Q&A: Mei Talks Highly Anticipated Debut Album 'SUPERNOVA'
☆ By NORMA SORTO ☆
WITH DESTRUCTION COMES A NEW BEGINNING — Los Angeles-based Mei is transforming into a new journey through his debut album SUPERNOVA. Mei is discovering himself not only as an artist but also as a human being. SUPERNOVA is a metaphor for his past break-up that left Mei looking into the world with a new perspective. “I kind of related that to a star exploding,” explained Mei. “You have this very destructive thing happening like the sun exploding. It’s so powerful, but it’s also very beautiful.” He finds himself rekindling his relationship with his family, religion, morality and himself. His debut album, SUPERNOVA, showcases Mei’s raw emotion that allows people to see how much he has grown as an artist.
The 23-year-old Chinese American was raised in Chicago but moved to LA for college, where he continued to pursue a musical career. In 2018, Mei, also formerly known as “Brandt Orange,” released several singles and an EP with his friend and collaborator, Cyrus Elia. The electronic-pop duo Morii Morii released their debut EP Moved Since Spring in 2019. As his career started to progress, he decided to change his stage name to his Chinese name, Mei, to stay true to his ethnic identity.
Creating SUPERNOVA was a learning experience for Mei. He produced, recorded and wrote the entire album with the help of Elia. While listening to the album, you can tell that Mei uses musical influences such as Frank Ocean, John Mayer and Paul McCartney, to craft his unique sound. Finishing the album a year ago but postponing due to the pandemic, SUPERNOVA is a thesis statement for Mei’s transformation as an upcoming artist. “I’m just excited to have it out there,” said Mei. “and have the fans that I have to get to experience what I was feeling that period of my life.”
Read below to learn about Mei’s musical journey, creative process and future projects for 2021 and be sure to check his debut album SUPERNOVA out now.
LUNA: What song would you recommend listening to first for people who are not familiar with your music?
MEI: That song is called “Videoscreen.” It’s the first song off the album and it’s a really good thesis statement for where I was in that time and kind of all different genres and styles of music that I like to put into one.
LUNA: As a songwriter and producer, how do you find the inspiration to create a beat or write a lyric?
MEI: Most of the time, I just sit down, and I usually start the music first. Whether that’s writing on guitar or making instrumentals, it’s just me messing around and being like, ‘Oh, this is kinda cool, maybe I can develop this further,” and I just keep going and try to let my ideas out and not blocking the ideas from happening. Cause a lot of times, when you are making music, you kind of censor your ideas before you allow yourself to see them through.
LUNA: I saw one of your live performances online - what do you like about performing in front of a crowd? Do you miss it?
MEI: I definitely miss it. I think I love just having fun, and when the crowd is down to have fun, and they want you to have fun as a performer like that’s just the more fun for me. My favorite performance was in Las Vegas when I was opening up for Gus Dapperton.
LUNA: Would you say that moving to LA has given you the creative freedom to pursue music?
MEI: Yes and no. I think it’s allowed me to listen to different types of music and see what kind of music is out there besides what I listen to growing up. At the same time though, it has opened my eyes to how difficult it can be to be successful in the music industry. Just like in any industry, there’s a lot of unsavory things. There’s a lot of politics, there’s a lot of business and money involved, and that kinda clouds your mindset. You kind of get pressured to make a certain type of music.
LUNA: How has your music evolved since your first single, “Chaser”?
MEI: I’ve become more in tune with what I want out of my music and what I want out of my sound as an artist. Even making most of this album that’s about to come out, I’ve been trying to do something else. For the first time in my life, the past few months making new music, I’ve felt very confident and grounded in the type of music I’m making and that it’s coming from me. Obviously, it’s inspired by different things, but it feels the most authentic. I think that’s the only thing that changed - I’ve become more authentic.
LUNA: Has the pandemic given you time and space to think about what musical direction you want to dive into?
MEI: The only relationship I had with music was me making it. I wasn’t really putting out music for a lot of the pandemic too. Or at least I wasn’t putting music that I was currently making, all the music I was putting out I had finished making in 2019. I’ve been able to know I’m just going to make music for me. I’m not going to try to think about who it’s for or what it’s going to be, or how well it will do because there really is no consequence right now.
LUNA: Recently, you released your new single “Reserve,” can you explain the creative process?
MEI: That one took a long time. I wrote the first verse and the chorus together in one day. There’s this whole rap section right in the middle, and the outro was crazy like I’m screaming. It was the last song that I finished on the record because it just took so long. I started pretty early on, but it just kept evolving and kept changing. So I did it in little pieces, almost as if it was like three different songs.
LUNA: Your single “Reserve” is about missing home and reminiscing traditions. Do you often miss Chicago?
MEI: [The song Reserve] it’s not really about one thing in particular. It’s kind of just about losing patience and being frustrated and kind of just like I used up all of my reserved. It’s like I don’t have any more patience from whatever it is. So yeah, I think I do miss home sometimes. I just miss the people. Sometimes people in LA can be a little fake, sometimes they seem to have an agenda, but the people back home, they have their own faults too. But it’s a little bit more of a slower pace. It’s a little bit more real, down-to-earth. That’s what I miss about home.
LUNA: What do you want people to take away from your debut album SUPERNOVA?
MEI: Maybe just a feeling that they never felt before. A lot of the writing is never really about one thing. Like how “Reserve” is kind of an idea, kind of an emotional palette. I hope that they just listen to it and feel something new or maybe bring them back to a feeling they haven’t felt in a long time.
LUNA: Lastly, what do you want to achieve in 2021? Any dream collaborations?
MEI: Hopefully, this year, I’m going to put out a couple more projects. I have a collection of b-sides for this album SUPERNOVA that didn’t make the cut, but I think a lot of those songs are really good so hopefully, I’ll be able to package those up and put those out in the early summer. Then hopefully I’ll be able to put this other album that I’m making by the end of the year. I would love to get in the studio with Thom Yorke from Radiohead.
