After six months of teasing fans with singles like “I Could Give It Up“, “I Can’t Believe It” and “Advertising“, Pusher has finally released his first debut album – Stay-At-Home Popstar — and Celeb Secrets is giving you the scoop on what to expect from the full-length project straight from the artist.
Pusher has attracted many electronic music lovers, as his songs have over 55 million catalogue streams and 3.5 million YouTube views. Singles like “This Song is Sick” and “Acid Stag” have landed spots on the Billboard Dance/Electronic, Spotify Viral, and on iTunes charts; and he’s toured with artists such as The Chainsmokers, Zeds Dead, and Phantoms.
Pusher’s style breaks standard boundaries, as he puts a colorful take on genres such as pop, jazz and electronic while bringing vocals and beats together to create a body of music around new worlds. According to the artist, Stay-At-Home Popstar was written before the COVID-19 lockdowns and was crafted from his reflections of his career and the music industry.
“The title originally referred to my own lack of touring, and how artists are forced to only see value in their stats – tour dates, streams, followers, playlists,” Pusher said in a statement. “This album is the product of focusing on my own artistic goals and craft rather than on trying to look like a marketable product by focusing on driving up those numbers,”
Celeb Secrets sits down with Pusher (virtually) where he dives deep into where his love for music came from, how the record came about and what it’s been like collaborating with artists like Genevieve Artadi. You can read more via our exclusive Q&A below!
Don’t forget to take a listen to Stay-At-Home Popstar at the bottom of the post and let us know what you think of it by either leaving a reaction or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
You can connect with Pusher by giving him a follow on Instagram at @itspusher.
Celeb Secrets: Congrats on the new release of your first album, Stay-At-Home Popstar, that’s finally here! What inspired you to create this album? What was the creative process like with this album?
Pusher: “With a project like this I like to push myself into new musical territory, so each song was written in an afternoon and then painstakingly developed for years. I wanted to make an album that had a no-BS approach to writing lyrics where every detail of every song contributed to the meaning.”
CS: So for those who don’t know, where did the idea for your artist name Pusher come from?
Pusher: “I was in the process of looking for a name and I stumbled on this one in an X-Files episode and no other musicians had it.”
CS: Where did your passion for music come from? Where did you get your start?
Pusher: “I think the part of my brain that was supposed to be wired to liking food got switched with music. Before I ever had a career in it, I studied music for years and got a degree in jazz piano.”
CS: Your musical style isn’t identified under one specific genre, but instead it’s a mixture of pop, jazz, R&B and dance styles. How did you discover what you wanted your style of music to be? Where did the idea to have such a wide range come about?
Pusher: “Quantity over quality. When a person is finding (or reinventing) their style, I think the best method is to make a ton of stuff and see what lands where and go with that. I’m also a big fan of forcing it – making something every day no matter what is the best tool for learning about creativity. Waiting for things to happen never got me anywhere. Genre isn’t what it used to be. Genre used to be an indicator of somebody’s brand. In mainstream music it still cal be, but we’re seeing the rise of genre as an emotional indicator. It’s not uncommon for a single act to use totally different genres between albums, songs, or within a song (think of anything from featured rap verses in pop songs to genre blending like Babymetal, or genre-hopping like 100 gecs). Sometimes you need a punk, 80s, or acoustic aesthetic to convey the message better.”
CS: You’ve released two EPs in the past, how does this album differ from the previous works you’ve done?
Pusher: “I’ve done virtually everything on this album. I used to co-write songs with vocalists who would handle the vocal part (lyrics and melodies). This time I’m doing it myself so I can say whatever I want to. A lot of top line writers want to keep their subjects generic (read: relationship songs) so they don’t accidentally get typecast before they really develop their own sound. A jaunty song about climate change isn’t everybody’s cup of tea.”
CS: One of the features on this album includes Genevieve Artadi, what was it like working with her? Are there any other features that you are excited about?
Pusher: “Gen is incredible. I’m glad she got involved. I had written ‘Someday‘ — the song she features on — and had my own vocal pitched up on it, but to my ears it just sounded like something she would sing. I sat on it for a couple weeks to be sure I wanted it on the album and when I sent it to her she liked it and just recorded parts and sent them back. Later that year (2019), I was in LA and we spent a day hiking up to a cold war missile base called LA-88 with My manager Sarah and Chiquita Magic to shoot the music video for it. Then we got tacos.”
CS: Do you have any upcoming projects coming up after the album release? Any music videos we can be expecting?
Pusher: “Once the album is out, there are music videos for the non-single tracks that will be out. Then we have a big animation contest planned. I’ve got more video content to make to promote the album – song breakdowns and such – and I’ll continue making infotainment songs for TikTok and working on new songs for the next release.”
CS: What is the overall message you want listeners to take away from this album?
Pusher: “If people come away with a different idea of what can be done with pop music tools to say something about a subject other than relationships that would be neat. I try to separate myself from what people think of my work. I just make it, it’s everybody else’s job to decide what they think of it.”
CS: Lastly, since we are Celeb Secrets, can you share any secrets about yourself or your music that fans wouldn’t know about?
Pusher: “I’m ridiculously obsessive and hyper focused about tasks sometimes. I once spent two months researching the architecture of houses.”
Listen to “Stay-At-Home Popstar” below:
