The 23-year-old alternative pop singer-songwriter, Christian French, recently released his latest EP, good things take time. The 7-song EP follows his breakout single, “head first”, which has amassed over 50 million streams worldwide. The EP takes listeners through Christian’s personal growth and journey with love and self-acceptance, presented with an immaculate smooth, soulful vocal and production performance.
Check out Christian’s live performance in Los Angeles of the title track of the EP, “good things take time”, below.
BTS: Introduce yourself to the readers.
Hi everyone, I’m Christian French and I’m a 23-year-old musician from Indiana. I’ve been living in Los Angeles for the past few years to pursue music. I’ve toured with Chelsea Cutler and Quinn XCII and was on my own headlining tour this past spring, and hopefully I’ll get back on the road when it’s safe for everyone. I just released my EP ‘good things take time’.
BTS: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never listened to you before?
I think my sound blends genres and is very bonafide and soulful – it’s just me expressing what I’m going through at the time and relaying it with the most emotion that I possibly can.
BTS: What are/who are some inspirations for your music?
John Mayer has been a huge influence on me my whole life. His songwriting is unmatched to me, and I’m always impressed with how well-spoken and grounded he is. He gives me that motivation to really dig deep into my writing until I come up with exactly what I want to say. I also love Dominic Fike, Tame Impala, Frank Ocean, and so many more.
BTS: Congrats on releasing your EP, “good things take time”! Tell me about the project and the inspiration behind it.
Thank you! ‘good things take time’ is all about trial and error – it’s important to find what works best for you and what doesn’t, and then bettering yourself. Throughout the writing process, the phrase “good things take time” kept popping up — it helped keep me sane when I was getting frustrated with myself because I didn’t think I was writing the best music that I could. This mindset saved me from me. Instead of being swallowed and consumed by failure, I was able to stay calm and positive and then and move past it and continue to grow.
A lot of these songs have been done for around a year, and now they’re just coming out. I wrote 5 of these songs in one month with the same amazing friends and collaborators because we were on a roll. “wake up” wasn’t even supposed to be on the EP because I made that song with my roommate about a month before the EP was supposed to come out, but I was way too excited to wait to release it. And it was kind of perfect because it fits so well with the theme of the EP.
BTS: Walk me through the process of writing, recording, and turning your EP into what it is now.
I wrote 5 of these songs in one month with the same amazing friends and collaborators – we were on a roll together. the last two (“paper thin” and “wake up”) have their own stories. “paper thin” was written in May of 2019 and has gone through so many different versions to get to where it finally is, and “wake up” wasn’t even supposed to be on the EP – I made that song with my roommate like a month before we were supposed to release this EP and was too excited to wait to release it. It was actually perfect because it fits so well with the theme of the EP, and now the tracklist is 7 songs instead of the original 6.
BTS: You were once a pre-med student and hockey player — what made you take the leap into music? Take me through your journey as an artist — where did it all begin?
When I started posting my original music on Spotify was when I started to make the real shift toward music being a more full-time thing. With the help of my fraternity, where everyone was from a different city, they’d tell their friends to listen, then their friends’ friends, and THEIR friends, and so on. So it really helped spread the word and helped me build a following that leads to this realization that my music could be a real project. And truly, when I became more interested in music than I was in school, spending more time on music than studying – there was this distance and disconnect with school. I just felt more connected to the musical world, so I pursued that and never looked back!
BTS: How do you connect with your listeners?
I try to let the music speak for itself & keep it very open to interpretation, which I think is why so many people do connect with it. beyond that, I try to stay super up to date on social media – responding to tweets, direct messages, and posting about what I’m up to as much as I can. really I just try to stay genuine & transparent with those who are listening because I think that’s what resonates the most.
BTS: How have you been spending your quarantine?
Quarantine has been a great down-time for me to spend more time alone and really dive into different things without distractions. One of my 2020 goals was to learn how to play guitar, so I’ve spent a lot of time learning songs and new chords to get more acclimated with the guitar, and with that, I wrote a grip of guitar-based songs. While I was at home in Indiana, I had the bare-minimum setup for a music studio, and have been producing out my own ideas as well.
I also just took a really cool trip to London with my manager, creative director, and a producer friend of mine. The first two weeks I tried to lay low and be respectful of the covid guidelines, just kind of staying in as much as I could and walking around parts of the city that were close to me with a mask on, but a lot of the trip was making music with new people from England. It was my first time out of North America, so it was a crazy mind-opening experience for me that I’ll never forget.
BTS: What’s something readers should know about you?
Hmmm.. I read a lottttt. I can cook some mean chicken tacos. I’ve found that I’m a very introspective person who likes to think through every decision THOROUGHLY. I’m looking to start a sustainable clothing line later this year called ‘modern nomad’ and I hope to donate some of my proceeds to foundations supporting wildfires.
BTS: What does the rest of 2020 and beyond look like for you?
I’m really excited about this next cycle of music that I’m currently making, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear some of these songs later this year, so be on the lookout for that. Other than that, I’m using this year to get better at production, piano, guitar, and songwriting. I’ve already come a long way, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. And I CANNOT wait to get back on the road and tour!
Follow Christian French on Instagram and Twitter to stay up-to-date on all of his forthcoming releases. Be sure to listen to his new EP, good things take time, here.
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