If you are fond of music with grooves that make you dance, spacey melodies that captivate your senses, and lyrics and voice that soothe your mind and soul, then the latest single by Robert O’Connor, Something Strange, is the song you must listen to. Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Robert is a pop artist and singer-songwriter with high critical acclaim and fans all across the world.
Check out the latest news: https://sinusoidalmusic.com/news/diddy-sean-combs-lawsuit/
We were lucky to get a chance to speak to Robert, and he was kind enough to share some details about this song and his artistry. So, let’s find out what he has to say!
1) Hello Robert, first of all, the song Something Strange and its instrumental version sound like a treat to the ears! So, would you like to take us through your musical influences in general and, maybe, specifically for this song?
Thank you, I’m really happy that you like the song! My influences are expanding every day. There are the core influences that are always present, and then I hear something I haven’t heard before, new or old, and that becomes an influence. When I approach writing a new song, there are usually elements of tracks that I bring to the table as a reference point, so with a song like “Something Strange” and one of my previous singles, “Summer Is Waiting”, I was in the chill-out genre headspace. So, whilst both songs are still very much pop tracks, on account of my vocals and the melodies, there are elements that are examples of the inspiration by the chillout genre, which I listen to on a daily basis.
The artists who influence Robert!
Chicane, who I first discovered in the early ‘00s but who is still very prolific with his releases, is a big inspiration and has been since my last EP, ‘Severance.’ I was also listening to dream pop bands like Wild Nothing and Still Corners, and I was a big fan of the Alison Goldfrapp album ‘The Love Invention’ last year, which was produced by Richard X and James Greenwood. I loved what they achieved with that record. Melodically, Coldplay is a big influence. I like a song that I can imagine hobeing sung back to me at a live show.
I think “Something Strange” has that stadium anthem quality, it’s quite sing-along, and my video director says he has woken up with the song in his brain 5 out of 7 of the last days, which is a great sign for me as a songwriter. Then there are the references that come from my past, like on “Something Strange,” there’s a “woah-oh-oh” part in the Middle 8 that is unintentionally very Steps “Better Best Forgotten” vibes. Steps have been omnipresent in my life, from 1998 as a child who loved the whole “ABBA-on-speed” concept, to the more modern post-reunion records. The fact that my producer Gareth Shortland, who co-wrote the track, has remixed several of their tracks in recent years, it feels like a nice tribute.
Robert sheds some light on the idea behind the song!
2) I would initially like to focus on the lyrics of Something Strange as they are pretty intense. So, what was your idea behind the writing of the song?
Lyrically, the line “Something’s changed for the better” came to me while I was sitting at a rooftop pool in Barcelona last summer. I had this feeling that I was in a sweet spot, not just literally because I was on a sun holiday, but in life, I had got a new day job that exposed me to a lot of new people and fed me socially, but also in my relationship, which I think suffered somewhat during the Covid years, but bounced back stronger than ever.
We often write about negative things in our lives, which is a sort of therapy, I suppose, but on this record, I’ve found myself writing with a more positive tone. The verses discuss the way I felt the past few years, “Been so long on cruise control, I thought that life had taken its toll on me”, is the opening line, for instance, and then the chorus is a breath of fresh air with it’s simple “Something changed for the better, and now I know that we’re forever” refrain. I had the chorus lyrics written in my phone and then thought no more about them, and then I kept saying to Gareth, my producer, “I feel like something’s missing”, in reference to the album.
How did the song finally come to life?
We had lots of songs that I felt were really strong, but I just had a feeling that we needed that one final song that would feel like the jewel in the crown, the way “One Way Ticket” felt on my ‘Severance’ EP. It was coming up to Christmas last year and he sent me a number of demos and backing tracks and nothing was sticking, which was starting to frustrate me. Out of that frustration, I sat down at my kitchen table, opened the lyrics for the chorus that I had written on holiday, and in a singular stream of consciousness, wrote both verses.
An intricate outlook on the compositional elements of the song!
3) Now, coming to the composition, I loved the groove as well as the soothing melody that flows like a charm. It is very catchy. So, can you please take us through the compositional ideas and musical elements you’ve used in this song?
Writing melodies is different for me with each track, but for “Something Strange”, the vocal melody was evident to me as I wrote the lyrics. I already had the “Something changed!” refrain, and I knew I wanted the BVs to link back to my chillout verses, so they sort of give the track the soothing quality you speak of. So, I sent a voice note of me singing the song in one go to Gareth, and he set about producing an instrumental, which I had provided some references for.
I kept to myself that I felt it was the missing piece that I had been searching for to conclude the album, but Gareth himself said it was his favourite that I had written for the record alongside “Summer Is Waiting,” and when I played it for Jordan, his sentiment was the same. So far, everyone who has heard it in my presence has had a very immediate positive reaction, so I’m feeling very positive about it. I think it’s rare you feel this sort of certainty about a song you’ve written, but I feel it with this track, and that gives me the incentive to want to go out and shout about it in interviews like this!
A sneak peek into the recording process of the track!
4) The vocals and the music sound so fresh and soul-pleasing that I am curious to know about the song’s recording process. Can you tell us a bit in detail about it?
Gareth Shortland is the creator of the instrumental. I know my main reference was some of the more recent Chicane material, and I also said I wanted to link-back to “Summer Is Waiting”, which I released last year. I like the idea that songs on an album can be siblings of sorts, and that feels like the case with these two. “Something Strange” is the louder, more confident sibling of “Summer Is Waiting” in my mind. They make sense together on the track list of the record.
Gareth doesn’t like to have too many references when recording a track, but that rarely stops me from sending him tracks before, during, and after his production process to sort of telepathically influence him or hope that he will absorb the influences in his process. He would agree with me in saying that I would be more experimental in my tastes than he is, and so sometimes I’m sending him an obscure track by an electronica act like Bent, and he’s like “let’s stick to the original reference”.
The final result after the recording!
I loved the bare-bones original demo of the track, and then he added the guitar line and I was like “oh no, I don’t like where this is going”, and he felt it was the strongest element. The compromise was lowering it in the mix, and now I’m fine with it, but there’s definitely a push and pull to our process until we land somewhere that’s commercial with some experimental touches. I have definitely pushed him to his limits recording this album, but I’m proud that we’ve challenged each other and, I think, grown and expanded the “sound” that we created on the last record.
The excellent team of musical and production contributors are the most essential part of the song!
5) Is Something Strange a single-person execution, or are there contributions by other musicians as well?
Absolutely not! Gareth Shortland is the producer behind the track as I’ve mentioned, who has also produced my last eight singles. I wrote the vocal melody and lyrics myself, and Gareth then wrote and played the likes of the synth and guitar lines you hear in the track. I recorded the vocals with Julyo, who is a collaborator of mine who wears many hats, from production and remixing to directing videos. “Something Strange” was the last track we recorded together, and we did it in a two hour early morning session on a Saturday, because it was the only time we both had off work.
The track was then mastered by a company called Sage Audio, which is in Nashville, and an Extended Mix and Acoustic Version were developed by my frequent collaborator Jordan Arteaga. My team is small, but powerful – they know what I do, they know what I like, and I can be honest with them and there will be no ill feelings. It works both ways, Gareth can say to me “you weren’t having a great day in the studio were you?”, after I’ve sent vocal tracks across to him, and I’m not getting defensive, I’m saying “let me book back in and do it again”.
It needs to be right, otherwise you have a song out there for all of time that you will feel, “why did we let that out in that state”, and that’s the worst feeling as an artist. That’s why, yes men must not surround you, everyone needs to be able to be honest for the greater good of the song.
Robert’s plans for the future!
6) The final question will be, what are your plans with your music in the future? Is there a new single, EP, or album release that you wish to share with fans?
Obviously “Something Strange” is out now, so all of my focus is on this track, and the Extended Mix just dropped a couple of days ago, which I absolutely love – there is a point in that version of the track that is possibly my favourite piece of recorded sound that I’ve ever put down! Next Friday I release the Acoustic Version, and that’s exciting in itself because it’s the first time I’ve released an acoustic version since my debut single “Ten Years Time” way back in 2006.
I was really impressed with an acoustic version of Kylie’s “Say Something” a few years ago, so that was the reference point for what we’ve done with the stripped-back version of “Something Strange”. It really shines a spotlight on the lyrics, and it feels direct and emotionally impactful. I’m not a fan of unplugged versions that feature only a strumming acoustic guitar, so that was the notes for Jordan, who produced it. It needed to have a richness to it, a build, strings, a climax, otherwise I wasn’t interested in doing it. He delivered, and I think it’s a real change of pace for the listeners, but we’ll let them tell me if it’s something they’re interested in from me!
What’s in store for the fans?
There’s absolutely an album, my first since ‘Distance’, my 2008 debut. The mastering is complete, it’s ready to go, and the tracklist is also final. I’m now simultaneously in the creative phase for the aesthetics of the album and the business of planning the actual logistics of the release. It feels quite daunting to be releasing an album again after the last few years of only releasing singles and then graduating to EPs.
This is a goal I have set for myself, and now that it’s getting so close, I want to make an event of it, build a world around it that will be immersive and enjoyable for the listeners, and feel like a celebratory moment for me personally. It won’t be much longer, let’s just say I’m gonna keep the fans well-fed in the meantime.
To stay up-to-date with Robert O’Conner’s musical journey, follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
You can also enjoy listening to: https://sinusoidalmusic.com/reviews/music-reviews/latest-indie-music-mac-summer-releases-latest-electronic-single-revitalise-and-it-is-a-sheer-treat-to-the-ears/
So now that you know what the artist has to say about his latest composition, you should go check it out. You can listen to the song here:
Check out our playlists here!
Check out our YouTube channel for music reviews, playlists, podcasts, and more!
Promotional Disclaimer: The content in this post has been sponsored by the artist, label, or PR representative to help promote their work.
