it. Everything was just it happened for me. Like, I was only signed to my label, last summer. So anything that happened between that and what I had streams-wise, I never promoted it once I never have it on anything. I also have a lot of Asian followers. So there are a lot of them make little cute montages of their cute, like. K-pop idols and stuff like that, which is the cutest thing. And they use my songs. So I feel like that's also why my songs get a lot of attention because I know K-pop is, you know, it's popping everywhere.
Clara:Final question. You've been amazing. Thank you so much for being here. What is your vision for the future of your music? What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in five years?
Jereena:Yeah. Shoot. Yeah. I hope there's at least more music that I've released, you know, because I know I'm such a perfectionist with that. I feel like I am a little too hard on myself where, to the point that whenever I hear a song and it's I don't like a slight bit of it. I'm just like, no, throw it all away. But you know, I just, I feel like, I think I need to work on that more. And I think in the future, that'll help me realize like, Hey, some songs are not gonna feel like they're good, but you know, some people are going to feel like that. I also joke around, I would love to freaking perform at Coachella, insane dream, insane idea, but you know, we can make it happen. We can manifest it.
Clara:That's amazing. Yeah, we loved having you it was so wonderful.
Jereena:It's honestly, thank you so much for having me.
Malachi:Wow what an amazing session with Jereena now we're going to move on to our conversation with Pretty Boy Aaron. Let's go! What was your first experience in music and how did that evolve to what it is now?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I think my first experience of music was in high school cause I was in band And stuff like that. And so I did music with that. Of course the music you're playing in high school band isn't the type of music you like playing, it's like you're playing some old stuff. Or I went to a really white high school. So it was the, like even the stuff we were playing at pep rallies and stuff was like songs I didn't really enjoy. So I've always had kind of like a musical background and I've known how to play instruments and stuff. I started dabbling a rapping with uh, some of my friends and we like performed at my friend's birthday party, like made her a birthday rap. And so I was like, Oh, this rapping stuff's cool. Let me keep doing it. And I kept doing it. And then like later in high school, like I think I was like my senior year, I wanted to start making beats because I wanted to learn how to make uh, like background music, that was Royalty free and stuff for videos that I was making at the time. And so I then kept making beats and I was like, Oh, this is really fun. Oh, let's see if I can start rapping on these beats and started dabbling in that. And then college that's when I like, actually started focusing like, okay, I'm gonna make a song. I'm actually going to do this because before it wasn't even songs, it was just a bunch of ideas thrown around and it was never, ever like really structured.
Malachi:So you said you had a group with your friends in high school. Was that it was that like Hooligan Island? Is that what that was called?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was called Hooligan Island.,
Malachi:Where'd you guys get the name from?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I don't, I think it was my friend Ray at the time he came up with the name and we, because we were really trying to be Odd Future, like really badly. Cause Odd Future was just coming up then. And so we were really trying to be Odd Future. And so we're like, Oh yeah, we're Hooligan Island. And so cause there was Hooligan Island and then there was like another rap group in our school. And I think there was two other rap groups, but at the time there, it was like another one that we were friends with. And so we were really just trying to be better than them in a sense. It was kinda like competitive and we beefed with them and stuff like that. And so we were like, oh yeah, we're hooligan Island where we're quirky. We like rapping over MF DOOM, instrumentals and stuff like that. And it was interesting.
Malachi:So you said you started producing in college and what would you say is been the most like transformative moment in your artist journey so far?
Pretty Boy Aaron:There was a time, me and my my best friend, his name BRUHNICE, like featured on my songs and stuff. We had drifted apart, as friends for a little bit. And, he was just starting to make music. And I was like, and I was working on music as well. Through college, we always were like together making like music. And then that was the first time when we split. That was the first time where it was like, okay, now we can't rely on each other. We can only work on music by ourselves. And that's, what's really, when I figured out a sound that I wanted to do, I was like, okay, maybe I should start learning guitar. Maybe I should make more Internet. Cause like I'm, I was a big fan of The Internet and in college in college. And so I was trying to make music like that and I was like, okay, let me actually figure out how to make this type of music. And so I was working towards to make music like that.
