Brandon Ray Thomas's Blueprint
His new album, “If Animals Could Talk” was born in Paris, and came into full fruition in New York City at Platinum Sound Studios, with the help of Fame by the Flame and Grammy award-winning engineer, Serge Tsai. This project accentuates Brandon’s range and versatility, fusing R&B, funk, and hip-hop.
Check out our exclusive interview with the artist below.
I'm a big fan of your work. It seems like your album puts a heavy emphasis on 8 0 8 beats, what do you think makes this an irresistible combination, both for you and the consumer?
I think the thing that makes it a good combination for both is the fact that the music is a combination of old school and new school. There's a lot of jazz, disco, and house influences. There’s also a lot of soul vibes with the nice chords. When you make music with the vibes that people already love, I feel like it becomes seamless and people all around the world enjoy it. Then also, I just feel like I've always had a cult following from a lot of the old artists I’ve worked with. Like I used to do a lot of records with Playboi Carti, Lil Yachty, I also got to work with Kanye very early on in my career.
A lot of these experiences in these rooms that I was in prepared me. At first, I was like wow, this is amazing to meet and work with all these people. But then I realized that I now know the same things as the creative process. So I was like, okay, yeah, I can travel the world and make music with all types of people, realistically and with all types of genres. So, I started just experimenting with my sound after that and now I feel like I'm in a great place and I'm ready to drop new music for the fans.
I love that your sound is very universal. You’ve worked with all of these high-profile artists as you mentioned, what was that like for you, and how have these artists influenced your current work?
Well, when I worked with Kanye I got to work with Madonna as well 一 just seeing how music, fashion, art, entertainment, and lifestyle, and how all of that stuff has kind of like combined. That's basically what I learned. It helped me realize that all these things are equally important and that I have to put together a full picture. I’d compare music to painting and all this stuff is very similar, like fashion. I just want to make sure that whatever I do is at the highest scale and showcase that I have good taste.
For sure. How do you think fashion is influencing the upcoming generation and how do you think it's influencing music and life in general?
So artists are the new hip hop artists and stuff, and kind of like how the rock stars back in the day were super megastars almost because of the ability to work with brands and sponsors. So for instance, with Noelle and she's been helping a lot for instance, with partnerships and coordination. So when you have a big brand, like Louis Vuitton or Fendi or Nike, these brands have to do commercials and all types of stuff and say like a fashion show, they're going to have to have music and stuff.
Sometimes they usually have artists. Pharell Williams for instance used to do some of the beats for some of the Louboutin fashion shows in like 2004. I study the history of some of the biggest artists and because I grew up around some of the most notable figures, I like to pay homage and make sure that I understand the fundamentals and understand that these brands also survive by working with creatives and artists. It just goes hand in hand because at the end of the day, at some point of the year they're going to have to do a lifestyle or entertainment event.
With your music in general, It’s not completely different, but in a way, it does kind of contrast with a lot of the artists that you've worked with. How did working with these artists shape your sound and how did your hometown shape your sound?
I grew up in Atlanta, which is the home of Coca Cola and I grew up in South Carolina too. So like the south side, there's a lot of Krispy Kreme. So you think of all these people and they were able to have success on a bigger scale and then eventually worked with big sponsors. It just makes you think about keeping your brand classic and making sure that you do stuff a certain way. I feel like Atlanta is a community where for instance, in the south, a lot of people work together. So just coming from there, I think it has a heavy influence on how I move. But then also I've been to probably 16 countries in the past two to three years, so with traveling, you learn a lot too, but just keeping the brand classic overall.
With your music in general, it gives off a house techno vibe, which I love because I'm a huge fan of that genre. How do you conceptualize your vision when you're creating a track or a song?
I like a lot of uptempo music. I used to experiment with a lot of slower tempos to where for instance, I think house music is cool and I think I'm inspired by the sound because of life, a lot of the clubs, and just fashion week Paris. It makes me want to make sure that I incorporate grooves and vibes because it should make people want to dance. I think it's a big influence on my sound and I think that a lot of the new music that's going to come out, you're going to see more dance vibes from a lot of really big artists, just like international, it's really about bringing it all together on a national level.
