Template:Home/FloppyDisk

From The Floppy Disk

Interview with Lelia Broussard

Lelia perfoming with The Midnight

The Midnight Wiki had the honor of interviewing Lelia Broussard of Jupiter Winter in January 2021. Lelia joined The Midnight as a touring member for the Fall 2019 Tour and also co-wrote and sang guest vocals on the song Monsters. She talks to us about beginning her music career at a young age, the pros and cons of being independent versus being signed to a label, appearing on TV on Jimmy Fallon and The Voice, her work with The Midnight, and her plans for Jupiter Winter in 2021.

What have you been up to lately?

I’ve just been making a lot of music! It’s been kind of nice to have all of this uninterrupted time to write. Royce and I are working on a Jupiter Winter album which is very exciting for me. Other than writing and working on music, I’m really into cooking. I go on a lot of hikes, I do a lot of workouts in my yard. Ha! Just trying to stay sane and not get or give anyone covid.

Let's go back to the beginning. When do you realize you wanted to pursue a career in music? How did you get your start in the music business?

I developed a big interest in music very early on. I sang incessantly as a kid and I started playing guitar around 12 or 13. I was writing songs as soon as I could string a few chords together and it’s been a lifelong love and pursuit ever since.

As far as my start in the business, when I was a teenager I would religiously seek out every open mic I could find to practice performing in front of an audience. I started playing shows around the Philadelphia area, made some recordings of my songs and started selling them at my shows. 88.5 WXPN - the public radio station in Philadelphia generously gave me some early support and helped to grow my audience in the beginning. When I was 17 I skipped going to college and moved to New York instead where I began collaborating with other writers and producers and doing a little bit of touring. That eventually led to my first publishing deal.

I was able to learn a lot about you that I didn't know when I created your article on the wiki. You released a few albums independently starting at a very young age. What was that experience like?

It was amazing! I don’t know if I deserved to record in a studio with the incredible musicians I got to work with just yet. I was a baby who had no idea who I was as an artist and I definitely wasn’t writing very good songs yet but it was a great learning experience and a huge privilege to be exposed to that world so early on.

I read that you had inked a publishing deal and lived in Los Angeles for a time. What other artists and writers do you work with? Did you/do you enjoy writing and making music for other people?

I did! The first publishing deal I signed was more focused on my own artist development, so I wasn’t really writing for others at that point. I started writing for other artists and projects a few years later, and yes! I love making music for other people. It can be kind of freeing to work on something for someone else because there can be a lot of overthinking and preciousness that goes on when making your own music. I love to help other artists realize their artistic vision and to help them say something that feels honest and true. With the right fit it can be very fulfilling.

You've dipped your toes in many facets of the music industry - you've crowdfunded an album, have done solo work, was in a band (Secret Someones) and signed to a label, toured extensively on stages big and small - what would you say is the biggest thing you've learned? Do you think an artist should try to stay independent as long as they can?

Don’t compare your path to anyone else’s. I’m still learning that one. Study the greats and always find and celebrate the joy in making music, especially when it becomes your job. Write a LOT and don’t be too precious with your ideas. That’s a lot easier to do when you’re prolific. Routines and staying connected to yourself, whatever that means for you really help with creativity. It can be good to stay independent as long as you can, but I think it just depends on the circumstance. There’s so much you can do now as an independent artist and getting as far as you can on your own obviously means more leverage for a better deal. My band Secret Someones got signed pretty much right away, and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for us. Labels can provide a lot of support but they also suck in a lot of ways. I think it just depends on your circumstances.

You've been on TV several times - Jimmy Fallon, The Voice - am I missing anything? What was it like being on television?

Nerve wracking! The Voice is fucking terrifying. It’s a lot of pressure and they make sure you’re well aware of that. Jimmy Fallon was a blast. He was very nice and exactly the person you would hope he is. My band and I got to write a parody song about an audience member and it was the best. Questlove liked my song and that made my life.

How was it competing on singing competitions?

