Chris Grey is a bona fide star, and his show at El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles further proved that. We saw Chris on the second to last stop of his tour, and what a show it was. Everything from his vocals, to visuals to stage presence was phenomenal. We couldn’t fathom this being his first headline tour, simply because of how much of a natural he was.
The show was filled with surprises including joint performances with Allegra Jordyn and Ari Abdul. He also ended the night running back “Let the World Burn” after doing it live with Ari for the first time on tour.
But ahead of such a phenomenal night from Chris Grey, we got to chat with him about touring, the Paradise Lost album, his inspirations and so much more.
Sweety High: Are there any moments in the show that you’re most looking forward to, and any favorite songs that you’re most excited to perform?
Chris Grey: Well, I’m bringing Ari Abdul out of the show. I bring her out at the encore. So I’m excited for that. I’ve done “Let the World Burn” once with her, at her show in Toronto. This is my first time bringing her out to my show. So I’m excited for that. And I was asked about her at the meet-and-greet, so people are going to be excited about it. So I’m excited.
(Photo credit: Maddy Myer)
SH: Many of your songs explore deep emotions. Do you see your music as a form of release, storytelling or something else?
CG: I see it as both. I kind of think of my songs as I kind of take the emotion that I’m feeling in that moment, and I kind of try to imagine what that would sound like if I cranked it up to 11. So it’s kind of like every emotion, taken to the max and at the extreme. So I think that’s where it’s a bit of both. It’s a release in terms of getting that emotion out, and then it’s also storytelling in terms of kind of that emotion in a different context or in a different story.
SH: How do you decide how much of yourself to reveal in the music?
CG: Interesting. I think there’s an internal, or a subconscious awareness of “this feels right” or “this doesn’t,” but I don’t think I hold back a ton in my music. But it’s what fits the song I’m making sonically, and I think just the sonic palette kind of curates its own kind of story. But I don’t have the hard rules of, “I won’t talk about this.” It’s more just in that moment when we’re writing, we’re pitching ideas, and it’s a subconscious awareness, I guess, of what I put in the songs and what I do.
SH: What is like a typical studio day like for you?
CG: So, most of my songs I make in my home studio. There are kind of two phases to a Chris Grey song. Phase one is me making the initial demo, and I always do that solo. I usually make the beat, and I’ll kind of start with at least a rough production and then I’m kind of mumbling melodies out, mumbling ideas, sometimes getting words or like that title line. Or, usually, the chorus, at least the first few lines of the chorus I have written, and then I’ll kind of mumble out the rest of the song and leave it.
And that’s usually like a 3 a.m., 4 a.m. session that’s just me. And then in a couple of days, if I’m still liking it. I’ll kind of reopen it with my co-writers. I work mainly with my girlfriend, Allegra. And then there’s another co-writer work with who’s also my best friend, Michaela. And so it’s like, I really keep it in the family with the co-writers. And I’ll bring it to them, and then it’s like a daytime session. And we’ll sit down and kind of try to take the rough idea I have and say, okay, what do we want this to be about? What’s the core idea here? And make it a little more interesting, expand it, and really flesh it out into a song.
(Photo credit: Maddy Myer)
SH: Which artist or genres have most influenced your sound?
CG: I mean definitely someone like The Weeknd has been very formative to my sound. I think growing up kind of listening to The Weeknd actually kind of changed my music taste. I hadn’t really heard something like that at the time. I was probably like 12 years old or something. And I was listening to like EDM, like Tropical House. It was like 2015, 2014, was that era. And so kind of hearing the Weeknd’s older stuff, it kind of introduced me to this whole new world and I didn’t know music could feel like this.
And so I’d say he was a big one, but then I think in the early years, I had an Ozzy Osbourne phase when I was like 5 or 6 years old. I discovered him from the Live Aid DVD. I got a Live Aid DVD I think for Christmas or something at like 5 or 6 years old, and I would just watch the whole thing. And after watching the whole Live Aid concert, I walked away and I said Ozzy Osbourne is my favorite. And then if you knew me when I was 6 years old, first thing I do is get in a car (it’d be someone else’s car), and I would just take out my own Ozzy Osbourne CD and say, you’re playing this for me. On the way to school, we’re like blasting Black Sabbath. Like I’d get my sister’s car. She’s like, “You want to listen to ‘Wheels on the Bus’?” I was like, no, I want to listen to Ozzy Osbourne. So I think that was kind of a formative sound growing up that it’s not that I make music in that world, but I think that was kind of that initial being drawn to some of those darker sounds.
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SH: What do you hope fans take away from your performance tonight?
