Will Carlson
Gold Coast, Australia
Will Carlson released his debut single on 22/04/2022 and made it to Number 2 in our Weekly Hip-Hop and Rap features this week. 'McKenzie' is about "a cute girl I saw on Instagram, and that's about as far as the story of the real McKenzie goes". Telling us that he wrote the track with the inspiration of Allday and Aries in mind, 'McKenzie' was written, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered in his bedroom. The track begins with an old-school feel through the piano chord progression. The vocals are heavily autotuned giving the track an emo-rap feel, we really enjoyed the combination of these elements. Click the link below to hear it!
After making it to Number 2 in our weekly Hip-Hop and Rap on his debut release day, Tamara Jenna caught up with Will Carlson to delve deeper into the nature of his artistry
Thanks so much for doing this interview with me, so let's start with some basics. Where are you based?
Gold Coast, Australia
Who were your biggest artistic influences when making 'McKenzie'?
I’ve been a big fan of Allday for about 8 years now. He’s a really great Australian artist, and lyrically he always hits the mark. The Kid Laroi, also Australian, has been blowing up over the last few years so he is for sure an inspiration of mine at the moment. I’ve been enjoying listening to Brakence a lot over the last few years. His emotion and storytelling is so captivating and inspiring. I can’t help but also mention the late Juice Wrld. His music certainly changed my life. Nick Mira, the producer of a lot of Juice Wrld songs is another big influence of mine too.
Juice Wrld's producer is a personal favorite of mine too! What motivates you to create?
I really enjoy the process. It can take a long time to get to a finished product, so I feel like it would be a waste of time if I didn’t enjoy the process of creating. The feeling of finishing a song is GREAT too! That feeling of accomplishment and that high from feeling like a song is done feels so euphoric.
How do you develop your artistic skills?
Like anything it’s just repetition for me. I keep writing lots of songs. I keep producing a lot too. I am ok with writing something or producing a whole beat, then going back over it later and realising it isn’t any good, because I’ll learn from those mistakes and do better next time. I also really like writing different genres and styles. It’s fun to write catchy pop music every now and then.
How would you define your sound?
I’d like to say Hyperpop, but that’s not particularly evident in my first single. Some other music I have coming out later this year leans more towards Hyperpop. But “McKenzie” is certainly more pop/rap.
How do you collaborate with other artists?
At the moment it’s just myself. I always did school projects alone too. I think that’s what drove me to music as an artform, because it’s something that you can do by yourself. I’m definitely not opposed to working with other artists or engineers, but for now I enjoy the journey of working on my own.
What are your ultimate career goals?
Performing big festivals and international tours is a big dream of mine. Having massive crowds sing my songs back to me would just be amazing!
What are your future plans? What can we look forward to for the rest of 2022? I’m just going to keep writing and producing music that I like listening to. I have another single coming out on May 27th called “Heartbeat”, followed hopefully by a larger project that’s aiming for a mid year release. I’d like to then keep a continuous stream of releases later this year.
Thank you for having me!!!
Links to socials and distribution handles
“McKenzie” is out NOW on all major streaming services, including SPOTIFY and APPLE MUSIC!