Outlaw The Artist is an artist I first came across when he worked on a single with Venessa Michaels and Effy in 2018 on the release of Venessa Michaels’ Flight EP. Ever since coming across “Ridin’ The Waves“, Outlaw The Artist is an artist I have wanted to learn more about, so to say I was ecstatic to have a chat with him upon the release of his debut album, “Villains Never Die“, is an understatement.
Outlaw The Artist is a human. A Villain. An artist. A Songwriter. A Visual Designer. A Music Lover. A Foodie… Gamer, an Anime lover… he could go on forever about the type of person he is deep down. However, just like a lot of people in this world, Outlaw The Artist wears a lot of hats and he is into a lot of things.
“If I was to throw a label on it; maybe I’d say I’m creative…an ever-evolving, ever-changing.. creative,” Outlaw The Artist expresses to Eat This Music on who he is as a person and artist.
“I’m okay, I can’t complain,” he continues on how he is doing. “I’ve been WAY better and WAY worse so I don’t wanna be dramatic and say woe is me… but 2020 was tough.. as I’m sure it was for everyone else.” In fact, Outlaw The Artist is just grateful he can make music and stay actively doing the things he loves.
Outlaw The Artist’s debut album “Villains Never Die” is a metaphorical and somewhat proverbial snapshot of certain parts of his life. In his debut album, Outlaw The Artist touches on a few recurring topics. “The Villain thing in the first place comes from how I have personally felt manoeuvring in a society where it’s normal to be villainized for your skin tone,” Outlaw The Artist reveals on the influential creation of his album. “It’s noticing that perception and deciding rather than playing the.. don’t scare the ‘Good’ people game… I’m gonna take the whole idea of being a villain, own it, put some sauce on it and turn it into my superpower.”
“In-between that there are some moments of introspection and some pure expression but ultimately that’s what this project is for me.” — Outlaw The Artist on his debut album
Outlaw The Artist continues, “Without that context, I wouldn’t say the project comes across as having too much of a racial undertone; it’s just a day in the life of a villain.”
Outlaw The Artist set out to deliver his signature tone/aesthetic with this album, and make a project that could transport listeners to another world. It’s one part execution of a particular sonic fingerprint, one part telling his story, one part pure expression and one part escapism.
Depending on the project, Outlaw The Artist switches up his process. Since this album was pretty much a cryptic recount of his daily life, these are songs he lived; meaning he didn’t sit down and decide on any topics or subject matter before making the music, he just let the ideas come out and expressed them as they were.
“All of the material was sourced from my own life, I just chose to present it in a not-so-literal manner,” Outlaw The Artist reveals on the creation of his debut album. Additionally, joining Outlaw The Artist on his album are SAARA, Khalisol, Eris Dublin, Dakota Bleur and the aforementioned VenessaMichaels.
Vices” is one of the most important songs from the album. In a way, the song encompasses the aesthetic of Villains Never Die: it’s melodic, dark, lyrical enough — but not too much, emotive and cinematic all at the same time. When listening to this one you can feel the angst that usually comes with fighting your vices whether it’s being a workaholic, alcoholic, Loveholic or dealing with any other type of vice.
“I’ve got a bunch of projects I wanna release this year; 3 short ones all with different vibes that I’ll definitely put out and some other cool things that may or may not see the light of day,” Outlaw The Artist reveals. “I owe my listeners some visuals and I’ll finally be delivering. Other than that, just world domination.”
