Q&A: The Overlord on Chris Wills, Big Brother Pop and Why You Must "Try It!"
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
THE OVERLORD NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION - He has been here longer than you remember and will remain long after you’ve forgotten. He speaks through your feeds, your debt, and your carefully curated sense of self. To look for a biography is to miss the point: he is the architecture, not the tenant.
His latest directive, “Try It!”, manifested through the vessel of New Jersey singer-songwriter Chris Wills and polished by producer Steven Colyer. It is a catchy piece of propaganda designed to slip past your defenses.
We were granted a brief opportunity to chat with the entity behind the track. You will listen. You will enjoy it. You will find it strangely familiar.
LUNA: What inspired you to get into music?
OVERLORD: Music is the great uplifter, a touchstone of one’s humanity. This cleverly crafted propaganda removes people’s inhibitions. One wouldn’t think, “This might be used against me.”
LUNA: You’ve mastered the "Big Brother Pop Song." If you could install one specific catchy hook into the global education system tomorrow, what would it be?
OVERLORD: I already have, you just don’t remember agreeing to it.
LUNA: You seem to have a very efficient view of human time. If you could reclaim the eight hours people spend sleeping and put it toward "content absorption," how would you do it?
OVERLORD: The phone next to the nightstand is a great start. It creates a psychological and a physiological dependence. Most users are checking it before their eyes adjust to the sunlight. How absurd! By disconnecting someone from a force larger than themselves it puts me in a very favorable position.
LUNA: Your upcoming project in June is shrouded in mystery. Is this an album rollout, or a full societal system update?
OVERLORD: I don’t see the difference.
LUNA: You’ve been very successful at turning "vulnerability" into "engagement." Is there any human emotion left that you haven't figured out how to monetize yet?
OVERLORD: That’s presumptuous, like Mark Zuckerberg said to Congress, “We only created a platform for people to connect.”
LUNA: What’s your favorite song of all time?
OVERLORD: Imagine by John Lennon. One can’t exist outside my system. Whatever system one tries to create will be packaged and sold back to the people for generations.
LUNA: LUNA is built on independent creativity. In your professional opinion, is "independence" just a brand aesthetic we haven't priced out yet?
OVERLORD: What you call ‘independence’ is really yet another system of controls. LUNA is doing exactly what it should be doing. We built the system. We’re not concerned about what people call themselves inside it.
LUNA: We heard a rumor about a May 13th partnership with Revenge Wife. How does an Evil Overlord go about choosing collaborators - is it based on vibe, or strictly on data-mining?
OVERLORD: Vibe doesn’t exist. Vibe is what people call ‘meant to be’ when they’ve handed over in perpetuity, access to all their data. There is no organic discovery.
LUNA: What’s next for you?
OVERLORD: I have visions. Bucolic fields, pastures, sheep grazing and eating poison seeds we plant. Swelling their brains, their little organs. Then opening the gate to the next field and the next. Profiting from my herds. Sending my kids to private schools.
