A QUICK CHAT WITH ILLSTRTD

1: ‘Real Love’ is such a brilliant and interesting collaboration between two talented artists. How long has this idea been in the works for?

Francois & I started the initial idea in July last year, so it’s been in the works for a while! We did most of the initial demo in our first studio session, as well as some back and forth online and one or two more sessions to finish it off. The song kind of sat on my hard drive for months before we finally released it.

2: Was cheesy comedy a primary goal in the music video?

Yeah definitely! We wanted to nail a real cheesy 80s vibe with this, and the director Hoodwolf took a lot of inspiration from those corny 80s dating videos, as well as the super-obvious greenscreen shots. The whole idea was to keep it pretty tongue-in-cheek, and light-hearted.

3: On the topic of music videos, do you believe that they should bear some resemblance to the song and its lyrical content, or should the artist just go all out with whatever they desire?

I think it depends on the video. Obviously though it needs to add context to the vibe of the song, but whether that’s literally playing out the lyrics or just suiting the overall “mood” of the song depends on the vision of the artist and the director. At the end of the day whatever has the most impact should guide the visuals in my opinion.

4: What’s your favourite instrument you know how to play?

Keys for sure. I’ve been playing piano most of my life, and I love the sound of a really nice chord progression, especially on electric piano. I’m learning guitar at the moment but I’m still fairly amateur when it comes to guitar playing.

5: Can you tell us what the future holds for Illstrtd?

Not sure! Right now, I’m just writing as much as possible and working with as many different artists as I can. I’ve been releasing singles recently, but I really want to get together a full project some point soon. Whether that’s an EP or album, I’m not sure of yet.

Click to stream 'Real Love' ft. Françoistunes