JANY GREEN
Jany Green is an Anchorage, Alaska-born, Los Angeles-based artist that makes fun, crossover love songs with hints of alternative, hip hop, and pop sounds. He’s already been making waves, despite only having four songs released to date— “Little” on May 14, “Suffocate” on April 6, “Call My Parents” on January 13, and “City Lights” on September 26, 2019. Every track is distinct and unique while still possessing a few characteristic traits that have come to define the Jany Green sound: energetic and diverse instrumentation and playful and authentic lyrics. In the wake of a lot of positive attention, he sits down with Bridgette and talks about everything from his musical style and inspirations to what we have to look forward to from him in the future.
Interview
Interview by Bridgette
June 18, 2020
Jany Green, thank you so much for joining me today!
Hello, hello, how are you, how are you!
I’m great! Thank you again for stopping by! This’ll be really, really, fun.
Of course, absolutely. Thank you!
So these past 9 months have been insane for you. You put out 4 singles, all awesome songs: “City Lights”, “Call My Parents”, “Suffocate”, and most recently “Little” and you’re getting some great attention for it already. How does this all feel to you?
It feels surreal, honestly, because it’s still fairly new with this whole Jany Green project stuff that it’s kind of taken off a little faster than I really thought it would. And it’s a blessing for sure and I’m so so happy about it, it’s just sometimes I’m a little overwhelmed and I’m talking to my producer and stuff like “what’s going on?”, but at the same time it’s such a blessing and I’m so happy that everything is coming into play.
Yeah, I mean it’s definitely moved super fast for you, which is awesome, but I could see how that could be a little bit shocking at first (laughs).
(laughs) Yeah, absolutely.
What would you say your favorite song you’ve put out is so far?
Oh man. That I’ve put out?
Yeah.
Something with “Suffocate” just sticks with me. Production-wise and the melody— something about “Suffocate” I just really love. I love all of them and “Little” is obviously a fresh sound, but “Suffocate” is probably the one I’m going back to if I had to listen.
Yes! I’m so glad you said that because that is my favorite too! I think that is such a fun song, I love it! I think it’s such a clever take on love. How did this song come together for you?
Yeah so usually me and my producer work together— Ralph Castelli. We work in the same studio— his home studio and stuff. But for this song specifically he had sent over the beat — because, I don’t know, someone wasn’t in town, I think — but I literally was just sitting here and I started listening to the beat and I came up with the concept and everything. It was so fast for me, I was just really feeling it. And at the time, the beat was actually a little different. So I had sent it back and I went over to his house when he got back, and we were listening and we were like “well, something about this could be different,” or it doesn’t really sound like how we wanted it to. So we just sat on it, and then a week later or something he sends me back the stems and whatnot and the beat just changed completely. He just completely killed it, and I loved it and he loved it, and we just ran with it. We were like “yeah, this is definitely the one.”
That’s so awesome. So you’ve worked with him on all of your music so far?
Absolutely.
Awesome. So your most recent release, “Little”— that one is obviously getting a lot of really positive attention, too. Could we dive into that song for a second? What was the inspiration behind that? What does that one mean to you?
Yeah! Ok so, if I’m being completely honest with you— between me and you and whoever watches (laughs)— we were literally just like listening to a lot of music and started drinking some beers— shotgunning, I don’t know if you know what this is.
Yes (laughs).
That’s what we like to do (laughs). So we did all that and became semi-drunk. And we were just in the studio: he started creating the beat and I just felt this burst of joy and happiness and love and I was just like, “I have to write something that is just so uplifting and so cool,” you know? And he was doing the beat and he was making it uplifting and everything, and we just meshed it in and that’s how it came about, really. Pretty much, it was just a fun process, for sure.
I love that! You didn’t think too much about it, you just started going into it.
Absolutely, absolutely.
I love that. That’s so funny because that’s actually what I love about your music so much. Especially now, with everything going on; everything feels super heavy and I think listening to your music reminds you that it’s okay to enjoy life and relax and be happy. I get that vibe from your music, 100%.
