Premiere: natureplayer and Sam Davis Unwind With "Got the Time"
- Spenser Judd
- Sep 17, 2021
- 4 min read
The New York native, natureplayer, teams up with Chicago-based artist Sam Davis to pump out an end of summer anthem. Released on Sep. 16th, "Got the Time" is an upbeat weekend banger where pop punk and hyperpop collide. Sink your teeth into this tasty tune and let your eyes eat up the visuals shot by Hazelboy.
Recommended for listeners of: splashgvng, The Postal Service, convolk
Natureplayer started up as a pandemic project back in 2020. The newfound alias was christened during January 2021 with the release of a mesmerizing single titled "forgot". Over the next few months, natureplayer streamlined his vision by dropping a slew of singles that submerge listeners into a variety of dreamy soundscapes. After focusing on organic promotion via social media and collaborating with artists like Indigo Smith Oles, natureplayer adds another lens to his music with his first video.
Reconnecting with old time childhood friend, Sam Davis, natureplayer dials up the volume with his latest single, "Got the Time?". To really make his first video memorable, he decided to fly out to Chicago to meet up with Davis while the local legend, Hazelboy, supplied some eyes behind the camera. This man's worked with artists like demxntia, brody, and guardin, so prepare to feast your eyes because his videography game is on point.
Overall, the song's drenched with dark humor masked by the catchy rhythm and natureplayer's optimistic tone. It's a relatable story about unintetionally falling for someone who's emotionally unavaiable. The taunting hook, "bad shawty, she ain't got the time for me" is going to hit close to the home for a lot of listeners.
The tracks's mellow distortion also brings an almost ska-like atmosphere to the track, yet the bass kicks like an 100% Electronica concert right when Sam Davis hops in with his own flow. The music video really lets these artists speak for themselves as Hazelboy blends in a barrage of psychedelic edits. This song's a collage of genres and it's not really worth trying to categorize it. Think for yourself and drift away to this new single.
I had the opportunity to toss some questions at natureplayer right before his release.
Here's what he had to say:
Q: How did you create your newest single, "Got the Time?"
A: Sam and I have been friends since elementary school, and had made some music together several years ago. He visited NYC back in June and stayed with me for about a week. We had tried to make a song earlier in the week to mixed results. "got the time?" really came together on one Friday evening, Sam's last night in the city. He'd been out with a couple other friends of ours, and they all came over to my place around 9pm, where I have a home studio setup. Everyone had been drinking a bit, but I insisted we try one more time to make something. I started on a beat, got the drums down, then we started layering up the guitar.
After adding the tremolo to the lead guitar, we had kind of a jangly groove which was a great starting point for adding vocal melodies. We wanted the song to be relatable and funny, and started writing lyrics about the theme of just going out and having fun with your friends, making the most of your weekend in a summer where everyone's trying to make up for lost time. We ended up working on the song til like 5am and got all the vocals recorded that night, with a trip to a bar somewhere in the middle. Not sure if Sam got any sleep before his morning flight.
Officially, I'm the producer and Sam and I are the writers, but it was great to have some other friends there to bounce around ideas with. Then I spent some time over the next couple months adding some additional production and mixing.
Q: What was it like going out to Chicago to shoot the video?
A: The more that I worked on the song, I realized we needed a video to fully capture the energy. I was planning a trip to visit family in the Midwest in August, and thought that'd be a great opportunity to go visit Sam in Chicago and make a video happen. I'd been Twitter friends with the director Hazelboy (who makes lots of great music and videos) for a while and he offered to help out; he's also in Chicago, pretty close to Sam, which was super convenient.
The shoot was scheduled for the day I got into the city, and the first thing we did was hit up a thrift store to get a bunch of random stuff for costumes and props (broken watches, the clock which I turned into a necklace, Sam's robe). We shot for about 6 hours in and around Humboldt Park, and had an absolute blast.
Q: Any plans for the rest of the year?
A: I'm pretty active on Twitter and can also be found on Instagram and Soundcloud. And I haven't made an official announcement yet, but there will be a natureplayer project before the end of the year focused heavily on collaborations and pop bangers.
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