Honestly, it was a wild experience. I met some wonderful people that I love dearly, but reality tv is a strange beast. If you don’t fit into the mold that the producers have invented for you, you won’t last on the show. It was definitely an interesting experience, but I can’t say that I would ever do it again.

Your current project is Jupiter Winter. How did you meet Royce, and when did you guys decide to team up and start making music together?

Yes! Royce and I met on tour in 2015 at The Wonder Ballroom in Portland (which was coincidentally my first gig with The Midnight years later!) I was playing with my band, Secret Someones and we were opening for our Canadian label mates, Marianas Trench. Royce was working with Marianas and we became friends over the tour and after that we started dating. Shortly after we started dating my band broke up and I was trying to find my own creative voice again, and we just started making stuff. It’s taken a long time to evolve into what it is now, but it’s been the best growing and learning experience!

What are each of your roles in this project? What type of sound are you going for?

Royce is more focused on production and I’m more focused on the songwriting, although both of us contribute to both aspects. Lately I’ve been writing and fully producing out a demo, then I’ll take it to Royce and he’ll add in new elements and help to polish and finish it. Sometimes Royce will write and produce a track on his own and I’ll write a topline (lyric + melody) over it. We love a mix of organic and electronic elements. We want to make smart pop music that makes you feel things. I guess that’s indie pop? Tyler says we’re pop wave. I hadn’t heard of it before but I think that feels like an accurate genre for us.

Let's get into your involvement with The Midnight. I've read that you got the touring role through an audition. Can you tell me a bit more about that process and experience?

A wonderful artist manager friend of mine recommended me to their team. We chatted on the phone and they asked to see a few videos of me playing their songs. Tyler and I had been in the same singer/songwriter community for many years, although I don’t think we had ever formally met. He was familiar with me as an artist and songwriter and I had a lot of other mutual friends with the guys. After sending a few videos of me playing, singing and doing my thing over their recordings they asked me to join them for their upcoming tours and after that I had I think two weeks to learn about 25 songs. It was intense but so much fun!

Prior to joining The Midnight on tour, did you have any prior experience or exposure to the synthwave genre?

No, I didn’t!

The synthwave genre and style is quite different from the music you've made for most of your career. Did you find it difficult to learn and get in tune with the songs?

I didn’t find it to be extraordinarily different than learning any other genre or style of music. Most of their songs have a very classic pop structure but their palette is very specific. Recreating all the sounds is one of my favorite parts of doing this gig.

OK - let's talk Monsters, the song. I remember when I saw The Midnight in Fall 2019 Tour, Tyler originally sang all parts of the song. When was it decided that you would sing on the album version? (you sound great by the way!)

Thank you! Yes! While we were on tour in 2019 we were playing a few new songs they were working on, Monsters being one of them. They had the idea to make it into a duet and they gave me the opportunity to take a stab at rewriting and singing the second verse which was so very cool of them. I did it on one of our days off in a hotel room somewhere in the US and thankfully they liked what I did. I’ve played with a lot of artists and it’s not very often that you’re welcomed into their creative process, so it’s been a real honor to get to collaborate with the guys in that way.

Let's talk about the amazing The Midnight Online concert you guys did last fall. When did you first hear that the band was interested in doing a livestream concert? Was it odd to play in a big outdoor venue with no fans?

They let us know a few months before so we thankfully had plenty of time to prepare. Oh my gosh it was so incredible to play music with my favorite people again. All of us had missed it so much. It was very weird and a little sad with no fans, but it was such a huge joy to be able to come together to do that.

What is your favorite The Midnight song to perform and/or your favorite The Midnight song in general? (other than Monsters!)

That’s so hard! I really have so much fun playing the whole show. I love playing America 2, Lost & Found, Los Angeles, I have a blast playing the solo in Gloria. From the new record, Last Train is VERY FUN for me. Neon Medusa is crazy. Royce shreds and that riff is so fun to play.

What are your plans as a musician for 2021? Do you think you and Royce will release an EP or album sometime this year?