Malachi:So you said you did some collabs with BRUHNICE, is it. Yeah. BRUHNICE, that's that's Trey Patton, right?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah. Yeah. That's Trey Patton. Yeah.
Malachi:Okay. So you guys had a, I see you guys had like a duo.
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah.
Malachi:That was Ray andrews.
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah. Yeah. That was Ray Andrews.
Malachi:Did you guys like, did you release any songs or was it live shows or
Pretty Boy Aaron:The worst part about it we have, we made a lot of music. We released like maybe two or three songs, like towards the end of Ray Andrews, but we would perform. We perform like a lot and we were performing the unreleased songs and I think that's an issue I still have now where it's like, we'll perform and we're performing. Like people are Loving the music and they were like, all right, the music is going to come out in a few months and it just never drops. I struggle releasing music because it's it's very strange to me. So cause I'm not like at first I was very like Oh yeah, I'm going to drop. I can drop whenever I want to. But now I kind of have to plan it and I can't be as careless as I was anymore or I used to be. And so now, I have to figure out like, okay, this is how we're going to market this. This is how we're doing this and this. And so it's just a process and yeah, just when I release stuff now I just have to actually have thought to it.
Malachi:Where do you think that like, change in mentality came from? From then to now?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I think it's like after seeing my stuff starting to do well and people like being very receptive to it cause Cause like in 2017, that's when I, or I would say 2016, I was dropping snippets on Twitter and Instagram and I wasn't posting the songs on SoundCloud. Cause I was like, I had no one that's going to listen to this. And then people were like, Oh, you should put, please put this on my SoundCloud. I'm trying to listen to this. And so then I had to start dropping that and then or putting stuff on SoundCloud, just because people were liking it. And then I realized, I was like, man, okay. Maybe I should actually be smarter about this and actually like figure out how to do drops effectively. And so I would say like 2017, that's when I had to start doing it.
Malachi:So when you were in when you were in, Texas going to college, when you were playing in the duo with BRUHNICE, what kind of venues or scenes did you play at?
Pretty Boy Aaron:We had a lot of friends that were into like, math rock. And it's there's another type of grunge. I forgot what it's called, but it's not really grunge. Oh it's noise. Like noise bands. Like we were friends, a lot of people and noise bands and stuff. So we were always doing shows with them, and then we had started to work with rappers and beyond the same lineups. And then that didn't go too well. And that was part of the reason, like Trey and I split. But it was mostly like most of our friends were in these like rock and indie music, they're showing up with guitars and Trey, and I would just show, with backpacks and computer cables and shit like that. And so it's it was very interesting, but we would always like the same people who would listen to that stuff, they would listen to ours and they're like, oh, we love y'all, y'all are doing something different. And we were like, okay, like maybe we should keep performing with these people because the rap stuff isn't working out like that.
Malachi:So like in that time, were you performing similar stuff as you do today? Or was it more of the indie grunge, like rocky type?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Neither low key. I wouldn't say it was necessarily like trap stuff, but it was, if you listen to Stone Mountain by Childish Gambino it was like a lot of the beats sounding like that, where it's like, at the time, cause this was like 2014, 2015. it wasn't necessarily like boom-bap, but it wasn't trap or it was like this weird in-between mix of things. And so we were making beats like that and making more music like that.
Malachi:That's cool. So I guess talking about inspirations still is there any like. I guess besides artists and other music, are there any, like other things you draw a lot of inspiration from experiences or any values or art in general?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah. Right now, at least a lot of my inspiration has been, from the stuff I'm consuming uh, TV and video games. So for example, there's a game called Persona and like a lot of the music from the Persona series I've been incorporating the same styles within my music just like sonically, but also draw heavily from inspiration, inspiration from experiences. There's a couple of songs that I have where it's, okay, if I listened to this, I know exactly where the song is going to put me, because it reminds me of this person from this time at this event. And it just, connects like that.
