INTERVIEW: LLUCID

Interview by Laury Verdoux

Hailing from Germany, musician and rapper LLUCID has been imposing his name in the music scene all around the world with every new release for the past few years. The artist is teasing the release of his debut album in June with a new track titled “Higher Energy,” an anthemic, powerfully resonating song in which LLUCID simply ignores the stereotypes of the hip-hop genre.

We got to speak with him about his starting point, artistry and upcoming debut album Deep Blue Dreams.

Can you start by telling us the story behind your stage name LLUCID?

Most of the time people seem to have these exciting stories about their stage name or are just born with a cool name. With mine, it kinda had to grow on me. A friend randomly started calling me Lucid one day for some reason (my real name is Lucas) & when I was thinking about my stage name in the early stages of my project, this came to mind again. Honestly I feel like an imposter, I haven’t even had a lucid dream haha, but the name kept growing on me & I loved the concept behind it, as there’s so much meaning to it. The need for control, the parallels to meditation & mindfulness, as well as the imagination activated when dreaming, endless possibilities. It’s deeply tied to your subconscious & that’s the case with my music too, so this is why I stuck with that name.

How did you get started in the music industry, and what inspired you to become an artist?

Ever since I was a child, I spent most of my time making music. I taught myself how to play the drums with 7, learned to play the guitar a little, started to record stuff with a Guitar Hero USB mic I found laying around & eventually wrote & recorded my first song on a Fruity Loops demo version with my dad when I was about 12. A friend later gave me a copy of Ableton, so after finishing school I went to study music production, but dropped out after a while to join the real world. Becoming an artist actually has been a pretty recent thing, because most of the time I’ve been a drummer & producer. After feeling pretty burned out about it I decided, that I wanted to know what happens if there’s no barrier between my musical Ideas & the outcome & on the way I discovered how much growth the path of becoming an artist leads to. So this is me pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

What do you think sets your music apart from other artists in the hip-hop genre?

I think what sets me apart is that I’m not even trying to be a hip-hop artist. I don’t stick to one genre & I never will. When it comes to promotion, people don’t know what to put my music next to & even though that is a huge pain sometimes, I know it’s a good thing. I’m inspired by & produced for lots of different artists in different genres. I produce my own stuff in a way, that’s pretty different from the usual hip-hop approach. I’m in my producer head, when I’m writing lyrics & vice versa. These days I am heavily inspired by Rap, RnB & Jazz but grew up on Rock, Funk & Electronic music. In the end, I’m just tryna make music I enjoy & I would like to listen to myself. You might hear some electric guitars in one track & heavy synths on the next one, while another one is me rapping over a choir sample.

Can you walk us through the creative process of your latest track "Higher Energy"?

"Higher Energy" has that playful and uplifting vibe, but it is also deeply personal to me. I often struggle with letting go of control and allowing things to happen naturally. So about two years ago, in 2021, I went on a mission to rediscover the joy of making music. It had become my job by that time, and I felt like I had lost sight of the lightness that comes with creating purely for the sake of enjoyment. So, I left Berlin with a couple of friends to spend a week making music at Samy Deluxe's studio. The space is filled with art and musical instruments, and being able to make music there with my friends felt like a childhood dream come true.
One night, while listening to Yung Thug's "Hot," my friend Schuster started playing drums for fun. That impromptu jam session became the foundation of "Higher Energy." We wrote the song in one go, and to this day, listening to the choirs we recorded gives me the same joy I felt when we first created it. The lyrics of "Higher Energy" are not just a reflection of that experience, but also a reminder to unapologetically be yourself and enjoy the process of creating without overthinking or overworking (definitely something I repeatedly need to tell myself).

Many rappers are known for their lyrical prowess and storytelling ability. How do you approach crafting your lyrics, and what themes or messages do you aim to convey through your music?

It’s pretty strange, I’m not a native, I’m not very extroverted & I used to not give a shit about lyrics for the most part of my life. I wasn’t the kid to write poems or something. What changed that was a friend making me have a freestyle cypher with him & that started a whole domino effect.
For me expressing my feelings has been a journey of self discovery & getting into writing my own lyrics has been a wild ride. I’m trying to be as honest as I can & it helps me say things, I normally would hesitate to say. So in the end my lyrics are often based on self reflection.
Lately I’ve been messing around with just freestyling & recording bar for bar. So I’d let the music play & sing/ rap what comes to my head without any filter & punch myself in after every line. It’s kinda interesting, as you don’t know what the song will be about when you start it & somehow the songs I made that way deeply resonate with me. You can hear that on my album on the tracks ‘Silence’ & ‘Infinity’.

Collaborations are a big part of the music industry so we're curious to know who are some of your dream collaborators, and what kind of music do you imagine creating with them?

I’ve got an infinite list of people in my head that I wanna work with, I don’t even know where to start, but the last two years I’ve been really fucking with BEAM’s stuff, he inspired me big time & you can definitely hear that on my album as well. Since I’m a producer at heart there are some obvious names like Pharrell, Rick Rubin & the old Kanye (I guess it’s obvious why), Andre 3000, Kendrick, Keem, Amine. Kimbra was on that list too! After hearing ‘On Top Of The World’ when it came out, I was hooked on her music & I am really happy to say, that this one has become reality. So you might be able to hear what that collaboration would sound like very soon.

How has your style evolved over the course of your career, and what kind of changes do you see yourself making in the future?

I guess the underlying theme of my artist project is finding ways to express all of my facets as a person, emotionally & musically. So I’d say my style evolved in a way that showcases who I am more & more. I took lots of time exploring what inspires me & learned how dive into these styles (& of course I’ll never stop doing that), so that now it feels like all these small fragmented pieces start to become this bigger picture.

Can you give us a little sneak peek of your upcoming debut album Deep Blue Dreams?

It’s gonna take you on a journey going through many different emotions and it’s not giving a fuck about genres. It’s the first time where I feel like I’m making music that really represents who I am.

WHERE TO FIND LLUCID
Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | Apple Music