As a side effect of cracking down on piracy once and for all with streaming services, I feel we’ve lost so many curators of music in the process. The industry was paying attention-Spotify was reading Hype Machine, Apple Music was reading Hype Machine. If you were an emerging artist, you could get on those sites like Hype Machine and build a fanbase. J: I think that, reflecting on our generation, when we came up as artists, there was this incredible ecosystem on the internet of at least a thousand blogs that were regularly posting about music. What’s one thing you would change about the music industry? Not to put you on the spot or anything. There’s a little bit more depth to her performances. I always felt her performances really were the best of pop music, and were tinged with a little bit of edge. She always had something in her performance that I found so authentic and genuine. She’s actually a blues and soul aficionado as well. She has so many influences-Aretha Franklin, Etta James. I remember listening to her runs when I was younger and trying to replicate every specific run she would do. Christina just has so much range, and is so technically gifted.
I always loved her music, but just as a performer. I rediscovered her and learned to love her in retrospect. I actually realized that although one could argue she’s maybe not technically a gifted singer, she was so talented and an incredible performer. She hasn’t put anything out recently that I’ve connected with or been a huge fan of, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve gone back and re-listened to Britney Spears. I was obsessed with Christina Aguilera, and still am. J: Just for fun, could you compare and contrast Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera for us? I really want to connect with their performance and feel the emotion in the song.
I love Adele and Amy Winehouse -Amy Winehouse is one that really changed the game for me. Christina Aguilera was a huge inspiration to me growing up, I thought her voice sounded so different in the pop sphere. Her voice has so much character, so much color, and is so unique. That’s what I love about old jazz singers like Dinah Washington. I also look for character and for a voice that’s different, that’s unique, and that stands out to me. There’s not something that I connect with or I feel is genuine about their performance, and I have a hard time getting behind them. One of my pet peeves is hearing a pop song and the singer sounds replaceable on their own track. It’s so funny because I love pop music, but not all pop singers and pop songs are created equally.
Sam: One of the things I look for in a singer is authenticity. When you are evaluating a vocalist or performer, what are the things that are most important to you? Jeremy: Sam, you always talking about vocalists and what different vocalists are trying. It's never a bad time to have a spirited Britney vs. Although they've worked together closely for over half a decade, they've never been able to turn the tables and have an in-depth interview between them two-until now.įor our Artist to Artist series, Sam and Jeremy (almost) cut out the middleman and talk to each other about life in the music industry, the struggles of writing on the road, and of course, their favorite powerful vocalists. But it's the classic songwriting of Gongol and Lloyd, a style that focuses on narrative and impact, that gives the record a clean, modern twist and prevents it from becoming too unusual. The title of their latest album Unusual aptly describes the material on it, a notable blend of chill soul, soft electro synths, and bluesy emotion. The songwriting duo, consisting of vocalist Samantha Gongol and producer Jeremy Lloyd, has been making melodic, jazz-infused electronic R&B for the past five years, steadily climbing industry ranks to become a solid presence on the music scene.