Hasan:Awesome. We'd love to jump in talking about songwriting. Tell us about your song writing process. How do you write songs?
Pretty Boy Aaron:It's always different, I have certain songs where I was like, okay, I'm gonna make a song about this. And I made a song like about that. Or there's a couple of times, for example um, Comb My Hair, that song, I didn't write the hook. I just sent the beat to Tesia, but I named the beat Comb My Hair. Cause I needed to comb my hair because my hair was like nasty at that time. So I just named the beat Comb My Hair and I sent it to Tesia and she recorded that hook. And then she sent it back to me and I was like, oh, you didn't have to write about combing your hair. But then I was like, wait a minute. This shit might work. A lot of my music, is just almost coincidental where it's like, Oh, this happened. So somehow it created a song. It's very strange.
Hasan:With life on hold right now what's your inspiration? Like, do you write about things that happened a couple of years ago? Are you digging for things to find inspiration from, like how do you get your lyrical inspiration, your musical inspiration when so much about living is on hold because of COVID.
Pretty Boy Aaron:Some of it's past stuff, but then also, because I've had a lot of growth from now, I'm talking about stuff that's happening, right now. For example, like I have a new song that I'm working on, where it's talking about people hitting you up after seeing you do well. And it's like, I haven't talked to you in a long time. And it's now you're hitting me up now. Now you're trying, it feels like fake relationships and stuff like that. I'm talking about that. And then also about like, I have another song that I'm working on. It's it's pretty much about like, it feels like we're in our final days. So it's it's my relationship with the person talking about Oh, this might be the last time. We might ever find love again or, be together. So let's make what we have, work.
Hasan:And does that translate into lyrics or melody? Which one comes first? Do you say this is a story that happened? How do I translate this into incredible lyrics? Or do you start with a great, incredible beat, like Comb My Hair and then put lyrics on top of that.
Pretty Boy Aaron:Right now it's been I'll have the beat and then, I'll be like, okay, maybe let's think of something that comes onto it. And so I'll either send it off to a friend and see if they can, if they have something and I'll feature them or it's been like okay, I had this idea. So let me just run with it or so, so it's like an idea first, and then I make the song.
Hasan:Are you someone that in the very beginning, likes to work with other people when crafting that idea? Or do you like to bring them on later? So let's say you make a beat or you have a melody. Do you do that with other people initially? Or do you bring them on, after that's already created?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Right now, at least it's been after the fact when the beat has been created where like, okay, this person would sound good on this. And so I reach out to them and then they record their stuff. And I would say for the last couple of songs, it's been kind of like that actually, except I would say, except my song Collect. I think that was the last song where it was like, okay, we're gonna work together on this. But everything else has been like, yeah, I like this voice. So let's throw it on here.
Hasan:And what are your tips for songwriters young songwriters listening to this? How do we get better? What do you tap into to get such incredible melodies?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I would say don't be married to an idea or married to a melody and because it can take any kind of form. I've had ideas for songs where I was like, okay, this song is going to be about this and I have to beat for it. And I can not think of any lyrics or anything. If I leave the idea and then make something new. I'm like, oh wow. I can actually take that idea I had for this song and put it on this song. And it immediately clicks, like for Nicotine at least, I went through five or six different versions before, the one that came out so it took me a time to figure out, okay, I have this idea and it doesn't sound good on this week so let me try a new beat and let me try new beat and let me try a new beat until I find okay, this is where it's supposed to be.
Hasan:So you're not trying to force anything. If the beat needs to be kept away for a bit of time, you're happy to keep it away for a bit of time and come back to it later.
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah, exactly that.
Clara:You said you started off rapping and then got into production. How much production do you typically do when you're writing?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I honestly, I tend to have almost all the production done before I start songwriting. I don't know why I worked like that, but I usually have I want to say 75%, 85% of production done before I start songwriting. And then the last 15% is really just like tweaks where it's like, okay, I need to transition this part to this part. So let me figure that out. And that's usually after I have all the writing done.
