TI IEYRETI IERE is an artist with a desire to make you dance, think and feel. Before the end of 2019, TI IEYRETI IERE plans on releasing a 4-part EP series called “HŪMN”. Part 1 of this series, “HŪMN (Being)”, was released on April 26th and has already enjoyed some success on Spotify. All of the music is co-written and co-produced by D.J. Craig, a dynamic artist and vocalist with an impeccable range and performance style. He easily bends genres, taking his cue from classic artists such as Prince, Freddie Mercury, George Michael and Phil Collins, as well as modern day artists such as OneRepublic, The 1975, Linkin Park, Imagine Dragons and Twenty-One Pilots. Stay tuned for more of TI IEYRETI IERE’s music in 2019!
“Nice Guys” is a recently released single from TI IEYRETI IERE’s EP, ““HŪMN (Being)”. This song immediately sets itself apart with its unique sounding ethereal synths that open the song. However this state of bliss is immediately interrupted by an incredibly punchy beat and upfront vocals. This is used to ramp up the tension until the first verse begins in earnest just under one minute in. This song is great because it’s actually quite difficult to define. It has elements of hip hop, RnB, soul, pop, and even reggae elements come through at times. The arrangement and production is top notch as well, using space and silence to great effect as well as filling the frame with lots of sound during the choruses. The vocals themselves are impressive and delivered with confidence and a polished performances. “Nice Guys” is a truly unique single from a truly unique artist. We are interested to see what TI IEYRETI IERE has in store for the future, but while we wait, check out this single!
Listen to "Nice Guys" here and read out exclusive interview with TI IEYRETI IERE below!
Thanks for chatting with us! To start off, can you describe a bit about your background and how you first became involved with music?
Music kind of chases ū. Not the music business, but the love of it. Ū can try to run from it, have passion for other things, dabble in this or that, but when you’re born for it, it will inevitably get ū. Believe it or not, it was SCHOOL OF ROCK that roped me into wanting to be a rock star. Sounds silly, but there was a kind of freedom and fun about the way music was introduced in that movie. I was super young, so when I saw it, it was like... I want to feel like that. But most importantly, I wanted to make people feel like I felt when I watched it. It’s been chasing me ever since. Chased me from Pennsylvania to Cali. Chases me through every no, every disappointment, rejection and it will chase me all the way to stadium shows and awards acceptance speeches. I’ll be running from it when I’m cane walking and grey. Probably to the bed I call death. Yep... music is just in there.
Who would you say are your biggest artistic influences?
Started out with classics like Styx, Journey (thanks Papa). Then came Blink 182, Fall Out Boy and Green Day. Then feeling like a rebel at 12 rapping to Eminem. Tarzan Soundtrack by Phil Collins... one of my favorite works of music in history. But my reach of music was very limited. Once I got to Cali, I was introduced to catalogs of music that have since overwhelmed me. Prince, once he died it was like I plunged into a purple pool of undeniable, singularly one of a kind mastery of art, sound and fearlessness. He was... there are no words. Linkin Park is one of my favorite bands ever. John Mayer, Coldplay, OneRepublic, 3 of the best songwriting schools you can study in. Now delving into George Michael, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Twenty One Pilots. Ok... if I keep thinking about it, I’ll keep writing. That’s enough. Hopefully somewhere within these first 4 EPs coming out in the next few months, Ū will hear every one of them represented in the work!
Can you talk a little bit about your writing process?
I wish I was cool and consistent enough to have a process. I can say that there was a lot of time spent kicking ourselves while creating this music. There’s this pressure to sound like everyone else that every artist feels. I don’t know when it changed, but it used to be that the job was to try your best to sound like no one else. Michael never went in the studio saying, “I gotta have a song just like Purple Rain.” Prince was never chasing “Billie Jean”. I’ve heard that it was the exact opposite. Don’t get caught in the other artist’s lane. Oh Michael’s doing this, well I’m gonna do that. Now, it’s quite the opposite. The pressure to make the next of the last thing that was hot stays breathing down your neck and it stifles you. So we purposely didn’t think about what’s “hot right now”. Finding the same beat and vocal rhythms as the masses. I’m literally not Chris Martin, Ryan Tedder, Adam Levine, Joe or Nick Jonas or Justin (pick one)! So why can’t the art I paint belong to me? So writing became more free, more fun. Less rules and more passion! If Ū can’t find an automatic “hit” out of that, then is that because it sounds like Khalid? Or Drake? The process is, there isn’t one. We went in to record a 5 song EP, we ended up with 33 songs in 6 months. Then we just kept working them until we felt love and God in them.
You seem to draw influences from multiple genres. Is this something that’s always been natural for you or have you cultivated that over time?
Definitely a learned behavior. Coming out of the box of rock music / “white” music is liberating for a young white kid from small town Pennsylvania! Meeting veterans who mentor ū and take ū under their wing who have been in the studio and stage with the greatest names in music history... it opens ū up! So... by means of association, you’re actually listening to almost 50 years of combined music exploration. Push shuffle on our music and it will confuse ū! One second you’re in church, like real powerful gospel music, like Commissioned or The Clark Sisters. Then Michael Buble will play. Next thing will be Aaliyah. Then Prince (often). Then you’re mesmerized by Whitney’s prowess! Dancing to Rodney Jerkins and Timbaland produced songs. Then you’re slamming you’re fists to AC/DC and Guns & Roses. Then crying from the story telling of Barbara Streisand. Babyface’s genius plays over and over again from so many artists. Then Chicago’s harmonies and big guitars blast. Then it’s Earth Wind & Fire. It never ends... and then you find yourself unable to sit still in the box of a genre. You’re just all over the place making sounds that may or may not be specific to one thing. We hope that’s what people feel, and hear. Ū asked that so it must be happening! And for that, there’s joy.
What can we hope to see from you in the future?
World domination! Lots of dangerous fashion risks. Passionate and political fights for HŪMN Rights! Music that heals, inspires and challenges the norm. Ending hatred toward people who are different... can a song do that? Didn’t Lennon? At least for a moment? Look for the guys who won’t let up... and the songs that will have a stamp of historical influence on them. A lane paved. Everywhere, from the night you make love to conceive, to the day of the birth, to the wedding day, graduation, first time ū fall in and then out of love, moving across country, fighting for a cause, standing at the foot of the bed of a loved one ū sadly have to say goodbye to... Ū will say... TI IEYRETI IERE through it all.
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