Writers To Writers Ep. 1

Hello and welcome to the first episode of Writers to Writers! Where we interview various artists and talk about their ion and projects. Today we have Branch Anthony, a Songwriter legend at this point, stepping up into the booth to talk about his latest album. Without wasting anymore time, let's get right into it!

Demo

okay so starting it all off, my first question would probs be wtf has been happening on songwriter lately

Branch

Um let’s see, everyone is practically doing a genre shift, we got some new mods, Holiday is leaving supposedly, but we have a new Billboard coming, Hiba, Lunar and you are returning…nad I’m doing a surprise drop on New Year’s Day

Demo

So fill me in on your surprise drop and what it's about :eyes: is it another genre shift?

Branch

I’m doing a bit of everything on this album. It’s very dark, but also really fun. I do some pop, some rock and some rap, which is something I was super nervous to do

Demo

Ooooo that actually sounds super cool though. What made going into rap so nerve-wracking? And did it effect any of the direction you had for the album?

Branch

I guess it was pretty strange because it was pretty much uncharted territory for me. As for direction, it made things a bit more personal. My parents grew up in the rap scene in New York, especially my father, so wanting to pay a bit of tribute to that really was something I hadn’t thought about.

Demo

I think that's crazy interesting. Would you say that some of the tracks on the album explore your personal experiences growing up around that scene then? And if so, what kinda picture does it paint?

Branch

I’d say it’s a bit of that. A lot of the tracks that deal with family paint my father in the honest light on how he wasn’t in my life as much. The rest of the album is very free, very sexual, and very empowering. From the first track to the final one, it’s about accepting who you are in the current moment, and instead of trying to fix that, you go about accepting who you are presently. It could change the next day, but for right now you have to look at yourself right then and now

Demo

The album already sounds amazing. I like the overall creative narrative behind it and how big self-reflection is involved. Could you go into some detail on the album sonically as well? I know rap plays a portion in it as well as pop and rock, so another question of mine is: was juggling these various genres all in one project challenging? And how did the creative process behind it go down?

Branch

I wanted the album to flow into eachother in like a setting of a drive home or a disco. The rock songs stand out more as they’re part of the more personal side of the album, as I find rock to be a great outlet for me to do that. I also wanted to have the songs compliment eachother not just Instrumental to lyrics, but also visually. This is a very visual album

Demo

That's really cool. How would you describe overall album album visually? And is there any sort of message you want this album to convey to the listeners?

Branch

It’s very colorful. Each song’s cover art has sort of the concept I feel a potential music video would go. I’ve noticed that really nobody on amino has ever done a sort of visual album, and I wanted to be the first.

I want this album to give off this positive and inviting energy to those who check it out. I’m trying something new with all of this, and I’m really excited to go ahead and see how the community likes it

Demo

Well I'm for one really stoked to read all of it, and I'm glad you're excited and happy about the project yourself. I think the communitys gonna love it when it comes out

Branch

Thank you very much, now let’s switch gears to you and your project. You haven’t put an album out in a while, what has taken you so long? What makes you say that this is the perfect time for a new album?

Demo

I found myself coming up with a bunch of different projects that I never really found the dedication to expand upon for some reason, but this album feels different to me in a bunch of ways.

It's probably because this album also incorporates other big time hobbies and interests of mine that I don't normally get to share with people, like graffiti and turntables, but it also dwells a lot into me personally and who I consider myself to be

Branch

What could people expect from the project that they haven’t seen from you before?

Demo

Well musically, this album is primarily just straight hip-hop and rock. It's definitely the most upbeat and fast-paced one out of all my projects, and it's also the first one to use actual YouTube beatz! (wowzies)

But creatively, this is also the first album of mine to not have any big narrative or story tied into it, like with chill cafe or the everafter and so on. Its focus is really just painting a broad personal picture of me for people to see

Branch

Very interesting that this album doesn’t have a big narrative. Would you say it’s easier to make an album narrative based, or has it been easier to make it broad?

Demo

Personally for me, it's always been easier to make an album narrative based. I feel like adding a story into my projects helps me improve my writing even outside of the lyrics, and it's always been fun for me to try to experiment with different ways to tell a narrative

Branch

What has been the hardest thing about making the album so far?

Demo

Honestly, I feel like the hardest part for me would be trying to adapt to using pre-made beats, since usually I would just make out the music in my head. I definitely feel like it helps the lyrics flow tho so I'm actually pretty glad I started using em

Branch

And you’ve gone back and forth with the name Demo. I’d there a significance to the name?

Demo

Demo's actually my graffiti tag name irl. I've always had a strong liking for the word itself, especially since Linkin Park (fav band ever) has an underground fanbase dedicated to checking out their demos n unfinished work, so I've seen it be used around more often than not

Branch

Well that’s definitely interesting. Are there any last things you want the community to know about the project?

Demo

I want the community to know that this project genuinely means a lot to me and that I'm really excited to share it with everyone here. It's really cool being able to express yourself however you want and I appreciate Songwriter being an outlet for me to do exactly that

This pretty much wraps us up for the first episode of Writers to Writers. I hope you enjoyed listening to us ramble on. Special thanks to Branch Anthony for playing a huge part in this and make sure to stream his new music!