Malachi:I do have a couple questions about Comb Your Hair. You just sent the hook to a to Tesia and she just, she came right back with the lyrics for it. So like how did that go from just the hook and end to that from what it is now?
Pretty Boy Aaron:It was crazy. I didn't even send her the hook. It was just the beat. And the beat was called comb my hair. That's it and she sent it and it was on a voice memo. And I just had the voice memo, on the beat for the longest. And when I was like, we can make this into something like this. Cause the first beat was very slow and, slowed down and stuff like that. And then I eventually sped it up because a friend said I should keep working on it and stuff. And so whenever it got to that point, and it was like weird with the With the bark sample and what else was on that? Like the synth the Moog bass and stuff like that. I just kept building that and adding guitar and then I just kept building into the song it is now. And then like, I wanted to start performing that song because like I said, I have a really bad habit of performing songs that are not out. So I want it to start performing it at shows. And I told her to record the hook like officially, and she recorded it. And then she came here. I forgot why she came, but I think she was visiting her parents and she came in, we recorded the the verse or her like bridge stuff, and then we just kept building.
Malachi:So the whole song came from like a voice memo then?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah. Literally it was literally just the voice memo. And I was like, I was, I'm being dead serious. I was so unsure. I was like, should we make a song about like hair? Like I'm not sure if I'm rocking with this a little I'm not sure if I liked this idea, but then I eventually just was like kept listening. And I was like, yo, this song could be like something great.
Hasan:Was there a moment that you knew wow, this is something? Or was it a response? What sort of, what was that moment where you were like, we have something here?
Pretty Boy Aaron:This is gonna sound really petty, but I was trying to like shove some people on Twitter. I think'cause someone didn't mention me or something on like Instagram. And I was like really upset and I was like, you know what, I'm going to post a snippet of Comb My Hair. And then it went crazy and I was like, oh shit, I shouldn't have done that. Cause then like that whole summer, everybody was like, oh, when are you going to drop this song? Please leak this. And I was like dog, the song's not even done. It was literally just the hook. But then after that, then I realized okay, this could be something bigger than anything I've worked on so far. So let's actually take this serious.
Malachi:So does the voice memo thing, does that, do you use that a lot? Is that a big source of ideas for you?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah, actually, yeah. I use a lot of voice memos like Nicotine was on a voice memo, but I was I was singing like the Nicotine, hook, like the other second half. I was singing that on top of A BOY IS A GUN*. Because I think the snippet video I just dropped and I was just singing on top of it. And I was like, oh, this is fire. Let me continue working with this. And so I recorded on my voice memo and then I just built it from there.
Malachi:So was it, are they just things like you'll be randomly like sitting in your car and you'll be like, Oh wait, let me try this out real quick.
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah. Or I be listening to a song and I'm like, they didn't hit that. Let me show you how, let me show you what I would do. And so I would record it on my phone. I'm like, oh, let me build this.
Hasan:When you're listening to music are you one of those people like, that sounds wrong, that sounds off. I would do it this way. Or when you listen to music, are you in the vibe, like how do you listen to music, especially music that you would make? So you're listening to Kanye album or you're listening to, a Travis Scott album or any genre. Are you critiquing it when you're listening to it?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Not really. I just, I don't know. There are just sometimes when I'm like, I hear something else on top of it. And it'd be cool if they had this harmony in the back or this if this switched to this. And so that's when I, like I realized okay, I can actually do something with my own music. That same idea. When I listen to music, I usually listen to music to build ideas. When Swimming had came out by Mac Miller, Ladders was a big song I was listening to because I was a huge, I mean, I still am a huge fan of that song. And when I was listening to that song, I was like, oh, I can make something like this. And so it was just more like inspiration.
