Q&A with John Alone 

Sludge Mag chats to John Alone around the release of his genre-blurring latest EP: Scared Money Pt.1

It was only a 30 minute zoom call - but no call duration could limit the amount of ambition that John Alone manages to exude. Throughout the call, it became clear that John Alone rarely allows himself to be limited or confined by boundaries that many other artists accept. His defiance as a young artist provides the content of our conversation - John is humbly confident and creatively determined. This determination is consistent throughout both his public persona and his music - surfacing more than before in John’s latest EP ‘Scared Money Pt.1’.  At the core of ‘Scared Money Pt.1’ is John Alone himself. The London-based artist intricately weaves together different genres, reflecting the various aspects of his life he has taken inspiration from. It’s in this way John Alones music blurs the lines of genre and the tightly wound definitions that surround them. ‘Scared Money Pt.1’ is liberating in this creative freedom, whilst sensitively recognising the restrictive manipulation of fame and obsession with money that this very industry provokes. The various colours of these themes are accentuated throughout the EP which becomes more of a kaleidoscope of thoughts and feelings, rather than surface-level music. 

‘Scared Money Pt.1’ is coated authenticity. Despite this, all thirteen minutes and seven seconds are conscious of its listeners. John switches between rapping “to convey ideas...in a clear or concise way...to have a bit more fun” and singing “when I get into the more emotional side of things”. This is not only to reflect his own passions for the genres, but by weaving in moments of singing, John recognises that “people can tap into emotion more”. So what does this sound like? John doesn't “really have a word for it... I just know it sounds like me” - a simple, modest way of defining such an intricately formed EP.  I spoke with John Alone to find out more about the “stream of consciousness” that helped produce  ‘Scared Money Pt.1’ and how he has changed as an artist since Sludge last spoke to him.

What effects do you hope to produce in your music by being yourself?

I just like emotional honesty. That's the kind of stuff I try to promote within my own music. Like if you're feeling sad, just feel it. Feeling happy? Just feel it - do you know what I mean? At least be honest with how you're feeling. And that’s kind of the theme I'd like to create. Obviously people shouldn't hide from the effects of whatever emotions they're feeling. So I just, I just hope it helps people to be more honest with themselves. 

How did you become so comfortable expressing such personal emotions? If you're feeling happy, the songs are happy. If you're sad, the songs are sad. 

I feel like that's kind of how I started making music anyway. Before I started obviously like making it to release and thinking of it more in terms of a career, it was definitely more of a form of, I guess, self expression or therapy for me. So, I would just make songs about things that were going on in my life, and I kind of made them for me and then put them out anyway. I think in doing that, because it started off as just being for me first, I got more comfortable to just be able to be honest about my emotions and be honest about the things I was talking about because I wasn’t thinking ‘Oh well other people are gonna hear this’. It was just about me.

Has the direction of how you produce music changed? Did you realise that a certain way of making music was better because all that time you had during lockdown?

I definitely became a lot more experimental with my music post-lock down. Obviously before,I was making ‘Spanish Blue’, my writing process was very much rigorous. I write fairly quickly - but it’s always about okay how does this convey the message I'm trying to bring across. Like, what structures am I trying to put in place? I'm trying to make sure I'm writing everything as deep as possible so people really get me. And then after lockdown, because ‘Spanish Blue’ was just kind of like a ‘I'm just doing this, I don't care’. And that that was a lot more freeing and a lot less structured. And it kind of brought a lot more weird and wonderful ideas out of me. So now, ever since lockdown, and ever since ‘Spanish Blue’ I don't really write anymore. I've moved away from that whole idea of, everything has to be so verbose and so intellectually sound for it to make sense. 

A big consistency in your music is that it swerves genres, it's not limited by any genre. This does show that you're not afraid to push boundaries, boundaries that a lot of artists probably face. How did you become confident in doing that, or was it just natural and reflective of all the genres you like?

I think it was just me just playing to a lot of my different influences. Every time I bring out something, for instance, the last tape I dropped before this one ‘African English’ - that was like an Afro beats kind of influenced thing. And then people were like ‘Oh, is that what you do now? Are you that kind of artist now?’ But for me, it's just playing to a lot of my different influences. I'm Nigerian, so I grew up with a lot of that kind of music. You see, that's part of my culture. Obviously I was influenced a lot by alternative R&B when I was growing up. That was the kind of music I was listening to before I started making music. So I played to that influence. So, I don't obviously like sticking to genres. I'm just exhibiting different aspects of my personality when I'm making music. It’s all me, I shouldn't have to pick which one is most me, if that makes sense? Whatever I’m feeling, that's what I'll do. I feel like I could probably do anything. I think there's no limit to what genre I might explore. It might be heavy metal if I'm feeling it. 

Has gaining a bigger following over the past couple of years made you more confident in this genreless quality because you have realised that people are just accepting you for you as an artist? 

It’s kind of a bit of both. Because, when you're making music, it’s like, no one's listening. That's almost a freeing thing because it's like, ‘oh, no one cares anyway, I could do whatever I like, no ones stressing’. But now, I have a few more eyes on me than I did when I started. A few more people are paying attention than before. So now it feels like ‘oh wait, there are some expectations now’. For instance when I was making ‘African English’, even though that's what I wanted to make at the time, I had not dropped anything like that. So I was like, I know this is not what people are expecting of me, I hope people take this in. Especially after ‘Spanish Blue’, people were definitely expecting me to make more in that kind of vein. A lot of the people that found me since then came because of ‘Spanish Blue’. Now I'm doing this AfroBeats stuff so, I don’t know. I feel more confident because obviously, it’s nice that I know more people are checking on me. But at the same time I'm just like ‘ I haven't made it yet’ so I don't want to lose the little bit of good will I do have. So, yeah. It’s always a risk but you have to try it at the end of the day.

