An Interview With bennytheghost

When I first heard bennytheghost’s song “Low,” I was driving and had to immediately pull over. I was impressed by the songs catchy melodies and lyrics, and equally impressed by my conversation with the artist. LA based bennytheghost cares a lot about the music he creates, and his talent for creating is remarkable. Read our conversation below to learn more about the artist’s music and his latest release, “Low.”

YOU STARTED PUTTING OUT MUSIC THIS YEAR AS BENNYTHEGHOST. HAD YOU BEEN MAKING MUSIC BEFORE THEN? 

I’ve been making music forever. I started writing songs when I was 18. In college, I was releasing music on Soundcloud and I even released an entire EP under a different name. I recently moved to LA and I started making music there. My friends who are also artists were like, “You either have to delete all the music you have—which I didn’t want to do—or you have to come out with a new project and start fresh under a different name.” The music I’m making as bennytheghost represents a new sound and era for me. 

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND?

The genre varies from song to song. I would say overall it’s indie pop. I also make a lot of indie rock and acoustic music, and I would say that indie pop sits somewhere between those two. When I first started making music, I was super into heavy metal rock. I slowly started listening to pop music and discovered that I could write creative pop melodies and lyrics, so I slowly shifted over into that genre.

WHAT ARTISTS MADE YOU WANT TO CROSS OVER INTO MAKING INDIE POP MUSIC?

I don't know. I didn't really like pop when I started listening to it, but it has grown on me. There are artists that I think do a really good job of mixing rock and pop sounds. Coin is an example of that. Some other artists that began to fuse those sounds for me were Two Door Cinema Club and Fall Out Boy. There’s a lot of guitar in that kind of music, but it’s a lot less heavy. It’s also super melodic. 

YOU CAN DEFINITELY HEAR THAT IN YOUR SONG “LOW.” WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THAT SONG? 

I wrote that song, or at least started writing it, almost a year ago in my family's house while I was visiting home. I was thinking about how weird it is that every time I come home and I'm with my friends, it's always as if nothing has changed since I left. I feel like the best version of myself when I hang out with my friends from home. They just know the most authentic version of me because they knew me when I was younger. The song came after a conversation with old friends. We were talking about how rough it is trying to lead a fully adult life as compared to what it was when we were 16 or 17. When I was younger, I was always hanging around and goofing off. Now, I just have to spend all my time working day jobs that I’m bad at. 

DOES MAKING MUSIC EVER FEEL LIKE A JOB? 

 I have a lot of freedom when it comes to making music. Sure, it can feel like a job when there are impending deadlines, which there sometimes are, and I'm sure there will be in the future. Other than that, it doesn’t feel like a job and it’s great. How I’ve been operating now—putting a single out once every four to six weeks—has been chill since I already have songs written. If you have a backlog of songs, you can put those out and give yourself time to make new ones. I take a long time with lyrics, so having that extra time allows me to sit on them and think about them.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE LYRIC FROM “LOW?” 

I’m really proud of the last four lines in the bridge. That part doesn’t have a beat—it’s just strings. Those lyrics all came out super quickly, which rarely happens for me. They’re super cohesive and super dark. I like that they’re at the end of the song. It’s the cherry on top for me. The lyrics are, “yes I guess I thought I saw you crying/yesterday I kind of felt like dying/I guess this is what I get for trying/I guess I’m a mess that’s just who I am.” 

YOU JUST FILMED A VIDEO FOR THE SONG, WHICH IS SOON TO BE RELEASED. WHAT WAS THAT PROCESS LIKE? 

It was fun. We rented this huge warehouse and were just running around trying to make it happen. We filmed a bunch of different shots and I’m excited to see how it all comes together. I’ve seen little clips of it, and it looks really cool. 

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’VE BEEN UP TO A LOT THIS YEAR. HAS IT BEEN EXCITING TO WATCH THINGS START TO HAPPEN FOR YOUR MUSIC? 

It has. Right before song one came out, I would close my eyes and imagine it blowing up. I would just meditate on it while I was in the shower or driving. But then song one came out and it didn't get any playtesting or do much at all. I was so bummed that my manifesting didn’t work. And then song two came out and did all the things that I wanted song one to do. I had stopped visualizing just in time for it to happen, so it’s incredibly exciting. But at the same time, I've been imagining this all happening in my head since I was 14, so it's more like this is the way it was always going to go. You almost have to think like that in order to make it happen—like things are finally going according to plan. 

IT’S FATE! 

Yeah! Right before I dropped “Low,” My manager Gio and I went to a Tarot card reading. From what I remember, the first card I got was career success and the second was personal life success. The third card was pressure, in the sense of feeling like there are always eyes watching and an audience that has expectations of you. I think success brings pressure. After dropping a song, people are always going to expect the same or better every time. I don’t think there’s that much pressure on me right now, but I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself because I don’t want to go downhill. Right now, it’s still fun. And I can’t wait to play live shows. One thing that I want people to know about my music is that I love performing. Anytime I write a song, I try to close my eyes and imagine what the energy is going to be like in the room when it’s time to play them live. I always try to put myself in the live space when I write so that the performance lives up to the track. Who knows when live music is going to open up again, but that's something that I’m really looking forward to. 

YOU CAN FIND BENNYTHEGHOST ON SPOTIFY AND APPLE MUSIC. GO STREAM AND MAKE SURE TO SUBSCRIBE TO TWENTY MINUTES LATER FOR MORE INTERVIEWS LIKE THIS ONE.