Today songwriter, producer, performer GESS drops the video for his latest single, ‘Dignity‘. A collaboration with the London-based artist SXMSON, the track is an ode to ‘being willing to give up your Dignity in order to be with a partner that is so clearly wrong for you.’
Whether it be collaborating with one Shea Coulee on ‘Collide‘, working with one of our faves for 2021 Boy Untitled or producing his own solo material, we’ve had no choice but to stan GESS for some time. And now with the release of this brooding bop about always going for the bad boi, we figured it was time we caught up with him to discuss music, relationship advice and his secret life as a competitive cheerleader…
Congratulations on your new anthem, ‘Dignity’. What made you decide it should be your next release?
Thank you! Me & SXMSON have had ‘Dignity’ finished for over a year but I knew it wasn’t ready to be released before now. I knew I could elevate the production. I spent a lot of time tinkering away and trying new things. I could never quite get there. But after about a year and a half of producing other tracks, I learned a lot and finally felt I had the chops to make it sound the way I wanted.
And you collaborated with SXMSON on the track. How did you guys meet?
I randomly came across SXMSON on Instagram in 2019 (I think lol) when he put out a new video for his single ‘Memory’ and I just felt like we had a similar vibe so I DM’d him asking to feature on this song. He sent me back a couple ideas for his verse, I think I suggested changing one word and the rest stayed exactly how his first voice memo sounded. Him and his producer worked super quick and sent me his vocals from London and the rest is history.
‘Dignity’ fits perfectly within the GESS sound – dark, seductive, emo and with some falsettos sprinkled on top. Has getting to this point musically been a gradual process?
It definitely was a process and still is to be honest. I feel like every session is a learning experience and with each project I get a little bit better. I’ve always been drawn to a kind of dark, ambient, cinematic sound but early on I wasn’t able to create the sound I heard in my head so I was really experimental and kind of just seeing what worked. It took many many frustrating days and late nights at my computer to finally find a flow. I’ve tried to make “happier”, major key-esque songs and they just never feel inspired. They’re not “bad” songs per se, but in my gut I just wouldn’t get as excited by those.
Who or what do you hold as influences? I feel I hear some Depeche Mode in there….
The first inspirations that come to mind are BANKS, Sabrina Claudio, ZAYN, The Weekend. They all have this modern r&b sound that I love. I also LOVE working with other artists. I love feeling like we’re both injecting our essence into a project, which is exactly what I feel happened with Boyuntitled and Shea. I was a cheerleading and gymnastics coach for many many years and I think producing sessions for other artists puts me back in that headspace of pushing to bring out the full potential in one of my athletes, or in this case whatever artist I’m working with.
You’ve been working with a bunch of other artists including Boy Untitled and Shea Coulee all of which work within the GESS sound. Do you see yourself building a label in the future?
A record label would be a dream in the far future but I’d definitely need to establish myself in a really big way first.
‘Dignity’ is all about dating guys you consciously know are wrong for you. I do this on the regular as well. How can we prevent this pattern from repeating? At what point will our mind start choosing the right guy?!
LOL it’s such a common storyline and I think that’s why I’m always so inclined to write about desire, lust, love etc. It’s something we all experience and a lot of the times its the same storyline repeating but with different people playing the same character roles. I think the best way to prevent it from happening is to just really spend time with ourselves and learn to genuinely love that alone time and enjoy our own company. When we get to that point I think we begin to attract the person that’s right for us. Oh also… THERAPY. lol.
We are named after the biggest-selling single of 2001. So we always ask what is your favourite Mariah track?
It’s gotta be ‘My All’. I grew up in a chaotic environment and me and my friend used sit at her computer for hours just singing My All on repeat back in likeee 2002? We wanted to be famous singers so bad. We started like 3 bands together. We’d write songs constantly and go to Barnes and Noble to read books on getting a record deal. Listening and singing to Mariah is one of the ways I learned how to use vibrato in my voice.
Oh! I nearly forgot to ask you about your tumbling skills!!! It looks scary AF! How did you get into it?
Hahahah…it does look kinda scary I guess, huh? Ever since a really young age I used to watch the Olympics with my grandmother. I was completely obsessed with gymnastics and I used to tell her that I would be in the Olympics constantly lol. I started taking tumbling classes and eventually that led me to competitive cheerleading. I became a diehard athlete from that point and was training literally 5 days a week and competing on Sat/Sundays all around the country. I did that from 2003-2014 and it was the most exciting years of my life performing in some of the biggest arenas in the US. I don’t compete anymore but tumbling is still a huge passion of mine. The way I look at it is those years of commitment and performing for 10s of thousands of people trained me for the entertainment industry.
‘Dignity’ is out now.
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