Hasan:Awesome. We're super excited about obviously you and your music. What does the future look like? Is there an album coming out, an EP? I know you've been releasing singles recently. What does the next year look like for you?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah, I haven't released a project since 2017 and so I have a lot of stuff in the back. So I'm trying to release that. I don't know, you probably can't see you, but I have like track lists on the wall, of a project that I'm working on and that's going to be, it's going to be like the older stuff. And then I'm trying to, release, I'm trying to release all the stuff we've been working with the last year. Cause that's in a different mindset than it was like the Comb My Hair. And and so I'm really just trying to figure out how to put stuff together again, because I haven't put like a track list together in a long time.
Hasan:So can we expect an album soon?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yes and no. We'll see. We'll see. I want to drop, I want to drop something this year, so I'll just have to see how everything plans out.
Hasan:Sure. And your live show, I'm sure. I'm sure you want to get up and perform these songs. What does that look like to you? How do you think about your live show, your visuals being on stage? What does that all look like in your head
Pretty Boy Aaron:Before Corona stuff started, I realized, I was like, Oh, I need to start. I want to build a band because I think a lot of my music would sound better in a band setting. So I've been trying to figure out how to do that. But since Corona I haven't really had the chance to do it. Previous before that it was really just like me and Trey, just like on a stage Trey deejaying and I'm rapping. And then whoever has a guest feature on a song they'll come up or something and perform with us.
Hasan:Incredible. Yeah. One thing I love about your music is you blend incredible beat making, but live elements. I think there's a song 2127, if that's the right. Yeah. So 27 21 actually. Yeah. Incredible saxophone playing. How do you think about songs like that? Putting those in your track list where there's no vocals,
Pretty Boy Aaron:There's just some songs that I have where. I can't think of lyrics or anything. And I'm just like, this just sounds good by itself. So why can't I just release it just as an instrumental? And I think that's what I'm trying to add more into my stuff again, because the last three songs I've dropped are all vocals and stuff. And so I know I want to keep, making stuff like that especially like, 27, 21, I want to make more jazz stuff and like more go into more of that side of things. Cause even since Stay Pretty I've made like Bossa Nova type beats and I just haven't dropped them. And so that's why I'm like trying to collect everything that I've made in the last, I think it has been like four years and see okay, this is what I'm gonna drop.
Hasan:Talk to me about space in music. I feel like all your songs have such an incredible sense of where to leave things out when to put things in, they don't feel overburdened at any moment. Do you think about like consciously, like how do you leave things out? How do you know what to put in? Because I'm sure when you make an incredible beat. You want to get everything and get everyone on there. And that is sometimes a hard decision not to. So how do you think about that?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I do have a problem with over producing and then I think I have to realize that, okay, now I have to bring it back. And I think You ever listened to well, you probably have like Yeezus by Kanye.
Hasan:For sure.
Pretty Boy Aaron:And like, yeah. And so like Rick Rubin, he like changed what the album was originally. The original Bound 2 sounds completely different than the version that's out. And especially since that album came out, I realized it was like, Oh, you don't have to have 10 different harmonies in the bag. It doesn't have to be some kind of epic. You just put what's needed. Put what sounds good. I think that's where originally, where I was really realizing space and leave room for vocals, leave room for, people to not get. What's I don't want to say over-focused, I don't think that's a word, but like, they're trying to listen to the harmonies or they're trying to listen to the guitar, but really you need to listen to the lyrics. And so that's where I've been trying to or that's where I've learned not to overproduce and take a step back.
Hasan:Yeah. I recognize that in your melodies as well. Like you'll get a great melody in there and we hear that melody throughout, but it doesn't ever feel like, we're hearing it too much because it's such great melody. Do you think about the same thing when you're writing melodies, do you have a bridge in there? Do you have a chorus? Do you have a verse or when you're making a beat, like Comb My Hair, are you saying, you know what? Let's just have this on loop. It feels because it feels great. Like, how do you think about that?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I have a really bad attention span of like in songs. So I'm like I like to change things up. And then I also like to not have the same thing, repeat too much. Cause it's I get like nervous Oh, people are gonna hate it if it's kept looping like that. And so that's where I kinda ah, I think that's, if that answered it.