Are online platforms, like Instagram for example, important for finding that community that you wouldn't otherwise see? How important are they?

I think it sucks because, as an artist, it is pretty much unavoidable these days. I feel like if you want to be able to platform your music, if you want to be able to find a way to talk about it, to get people interested you need to have an Instagram and you need to have a Twitter. You need to talk about yourself online. To be fair, Twitter and Instagram to a large extent have been really, really good tools. For me, finding a lot of the people I've worked with, like a lot of the artists I've worked with in the last few years, I found them online. A lot of the people I listened to now are just people I became fans of on the internet. So in that respect, it's definitely an amazing tool for just sharing your stuff.  But at the same time, it sucks because it feels like almost everything in my life is now just another extension of marketing. I just want to talk shit on Twitter, do you know what I mean? I just want to be an idiot online. But you have to remember things like ‘oh wait, this is a business tool’. You can’t just be fully yourself online because you have to be aware that okay, you're also representing yourself and your music. So it's a bit of both, but it is more useful than harmful I guess. 

What is influencing you at the moment? For the new EP are there any specific artists or sounds you found influence in?

This is going to sound mad narcissistic but, me. I feel like in the last year, obviously, because again a lot of the stuff that I make is down to me - like I'm doing some of the production, I'm doing most of the engineering - all that kind of stuff. I feel like since ‘Spanish Blue’ and everything I've done after, I'm just kind of listening to my own stuff repeatedly just to get it right. Just to get it perfect. And, at this point, I feel like my own stuff is now informing my own other stuff. I'll be like, ‘Oh, how do I make it sound more like the shit I did last year?’ Do you know what I mean? Like ‘that was cool’. I’m kind of just writing off myself now, so, I don’t know if that’s a good thing because I feel like you should take inspiration from a lot of other sources. But I'm just listening to myself at this point. I'm not gonna lie. 

How did you first get into music and recognised that you had this talent - a talent that would one day be likened to Frank Ocean? 

I would say a lot of that started from obviously just my family and church in general. Because I grew up in the church, I grew up fairly religious. I learnt how to start playing instruments in church, I started playing drums in church, I started playing keyboard because obviously I was trying to join a church choir and stuff like that. And then just being around that environment and obviously hearing other people doing what they were doing, and then I was doing it as well. I think the main thing is like when girls start gassing you up, that's when you're like oh, okay. So when you’re singing in church and women will be like ‘oh my god you’ve got such a nice voice!’ - I was like this is what I wanna do. This is it, this is it right there. So it's definitely the church and women - haha yeah, that’s why i’m here right now.

Were people around you supportive in your venture into music as a profession, outside of church, or was it something viewed out of the ordinary?

Nah, nah. Not really. Because I'm from a Nigerian background, obviously I feel like it's a very common thing for children of immigrant parents, your parents have done so much just to get to this position and get you to this position. And then you come into the house like ‘Mum, I wanna spend that all on doing music. I want to be an artist’. They’re like bro, we risked our entire life and everything to come here, just for you to piss it away being an artist - do you know what I mean? Like, be a doctor or something. It was never said in such harsh tones - but you can get a sense of it. People wanted me to do something a bit more traditional, conventional - and it just really wasn't me. But I feel like over time, the more I'm showing them that it's actually viable, the more I get successful, the more they’re softening up to it. My mum will be like ‘let me hear the new tune you have out!’ - so that’s quite nice. But it definitely wasn’t like that to start with. 

You've clearly developed so many skills independently. But since last year, and with increasing attention, has support from the music world helped or implemented your creative process?

Kind of. Obviously I have a lot more people around me than I did when I started out, I have a lot more people. For instance, I have a fairly strong network of producers now.So I don't really have to go out of my way to source beats too much, people just send me stuff they think I’ll sound cool on, which is nice. But I feel like because of my independent streak, it makes it hard for me to want to work with people, because I've been so independent for so long. I've definitely become a bit of a control freak. So everything's like, I just want to do it my way, I don't want to have to work with you and filter all of my ideas through your things. I'll just do it myself. So, I think the struggle now has become letting go of control, and being able to ask for support or ask for help when it’s there. It’s actually there now. I know that myself too. That's kind of something I'm trying to train myself to do, just let other people help you when they ask to help and not assume that I can just do it all myself.

Who is John alone right now, would you say, compared to last year? 

I feel like if you'd asked me that question last year, I would definitely be able to define it. But right now I feel like I've been five people in this last year. In the last maybe two years I think it's just been endless, constant transformation. I feel like I'd like to say that, I am a friend.  I'm someone who tries to be a friend to people, I'm someone who tries to understand where people are coming from and I try to express that in my music. Because, I try to make my music as universal as possible. No matter who you are, what walk of life you're from, you’ll at least be able to tap into it. But even in saying that, I'm not even sure if that's an accurate description, because I'm not sure who I am these days.

Article written by Amelia Kelly

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Stream Scared Money Part 1 below