Awesome, I love that!
Speaking of everything that’s been going on, like I mentioned. There’s been a shift in the mindset of people in the music industry and in the world, in general. What does it mean to you to be making music right now in the wake of everyone really turning their attention to Black Lives Matter and the whole movement?
Music in this time, while the Black Lives Matter movement is going on— music is a great cope, don’t get me wrong. It’s a great distraction and it can be really good on the minds of people. But I honestly do think the Black Lives Matter movement should still be focused on and, you know, we’re in a fight. We’re trying to win this war and once we win we will still keep fighting. People don’t understand that All Black Lives Matter and we are getting it through to them. This police brutality has to stop; they need to stop killing us. My heart goes out to Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Sandra Bland — it’s sickening to see that it keeps happening — everyone. I truly believe change is coming, I do. And to see it not just be in the United States with all these protests; it’s country to country, it’s the world and it’s a beautiful thing. Man, it’s wild, it’s really wild. But, you know, the biggest thing is that we get it through to the people who don’t understand and keep doing these things that are causing so much hurt.
Totally, yes. By that same token, I think it’s really empowering to have music like yours right now where you can really hold on to something special and warm.
Yeah, absolutely. And I do love when people say that: they come across my stuff and tell me that it takes their mind off things, just even for a little bit. You know, that’s all I care about— for everyone to feel some happiness and joy, and to just have a betting feeling about everything. So I’m happy that does that.
Yeah, you’re definitely achieving that so far, and you’ve been getting great attention for it. I saw you were recently highlighted on Beats 1 with Zane Lowe. That’s so exciting, that’s so cool!
That definitely caught me off guard, I didn’t expect that at all! And even their description of my music: that’s kind of how I present myself when making the music from the beginning— not really having a genre and just trying to not be set in a box, or whatever. The fact that they said that, that it’s a “six-car lane”— that was so cool to hear. I was like “What! That’s exactly like what we’ve been trying to do!” So I’m super stoked about that and I hope that everyone can feel the same way at some point.
Yeah, that’s so funny! I was going to ask you what your opinion on that “six-car lane” quote was because that’s 100% what I felt when I listened to your music. It’s like “I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s working!” Since you have such a genre-spanning sound, what would you say your influences are?
Yeah! Man, so before this Jany Green stuff I’ve always done rap stuff and hip hop and whatnot. And then I met Ralph Castelli, my producer, and he was on the indie and bedroom pop side and we just kind of meshed our stuff together. But growing up, my influences were definitely Outkast. They were super big on me creating different sounds and just liking different sounds. But I guess for the hip hop and R&B side, it would be B2K, 50 Cent, Bow Wow. And then if you move onto the alternative side, it would be P.O.D., Linkin Park, Gorillaz, and stuff like that. Thinking of my sound, I’m just trying to put everything in together. And I’m also from Alaska, so we don’t really have a sound. So it’s kind of cool that people are like “what is this?”
Yeah, I was going to ask about Alaska! Has growing up in Alaska had any effect on your music?
I mean, yeah! I would say so because we just listen to everything, really. We listen to West Coast music, but we listen to Chicago or New York sounds — just everything — Atlanta. So I think just listening to different types of stuff had a big impact on the music— just trying to create something that we could have, you know, as Alaska. Or something like that, but yeah, for sure.
That’s awesome, I love that you’re from Alaska! Another thing that makes you so unique. (laughs) So obviously you’re getting a lot of traction. What can we look forward to from you next?
The next thing would probably be a video for “Little”. I can’t say too much but that would probably be the next thing, and then more music after that. But for right now the focus is getting this video out for the people and getting a nice visual and happy vibes.
That’s so exciting! I’m looking forward to that; that’s going to be fun. Well, you’re obviously very busy with all of that stuff going on so thank you so much for taking the time and sitting down with me! This has been so much fun.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! And this has been a really good time, so thank you!
This interview originally aired on WNYU Radio with Bridgette Kontner on June 16, 2020 on The Sound Between at wnyu.org/archives/2020-06-16-the-sound-between