Hasan:For sure. For sure. You definitely did. Yeah. On those lines are there constraints, especially in the Spotify world and we're releasing music two minutes songs, three minutes songs, one minute songs, have you ever felt constrained by that? Do you want to, release an eight minute track? A 10 minute track? Like we saw 30, 40 years ago. How do you navigate that and how do you shorten stuff and, cut things out. Like how do you navigate that whole sort of digital streaming world?
Pretty Boy Aaron:Nah, like I said before, I have a really bad attention span, so I can't make a song for nine minutes. But you know, what's funny. Whenever I first started making Pretty Boy Aaron stuff. A lot of the stuff was really short. And I was when I was submitting to like blogs and playlists I was using, I didn't know. I was like spending on Submit Hub, a lot of the critiques that people would have on my music. They'd be like, oh, this sounds really great, but it's really short. And it sounds more like an interlude. And then that really like bogged me down. Cause I was like, damn, this these short songs ain't it huh? And then and then you see like Lil Nas X. Old Town Roads, like two minutes thumping. And it's just reassurance where it's like, okay, maybe the short ideas thing was a good idea. And so that's why I try not to have them as short as much anymore, but, I don't, I can't make anything above five minutes unless it has a beat switch or three beats switches.
Hasan:Gotcha. Talk to us more about blogs and getting your music out there, especially in the early stages when you didn't have such a big following like you do now. How did you submit things to blogs? What did you include in there? Was it a long spiel about who you were? Was it just a link to your music? How did you navigate that whole process.
Pretty Boy Aaron:Man? Those are, that was, those are days I hated it because. It was like a lot of okay. Hey, my name is Pretty Boy Aaron. I'm from Dallas, Texas. This is my newest song, blah, blah, blah. And like a lot of the responses I was getting weren't as positive and they would be like, oh, we're not going to listen to this. Like they would specifically say oh no, this ain't good. We're good. We're okay. And. And just I was really against blogs. I still am. Yeah. But up until I think it was like in the last couple of years when blogs actually started picking up my stuff and I'm like, oh, damn, this is crazy. It's just a shock to me because. Like a lot of these like blogs and stuff were saying, like I was saying, my music is too short. They don't like the sound, it sounds real messy. And it's now it's, I've more developed that style and my style and stuff, but it's still the same sonically in my opinion. And so it's just interesting to see blogs picking up my stuff and being like, okay, yeah, this is what's next. We love this.
Hasan:I'm curious, like how have you dealt with those rejections and those sorts of those people saying your songs are too short or your songs are messy? Do you take that on the chin? Do you use that to change your music? Or do you say, you know what, this is what my music sounds like. I want to stick with it. Like, how do you navigate that criticism and rejection and sort of the harder parts of being an emerging artist?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I would say it drives me because, I like. I'm not saying I like to be right, but I like to be like, Oh no, this idea. I think this is the idea that I need to push with. And it's especially if I feel it where, so if I get rejected or something, I'm like, okay, let's just keep pushing. Because if one person doesn't like that doesn't mean the next person is not going to like it, or especially because of fans and stuff. Fans love, fans love my music, so it's not. I don't take rejection as serious. I'm just like, oh, they just didn't like it. So let me just keep moving.
Hasan:So before we end, is there anything you want the audience to know any upcoming plans live shows, coming to Stanford soon, performing here at the Frost Amphitheater?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I'll be down. Yeah, no. I would say. I guess I probably, I don't want to say the product name just quite yet just in case I change it, but.
Hasan:Yeah.
Pretty Boy Aaron:I'm definitely releasing stuff soon, very soon. And it's not, I'm not going to say it's my best work yet, because I feel like the best work is going to come later because it's just like all the ideas I've had in the past, like three or four years. So that's coming soon and then we'll see how that goes. And then hopefully we'll have like a good, like a full project, like completely new stuff very soon
Hasan:The question on production that I wanted to ask you, actually, his instruments do you have to recommend an instrument for someone to pick up and learn? What's been the most useful for you when you're producing? Is it getting on the keys? What instruments would you recommend for sort of 15, 16 year olds, even older to pick up and learn?
