Gryffin Opened Up About Being Asian In The Industry And

Favorite memory of creating or recording the album?

Gryffin: Writing “Evergreen” with Au/Ra was a really fun experience because a lot of the album was written remotely. I would make beats and people would write to them, or they would give me an idea, like a vocal idea, and I would start producing it on my own. “Evergreen” was written pen to paper, from start to finish that day, and we were all writing it together. To see that one come all the way through to the end was a really exciting, rewarding experience. Working with Calle Lehmann on “Alive” and “After You” was a really cool experience because we did “All You Need To Know” together, and we never really met or hung out the entire time it happened — it was just all remote. We didn’t write those together necessarily, we wrote it, and then I produced the record after the fact. “After You” and “Alive” we wrote together. These are some of the highlights for sure.

BuzzFeed: Aw, it feels like you’re a family after all that, after all the hardship, and you finally get to that one sparkling point.

Gryffin: Yeah, exactly, family vibes are a good way to describe it. I feel like that’s the way with the artists that I collaborate with because I would actually work with a lot of them again. Maia Wright, who I did “Body Back” with, we have a new song on the album coming out together because we became really close after that experience, as well as Elley and Calle. I feel like all the records I do are my children, and the people who I’ve worked with on the record are a part of my extended family, so it’s always nice to work with people again and have this growing community that we have tied together with all the music.

BuzzFeed: Haha, they’re like your babies.

Gryffin: Yeah, they really are. That’s why when people ask me, “What are your favorite records?” I’m like, “I mean I could tell you some of the most popular ones,” which would be the obvious thing, but they’re all different, and I love all the songs in a different way, which is why I call them “little children.”

What are you most excited about this album?

Gryffin: I’m excited to put it out! It is my most diverse body of work, I would say. It does have cohesion and a through-line to it, but there are a lot of different styles and sub-genres of dance music that I’m exploring with it. I’m really proud of it as an artist that I pushed myself and pushed the envelope ’cause I didn’t want to make the same album again, as much as I do love Gravity. I feel like it’s a good next step for me as an artist to have album #2. I feel like I’m more of a seasoned veteran now, but I’m really proud of it. I think there are a lot of pretty cool and strong records on there, and deeper cuts that might not be singles but just, like, really cool records and things I’m really proud of. I’m excited to put it out there and see what people think.

What’s your favorite lyric on the album?

Gryffin: The Alive tag, “I’m nothing without our love alive.” It’s a really Gryffin-type lyric. Relationship-based lyrics or lyrics about connections with people, familial relationships, love relationships, and friend relationships. Having love in those relationships is what can empower us and make us feel alive, so I feel like that’s one of the stronger through-lines of the album that resonates with what my music is about.

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