Jacob Collier talks with Rolling Stone’s Ilana Woldenberg at the 2024 GRAMMYs
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MusicTranscript
00:00 - Oh my god, I'm good, how are you?
00:01 - Nice to see you.
00:02 - You too, you look amazing.
00:04 - Thanks so much for saying.
00:05 - Jesus, this is, can you tell us about the fit?
00:08 - Of course.
00:09 So this is made by OTT.
00:11 - Okay.
00:12 - And it is a bit OTT to be honest.
00:13 It's full of color, I love color so much.
00:16 They actually, they cut up a bunch of old things
00:19 that they've previously made
00:20 and they refashioned them into new stuff.
00:22 And I love it, I'm such a fan of anything sustainable fashion
00:25 and I'm feeling, yeah, feeling fun.
00:28 - Feeling sexy and free?
00:30 - I would say that, I would say both those things are true.
00:33 - So tell me about your nominations tonight
00:35 because it's actually interesting
00:37 that you bring up this kind of arrangement
00:39 of your clothing, right?
00:40 - Oh yeah, yeah.
00:41 - 'Cause you're nominated in that category.
00:44 So I wanna hear about what that process looks like for you
00:47 because I feel like that might be an esoteric one
00:49 for people at home of like what that legwork looks like.
00:52 - What is that?
00:53 - What, what?
00:54 - So yeah, an arrangement is like
00:55 the reassembly of materials.
00:57 So what I did this year was with some friends of mine, Sage,
01:00 we took a really old song called
01:02 In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.
01:04 Do you know that song?
01:04 - I do.
01:05 - Old jazz tune.
01:06 - Beautiful.
01:07 - And we kind of took it to pieces
01:08 and put it back together again.
01:09 And the way in which we did that,
01:10 for whatever reason, was saluted by the Grammys,
01:13 which is really an honor.
01:14 And yeah, it's a total delight to be here, it really is.
01:17 - So what does it look like in your brain
01:19 or sound like or feel like
01:21 when you're presented with this material?
01:23 What do you reach for first?
01:24 What instrument do you reach for first?
01:26 What's that, I guess the step-by-step
01:29 of getting that project done?
01:31 - Yeah, it depends on the song.
01:33 Depends on what you need.
01:34 But for this one, it's all voices, which is gorgeous.
01:36 And I love the voice.
01:37 I think voice is the most important instrument.
01:39 'Cause we all have one, they're all different.
01:42 And it's something so human about it.
01:43 So I've always been a fan of layering
01:45 multiple voices together to hit chords.
01:48 You know chords, right?
01:49 - I know chords.
01:50 - You know chords.
01:50 - We know chords.
01:51 - That's how everyone knows chords.
01:52 And just the warmth and the,
01:54 it's like painting a picture
01:55 with a ever-changing paintbrush.
01:56 You know, you get to design the contour,
01:59 the arc, the line of your story.
02:01 And it's really, really a pleasure to do that.
02:05 - So I've seen you on TikTok out there playing instruments
02:08 I didn't even know existed.
02:10 So I wanna know from your perspective,
02:11 what do you think the next frontier is for music?
02:14 It could be for music production,
02:16 for elements that we'll be seeing more in music,
02:19 for inspiration, truly anything.
02:22 - I think we're about to see
02:23 like a massive surge of collaboration
02:25 because the world is becoming kind of smaller and smaller.
02:28 And people are, I think,
02:30 people are taking more and more risks, which I love.
02:31 And I feel like I've always been a bit like that
02:33 but now I'm looking around
02:34 and seeing people surprise each other, which is gorgeous.
02:37 And I'd also say that one of the big questions right now
02:41 I think is how AI is gonna interface with music.
02:43 There are inherent challenges,
02:45 but also like thrilling,
02:47 kind of like thrilling ideas and new materials
02:51 that are being made available to all of us to play with.
02:53 So I think in those two spaces,
02:55 I'm excited to see like a surge of curiosity, I suppose.
02:58 And I'm just hopeful that AI is taken for what it is,
03:03 which is like a really kind of deeply powerful
03:06 but really exciting way of revolutionizing
03:08 how we think about sound and collision.
03:10 It's like, yeah, it's like colliding things together.
03:13 It's like kind of, it helps us be alchemists
03:14 in a more interesting way.
03:15 - 100%, you're like cooking up potions in the lab.
03:18 - Storms, yeah, cooking up storms, yeah.
03:20 - So one last question for you
03:21 because you brought up collaborations.
03:23 What is your secret to working with other artists?
03:25 Because I think that's such an interesting thing
03:27 to not only befriend someone, become personable
03:30 and have that relationship with them
03:32 to get to the good stuff, but then also you're working
03:35 and you wanna hopefully continue to work with them.
03:36 - Yeah, it's an interesting dynamic.
03:38 I think the biggest thing is just
03:40 not to take yourself too seriously
03:42 'cause it's easier to be like,
03:43 I'm Jacob, I'm really important.
03:44 My taste goes, you know, it's like,
03:46 no one knows what's going on, no one.
03:48 And everyone who steps into a studio,
03:50 there's an amount, or there should be an amount of like,
03:52 I wonder what's gonna happen.
03:55 So I think over the years I've become less certain
03:57 about my taste and more open.
03:59 And I think that's merited more interesting results
04:02 than me going and being like,
04:03 I know exactly what I'm gonna get
04:05 and then missing the magic on either side,
04:07 if that makes sense, you know?
04:08 - Well, we appreciate the curiosity.
04:10 - Thank you. - It shows.
04:11 I feel like you are always looking for the next thing.
04:14 So thank you so much for everything
04:15 you're adding to this industry.
04:16 - Yeah, you're welcome.
04:17 Yeah, no worries, absolutely.
04:18 - Have a great time tonight.
04:19 Thank you for stopping by.
04:20 - Thank you, lovely questions.
04:21 - Best of luck, yeah, oh, thank you.
04:22 - Thanks a lot.
04:22 (whooshing)
04:23 (clicking)