After establishing a name for himself as a ‘talent to watch’ in New Zealand’s flourishing music scene, artist and producer IPSY today makes it official with the release of his highly-anticipated debut EP, WHO ARE YOU NOW?
Hailing from Masterton, and now based in Auckland having returned from LA due to COVID, IPSY takes the listener on a track-by-track journey through the past year, all the while defying the trappings of being boxed into one genre.
Shelley had a quick chat to him about everything – don’t forget to read the fun random questions at the end!
Kia Ora! How has your 2021 been so far?
Definitely a shame to still have covid around! But honestly it started a lot better than last year. I feel really excited about the music I’m creating, feel like I’m growing a lot as an artist and as a person 🙂
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So who is IPSY?
Big question! My vision for IPSY has always been the same. I want to create music that is completely and utterly me. Everything I write about comes from experience. IPSY has grown into this new age, sort of emo genre and I’m really loving it haha.
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How long have you been creating music for?
The first song I ever made was probably at about 13 🙂 so 8 years! It seems so long ago.
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What, if anything, influences you or your music?
I get a lot of inspiration from movies and things I experience. I find myself in tricky situations sometimes and almost always the first thought that pops into my head is “this would be a great song”
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You are obviously a producer as well, did you create all the beats for your tracks yourself? Do you do much work for other people?
Most of the time, yeah I create all the beats. It’s only been recently that I’ve been working with other artists such as nekolai and 33 below. I really love their sounds and I can fit into there style really effortlessly. It’s definitely encouraged me to branch out though and work with new people.
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How would you describe your music to someone?
I think I would describe my sound as “new emo”. It’s very electronic inspired a lot of the time as well but also includes a lot of r&b / pop elements. I don’t know haha I guess if you combine all those then I might fall somewhere in between.
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Your debut EP ‘WHO ARE YOU NOW’ comes out on Feb 19th. How do you feel about it coming out?
I am really excited! I’m always a bit nervous to see how it goes but that’s the same with everyone. It’s been in the works for a bit and I’ve had a vision for the project for a long time. There’s definitely always a feeling of relief when songs come out because they aren’t yours anyway, they’re for the world, and I love that.
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I read that you wrote it throughout 2020. Did this really just take a year or have you had elements of the music sitting around or anything like that?
Yeah it was just a year! I created a lot through lockdown and while I was overseas and always knew they would work really well together in a project! It’s a real journey, there’s a lot of genre shifts and I love that in a project.
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How was your 2020?
So up and down. I went through a lot of personal shit and seemed to have a really blurry head. I definitely learnt a lot about my processes and I’m grateful for that! I can honestly say though I’m STOKED It’s 2021.
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Do you have a favourite track or tracks?
My favourite song is always the next song that’s coming out. But one that really spoke to me is ‘Tribute to Selfishness’. I’ve never expressed myself as much as I have in that song and I think its encouraged me to follow that path more.
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You released a video for ‘Pure’! Where did the idea for the video come from and what was the shoot like for you?
My mums friend has a really lovely house in my hometown of masterton up near the hills. It was a really beautiful setting and instantly could see what the video would look like. It was so much fun to shoot. I got all my friends involved and we pretty much just drank and had a good time while the cameras rolled. I can not thank my videographer Shyam Patel enough for his work. Every time we work together he understands how I want the videos to look down to a T. I got a lot more confidence in front of a camera after that shoot aswell and cant wait to do more.
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Do you have much planned for this year (as much as planning can be a bit hard with everything) or are you just going with the flow?
I got a bit planned. My main focus is getting my album out in a couple months and then hopefully another video. I have also been working on my live set a lot so I am keen to showcase that soon at a few upcoming shows! It can be hard to squeeze everything in but yeah, I’m going to do my best!
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SOME FUN QUESTIONS:
Fave snack?
Okay this is strange but probably a juicy quiche. They are small enough to be a snack but not big enough to be a meal. May be a grey area but i’m sticking to my guns on this.
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Overused phrase?
I say “my doodski” almost everyday. It’s a problem.
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If you could start a rumour about yourself, what would it be and why?
That IPSY can shotgun a VB in under 2 seconds. It ain’t true but I’m still practising.
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Follow Ipsy here
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