Watsky is a lyricist through and through. He's part of a rare breed nowadays, and his lyrical dexterity and content stems from his early career as a poet, winning the National Youth Poetry Slam at the Apollo Theater and appearing on the final season of Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on HBO. He's long released underground hip-hop and turned in great efforts with 2013's Cardboard Castles LP and 2014's Anderson .Paak-produced All You Can Do. After taking a hiatus and turning to prose with the essay collection How To Ruin Everything, he's back with another heady Anderson .Paak-produced jam called "Midnight Heart," taken from his latest effort x Infinity out later this month. The song is a piano-driven hard-hitter with big slapping drums with Mal Devisa lends some punk thunder on the hook and Watsky switching between rapid-fire cadences and contemplative flows. The video features Watsky battling it out in the boxing ring with some clever choreography involving his opponent and the referee. It's a very fitting visual for a song about perseverance. He's what Watsky had to say about how everything came together:
Between all the people who worked on the song and video, “Midnight Heart” is the track on my album I can take the least credit for. I rewrote my verses three times because I wanted to make sure my lyrics were up to the quality of the rest of the song elements. I love the production, and Mal Devisa, with her versatility switching between the punky shouting sections and the choruses, is one of my favorite features ever. When I started brainstorming with the video director, Carlos Lopez Estrada--who I've been a fan of for a while-- we always pegged this song as one to go big for. I did four rehearsals with the choreographer Jillian Meyers and the co-star Matt before we started shooting, and wanted to make it clear to everyone watching that this was a project we were committed to, and were willing to put in many many hours for. So anything good about this song I can never claim as fully my own. But working on it was everything I love about being an artist-- collaborating with a bunch of creative talents, committing fully, and coming together to make something awesome. And that's really the message of the song-- pushing back against the segment of "the industry" that often prizes the product over the process.
Watch.
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x Infinity is out 8/19 on Steel Wool Entertainment. Pre-order the album and find tour dates here.
