With no definitive hometown prior to his arrival in Nashville, independent artist Owen St found himself more at home than ever upon joining forces with the creative collective It's Like That Records.
His sound reflects this journeyman's upbringing, tastefully blending his widespread influences into a genre-fluid sound driven by the spirit of Indie. From Alternative and R&B to Bedroom Pop and Hip-hop, Owen St looks to showcase the beauty in all corners of the music landscape while challenging the crumbling barriers of outdated societal norms and biases.
Tantalizing and inquisitive, with a touch of blown-out captivation, the single and music video “1,000,” by Owen St has us tip-toeing in a vividly etched universe of luscious vocals and mid-tempo ambiance.
As Owen St exudes a passion-fueled performance coming straight from the soul of his poignant timbres, you’re immediately drawn towards the burst of color provided in the creatively thought out direction of the eye-catching visuals before us.
The center of attention is full of freshly prospered life with an extravagant buffet of mouth-watering fruits to match the juicy sonic hues in “1,000.” The lyrical motif that thrives in the mesmerizing chorus, ‘you taste like watermelon, you’re so refreshing and sweet,’ is thoroughly brought to the foreground in the fruit buffet that is attacked by Owen St and friends as we drive back around to the community-powered quintessence that Owen St is known for delivering.
Panning between the fruitful main attraction, you’re also offered the humorous tones that Owen St plays upon in the visuals portrayed. Finding him on the football field, basking in good times with his friends, the spirited tenor of Owen St is more apparent than ever.
Continuously driving it back to the individuals he showcases in his music video for, “1,000,” you’re caught up in the entrancing sounds that make you question; was this music video a daydream? All in all, if this was a dream, we don’t want to wake up.
What inspired the songwriting of this specific song?
I’ve had the idea for the hook of the song for a while, but it really started to come together last summer. I really wanted to capture that feeling of being initially overwhelmed when someone else is being entirely themself, but opening up to it as they invite you to do the same. I love songs about vulnerability, and while being vulnerable can sometimes carry a certain level of tension or be a touchy subject for some, I’m learning that it can be such a lively, upbeat feeling to open up. Being real and vulnerable can always be groovy if we let it.
The visuals are so creative and extremely well done! Was the vision we see always your main inspiration?
The visuals came out even better than I had hoped for! Working with one of my best friends Jah Frida who produced the song & did the cinematography for the video, this project really has his creative spirit running through it as much as my own. I came to him with a storyboard, but not so much a frame-by-frame layout. This always leaves room for him to be behind the camera looking for fun B-roll and having that extra eye for shots that we didn’t plan for but are too good to pass up. So many of my favorite moments came from something Jah would notice and say “oo let's get that!” From a visual standpoint, my mindset is to set the scene, bring a few characters to life, and then focus on how they interact. A storyline always helps tie it all in, in this case, the travels of the time-machine cassette player connect all the scenes, but it’s more important to me to have a vivid setting and characters that feel like people. I love to keep an element of surrealism in visuals, enough to where it feels like our world if we just turned up the vibrance.
What are you hoping that your listeners take away from the single and music video as a whole?
I hope anyone who listens to the song or watches the video can get a little escape from the heavy or the mundane in life. Keeping it 1,000 is to take a moment to embrace everything we are and the people around us that encourage this freedom. Whatever makes you feel like yourself, turn that dial all the way up. We deserve it.
Are there any memorable moments from the set of, “1,000,” that you’d like to share with your audience?
This was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had on set, everyone involved brought the energy. After we filmed the fruit scene, we went right into the kitchen and put as much of the fruit as we could into the juicer and made some tasty stuff. I was for sure drinking watermelon juice for the next week. Also, probably my favorite shot in the whole video where I’m hanging on to the goal post was the toughest to film but by far got us laughing the most in the process. I’ll admit I kept on falling and falling but we got just enough of a shot to use thankfully.
What can we expect to see next from you?
I’ve got a few collaborations in the works right now that I’m super excited about! Been working on a handful of features with some artists I really love. Last fall, I recorded an EP with some of my best friends that are almost ready, should be out this year. This one I’m really stoked about because it let me dive into a different side of my music. I’ve always loved hip-hop, especially more of the underground genre-fluid side, and in the spirit of that this project will be a lot more driven by the constant pressure in the state of our world currently, and I love that we’re taking a dark time and making something beautiful out of it. Also working on a trio project with the fam Jah Frida and 1 1, two of the other members of our collective It’s Like That Records. Not only are they great friends, but two of my favorite artists right now in the most unbiased way, so the energy working with them is electric. Lots of alt r&b, Avant hip-hop vibes with influences from anywhere and everywhere. We’ll be working on that all summer! As for the next Owen St project, I’m really excited about these new songs we’ve written. They feel completely honest and helped me make light of a lot of confusing and conflicting feelings. I’d say most of my songs start out as conversations I never got to have and wish I did, especially with these next ones. The brand new ILT studio is so close to being finished, and later this month once it is, we’ll be in there laying down all the next stuff. I’ve been feeling so inspired by 00’s alt-rock this past year, so that influence is going to be a fun additional element for the sound of these upcoming songs. Just trying to keep building out this colorful world we found ourselves in.