GRAMMYs 2024: Jacob Collier

Rolling Stone

Jacob Collier talks with Rolling Stone’s Ilana Woldenberg at the 2024 GRAMMYs

Transcript

00:00 - Oh my god, I'm good, how are you?

00:01 - Nice to see you.

00:02 - You too, you look amazing.

00:04 - Thanks so much for saying.

00:05 - Jesus, this is, can you tell us about the fit?

00:08 - Of course.

00:09 So this is made by OTT.

00:11 - Okay.

00:12 - And it is a bit OTT to be honest.

00:13 It's full of color, I love color so much.

00:16 They actually, they cut up a bunch of old things

00:19 that they've previously made

00:20 and they refashioned them into new stuff.

00:22 And I love it, I'm such a fan of anything sustainable fashion

00:25 and I'm feeling, yeah, feeling fun.

00:28 - Feeling sexy and free?

00:30 - I would say that, I would say both those things are true.

00:33 - So tell me about your nominations tonight

00:35 because it's actually interesting

00:37 that you bring up this kind of arrangement

00:39 of your clothing, right?

00:40 - Oh yeah, yeah.

00:41 - 'Cause you're nominated in that category.

00:44 So I wanna hear about what that process looks like for you

00:47 because I feel like that might be an esoteric one

00:49 for people at home of like what that legwork looks like.

00:52 - What is that?

00:53 - What, what?

00:54 - So yeah, an arrangement is like

00:55 the reassembly of materials.

00:57 So what I did this year was with some friends of mine, Sage,

01:00 we took a really old song called

01:02 In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.

01:04 Do you know that song?

01:04 - I do.

01:05 - Old jazz tune.

01:06 - Beautiful.

01:07 - And we kind of took it to pieces

01:08 and put it back together again.

01:09 And the way in which we did that,

01:10 for whatever reason, was saluted by the Grammys,

01:13 which is really an honor.

01:14 And yeah, it's a total delight to be here, it really is.

01:17 - So what does it look like in your brain

01:19 or sound like or feel like

01:21 when you're presented with this material?

01:23 What do you reach for first?

01:24 What instrument do you reach for first?

01:26 What's that, I guess the step-by-step

01:29 of getting that project done?

01:31 - Yeah, it depends on the song.

01:33 Depends on what you need.

01:34 But for this one, it's all voices, which is gorgeous.

01:36 And I love the voice.

01:37 I think voice is the most important instrument.

01:39 'Cause we all have one, they're all different.

01:42 And it's something so human about it.

01:43 So I've always been a fan of layering

01:45 multiple voices together to hit chords.

01:48 You know chords, right?

01:49 - I know chords.

01:50 - You know chords.

01:50 - We know chords.

01:51 - That's how everyone knows chords.

01:52 And just the warmth and the,

01:54 it's like painting a picture

01:55 with a ever-changing paintbrush.

01:56 You know, you get to design the contour,

01:59 the arc, the line of your story.

02:01 And it's really, really a pleasure to do that.

02:05 - So I've seen you on TikTok out there playing instruments

02:08 I didn't even know existed.

02:10 So I wanna know from your perspective,

02:11 what do you think the next frontier is for music?

02:14 It could be for music production,

02:16 for elements that we'll be seeing more in music,

02:19 for inspiration, truly anything.

02:22 - I think we're about to see

02:23 like a massive surge of collaboration

02:25 because the world is becoming kind of smaller and smaller.

02:28 And people are, I think,

02:30 people are taking more and more risks, which I love.

02:31 And I feel like I've always been a bit like that

02:33 but now I'm looking around

02:34 and seeing people surprise each other, which is gorgeous.

02:37 And I'd also say that one of the big questions right now

02:41 I think is how AI is gonna interface with music.

02:43 There are inherent challenges,

02:45 but also like thrilling,

02:47 kind of like thrilling ideas and new materials

02:51 that are being made available to all of us to play with.

02:53 So I think in those two spaces,

02:55 I'm excited to see like a surge of curiosity, I suppose.

02:58 And I'm just hopeful that AI is taken for what it is,

03:03 which is like a really kind of deeply powerful

03:06 but really exciting way of revolutionizing

03:08 how we think about sound and collision.

03:10 It's like, yeah, it's like colliding things together.

03:13 It's like kind of, it helps us be alchemists

03:14 in a more interesting way.

03:15 - 100%, you're like cooking up potions in the lab.

03:18 - Storms, yeah, cooking up storms, yeah.

03:20 - So one last question for you

03:21 because you brought up collaborations.

03:23 What is your secret to working with other artists?

03:25 Because I think that's such an interesting thing

03:27 to not only befriend someone, become personable

03:30 and have that relationship with them

03:32 to get to the good stuff, but then also you're working

03:35 and you wanna hopefully continue to work with them.

03:36 - Yeah, it's an interesting dynamic.

03:38 I think the biggest thing is just

03:40 not to take yourself too seriously

03:42 'cause it's easier to be like,

03:43 I'm Jacob, I'm really important.

03:44 My taste goes, you know, it's like,

03:46 no one knows what's going on, no one.

03:48 And everyone who steps into a studio,

03:50 there's an amount, or there should be an amount of like,

03:52 I wonder what's gonna happen.

03:55 So I think over the years I've become less certain

03:57 about my taste and more open.

03:59 And I think that's merited more interesting results

04:02 than me going and being like,

04:03 I know exactly what I'm gonna get

04:05 and then missing the magic on either side,

04:07 if that makes sense, you know?

04:08 - Well, we appreciate the curiosity.

04:10 - Thank you. - It shows.

04:11 I feel like you are always looking for the next thing.

04:14 So thank you so much for everything

04:15 you're adding to this industry.

04:16 - Yeah, you're welcome.

04:17 Yeah, no worries, absolutely.

04:18 - Have a great time tonight.

04:19 Thank you for stopping by.

04:20 - Thank you, lovely questions.

04:21 - Best of luck, yeah, oh, thank you.

04:22 - Thanks a lot.

04:22 (whooshing)

04:23 (clicking)

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