Junior launches his solo career with a new dive into the pop universe: ‘A lot of influence from what I’ve lived, seen and done in my life’

The singer and musician Junior is on a solo career. This Sunday, the 29th, he released the album Solo Vol. 1, which features 10 new tracks created in the last three years, when he decided to dive into creating his career. In an exclusive interview with the Rolling Stone Brasil website, the artist talked about his references and his musical style, which marks his return to the pop universe.

When asked how he defines his musical style, he stated: “Danceable pop, I believe, but pop. No more adjectives needed. It has a lot of influence from a lot of things I’ve experienced, seen, done in my life, but the essence, in the end, is pop.” And there are many references in the new phase of his career, as he likes to hear everything.

“I think I can talk more about style than specific people, because I listen to a lot of things. Of course there are some artists who have a special place in my heart, but I think I feel more influenced by genres, moods and sensations than very specific things. Because I try not to follow anything to make my musical personality more evident, not to look like anyone else, to be authentic. I am a person who consumes a lot of soul music, a lot of old soul music, even some current things, but mainly things from the 70s and 80s. Electronic too, indie, rock, pop, some pop stuff, what I listen to most are all these other genres coming together when I listen and I don’t even listen to that much pop, but when I perform I I hear a lot of pop. This album has a lot of influence from the 70s, 80s and 90s, they are undoubtedly present,” he said.

However, this will not be his debut in the pop universe. For several years, Junior was part of the pop universe during the duo with his sister, Sandywhich came to an end in 2007. Over the past few years, he has delved into rock with the band Nine Thousand Angels and also in electronics with projects such as Dexterz It is animal. In fact, he was in animal with Julio Torres when he decided it was time to return to pop with the launch of his solo career. The decision to pursue a solo career came after the Nossa História tour, which he did alongside Sandy to celebrate the duo’s 30th anniversary Sandy and Junior in 2019. The one-off project moved him so much, that he began to see that what he had missed for so long was there, in pop.

Now, when asked why he was away from pop for so long and returned to this universe now, he defined it as an important phase of maturity. “I think it was the time I needed to understand that this was what I had to do. And there were great choices that I took throughout this process. The period of Nine Thousand Angelsbecause it was a very intense experience within the rock’n’roll universe, with the Champignons (1978-2013), who was a monster playing bass, the peu on the guitar, and playing the drums with them was a great learning experience. The exchange was really cool. We came from completely different universes, but I also had a huge musical background. We had a huge exchange, no wonder we got together at the time. The studio experiences with the electronic music people and with Julio were also very rich for me, diving into the universe of synthesizers and understanding that it is a whole universe of its own and for me this whole period was really cool, I learned a lot about studio, production… Including the dance floor, understanding what moves people the most, everything adds up to baggage. I needed to experience all of this to understand that this was what I had to do, face this challenge, have the courage to do this work, because many times I didn’t have that courage, I avoided it, you know”, he declared.

The composition

The album’s 10 tracks Groundin Junior, bring different feelings from the artist in new compositions that were made during three years of intense dedication. He composed more than 50 songs, but only 10 made it into the first volume of the solo project and other tracks are already ready for the second volume, which should be released in the coming months. And the composition process was a learning experience in itself for Junior.

“Nowadays I can say that it is easier to compose, I had moments of difficulty, of inspiration. But this album process was so intense and long that it allowed me to see new ways of creating and composing. I learned a lot how to overcome any creative block, work around it and I began to understand more about my process, what works more and what works less. There came a point where I noticed a certain pleasant ease. I dedicate myself a lot to doing it, it’s still a sweat, but it’s a sweat that becomes less and less painful, more and more pleasurable. Composing is very pleasurable and I discovered that I feel much better, much more free to compose when I’m already arranging it together. I already compose and produce, the music was kind of born with a face. It’s rare that I compose on the piano or the guitar, it can happen, they are those inspirations that you don’t have much control over, like: ‘ah, there was a deal here. When I saw it, I was doing it’. In the past, I was like that a lot. I found myself very much a hostage to moments of inspiration. In the process of making the album, I learned: ‘I’m going to compose, the time has come to go and make a song. When I see it, it’s happening,” he said.

All new songs – which are:’Back home‘, ‘I am‘, ‘Trying to get it right‘, ‘Over the years‘, ‘Screw this‘, ‘Kitten‘, ‘Nobody Is Saint‘, ‘The gift‘, ‘New look‘ It is ‘Parachute‘ – rely on the creativity of Junior. “It’s the appreciation of trying to polish as much as possible and I’m very detail-oriented. I think each word has to make sense of being there, and sometimes having three different meanings, even better. I really like the idea of ​​making the listener think and reflect a little on that, what he meant by that. I think it makes the music, the art itself, rich,” he declared.

The Junior difference

The return of Junior to the pop universe takes place 16 years after the end of the duo Sandy and Junior. With that, he is very direct in declaring what is the biggest difference he can point out between when he left pop back then and when he comes back now. “The biggest difference is 16 years of extra baggage! [risos] It’s inevitable that everything I’ve experienced so far is not fundamental to getting to this place, making this sound, building this story, creating anything I created for this album. It was very important for my entire experience, everything I experienced in Sandy and Junior and after that. There’s no way to separate it. All the learning I had in each project paid off in this process of creation, of building this solo career, everything will be tools that I have, they will be padding and baggage for me to deal with the challenges in the future. I don’t know what I’m going to build from now on, but it will definitely be with a lot of love and pleasure,” he stated.

Tour

For now, Junior’s fans will have to wait to see him back on stage with a solo show. He said he intends to wait for the release of the second volume of his first solo album to start planning the show.

“Now is the launch [do Solo Vol. 1], the end of the year is coming, and the idea is to release volume 2 to come with the show. I’ll understand whether with the release of the second part or some time later, to give people time to get to know the entire repertoire and go on the road with the most solid, consistent repertoire, with the volume of music to have a fun show.” , he stated.

And when is the second part coming? Only in 2024. “I think in the first half of next year. It depends not just on me. If it were up to me alone, I would have launched it at the beginning of this year. [risos], but there is always a lot to be resolved before that. The album is recorded, there’s another one to finish mixing. That’s the question of timing for the year, I hope after Carnival, but it’s still too early to give you concrete information”, he concluded.