I love that. What changes do you think you've undergone since you started making music as a solo act, rather than producing music for like these other high-profile artists. Like, when you went off on your own, what do you think changed?
When I went off on my own, after working with a bunch of different brands and artists and stuff like that, just really, what changed was the ability to do certain things was harder at first until I realized that I was like a core central part of a lot of great teams. Then I realized that I had to build my great team around myself and that's where it became fun after I changed my mindset. But at first, when I went on my own, I was like, you know, this is hard, you know, but eventually, it became really easy.
Then I realized when I first started, I was alone in any way, but I don't think anybody is ever truly on their own. There were a lot of people that you may know, or you may have met. I sometimes think about this piece of advice I’ve heard where like, you've pretty much already met everybody who you need to meet realistically at one point or another. Especially being in New York, all the subways you might've gotten on or this or that parties you might've been to, you've probably been in the room with everybody that you need to meet. They were probably all six degrees of separation from whoever you need to know.
Yeah, for sure. In terms of your music, you produce and record all of your music. How do you get inspired to take on all of these roles?
I'm inspired by a lot of the legends and the classic artists that became historians, people like Prince, or CEOs, like Richard Branson, Steve jobs, just certain people who have been able to create brands, like Jay-Z. Rhianna for instance, how she went from her music being super well-known to then her clothes are now super well known, there's makeup and there are all these different things. That's where you start to understand business and enterprise more when you realize how all of these different avenues and different spaces in the entertainment realm.
We're slowly getting introduced to your universe. How would you detail your universe?
It's like a unified art club where everybody can come together and make music and learn about art. People can dream and develop their skills in music, art, fashion. I think it's a creative world and a creative space.
The definition of music consumption has drastically changed over the past few years. How do you feel like you as a producer witnessed the evolution of music from then, until now?
Music is a huge part of life and it's inspiring. Growing up in hip hop, I think it's hard for a lot of people to see how important music and such is with growing up in hip hop. I've been able to see how songs can be so nostalgic and remind you about the time or place or a feeling. Especially when you hear something from a summer that was your favorite summer. When you hear the song years later, memories come flooding back.
Yeah, when you think about the concept of time travel, it's more feasible than we think, it's also when you smell a certain thing, when you hear a certain thing, you travel back to that time.
Yeah, you travel back to an old feeling of nostalgia that you had at that moment when you first heard that song. That's what's awesome also to speak like an artist and creative when people can tell me when they first heard something or because it's cool.
For sure and this is sort of out of the blue but what would you say impressed you the most about Kanye's thought process and his artistic expression while you were working with him?
The coolest thing was being able to just see how everybody interacts and to see how he knew more than one of the records I've produced, he knew multiple songs that I've done. So it was just more like, it's just cool to see that. Once you get to a certain point, it felt like my art is accepted. I no longer question my art or music now and I can say that feeling is worth a lot. It made me feel more competent.
I guess my last question to you would be, what do you have planned for the rest of 2021? What can you tell us about your future projects?
Well, my next project, “If Animals Could Talk” is my new album, it’s going to be amazing and it's a good vibe. I'm excited for everybody to hear it and it's got a nostalgic feeling. On top of that, after the album drops, merch, tour, and just a lot of exciting things coming up. Then on top of all of that, just getting back to producing crazy trap hits for the artists that you see my work with and more artists, just a whole new wave of music is coming. A lot of the home youth, the team is back and everything's in a great space. We're trying to keep it going and keep the momentum, keep the inspiration and stay motivated and maintain. Also, my “Favorite Song” video is on the way, you know, that's the next thing we're dropping, directed by Fame by the Flame plane and Unified Art Club, shout out Noelle.
Do you have anything else to add?
I wanted to give some advice for artists and new youth who are putting out new music. The advice I would have is, being in the right place at the right time is also being in the right mind frame, because if we're in right place at the right time, without being in the right state of mind, body soul, then you might not even be able to accomplish what you get to accomplish. So it's about making sure that you stay motivated, uh, exercise, write, or take a bicycle ride. Make sure you enjoy it and make sure you do what you love and make sure you make good music that you enjoy and put yourself in the place you need to be and make sure you study the greats too.
