The actor, musician, and Careless chairman and founder is many things. But you can never call him a dishonest man. He knows what you think of him. And he's here to emphatically tell you that he's grossly misunderstood.
Read the cover story here: https://bit.ly/JamesReidforEsquire
Read the cover story here: https://bit.ly/JamesReidforEsquire
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PeopleTranscript
00:00 That's a good question.
00:01 I think that's why we're always battling between what is real to me
00:04 and how can this lead me to success.
00:07 That's the most difficult question anyone's ever asked me.
00:10 The shoot today went well.
00:25 All the looks we wore today are all from Gucci's new collection.
00:29 I loved all the looks and the shoot itself.
00:32 All the layouts looked amazing.
00:34 It was super quick and yeah, I had fun.
00:37 I think it matches my style the most.
00:41 Because I lean more towards more retro feeling clothes and style.
00:48 Yeah, I think that's why it kind of resonates with me,
00:50 like the patterns and the cuts, everything.
00:58 Man, when I joined Show Business, I was like 17 years old.
01:02 So you can imagine, what was it back then?
01:06 It was like skinny jeans and V-necks.
01:09 And you never know, one day that might come back.
01:11 Yeah, I can say it'll come a long way.
01:13 There's been many phases that I've gone through.
01:17 Yeah, there was that phase, like skinny jeans.
01:23 And then went through more of classic looks,
01:27 only denim, very James Dean motorcycle vibes.
01:32 I've gone through my hippie phase.
01:35 I've gone through so many phases.
01:38 Yeah.
01:38 What separates a good ensemble from a great one
01:45 is one that only you can make look great.
01:48 You know what I mean?
01:49 It's a good ensemble, but then for some reason,
01:51 with this particular person, with their look,
01:54 with their vibe, with their energy,
01:56 they just kind of take it to another level.
01:59 Like there's like an extra ingredient in there.
02:01 So yeah, I think it's the people.
02:04 I would say that, yeah, I would say that I guess
02:10 my foundation is R&B.
02:12 I play around with a lot of genres.
02:14 But my foundation definitely is R&B.
02:18 Biggest influence when I was a kid was MJ, Usher, Mario.
02:21 Like just R&B.
02:24 That really influenced me when I was younger.
02:26 Yeah, I've always really loved a lot of electronic,
02:29 French house music, a lot of funk, soul funk, R&B,
02:35 like neo-soul, jazz.
02:37 I think about why am I not, for example,
02:40 like a heavy metal person?
02:42 Why am I not like a reggae person?
02:45 You know what I mean?
02:46 Why is that?
02:47 And I think it's just because we all
02:48 have a sound in our heads, like our own soundtrack
02:53 to our life.
02:54 Mine just so happens to be music that has like an R&B,
02:59 smooth, easygoing feel to it, and that funky step in it.
03:04 So that's just kind of my vibration.
03:07 And then that's the music I happen to resonate with.
03:10 It all started because of the album I made in 2017,
03:18 Palm Dreams.
03:19 No one was expecting me to make that, I think,
03:21 because I was a typical TV actor, artista that
03:26 would make cover albums.
03:28 And I would be winning awards for songs that aren't mine.
03:33 I'm grateful for all the people I was able to touch
03:36 and for the people that were able to--
03:40 the people that supported me and enjoyed it.
03:44 But then me personally as an artist, making my own music
03:48 was more important to me.
03:49 I don't know.
03:50 It feeds your soul when you can create something.
03:52 You know what I mean?
03:53 So I really wanted to create an album that was authentic to me.
03:58 One, it was all in English.
04:00 I wrote the entire thing, produced with my friend
04:04 Portais.
04:05 And it was so different.
04:07 And people started looking at all the possibilities
04:10 of where we can go from there.
04:12 What's going to happen next?
04:13 Are you just going to go do another movie?
04:15 Or are you going to make more music like this?
04:18 Yeah.
04:19 And then people were telling me, hey,
04:20 I think you can really do this.
04:21 A lot of people believed in me, friends, family.
04:25 I was like, OK, I'm going to make that shift.
04:27 So I became self-managed and then just focused on music.
