JP Saxe Covershoot And Interview With FAULT Magazine
In March of 2017, JP Saxe released his debut single ‘Changed’ a delicately hypnotic single which showed off his range and impeccable writing talents. Since its release three years ago, a lot certainly has changed for the artist but his dedication to storytelling and creating music that arrests his listeners, has stayed very much the same.
Late last year, JP Saxe released ‘If the World Was Ending’ ft. Julia Michaels, which garnered over 800 million streams and was performed by the pair at the VMAs. His recent single ‘A Little Bit Yours’ is currently on a similarly successful path, if not for the expertly written lyrics, soulful vocal, then for the truly out of this world music video directed by Nick Leopold.
We caught up with JP Saxe to discuss ‘A Little Bit Yours’, his songwriting and of course, his FAULTs.
Could you tell us the inspiration behind ‘A Little Bit Yours’?
JP Saxe: That song is about the end of the tunnel of getting over somebody, but before you know you’re at the end of it. It was the end, but I didn’t know it was. That feeling of not really knowing how to move past a person, although I have learned In a lot of the conversations around this song since it’s come out, that the idea that you leave a bit of your heart with somebody and then that space will always be empty, I think is probably false in that hearts are a renewable resource and that the space that is left by somebody else not occupying it anymore is now a space that you have the opportunity to grow into in a new exciting curiosity filled way.
Your music writing is so open and honest, are you similarly as honest in person, or is it easier for you to communicate through song?
JP Saxe: Songs are a version of honesty that I get to spend a long time crafting and thinking about so in some ways it’s easier to be vulnerable when I can make sure I’m using the exact right words to do so. But I think with a very few select people I’m as open and honest in person as I am in my music.
If the World Was Ending took the world by storm and is a testament to yours and Julia Michaels songwriting ability. Is there ironic humour to the fact a song that took you 2 hours to write together and a day to record has become such a big hit?
JP Saxe: The line “if the world was ending you’d come over, right?” – was written in my journal about a year and a half before I met Julia. So in some ways, we wrote it in 2 hours and in some ways its inception was a year and a half before we ever got in that room. Although it was an attempt at finishing a different song that it just didn’t work for, which I think there’s some poetry in just the idea that the biggest song of my life started with a failed attempt to finish a different song that hasn’t even come out yet. The whole process of that song has been wild, and beyond anything, I could have every anticipate in so many ways.
What’s an experience that you haven’t written about yet but you want to soon?
JP Saxe: I think a song about Hermoine’s feelings towards Ron dating Lavender Brown when he never really looked at her that way, is a perspective I want to explore in a song!
Aside from performing, how has this year affected your artistry?
JP Saxe: I think one of the exciting things about being a performer who prioritises sincerity is that you never know what your subject matter until you live your life. I didn’t know what I was going to write about in 2019 until 2019 happened and I certainly didn’t know what I was going to write about in 2020 until 2020 happened! It’s just been another year of slightly more unexpected events than usual!
We’ve heard rumblings that you’re working on an album, can you share any of those details with us?
JP Saxe: I am working on an album; it will come out between 3 and 36 months from now haha. It will come out reasonably soon. It’s been done a few times then I keep writing more songs that I want to put on it! At some point, I’ll have to just put a pin in it and call it the album!
What’s something no journalist has ever asked you but is something you’ve always wanted to say?
JP Saxe: Good question…….I think I want to know how to be eligible for celebrity versions of things like I want to be in the celebrity NBA all-star game, I’m not very good, but it’s just always been a goal of mine, and I think I need to do it for 12-year-old JP. I want to know if there’s Celebrity Jeopardy. I know these are more questions you asked what questions you would want someone to ask me, but I think I’m going to use this question to crowdsource some information I think I could do well on Celebrity Jeopardy although I could fail under pressure!
On the flip side, what’s something you wish people would stop asking you?
JP Saxe: Honestly, people giving a fuck about me is exciting to me so they can ask what they want, I’m not frustrated about anything yet.
What is your FAULT?
JP Saxe: I’m better at giving advice than taking it.