Music Q&A with BOY CHAD
Photo by Yama Rasooli
L.A. alternative pop artist, BOY CHAD, has released his latest single, “Losing Control”, which was produced by KOIL PREAMPLE who has produced for many notable artists such as Demi Lovato, Rupaul's Drag Race All Stars 6 current reigning queen Kylie Sonique Love, Bob The Drag Queen, and more. BOY CHAD took some time to answer some questions about his latest single, the FINNEAS cover he did, being a contestant on season 2 of the HBO Max Original Series, Craftopia, and more!
Congratulations on everything you’ve achieved! You recently released a song titled “Losing Control”. What does the song mean to you?
Thank you! Losing Control means freedom. Sometimes we get into these states of mind where we feel sad, angry, depressed, or even overly happy and that’s ok to feel. I want people to be ok with not being ok sometimes, when you allow yourself to do that you ultimately free your mind.
You covered FINNEAS’ “The 90s” and got his stamp of approval. What made you decide to cover this song?
I have loved how FINNEAS views the industry for a while. It’s more than just his music, it’s his take on how the music industry can prop one thing up and the other step on and say it’s not good. July 15th of this year he tweeted this:“Y’all act like auto tune is this crutch people lean on when they can’t sing, auto tune is COOL- if you can hear auto tune, it’s on purpose. Almost every single pop star’s vocals are DRENCHED in melodyne and you probably can’t even tell. Auto tune is completely different.”
Clearly that is a very unpopular opinion amongst the masses, but he doesn’t care and just spoke his mind which to me is badass. When I saw that tweet I was very happy because its the general consensus from people that if you use autotune “you can’t sing” when I know that it’s a tool. Autotune is like a paintbrush to a painter, and It’s not as simple as coughing into the mic and just using it, there’s an art form to make autotune sound nice. Next thing I know, FINNEAS drops his single “The 90’s” from his new album Optimist and as soon as I pressed play I heard hard hitting bass and an autotune vocal that came in and said “sometimes I think about the 90’s.” I was in shock, and just so excited about the song that I had to cover it immediately.
Most people when doing cover songs will do very acoustic versions of the song, but I said to myself, “I’m going to use even more autotune and process my vocals and really go there since I love processed vocals in my own music.” I almost felt like it would be disrespectful to the song to not use autotune, welp, he clearly loved it 2 minutes after I tweeted out my cover, he retweeted it, and made my entire night.
You’re a contestant in season 2 of the HBO Max Original Series, Craftopia. How did you end up taking part in it? What has been your favorite thing about being on the show?
I have been making things as far back as I can remember, literally taking trash or unconventional materials and up-cycling them into treasure. When I saw them casting for the show, I applied and before I knew it, I was cast on the show, it was a simple process really my personality and ability got me on! My favorite thing about being on the show was getting to be with other artists that had their own style and just making art. Let me tell you, that set was HUGGEEE and had everything, all of the candy, fabric, power tools, etc were all very real and able to be grabbed and used. It was like my childhood dream of running through an art supply store and grabbing whatever I wanted to use and not have to pay for it LOL!
What is your earliest musical memory?
Sitting down at my grandma's house with both of my uncles and watching endless tapes of Michael Jackson. My entire family loves Michael Jackson, and they’re all very musically talented but never decided to pursue it as a career.
Who has been your favorite artist to see live?
My favorite artist to see live was the queen, Nicki Minaj. I have been a fan of hers since Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape in 2009 and have purchased every album since twice over. I love her style, she is more than just a rapper, she also does pop and everything else in-between which inspires me a-lot.
If you had a chance to interview any of your musical heroes, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
I would interview RUSS. I love his take on the music industry. He really gets to the meat of why things are the way they are and helps indie artists gain more insight on how they can make it in this industry. RUSS doesn’t sugarcoat anything because he had a bumpy rise to fame as he felt suppressed, ignored and overlooked. I feel that way lots of times but I keep going and it’s inspiring to hear that from a popular artist that they went through that as well. I know that my time will come one day and until then I will keep doing what I love!
What instrument do you not play that you hope to learn someday?
I would love to learn the electric guitar and use a talk box with it, a talk box is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify sound by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sounds of the instrument. You use a plastic tube adjacent to the microphone. I'm always looking to make cooler and more unique sounding music where people ask “wow that sounds cool how did you do that?”
How do you stay positive? What helps you?
What helps me stay positive is writing down ideas, and then going down the list executing them. If for some reason I’m not feeling motivated to do an idea that day Instead I don’t force myself to do it because it will show in the content, instead I watch videos of airplanes. Airplanes really calm me down, especially since at one point in my life I wanted to be a pilot. I feel like taking my mind off of music sometimes really gets me re motivated to take on the world!
Any last words or final message for the readers?
Build it and they will come. I am a firm believer in this. It helps me keep my mind on track when sometimes it gets off track. I will get in my head sometimes and think “why don’t I have a manager, or no one will sign me or take interest.” I just keep telling myself this is all a part of a bigger plan for me. My time will come, mark my words.