Conner Nunn

SSW: Let’s talk about your background. When did you first discover your passion for music? At what age did you write your very first song and what was it about?

Conner Nunn: My family has always been big on music, my Dad being an avid appreciator with an eclectic taste. Same with my Mum. but she’s got the most amazing soulful voice. My Grandad used to play sax, Uncle was in theatre, so it was all floating around from early. When I was 12, my older brother Dean, who was 16, was making a name for himself (not just locally, but in London), as an upcoming grime producer. I was the lil bro in the corner. When he would be making all this fire and all these artists would roll through to the studio, I’d be there soaking it up and getting used to all the sauce. My bro’s computer broke one day and he decided to use mine to carry on producing, I started opening up all his files and became fascinated with the process. I chucked every part of myself into it, wasn’t long before I was making my own grime beats. Then I wanted to write and produce everything, quickly learnt guitar, taught myself piano and thought to myself- I’m pretty sure this is what I want to do forever.

My first song… Damn, pretty sure it’s called “Born Again”. I was 14 and someone I was tryna be like at the time, my man JT, was going in with the falsetto and high notes, but with a painful American accent. I’d recently started learning the guitar and got really good at playing the same 3 chords over and over again, I wrote this cool little catchy thing with all these soulful runs and acrobatics. It was about being so blown away by seeing someone for the first time that you were literally born again lol love it, it does bang though, can’t lie, might have to revisit it soon, just without the American accent.

What type of music did you grow up listening to? Who has had the greatest influence on your taste in music over time?

I really am (and have been since I first started consuming music) into literally everything. I got into music when it went digital. It was Limewire, iPod Shuffles and YouTube. I’ve always just liked what I’ve liked and got heavy into anything I had a feeling with, regardless of style or genre. At 13 I was producing dirty grime beats, bumping Paramore, getting gassed to UK garage, trying to hit runs like Chris Brown and JoJo, trying to control my vibrato like Michael Bublé, nailing guitar solos from Oasis songs, and honestly that went on for years covering a lot of expansive ground lol.

I feel like a lot of my generation has a genre fluid appreciation of music. We aren’t defined by the music we listen to, whereas maybe generations before us belonged to purist groups and very much had more of an identity from what they were into. I feel like that identity has become more individualised, where it’s become okay to be into whatever, however contrasting it maybe. It’s more about the soundtrack to the consumer with the array of moods we go through instead of wanting to have an allegiance to a certain sound. It’s amazing to hear the outcome of new artists being informed by music that is genreless, everything can bleed in together in a beautiful way. But unfortunately as a byproduct there is an oversaturation of music, that is informed by and trying to be the same thing. I think over time Drake has been the biggest influence, he’s the MJ of this era, how he’s able to weave seamlessly between style and genre is unmatched, slap after slap, he just keeps going. He’s got so many worlds in the same universe and that’s really how I’m tryna be.

You have recently released your new single “Pattern”, which we were obsessed with! Such a great song! Can you tell us more about it? What was the inspiration behind it and what was the creation process like?

Jheeeze thank you so much! I can’t really say there’s a direct inspiration behind it, ya know. It’s a fire gassy trappy rnb track, like a lil vague snapshot into a relationship gone wrong. Some songs are more nuanced concept-wise and some are just a vibe that are felt out. As soon as I heard the beat, it happened in an instant. I don’t even know what it is to be fair. Sometimes it’s not till after some time has passed, that I make sense of what a track means and what I was trying to get at, weird when you recognise streaks of reality mixed in with something seemingly figurative, but ultimately it’s about whatever anyone wants it to be about. I prefer hearing what other people think it’s about 🙂 haha

What would you like for listeners of your music to take away from your records?

Just to feel something, whatever that maybe. I want to cover a lot ground musically, lots of moods, feelings, as much of the human experience. I want my music to be part of the soundtrack to people’s lives.

What should we expect from you this year?

I don’t wanna gas it too much haha but my second album ‘para/dise’ is finished and coming real soon, it’s such a switch up from my first album para/dOx. I want to get heavy on the performing side, festivals, maybe stadiums next year, collabs, producing for others, just generally getting my music in front of as many people as possible. Hopefully I go off on my local legend Ed Sheeran’s radar, so then we can make a song and he can just bring me straight to the top and I can ride out into the distance, away from coronavirus with loads of commas lol but really I’m gonna be out here, active.

Who is on your Top 3 list of artists you would want to collaborate with?

There really is so many! But if I really had to pick:
Drake
Saint Jhn
Billie Eilish
Post Malone
Frank Ocean

Shout out to the 1975 being the best band though.

Can’t do 3 and feel bad for 6. Sorry!

Let’s talk about more of your personal journey. What is the hardest lesson you’ve learnt in life so far?

I’ve been at some really low points in my life, paid the price for dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. I think the biggest personal lesson I’ve learnt is through actively practicing to seize the present moment, having fun with things and not taking everything too seriously. Everything’s been falling in to place ever since I’ve been finding the silver lining

Growing as a person, you will always encounter challenges that require leaving your comfort zone to try things that scare you. What scares you? Is there anything new and exciting you’d like to try?

One of my favourite sayings is “If your dreams don’t scare you, then they’re not big enough”. I’ve spent a while uncomfortably comfortable with life just getting by and fearing what could go wrong. My new energy is to challenge myself to get comfortable in the uncomfortable, life’s too short to stay in the comfort zone. Is the idea of singing in front of thousands of people scary? Of course, but is it something I want to and will do? Million percent. What scares/motivates me the most to work hard is the idea of being in the 9-5 rat race, living for the weekend and suddenly waking up one day at 60 years old thinking- damn, maybe I should have tried to do more of that thing I really loved that made me happy. I want to live, not just exist.