04:30 Because at the time, honestly, I wasn't doing so OK mentally.
04:35 I just needed to focus on something that made me happy.
04:38 I think the number one challenge we had to face
04:45 and we still face are being the odd ones out.
04:49 That's always difficult because you're always
04:51 against the grain.
04:53 You're always against the currents.
04:54 And it takes a lot of effort.
04:56 And it takes a lot of focus and determination
05:02 and also trust in your team to really stick it out,
05:06 no matter what's happening.
05:07 Especially when you're pushing for an idea that
05:09 isn't yet widely accepted.
05:12 And more people might still be afraid to try or to go down.
05:17 So yeah, there's that one.
05:19 It's really going against the grain and being odd ones out.
05:21 That's been hard.
05:23 I think another one has been staying true to the vision.
05:26 Because not everyone will agree.
05:30 So I have lost some people that are no longer with Careless
05:35 just because we no longer see eye to eye.
05:38 And that's always been the hardest part.
05:40 Because these are people that I love and I'm friends with.
05:43 So that was also, I think, personally,
05:46 one of the most difficult things to handle.
05:49 I think Careless has always been very misunderstood.
05:54 And I'm also a very grossly misunderstood person,
05:58 simply because I don't like to be out in the media
06:01 all the time, having to defend every single thing
06:04 that people say.
06:05 I think that's something in show business that I got used to,
06:08 which was to maintain my own peace of mind.
06:11 I really have to block out a lot of the noise.
06:14 Time and time again, every single time
06:16 these issues come up, my strategy
06:19 is to just leave it and focus on the positive.
06:22 Because eventually, people will see what's true and what's not.
06:24 So I think the vision for me was more of a feeling,
06:33 prioritizing creativity and being
06:38 able to take creative risks in an industry
06:40 where everything has to be marketable.
06:43 It has to be bang masa, or it has to be like that.
06:47 You know what I mean?
06:48 Just being able to make music the way that you like
06:52 and also encouraging others to do the same.
06:55 I think that's more what the vision was about.
06:59 I've said before, it's like being
07:00 the bridge between Philippines and the global market.
07:04 Or I've also said a whole bunch of things.
07:06 But really, that's undefined.
07:10 We're still figuring it out as we go.
07:12 And we're just trying to push the envelope
07:15 and stay on the side of pushing for change.
07:18 What's that saying?
07:24 Shoot for the stars and land on the moon,
07:26 or something like that?
07:27 Oh, no, shoot for the moon and land amongst the stars.
07:30 Yeah.
07:31 It's kind of like that.
07:33 The initial vision for Kaelous is so big.
07:37 And I knew that.
07:39 It was a very tall, tall order.
07:41 We're always trying to get there.
07:44 But then when I take a minute to look
07:47 at how far we've gotten, I'm always blown away.
07:51 So no, no regrets, not at all.
07:53 There's many reasons.
08:00 One big one being money.
08:03 That's always such a huge reason why
08:05 people are scared to take risks.
08:07 Now, that's completely understandable,
08:08 which is why that's something I battle with all the time.
08:11 Like, we have to make money, but then also we
08:13 want to stay true to our craft.
08:14 But then-- you know what I mean?
08:16 That's a paradox that we deal with every day.
08:19 Another thing is sometimes people,
08:22 they need proof before they can believe they can do something.
08:26 You know, they need evidence that they can do something
08:28 before they believe they can.
08:31 I'm here to say that's completely false.
08:34 Yeah, you're supposed to be terrified of the things
08:36 you can't do yet, or for example,
08:39 going against the grain where people aren't going.
08:43 You're supposed to be afraid, and then do it anyway.
08:46 I think it's when you create without filters,
08:54 when you really create from what you're experiencing,
08:58 and you don't try and sugarcoat it,
09:00 or you don't try and tweak it because you think
09:03 someone else will like it.
09:05 I think that's what makes an artist honest.
09:08 But that's a hard thing to deal with.
09:11 That's a good question.
09:12 I think that's why we're always battling between, like,
09:14 what is real to me, and how can this lead me
09:19 to success kind of thing.
09:21 That's the most difficult question
09:23 anyone's ever asked me.
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