JOSHUA On the Making Of “Love Me”
What was the creative process like for this particular "Love Me?"
I started this one two and a half years ago and I wrote it on my own so I can’t remember all the details now hahaha. I’m pretty sure it started with me wanting to make something with a sampled vocal as the main instrument and then it kind of flowed from there. I was also going through a bit of a struggling-to-feel-wanted moment and since words-of-affirmation is my love language, I really need people to communicate to me how they’re feeling. I feel like I’d be a lot to handle so whoever wants to jump on board really needs to know what they’re getting themselves into!
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for "Love Me?"
The biggest but best kind of challenge cropped up only a few ago! I went to re-record the vocals and my friend was like, “Josh, you can write a better second verse than this. There needs to be some hope, some light in here” so I scrapped it and rewrote it a few days later! I only ended up rerecording the verse vocals on my own, the rest seems to have the right feeling from the demo.
Can you talk about the recording and production process for "Love Me?"
The minimalist approach to the production felt really important in getting the right feeling across. Lots of early Lorde references went into this too! I love production so much but I can be very reliant on synth presets, which is so fine, but I wanted to challenge myself and use or sample my voice as much as possible. There’s only one synth part in the chorus that’s not my voice and the basses are digital but the rest is me!
Can you share a bit about your musical background and the journey that led you to where you are today?
I always loved music and wanted to do something with it but we just couldn’t afford it when I was growing up. I joined my primary school choir very briefly but it wasn’t what I thought it would be so I dropped out pretty quickly. It wasn’t until I was 19 that I started singing lessons and, soon after, bought my first mini MIDI controller that came with a free version of Ableton. I started recreating Lorde and Flume songs and just caught the bug from there! I was probably 22 when I wrote my first proper song; there was so much going on in my head that I just needed to get it out!!!
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced as a musician, and how did you overcome them?
I’m still overcoming them!!! I’m going through some medical stuff at the moment so I’m taking the time to rest as much as possible so there’s that. Otherwise, as much as I hate to acknowledge it, finances are probably the biggest thing. Music careers cost money, a LOT of money, and most of the time it’s not even about the quality of the songs, it’s the advertising and marketing that go into it. Things like TikTok and distributors have led to a heavily oversaturated market that’s so difficult to break through. It impacts my mental health quite a lot so right now I’m just going to focus on becoming a better writer!!!