CG: I always try to make sure the performance kind of lives up to the music. I I never want you to walk away and say, it’s better on Spotify or whatever. I think I tried to kind of take what I do on Spotify and bring it to life and kind of personify show off the songs and the emotions.
SH: How do you think your relationship with your own music has changed as you’ve grown in your career?
CG: Ooh, that’s a good question. I think it’s a new element for me now, having just made my second album and then kind of looking forward from there whereas I’m making music, the songs that I’ve made are kind of now a context in what I’m doing next. And I think at the start of my career, that wasn’t really a phase. I was always kind of looking to break out, making and trying new stuff. And I’m now in a place where I think I also want to try new stuff and expand, but I also have this context of knowing how I’ve gotten to where I’m at. And so I think that that’s been a dynamic change, now having a fan base that loves these songs and is excited for the future. I think that’s definitely going to change in how I approach music.
SH: What risk are you interested in taking with your sound?
CG: I don’t know if I have a specific one right now, but I think just in general taking more risks with my sound is definitely a goal of mine in the next project and I think right now I don’t have a clear plan for what’s coming next whether that’s a deluxe album, whether that’s a bunch of singles, or that’s an album I don’t really know but I think that’s exciting for me because I’m just going to get back in the studio, make music, and what I make is kind going to guide what I do. I might make something that feels like a body of work, but maybe it feels like a shorter one, or a longer one. I don’t want to go in with a master plan because I feel like it would be inauthentic. I want to let what I make guide me. And if that’s a few singles that maybe sound a little different, and they’re in their own lane, or if it’s a project, then I’m gonna follow where it kind of takes me.
SH: Let’s talk about your aesthetic for a little bit. How intentional is your visual identity?
CG: It’s definitely intentional. I come from the photography world. Kind of as a kid, I had a whole photography phase. I was into nature photography, actually, so I would be doing that, doing the videos and everything. So I come into the industry with that visual background. So most of the visuals are either made by me or kind of in tandem with a designer. I work on my visuals very closely, so I always want to try to say, if I’m listening to a song, what it would look like and put that into it, whether that’s the outfit, styling, the location, the color grading of the shoot, the font, etc. Especially having done this for a while, not wanting to just make the most basic thing that first comes to mind. So it’s a mix of something that feels new and interesting, and kind of expands that visual horizon, while still feeling at home with the music.
SH: What was the emotional core inspiration behind Paradise Lost?
CG: I think for that album, I really wanted it to be this cyclical story of like a never-ending love. Like I wanted it to describe this love that kind of finds its way through the cracks, no matter what, and you know you can go through whatever, but you’re always gonna end up together, and that was the real concept for the album. I wanted to say that, through the metaphor of this rebirth in the album, it is just kind of inescapable.
(Photo credit: Maddy Myer)
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SH: Which track was the hardest for you to finish?
CG: I’d say it wasn’t that was necessarily hard to write, but I think “Acid Rain” took us a while. That wasn’t just like one session of me banging down. I think we kind of went to that one like three or four times to finish it and kind of piecemeal it, but it didn’t come together all in one fell swoop.
SH: If someone was listening to your music for the first time, what do you hope they discover?
CG: I hope that they feel the passion in the music. I’m very passionate about whatever I’m doing, whether it’s a relationship, my music or my life. I like passionate people, and so I hope that the passion in music comes through. The passion I have for the music, and also the kind of passion in the music that’s being described in those relationships. I hope that comes across.
(Photo credit: Maddy Myer)
SH: You’ve mentioned Ari, you know, you’ve done a collab with her. You had the G-Eazy one, Plvtinum, Dutch Melrose, and others. Any other dream collabs?
CG: For sure. I mean, it’s kind of like, I feel like it’s a bit of an obvious answer, but I think coming back to kind of one of those early inspirations, I would say the Weeknd. I think being an artist from Toronto and kind of having watched him go from an underground artist from Toronto to a global superstar, while also, I think, maintaining his identity, I really am inspired by that. So I think musically, I’ve been inspired by him, but also as a kind of career path. His career and rise to fame has been inspiring
SH: Anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t mentioned yet?
CG: I just want to say thank you to everyone that’s been listening and coming to these shows.. This is my first headline tour, so I think half of these cities I’ve never been to. To go to these cities I’ve never been to and have these fans waiting there and ready to sing the songs with me has been a dream come true. So definitely say thank you to the fans.
(Photo credit: Maddy Myer)
You can also listen to Chris’s album, Paradise Lost, in full here:
For even more on the artists who inspire us, click HERE to read our interview with DJ and producer CRANKDAT.
