From rapping over Lil Wayne beats to making bedroom pop: Welcome to Seb’s world
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
The king of Chicago’s bedroom pop scene, SEB is the producer, engineer and now performer whose latest EP, IT’S OKAY, WE’RE DREAMING is inspired by the rollercoaster transitions at the end of high school.
Courtesy of @dotseb
NAME SEB
AGE 24
LOCATION Somewhere in Michigan right now.
STAR SIGN Aquarius
Audry Hiaoui: I read that you're “embarking on a new chapter of your creative journey.” Can you tell me more about what that looks like to you?
SEB: I guess I'm learning how to trim the fat in a sense. The better I get as a writer and producer, the clearer I'm able to translate what I'm thinking and feeling. So the art is just going to get more nuanced and more specific.
AH: You write, produce, perform, and engineer everything. What order did you start doing all of that?
SEB: I think it went writing, producing, engineering and then performing. It was a long process to even get here.
AH: Do your songs usually start with the lyrics or the music first?
SEB: 95% of the time it'll start with the music first.
AH: What drew you to making bedroom pop specifically? Were you influenced by other artists in the genre?
SEB: My goal is to make really great pop songs. I remember when I first submitted my songs to blogs and it started getting called bedroom pop. They aren't wrong haha, they are pop songs made in my bedroom. As far as influence, I guess it would depend on who would be considered bedroom pop. I love Mac DeMarco, who I think made music in his bedroom. Um, CLAIRO, but specifically her Immunity album - but that wasn't made in a bedroom, I don't think…
AH: What part of growing up in Chicago do you think has stuck with you the most?
SEB: Just the pace of life. It has that go go go feel of New York, but without that insane rush. I like it.
AH: You've also lived in New York, Haiti, Oklahoma, and Miami. What's something from each of these places that you're the most fond of?
SEB: Hmm, so in Haiti my grandma would throw weddings at our house, and I just remembered being able to crash and eat as much cake as I wanted. In New York, I remember running through the streets of Brooklyn barefoot, with all the kids who lived on my street. While I was in Miami, I was listening to a lot of the BACKSTREET BOYS in the car at night for some reason. In Oklahoma, we lived down the street from the jail and at night there was this blinking light that I remember looking at a lot.
AH: Can you tell me more about the rap group you used to have in middle school?
SEB: Shout out to Moose! We made the group, The Roughboyz, and would rap over LIL WAYNE beats we found on YouTube. Our friends at school would be playing it and even got some love online too.
AH: From YouTube to now, you’ve amassed a growing TikTok fanbase. What's your own For You page look like?
SEB: Right now it's really random stuff. Usually it's a bunch of art and fashion videos.
AH: You're inspired by KURT COBAIN, JONI MITCHELL, TYLER THE CREATOR, KID CUDI, and GRIMES. Is there anything in particular you feel like you've taken away the most from each of these artists?
SEB: I think it's a combination of being really specific with your art and being able to expand the mainstream's taste palette as opposed to trying to fit in.
AH: Can you tell me more about your new EP, IT’S OKAY, WE’RE DREAMING?
SEB: That one is based on my last year in high school. During that time, the world is really about to open up to you so you're thinking really big, but at the same time real life is hitting you, and a whole slew of problems you never thought existed start popping up. That project serves as Act I, an introduction to the character and their life.
AH: What drew you to the 1997 cult movie Gummo as a source of visual inspiration for the album?
SEB: The way the kid felt in the movie is how I felt last year. Dealing with what I felt like was a post apocalyptic time. People locked away in their houses, masks only everywhere, this insane virus…
AH: Some non-music questions...if you could work with any fashion designer, who would you choose and why?
SEB: VIRGIL for sure. Just what he represents as a black man who made it to that level.
AH: How do you give and receive love?
SEB: I think it’s quality time. Doing stuff with people and sharing those moments mean more than anything to me.
AH: Funniest story from living in LA?
SEB: I almost got beat up by this big ass bald racist white dude while walking down Hollywood. That was a wild night for me - I was just trying to get a burrito.
AH: Most prized possession?
SEB: I don’t know if I have any things I value that much. Things are just things to me.
AH: And lastly, can you share a good film recommendation?
SEB: I think The Cat in The Hat with Michael Myers is criminally underrated.