Interview: PARTYNEXTDOOR Talks Music, Relationship w/ Drake and More
After giving his very first interview to The Fader here, PARTYNEXTDOOR sat down with Rob Markman over at MTV News to talk music and more. He spoke about his relationship with Drake, music inspirations, concepts behind songs and producing his own music. Take a look below and read the full interview over at MTV.
MTV: This is a rare occasion; you’re a very private fellow. Why is that? Why in this day and age do you find that you like to keep things to yourself when everybody likes to share so much?
PARTYNEXTDOOR: All I care about is the music, that’s probably why. Me and Tyler, my friend, we were talking about this on the way here. It’s just a lot of extra sh-t that people do that I don’t think is necessary.
MTV: One of the extras that comes with it is that you get to come to New York City and Beats By Dr. Dre calls and MCM calls and they say, “Hey, we got this cool collaboration” and they want to collaborate with you. What did you think when you first heard about Beats by Dr. Dre and MCM?
PND: I didn’t know what to think, but when I first walked into the room and seen these [picks up a pair of headphones], they looked f–kin’ ill. Very, very ill. This is something you gotta add to your collection. I f–k with it.
MTV: You know a lot about collaborations, and it’s funny, because I feel like you carefully choose your own collaborations. There aren’t many people that can say they have a track with PARTYNEXTDOOR. What makes a good collaboration to you?
PND: A blend of vibes. I think it’s cool to do songs with people that like — it has to be a contrast, you know? Bring something new, mixing their vibe with mine and creating a completely new vibe. I’m just very picky for those reasons.
MTV: Just to kind of go back to the Beats by Dr. Dre and MCM, that is a completely new vibe with these headphones, you can’t get that anywhere else. Do you use Beats in your personal life and MCM? Do you mix that in with your personal style?
PND: I don’t know if I ever mentioned this before? [Turns to his friend Tyler and asks if he’s ever mentioned what he’s about to say in an interview]. I made my entire first tape using Beats headphones — the studio headphones and halfway through the second one, because I finally started making a home studio. But I record and make all my beats with the Beats headphones.
MTV: Let’s go back into that, because your process, I read about that. Obviously, props to Fader magazine, they did a cover and got a highly coveted first interview with you, which everybody read. I got to learn a little bit about your process. You like to work alone?
PND: Yes.
MTV: Tell me, what’s a PARTYNEXTDOOR recording session like, if you could describe it?
PND: I work on a lot of things at once, like I flip through sh-t. My mind works so fast and I have so many ideas, so I might write something down in my phone that might work better for another song that I was working on. So, everything’s like a puzzle to me and I like to figure out things on my own, be in my own state of mind and have clarity.
MTV: You obviously write your own material and produce your own material. Are you recording your own sessions? Are you engineering, as well?
PND: Yeah, yeah, I record and engineer, in Beats headphones.
MTV: How does this work? I’m trying to picture you running back and forth. Do you keep the mic by the console?
PND: Yeah, I keep the mic in front of me. I just have the stand in front of me and I sit down and record myself and just click everything.
MTV: Why does that work better for you? There’s some people who need a party in the studio to give the audience that party vibe.
PND: It’s faster; it’s way faster. I can’t wait on an engineer to click record and to cut vocals out and to mute sh-t; so with me, I know exactly what I want. I click it and mute it, record, erase, it’s way faster. I work better that way.