Pretty Boy Aaron:I would say it depends on what you're trying to do. If you're trying to make beats, definitely learn piano. As a cause, especially nowadays you can play any instrument, quote on quote, with MIDI. So yeah yeah, picking up piano and just playing like maybe the piano and then see if you can add other instruments on top of that. And I think that's very helpful and that helped me a lot. And I would say guitar. Cause I, I write a lot on guitar now and then I'll just transfer that over into the keys. And so that's helped me a lot
Hasan:Essential albums that people should listen to?
Pretty Boy Aaron:U Know What I'm Saying? by Danny Brown. That's definitely like, right now that's very essential to me. And that's what I've been drawing a lot of inspiration from that Swimming. Oh, Circles by Mac Miller. That's another one. I think that's the best way you can do a posthumous album in my opinion. Especially cause it doesn't feel like. Like he passed. It just, it's it's, it feels completely fresh. And especially cause some of the songs are like two or three years old. It's a not from the release. And I think that's just, it's a beautiful album, and I love that album.
Hasan:It's so clear that you do so much, you write you record, you're producing your music. Does it ever get overwhelming? And do you try and focus on just the creative process? Or are you thinking about things like, the star music industry is huge, there's touring, there's distribution of music. How do you market your music? Where do you release your music with who do you can get through this endless cycle? So how do you think about that? Or are you just you know what, I'm going to focus on the music. First and everything else will come after that.
Pretty Boy Aaron:How would I say this? I would say, yeah, I definitely try to focus on the creative stuff, but a lot of the administrative stuff, that's what we'll call it.
Hasan:Yeah,
Pretty Boy Aaron:A lot of that stuff does bog me down sometimes and cause I don't have a manager or anything. And so it's just strictly me and my friends just running this shit right now. And so it sometimes bogs me down, and I won't make music for a long time. Especially in the falls, I have a hard, I have trouble making music nowadays. But when it hits like originally I just got out of a really bad creative block. And I, it was like January, I would say it was January when I figured things out. And so after that I realized that, okay, I should just focus on the music and not worry about this administrative stuff. And so I'll just let it come to me. And so that's what I'm like leaning towards now. We're just like, I'll just let it happen.
Hasan:Awesome. When you're, in this creative mess and you're, you bang your head against a wall, trying to write songs, you're trying to write melodies. Do you step away from that? Or do you say, you know what? I want to keep working on this till I get, some creative spark.
Pretty Boy Aaron:Yeah. I usually step away and especially with like when I was saying that bad creative block I was having I will start making like sample beats. Like for some reason I always go back to making sample beats and I just make them, I just pump them out really quickly. But and so I hadn't touched like my personal music, I think it was from, I want to say it was August to January. That was like, I didn't touch any of my personal music through there. And I usually just try to live life, make the sample beats and see what happens. And then something like, sometimes I'll just get. Either something will happen where I'm like, Oh, I have an idea or something. For example, I would say like the, I think the reason I got out of the creative bug this time like Issa Rae had posted Comb My Hair on her Instagram story. And that inspired me. And I was like, all right I need to get this stuff popping because it feels like something's about to happen and I'm not ready. So let me get to work. And so that. Somehow it picked me up and I've been like working really well recently.
Hasan:You can tell you think a lot about, where you put songs and where you put melodies and where you, how you make a track list. And I think that's super inspiring for young artists and, emerging songwriters. So thank you so much for staying true to yourself and to the music. Thank you, thank you, that means a lot to me
Malachi:What an amazing session. I just want to take a moment to thank Jereena and Pretty Boy Aaron for their time. I learned so much about the songwriting process and I'm sure as a listener, you did too. This has been the Drop The MIC podcast, and we'll see you in the next one.