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Having grown up in an period when film star charmers like Hugh Grant and Matthew McConaughey performed the main man in iconic romantic-comedies, Aidan Bissett knew the ins-and-outs of being in love at an early age — and you’ll hear it in his music.
Launching his profession on TikTok, 20-year-old Bissett is among the many ranks of younger musicians which are redefining what it means to be a heartthrob in 2022. The LA-based artist gained a fierce following of younger followers with the discharge of his single “Extra Than Mates” in late 2020, and has continued to seize hearts by dropping extra tracks about unrequited and unconventional love within the two years since.
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His new EP, I’m Alright If You’re Okay, which arrived in October 2022, finds the younger singer-songwriter navigating varied relationships over instrumentals which are paying homage to mid-2010s Bleachers — vibrant and upbeat with layered vocals and light-weight electronica components. With lyrics like, “I fall in love like each evening / A bit of salt within the minimize,” Bissett channels the quintessential 2000s rom-com lead as he explores the energy behind being a hopeless romantic. Bissett joined AltPress to debate the significance of embracing nostalgia together with his tracks and Freaks and Geeks-inspired music video, Sugar Ray, rising as a lyricist, and extra.
The final time you talked to AltPress two years in the past, you have been a senior in highschool. Trying again, what are your ideas on the progress you’ve got made with this undertaking, lyrically and emotionally?
With each track we put out, it’s like taking one child step ahead with determining how I need to set up my sound and my place within the scene. I knew that after I put out the primary EP, I needed to know precisely what my sound was, and I really feel like we actually did that. We took the time to get it proper. I attempted a bunch of various sounds with completely different singles to determine what’s working.
For the reason that starting, your music has at all times kind of had this by way of line about craving and being in love, and you’ve got this connection to very early 2000s rom-com nostalgia. Are you able to discuss your expertise with love as a youngster?
I’ve had a little bit of a crapshoot in terms of love. I’ve solely been in a single actually critical relationship, and I discovered lots all through that have. Now that I dwell in LA, I’ve tried to discover issues and get again on the market. I really feel like with every individual that I have been concerned with, I continuously study myself. If I do have a little bit fling and it does not work out, I attempt to write about it as a result of I really feel like that is the one manner I can course of it. Writing permits me to take the time to grasp what is going on on in my head. I really feel like I transfer so quick, and with the ability to sit down and be compelled to discover your emotions in a session for hours helps me determine issues out.
You accompany this early 2000s vibe with a visible aesthetic, like along with your Freaks and Geeks-inspired music video for “Twenty One thing.” Are you able to discuss your relationship with that form of nostalgia?
With this undertaking, we needed to take a step ahead into maturity, and present that I am not only a highschool child anymore. I really feel like that Freaks and Geeks video was the final chapter in that period, and it was like closing that e-book.
With the remainder of the EP, it was [like] getting into a brand new visible period of maturity, however with roots of that traditionally rock ‘n’ roll heartthrob character. It was like discovering a pleasant mix of fascinating and funky, but in addition nostalgic, and younger and enjoyable.
Songs like “All That I am Craving” and “I Cannot Be Your Buddy” additionally faucet into nostalgia, when it comes to their actually melodic synth sound that seems like one thing you may hear in a montage in a film. What was it like working with producers like Chase Lawrence of the band COIN and Andrew Wells on these tracks?
COIN is such an inspiration for me, so working with Chase was a dream come true. When he hit me up on Instagram, I freaked out. He would Zoom into classes [while on tour] and he had such a transparent imaginative and prescient when engaged on issues, which was so inspiring. Generally you’re simply enjoying round with stuff till it really works — however once we’re working with Chase, he is aware of precisely what he needs and he brings it out of you. It may be difficult as a result of I’ve by no means labored like that, nevertheless it brings one of the best out of you. We wrote “All That I am Craving” in our first session with Andrew, which is nuts since you do not simply write a track that you just each actually love the primary day. Having the ability to write with individuals like Andrew and Chase, it creates completely different dynamics and permits you to not field your self into one particular manner of writing.
You’ve got talked about being a fan of indie-rock bands, however have been there any particular teams that you just gravitated towards in your formative music years?
I did not undergo a full emo part, as a result of I did not develop up through the peak [’00s] emo scene. I used to be most likely like three or 4 years behind that, which is so unhappy as a result of I like Paramore and [all of the bands that were on] the When We Have been Younger competition lineup. I want I had grown up with it.
I grew up on loads of basic rock as a result of that is what my dad preferred — loads of ’70s and ’80s music — after which I began venturing into the ’90s. I like the Pixies, and individuals are gonna hate me for this, however Sugar Ray. Individuals hate Sugar Ray, however I like them! [It also] sounds just like the Crimson Scorching Chili Peppers actually influenced the way in which I play guitar.
Leaping ahead, what are you listening to proper now?
I’m actually all around the board. There’s not one particular style that I really feel like I hearken to essentially the most. I like listening to every little thing to get a agency grasp of what is going on on and what individuals like. I needed to hearken to the brand new Taylor Swift album, [I’ve been listening to] the brand new 1975 album, which was fairly hearth, and Joe Keery’s new album [as Djo] is my album of the yr. These are the three that I have been rotating.
You’ve got labored with GROUPLOVE, you’ve got labored with COIN. What would you say is a dream collab shifting ahead?
I actually need to work with any individual who’s a real singer-songwriter as a result of I want to construct upon my lyricism and be capable of inform tales higher with a much bigger vocabulary. As a substitute of being direct and to-the-point, I need to use similes and metaphors and alliteration. Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift are so nice at telling tales with out being so direct, and in such a ravishing manner. I’d like to work with somebody like them to strengthen that aspect of my music.
Does that imply the long run is trying extra poetic? Softer, extra romantic? How do you see the following step?
I’m undoubtedly not straying away from the course I am heading in proper now, however I feel discovering these singer-songwriter moments are necessary to develop. I need individuals to know I’ve vary and it is not simply the identical songs time and again. I am actually attempting laborious to discover a mix of loopy, upbeat singles and with the ability to inform tales in a manner that is extra coherent and delightful.
