Douglas' debut album, IRIS
After two years of working and developing his brand as a musician, Douglas’ long awaited debut album is finally here.
we interviewed Douglas about his debut album, IRIS.
“I started wanting to make an album filled with emotional exploration, but as time went on, the music I started writing was much more different. Rebellious in nature due to the fact that certain people in my life who I love didn’t want the music thing for me. Inevitably I came up with a one line summary to the project. ‘A Middle-Class love story to youthful recklessness.’” -Douglas
“I wanted something to empower us to want to say, ‘fuck you for making me think I was wrong for believing in myself.’”
TRACKLIST
riot!
“I feel like as people we always have this sense of turmoil going on in life; this feeling of impending doom.” When Douglas wrote this song, he had so much going on in his life that he felt he wasn’t in control of. This song is a reminder to himself of the moment when he decided to make a change.
“as i riot to their faces this era. filled with anguish and terror and smiley faces to wear.”
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deep wave ft. chuck ba$$
“This is the first song I was comfortable with how my voices sounded after recording.” This song is a manifestation to the things he wants. For himself. For all of his friends. Goals to reach. Moments to create that will happen. “There’s an energy when we’re together where I just believe in us and I wanted that reflected.”
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don’t mind my shxt
The air is tense. So many injustices are coming to light. The world is dying, there is a pandemic, and still there is blatant racism against targeted communities. “The purpose [of this song] was to be a concentrated, ‘fuck you for blaming US.’ Minorities, black people worldwide, youth culture. So many people pointing fingers at the people without the power as to why we’re in the predicament we’re in as if they didn’t put us here.”
“This just in i like revenge. just next time don’t mind my shit.”
This year more than ever we have learned that one second, one decision, one moment can change things forever. “That’s poetic to me. Let’s shut the shit down. Let’s keep pushing it. Fuck them, fuck the system, fuck the thing. Whatever you want the thing to be.”
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GOLDFUCKS
“Like Vienna, this one just happened. It was energy from a power I don’t know and I don’t think I’ve properly said thank you and given credit to. So, whomever the being, thank you.”
“back the fuck up, you know we coming”
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BOUCHERON FT. NWLG
Douglas realized that even when he attempted to treat women with respect, he fell short. “I added to the issues women faced in the world. I was one of those ‘ain't shit’ men.” He decided he wanted to change, reflected, looked back at his actions, and started the process. “I wanted to write on why I did those things. What caused me to be that destructive. What I learned that I still do and couldn’t give up yet. And wanted to detail that through my own personal stories and shit compiled together to make sense.”
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FADE FT. WILLIAM SCOTT
“Breakups are traumatic. They force a person to change kinda violently. There were bad habits and shit I started doing after the fact that it took years to realize. I started loving other women with these bad habits and just caused more and more chaos for me and for them.”
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SCARES
Sometimes, even when our lives look perfect, and everything is apparently going in the right direction, we don’t feel that way. His first year of college back in 2017, Douglas went through this exact thing. “I was doing everything right, I’m in school with great grades, got a job at the school, making money, overall being a good person, and bro, every single day I drove home sobbing. I felt so unfulfilled. I was doing everything in my life at that time for other people.”
One afternoon listening to music in bed Kanye’s ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ started playing. He said ‘I told God I’ll be back in a second’. “I thought if he can tell God that, then there’s no reason I should live my life for any person on this planet.” Since that day, Doug started living his life only for himself. “Scares is my letter if Kanye didn’t play on shuffle that evening.”
“Choose where you go, who you know, who you love, what you want from this life, get that shit that you like.”
When asked who inspired the musicality of his songs, he said “Lumo. Lumo. Lumo. Lumo. The man bodied the production for the whole tape and was with me literally since day zero. Before I had the idea of making a project.”
Because of his love for fashion shows, they wanted to make music that could be played on the runway. However, he drove away from that idea and started choosing sounds “we could all listen to and not be challenged to love.”
