Steve Lacy interviewed by Pierre A M’Pelé for Perfect Steve Lacy Zine by Nadia Lee Cohen.
Steve Lacy for Perfect Steve Lacy Zine by Nadia Lee Cohen
Photographer: Nadia Lee Cohen
Fashion Editor’s: Chloe & Chenelle Delgadillo
Interview: Pierre A M’Pelé
Despite becoming one of the music industry’s most distinctive and sought-after artists, Steve Lacy is chill as fuck.
At 27, the singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer has already accomplished what many artists spend a lifetime chasing. He earned his first Grammy nomination at just 17 years old with his band The Internet, and in 2023 took home the Best Progressive R&B golden gramophone for his sophomore solo album Gemini Rights, propelled by the number-one hit ‘Bad Habit’. His musical universe is rich and tasteful. He blends R&B, neo soul and indie rock into a sound that feels both intimate and effortlessly cool. And he’s hard to miss: his list of high-profile collaborators includes Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, Solange, and J. Cole.
He was barely a teenager when he picked up the guitar – after mastering Guitar Hero – and began playing in his private school’s jazz band. ‘The guitar is when I started this journey,’ he says, explaining that it came from several places, from the guitarist at church to Jimi Hendrix and Prince. There’s a familiar choir-to-studio trajectory in American music – think Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston and John Legend – and Lacy is a contemporary iteration of it. ‘I’ve always had a feeling for it because my family is pretty musical,’ he says. ‘We all sing, because we came up in the church.’ Lacy fell in love with the instrument. ‘I was obsessed with the way it sounded and how it looked…’ He pauses. ‘It’s almost like I wanted to be it; I wanted to be a guitar. I wanted to have strings.’ Such fantasies of objectification often surface in artists who seek to become conduits for emotion, vessels for something larger than themselves, disappearing into the work. ‘And I still feel that way, especially when I enter a music store, because it’s aspirational. It feels like looking at the ocean or the sky, something infinite… So many possibilities.’
Asked about the past 10 years and how they’ve changed his perception of himself, Lacy reflects on his entire journey as an artist. ‘That’s a big-boy question right there,’ he laughs, ‘I think about it a lot. There have been moments when I got to sit down and re-evaluate.’ Music was always his first and only choice. He trusted that instinct early. ‘I had always known or had a feeling that I would do music, even when I was 12 or 13,’ he says. ‘I didn't know what exactly I would be doing in music, but I knew that that was my life’s devotion. So when I started making music with the band, it felt natural. And I worked hard for it. I practiced a lot. I had a lot of ideas to offer – and I wasn’t even aware of that, because I was blind going into it when I had those first studio sessions at 14 or 15.’
It’s been almost a decade since Lacy launched his solo career, following his breakthrough as guitarist and vocalist of The Internet – alongside Syd, Matt Martians, Patrick Paige II and Christopher Smith, and past members Tay Walker and Jameel Bruner. ‘I had zero knowledge of the industry, and I didn’t know what to do, but it just felt right,’ he says on the subject of joining the band. ‘I was with these lovely people who nourished my gifts and showed them to me and told me I could do this.’ The Internet created space for Lacy to explore and bloom and find his groove. ‘We were just spending time together, smoking weed and jamming. It was very natural, like a family.’ Lacy was still in school while his music career took off, so he couldn’t join the band on the road. ‘I would just play the LA shows, and they would encourage me,’ he says. ‘Matt really encouraged me, because we all wanted to drop solo stuff at that time.’ So he did. The song ‘Dark Red’ from his first EP, Steve Lacy’s Demo, set the tone for his solo career. ‘It was a side project – the band was the thing. I’m a team player, but I also wanted to write my own material and develop my voice, and work for other people too.’
