Hey all! Today we have an awesome track released by Jack Massic, an up and coming producer that we have been keeping an eye on for some time now, featuring Santiago Hernandez and Wes Writer on lyrics.
The track is a super-radio ready genre bender that melds together pop style chord progressions, hip-hop style lyrics, and anthem level future designated drops and vocal chops. Jack Massic proves that breaking genres should constantly be encourage in this community, and he doesn't disappoint with The Mirror.
We got a chance to sit down with Jack Massic for a bit and learned a bit more about his creative process, his future plans, and what we can expect moving forward into 2018! Take a peek for some inside, down to business information on Jack!
1. How was the creative process for composing “The Mirror” ?
JM: It all began with me sitting on the piano, just like all my musical ideas begin. I was clear that I wanted to include a “ballad” in my first album. Fortunately, the inspiration was with me on that first session, so I composed the whole melody. When I was humming the song, I just felt so good doing it, so that’s when it hit me: I wanted to be my next featuring! I just didn’t know how to do it. A couple days after, the concept of a mirror started spinning in my head and that’s how I decided to feature myself, under my real name: Santiago Hernández.
I called Samantha García, an excellent lyricist and told her about the idea. She loved the song and came up with a cool idea for the chorus: breaking the mirror. From that point, we started writing the lyrics, which talk about overcoming the bad impressions we can have about ourselves.
2. Can you give me a breakdown of the track? What makes it different from the rest of the songs included in the EP Mile 01?
JM: The main difference of this song and the rest is the bpm, which is 78. The other songs are between 97 and 118 bpm, which is very common within the Tropical House genre. It also makes the other tracks more “danceable”. This song, in terms of speed, is more on the pop/rap side. It’s how I visualize a ballad now, within my own sound. I think this is a song to listen, not to dance to.
The track contains more acoustic elements than the others. The piano has been on all my other tracks, but in this song it is the star. I want to be able to perform this song live, regardless there’s a track in the background. I also included acoustic strings, an electric bass, acoustic cymbals and hi-hats and even a gospel choir. Of course, I blended them with synths and some other electronic stuff like, four-on-the-floor kicks to maintain some elements that are important in my sound.
3. How was collaborating with Wes Writer?
JM: Wes is a very talented rapper. I called him in when the song and the track were almost finished. It was a last minute idea that ended up getting the song to another level definitely. I always wanted to collaborate with a rapper and because of the mood of this particular song, I felt that it was the time to finally do it. I explained to him what the song was about and that I wanted him to be that inner voice that tells you “hey, you can do it!” He did an excellent Job writing and performing two rap sections in The Mirror.
4. What are your plans for the future?
JM: We are working on taking this project to be more “visual” next year. After the success of the video for the song Always, it’s almost a must to keep releasing cool videos. Also, I want to be performing on stage, which has been a long process.
On the other hand, I’m working on new tracks, so I’ll be in LA working with songwriters and artist on what will hopefully be the next album. We’ll be releasing more and more songs because “Mile 01” is just the beginning of this long journey.
