Love really has a way of pushing us beyond our limits, urging us to do the extraordinary. It inspires patience, prompts us to engage in both foolish and magnificent acts, and in the case of Kuya Clint, motivates him to compose an entire album for the one he holds dear. For Kuya Clint, love serves as the driving force behind this remarkably romantic gesture, “Highschool Sweethearts” album.
We had a chance to not only listen to and review the album but also to sit down with Kuya Clint himself for an exclusive interview. During our conversation, Kuya Clint graciously shared with us the inspiration behind the album and the intricate details woven into it.
First and foremost, congratulations on the release! Thank you for making this interview possible. Could you share with us what inspired the overall theme or concept behind your new album?
“Thank you so much for having me! The album is pretty much about reminiscing about how my girlfriend and I started seven years ago as a couple when we were in high school. Each song showcases different stages and emotions that I’ve encountered throughout our relationship and I wanted to share them through my music.”
That’s so sweet! Can you walk us through the creative process you went through while making this album?
“Well, this album is something that I’ve worked on for almost a year. With my other commitments such as my university studies, my part-time work and my YouTube channel, I had a rigid structure of putting out a song every month from March to December last year. I usually start with an idea for a song that I come up with while either at work, doing chores, or even commuting. Then I think of the melodies for the song first then the lyrics come after, except if I think of a line that I wanna put into a song first. I always want to do something different for every song so that they don’t get monotonous, from the topics and genre of the song up to the types of instruments that I use After that I refine it until I’m satisfied then go to the studio and get to working.”
How does this album differ from your previous work, both musically and thematically?
“It doesn’t differ that much from my previous EP Missing You because it still revolves around my long-distance relationship with my partner, but I focus more on how we started when we were still in senior high. I also deviated from hip-hop and R&B for some of the songs here in the album to offer something new to the listeners.”
Were there any challenges you faced during the production of this album, and if so, how did you overcome them?
“Mainly it was the constraints due to the lack of time and money, but it was something scheduling my time a week or even a month ahead and budgeting my money that helped me get over those problems.”
Can you share any interesting anecdotes or stories from the recording studio?
“I don’t know about this being interesting haha but the element of collaboration among
the people inside the recording studio is something that I always find amazing. An
example of that was when I was recording the song Seeing Red with my collaborator Zy
and our audio engineer John Garcia and we would bounce off ideas from each other as we tried to figure out how we would like the song to sound like. Honestly, if that didn’t happen it wouldn’t be as great as it turned out to be.”
Which track from the album do you feel most connected to, and why?
“I relate to my track Streets the most from the album. It’s because it’s where I kind of expressed my opinions strongly about the rampant culture of “alphas and beta males” and the whole toxic “cheat or be cheated on” attitude in dating and relationships, and the song is pretty much an attempt to show that being in a stable, healthy, loving, long-term relationship is cool too haha. It’s kind of like the rebellious thing to do now with hookup culture and situationships getting more popular now haha I might be wrong though but that’s just me haha.”
Are there any hidden messages or Easter eggs in the album that fans should keep an eye out
for?
“All of my songs are pretty straightforward with the way that I wrote them but if fans come
up with their interpretations for the songs that I’ve made then that’s fine too :))) It just
means that they’ve connected with the song so much that they’ve transformed it into
their version if that makes sense. But yeah, a quick little trivia, I haven’t gone to prom
with my girlfriend in the Philippines because I was already here in New Zealand by then,
and my song Prom Night is kind of a “what if” answer of what it would be like if I did went
to prom with her.”
How do you hope listeners will feel or react when they listen to this album for the first time?
“I just hope they feel the love from the songs that I’ve made, either from the happy songs
in the context of being with their significant other (or someone that they like haha), or from the sad heartbreak songs from grieving the loss of the relationship. (I didn’t break up with my girlfriend btw haha the sad songs were just all hypothetical lol)”
You mentioned you had a collaboration on some of the songs, can you tell us more about it. Any other artist you collaborate with?
“Yeah, I had two collaborations for this album. One was for my song “whyareyoucrying?”, where I got my other producer Chequered Patterns create this instrumental for me; and with another friend of my Kiesha to help write lyrics for the song. She is a coworker and she writes books and songs too so that was a cool experience. The other song was called “Seeing Red” and I co-wrote and composed that with my friend Zy, with whom I also collaborated on our previous song “Waiting” from my previous EP. We started doing YouTube videos of guitar covers and went on from there.”
Are there any specific musical influences that played a significant role in shaping the sound
of this album?
“There are A LOT. The inspiration was diverse from Indie Jazz types like Rex Orange County, Boy Pablo, and grentperez; R&B and Hip-hop like Drake, Manila Grey and Brent Faiyaz; and even OPM sounds like Jimmy Bondoc, Rico Blanco, and Kitchie Nadal. They all had their place as references for specific songs of the album and in turn the overall sound of the album.”
Were there any specific moments or experiences in your life that inspired the lyrics or
melodies on this album?
“There’s this song in my album called Decay that I made to express a point in our relationship where we had a rough patch and things were looking downhill. It was when we just started to have our LDR and it was just full of frustration. Fortunately, we were able to overcome that and we’re now stronger than ever.”
How do you plan to translate the energy and emotion of this album into your live
performances?
“I feel like some songs would translate better if I had a live band backing me up, or a dj
with a backing track to play in the background but idk I’ll figure it out when I get there
haha. Connecting with the crowd and letting them engage and participate with me on
stage would be a great way to translate the energy that I wanna put out there too when
I’ll be performing.”
Looking ahead, what’s next for you after the release of this album?
“At the moment, I’ll be focusing on promoting this album before I release another EP that’ll have tagalog lyrics mixed sometime next year. Hopefully, I’ll be performing my songs live on stage as well too so here’s hoping to bigger things :)))”
Check out our review of his new album “Highschool Sweethearts” here.
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