The band gave him his first big taste of touring in 2018, with their album Hive Mind; they played several festivals and served as the opening act for Gorillaz in North America. He then released his debut solo album, Apollo XXI, the following year. ‘I wrote the album while I was on a break after touring with the band,’ he says, ‘and I like taking my time, because I don’t work with opinions, I work with time and I let things grow.’ Though his album was well received, Lacy faced an unhealthy amount of negative criticism online. ‘I was really frustrated because my album got some super shitty reviews,’ he says, ‘and I knew they were right, because I hadn’t put enough time and love into making it.’ With that came imposter syndrome. ‘I was mad that someone had caught me. But as I was getting shitted on, I also realised the importance of live shows, because people did like it. But we know that negativity always rings louder than the hundreds of positive affirmations that you’re getting.’
So Lacy toured, keeping his head high, and connected with his audience: ‘I played the music like I loved it, and I did love it.’ Despite the success of his album – which earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album – he struggled with understanding his role as a solo act. ‘I think I had great ideas, but at that time, I didn’t really have much intention, so I didn’t see myself as an artist.’ Why not? ‘I didn’t know what it meant,’ he replies, ‘and even when I got nominated for the Grammy, I thought, OK, nothing is real.’ To this day, to protect his mental health, he surrounds himself with family and friends. ‘I also like spending time alone, even though I haven’t mastered that yet, and I go to therapy weekly.’ It’s an ongoing process of figuring himself out, he believes. ‘I’m just trying to be a better person, and a better artist.’
Then Covid put everything on pause. He asked himself existential questions – ‘What do I want? What is going on?’ – and found answers in what he was truly missing. ‘Before quarantine, I had taken it for granted: I used to say that I hate touring and that I wanted to be at home. But then I was home and I started missing touring.’ It was around the same time that Lacy experienced heartbreak, so he dived deep into his music. ‘I was processing those feelings and starting the album, and then I got into this crazy car accident,’ he says, ‘and that kind of got me closer to understanding what I was meant to do. It was about evolution.’ Fast-forward to 2022: Lacy releases Gemini Rights and goes back on tour. Then radio silence.
Last summer, he returned with ‘Nice Shoes’, the lead single of his upcoming album, Oh Yeah?, which he gave himself the necessary time to craft. It took him three years. Regarding his process, he shares that writing lyrics and melodies come rather naturally. ‘I also write with my friend, Matt Castellanos, and we sit together and listen to the music and see what comes. But I think my writing practice changes on every album – even though I think my work is thought like episodes of a TV show.’ And even though he’s charted at the top, he doesn’t want to make commercial music. ‘It’s not really about writing pop bops,’ he says. ‘I want to make music that resonates… Music I want to sing, to feel in my body… Music that helps you heal and process weird, complex emotions.’ Lacy is evidently a music nerd who wishes to surprise more than subvert. ‘Making this album was about finding textures and producing honest work,’ he says, ‘and it was also about having the highest consideration for words and scratching beyond the surface and not being formulaic.’ When I ask him about how he feels about his music being often described as ‘new wave’ or ‘urban’, he pauses. ‘I’m always perplexed when people ask me what kind of music I make,’ he answers, ‘because I like to say I make music with melodies, so that they don’t think I’m a rapper. But rappers have melodies too, so I don’t know how to answer this question just yet. But I’m heavily influenced by R&B.’
Ultimately, Lacy is a tour guy. ‘I don’t really care about album sales, and I don’t obsess over first-week sales or whatever the fuck people care about,’ he admits, ‘because I just want to be on the road and I want to be on huge tours. And I just gave myself a goal in my head, but I’m going to keep it a secret.’ His pre-stage rituals are fairly simple: a 10-minute nap, a prayer and a voice warm-up.
When asked about his growing fame, he shrugs. ‘I don’t really feel that famous – I feel more regular than I feel famous. I feel fine, I feel chill.’ If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Steve Lacy, it’s how chill – almost unbothered by the idea of himself – he is. He’s just a guy from Compton who happens to be a terrific musician. Superstardom might be around the corner, but he’s more interested in the music than in performing the myth of celebrity.