On the cusp of the release of his fifth studio album ‘Two Degrees’ – its lead single having already racked up over 20 million plays online – Illy continues to spearhead local music, piercing the global radar with his trailblazing beats and audacious wordplay.
Born Alasdair Murray, the platinum-selling beatmaster has just added five new ARIA nominations and a string of sold-out album launch shows to his belt. His latest LP is set for release via his own record label ONETWO, and features an eclectic list of collabs from Tonight Alive‘s Jenna McDougall to Chicago-based soul crooner Sir the Baptist.
Illy took some time out to chat to us about taking risks, out-growing venues, and shitty Aussie pollies.
Best Before: Hey, how are you going?
Illy: Good! How are you?
Good, thanks. So you’re back in Melbourne?
Yep!
I can imagine you’ve had a pretty crazy few weeks. The album is out in less than 10 days.
Yeah – it’s crazy!
Congratulations on ‘Two Degrees’– I’ve been spinning it all morning and you’ve really nailed it with this album. It’s the most dynamic we’ve heard you.
Thank you so much!
Was it a conscious decision from the outset that you wanted to create a record more diverse this time round, or was it something that just organically came together?
A little bit of both. I think it was conscious going into the album off the back of ‘Cinematic’, and particularly with the success of “Tightrope” – that really gave me the confidence to push through the songwriting aspect, more than just the rap side of things. I think the last album was reaching to be more ambitious and to be bigger than just a hip hop album. This, to a degree, lives in an area that ‘Cinematic’ was reaching for. That was conscious. But it was also just a natural progression because I’m just better for having had more experience, and having been around longer, and having written more songs.
There’s hip hop, there’s pop, there’s electronic on the album. You couldn’t say it’s any one of those, but you could say it’s distinctly an Illy album.
Being a lot more established, when you were writing “Papercuts”, were you confident that you were onto something big?
I knew I loved the song but, no, I didn’t think it was going to be. No one could have predicted that it was going to do what it’s done. I was actually quite nervous before the song came out because it was quite a departure from anything anyone had heard before. We wanted to make it the first single because it was letting people know that this album is going to sound different, but there was enough in it – the big beat, the big drop, and Vera Blue is an artist who has been making a lot of noise here. There were things that people could grab onto, to sort get their head around the new sound. It was still taking quite a risk with that, so I actually thought it was a risky move. In hindsight, it all worked out well, but at the time, it definitely wasn’t ‘Oh, this is going to be a smash’; it was, ‘I hope people don’t trash me.’
So with the new album, you enlisted M-Phazes (Eminem, Kimbra, Meg Mac) to work with you again. Was it a no-brainer getting him to produce this album?
Absolutely. We’ve been working together for 10 years or so, and he DJ’d for me for five or six years. He’s one of my closest mates in music and, in my opinion, he’s by far the best of any genre in the country. He truly is world class. So, when it came time to do this album, for him to be as excited about tackling it as me was awesome. For him to have the same ambitions for it, as in I wanted it to not be a hip hop album. I didn’t want it to be a genre album of any sort. There’s hip hop, there’s pop, there’s electronic on the album. You couldn’t say it’s any one of those, but you could say it’s distinctly an Illy album though, and he shared that exact sentiment. It’s great to have someone who you trust and who you’ve got so many runs on the board with over such a long period of time, to be in your corner and working with you. It makes it more possible to achieve what you want to achieve.
You move through a lot of different genres, and the feature artists that you’ve picked out for this record come from very different music backgrounds, and have very different styles. Was the selection process the same as on ‘Cinematic’ – you wrote the tracks and then approached them based on who you thought would suit best, or did you try and seek artists of different genres first?
No – I wrote all the hooks and demo-ed them myself. I wish I could sing better than I can but, sadly, that’s not the case. So I had the demos and I always write with a specific voice in mind, not a particular artist because I’ve never really been in the profile or at a level where I could write something for someone with someone in mind, and be confident that they’ll sing it. I would get the choruses done, get the songs down, and pitch it to people with a vocal style that I thought would fit. It wasn’t specifically going outside to different genres of artists; it was just because the artists that I wanted, their voices just fit the songs perfectly.
