Following the release of his single Paranoid, we caught an interview with artist and songwriter Ghost Polo to find out more about the music, his creative journey so far, and his hopes for the future. Here’s the conversation in full.
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Hey – thanks for the interview! Congrats on the release of Paranoid – what does the song mean for you?
Paranoid is the first of many songs to make people truly see inside my mind, sometime next week we will be dropping the video & I think Paranoid is just the beginning of a great legacy created by me & my team from Long Island, NY.
Where do you imagine the best setting is for listeners to get into the vibe of this track?
The best way to listen to this track is with your headphones, in bed at night, or driving down a long road at night, or even during a solo smoke session. There’s no wrong way to listen to my music, but there are for sure ways to experience it different.
What made you decide to put the reversed segment at the end?
The reversed segment is a message to my viewers, and it’s subliminal. It’s all perception & there actually is an extended version of the song releasing, where those questions may be answered if the listener really pays attention. I pay attention to the smallest details when it comes to my music – everything is done with a purpose.
Where does making music begin for you – are you primarily a producer, instrumentalist, lyricist?
Primarily, I am a lyricist, and the music is in my blood. It’s second nature to me & it all started with just f*cking around with my friends and not taking it seriously, but slowly over the years I had become obsessed with the culture and realized – though it’s a risk, this is my passion and what I want to pursue in my lifetime on earth. I always thought of it like this, if I put everything I have into this now, I wont regret it later in life.
Who or what would you say inspires your creative approach the most?
I don’t want to say who inspires because it’s so many different artists & people I meet everyday that keep me thinking, but what I do want to say inspires me most is the thought of a sold out show, and everyone in there singing my songs word for word, to the point where I can have my fans singing the song acapella together – word for word, like one big beautiful chaotic chorus of misfits, you know? It’s a beautiful thought of mine that will happen one day.
What do you have planned creatively for throughout 2019?
For 2019, I plan on finally releasing all of the content I’ve been making over the past two years. I’ve put in so much work but was not ready yet, and the plan for 2019 is to drop a music video & a song at least once a month. Oh and I have a collab tape coming out with Kenny Orlando (@D9.Kennyorlando on Instagram) and my own solo project – more TBA in the near future.
If you could sit down to lunch with anyone at all, past or present, who would you invite – and what would you ask them about?
If I could sit down with one person for lunch, it would be Mac Miller. I had such high hopes of working with him in the future and I would just talk to him, I don’t know what exactly about but I’ll tell you one thing, that shit would be trippy. RIP Forever.
What’s the bigger picture?
The bigger picture is this music ain’t for me, at the end of the day all these thoughts are in my head, I make this music and put it out there for free because I want people to find comfort in my music. My life number is 4, I am a healer, I build people up, and that’s what I want to do – heal those who are hurt.
Is there anything else we should know?
You guys should know, and when I say you guys I mean the whole world & anyone who has ever known me, that when I drop music & leave you with a song, I’m giving you a gift from the heart, and you can have it forever. I don’t know how much time I got left man, my life is f*cked up and I deal with a lot. I just want everyone to know I love you <3
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Find & follow GhostPolo on Instagram.
