On Being Greedy, Making Art And Vogue

Back in high school – only a couple of years ago, mind – Shamir Bailey’s peers voted him Best Dressed and Most Likely To Appear On The Cover Of Vogue Magazine. He’s yet to appear in the magazine itself, but he’s featured on Vogue.com. Bailey giggles it off. “I feel like my style now is way more toned down than it was in high school.” He’s at that stage where he’s still able to spend quality time with his old friends. “I still have the same best friends. It’s very weird to them, to see a bunch of strangers talk about me, but at the same time, they’re just like, ‘That’s Shamir, the awkward kid we grew up with.’”

As a musical project, Shamir came to fruition as an on-the-side job while his high school punk band was on hiatus. “We’d already released a tape that summer, and I was working a lot straight out of high school so we didn’t have as much time to rehearse as we used to. And I was really getting into pop music – Natalia Kills, Marina & The Diamonds, things like that, so I was making my own little experimental pop thing.”

"It was really natural. I really wanted each song to have its own life"

The result was his first EP, Northtown, for which he received critical acclaim. Things were well and truly kicking off. “It was crazy, the first song I ever recorded ended up being a ‘Best New Track’ on Pitchfork, so it’s been crazy for me.” It’s a far cry from the initial direction Bailey had imagined his life was going to take. “I was planning to go to Arkansas to just settle down and live a quieter life, you know, just write some stuff by myself, come back to Vegas and then go back to school – that was pretty much the plan.” All of a sudden, he was flying to New York to work with Nick Sylvester, who Bailey had contacted, asking to check out his music. “Starting off being completely uninspired and not really having goals, to be heard like that. When I record music, I don’t like to think about who I’m recording it for; I just like to make really good, honest art.”

Bailey’s debut album, Ratchet, is an eclectic mix that ranges from electronic pop to rap to ballad – completely reflective of his character, which he recognises is “all over the place”. The recording process, however, was entirely cohesive. “We didn’t really make the music any differently to the EP; you still make everything in analogue. One thing we used the computer for was to record; we didn’t produce anything on the computer. Everything is done with analogue drum machines, synths, synthesiser boxes and things like that. It was really natural. I really wanted each song to have its own life.

“I’m at this stage in my career where I almost feel greedy asking for more, but I think you just have to go with focusing on working hard and making really good art. I’m really looking forward to what’s to come.”