Congrats on your ARIA nominations!
Thanks – it’s kind of crazy.
There’s been a lot of talk around what the Urban category means. I read that you said it’s frustrating that people try to box artists in the Urban category, but this year you’re nominated against Sia in the Pop category. Why do you think people are struggling to accept Australian hip hop outside being simply ‘Urban’?
My understanding of the term Urban is antiquated from before Australian hip hop was even a thing. It’s stuck around because no one’s bothered to change it. I remember, if you go back, the Urban category had hip hop acts but also RnB and soul – a whole bunch of different genres in the one umbrella. But, nowadays, every act is a hip hop act. I think it’s lame. I think it’s a cringey sort of term, and I don’t think it’s actually really fitting anymore. But everyone’s been saying that for years, and no one seems to do anything about it.
Creative pursuits transcend a job and career and a paycheck – it’s a lot deeper than that.
Do you feel a different sort of pressure knowing you’ve got all these nominations, before the album has even dropped?
I don’t think I’m going to win any of them. Flume is on too much of a roll, and has had too big a year. That’s all love. He’s a great artist! I don’t really have too much expectation.
Gotta stay humble, right?
I’ll have a speech prepared because, last time when I won and I had nothing prepared, it was quite embarrassing. Just to be nominated in six categories, none of which being the Urban award, is a huge deal. In 2016, I think Song of the Year and Album of the Year, for me at least, have the same weight. They’re the two most important categories and to have a song up for Song of the Year is a huge honour.
I found it really interesting that even though your album release is just around the corner, you’ve been in the news this week for other things. You spoke out against Education Minister Sam Birmingham for calling creative careers “lifestyle choices”. What do you think the impact of rhetoric like this is having on the local creative community?
It’s not so much the rhetoric. I mean, the rhetoric sucks but it doesn’t do too much damage. It’s the actual policy they make and if they get it introduced, it’ll really do damage. I think it’s really lame that someone in power, and someone who’s the fucking Education Minister is shitting on a huge amount of young peoples’ ambitions and goals. To even be kind of corny about it, peoples’ dreams. Creative pursuits transcend a job and career and a paycheck – it’s a lot deeper than that. For someone to say that they’re not valid and not worthy of funding, he just sounds like a miserable c*nt.
You do speak out a lot on social media, on topics from immigration to the HSC. Do you feel more responsibility now to share on these issues?
I’ve tried to pull back on it a little bit because it’s easy to get side-tracked and I don’t want to be a talking head – I’m a musician and that’s what I do and that’s what I love doing. I don’t want to be on Facebook starting off opinions but sometimes, with some of the shit that’s going on, it’s hard not to. I have a platform and it’s important to use it, but I don’t feel like I have a duty to weigh in on every hot topic.
And you’re juggling that with OneTwo. How does it make you feel seeing artists like Allday that you’ve taken under your wing blowing up in Sydney?
It’s awesome – I’m so proud of what Allday is doing and what he’s going to do. I think he’s going to have a massive year next year, when his album comes out eventually. I think he’s got such a loyal fanbase – he’s built that himself. He’s been completely in his own lane and had a vision for his music that didn’t try to fit into anyone’s. He’s executed that and he’s seen it through. He’s got a promising career in music and he’s really just at the start of it, so I’m really excited to be involved, even in a small way.
Your album launch tour is sold out already. You must be pumped to test out your new set!
Playing the whole album front to back is going to be really exciting. I haven’t played a venue this size in Melbourne. Even my first album launch show was at The Corner which is 800 cap, so I haven’t played this big of a venue in maybe eight or nine years in Melbourne! They’re going to be really special shows, and it’s really cool that four days after the album comes out, we’re playing the whole thing. I’m honestly so psyched.
You can get your mitts on Illy’s brand new album ‘Two Degrees’ here.