Yes, we’re working on an album for Jupiter Winter and I’m so excited to have a whole body of work to finally be able to share. Hopefully we’ll have it wrapped up later this year. I just want to continue growing as a person and an artist and writing, more collaborating with my friends and making things that feel honest and true.

Anything you'd like to say to all the Kids and Monsters out there in The Midnight universe?

Just that I have so much love for all of you! Thank you for being so sweet and welcoming to me. Best fans in the world.

Be sure to follow Lelia and Jupiter Winter on Instagram!

‎

Click the heading above to read more!

Brooklyn

"Brooklyn"
Song by The Midnight
from the album Monsters
Released	July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10)
Length	4:14
Label	Counter Records
Songwriter(s)	Tim McEwan Tyler Lyle
Producer(s)	Tim McEwan
Monsters track listing
Monsters "1991 (intro)" "America Online" "Dance With Somebody" "Seventeen" "Dream Away" "The Search for Ecco" "Prom Night" "Fire In The Sky" "Monsters" "Helvetica" "Brooklyn" "Deep Blue" "Night Skies" "City Dreams (interlude)" "Last Train"

Brooklyn is a song by The Midnight. It is the eleventh track from their album Monsters.

The song was written by band members Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle and produced by McEwan. The bass and fretless bass on Brooklyn were performed by Oliver McEwan. The guitar solo and additional guitar were done by Izzy Fontaine. It has a running time of four minutes and 14 seconds and is in the key of A-flat major.

Brooklyn was originally a solo song by Lyle from his album The Floating Years. Prior to being on The Floating Years, it debuted on the first episode of Lyle's podcast, From The Secret Lair. He has also recorded another version of the song under the name Floating Empire.

During a Reddit AMA, Lyle discussed the inspiration for the song:

When I moved to New York, I didn't know anything about the neighborhoods and was basically scared of everything, so I moved into a big glass tower in Brooklyn. I had a crazy view of Manhattan from my roof and my bedroom was on the 25th floor and looked out over Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene. A lot of that imagery does have a lot to do with heights and the hallucinatory impression the lights at night give you about the city- that coupled with just the sheer difficulty of living in such a challenging city. I was thinking about a couple who might not make it, but the song is definitely about the tension of floating or falling.

In an interview with Headliner Magazine, Lyle further stated:

It was a very lonely and searching time. I had just got married, and my wife and I were deeply unhappy in New York. That song was a question to the city itself as to whether the time there would be good or bad...whether we'd fall apart.

During an interview with Magnetic Magazine, the band commented on the production of their version of the song:

Tim: My job on this track was simple: to get out of the way of the song. It needed to feel stripped down and just be in support of Tyler’s amazing performance.

Tyler: I moved from LA to New York in 2014 a week after I got married. It’s such a difficult city to live in. Most New Yorkers would claim that it’s part of the charm. We moved into a tall glass tower in Downtown Brooklyn with a view from the 25th story of Fort Green and Bed Stuy. I was transfixed by the lights at night, all the while dealing with the major life change of a new wife, a new city, and a disruption to my normal “day job” which was writing songs with other people. It was a lonely time. I wrote a lot of songs in that season though.

Lyrics

There’s traffic on the bridge
But the skyline shines with a certain light
And I know you’re sick of it
But I know a happy hour nearby

And there’s a possibility
That one day things will get better for
The huddled masses in between
The shadows and the stars

Floating empire
Held up by fraying wire
I’ll cover you in winter like a blanket by the fire
And when the rent is too high
We’ll just buy cheaper wine
And hang on to see if whether
Constellations hold together or not

Four years in Brooklyn
And happy birthday darling
When we feel young again
I’d like to take you dancing

Cause there’s a possibility
That one day things will get better
For the huddled masses in between
The shadows and the stars
And there’s a possibility
That we’ll both go down together
Or free ourselves from gravity
And tumble through the dark

Floating empire
Held up by fraying wire
I’ll cover you in winter like a blanket by the fire
And when the rent is too high
We’ll just buy cheaper wine
And hang on to see if whether
Constellations hold together or not

I never placed too much faith in the stars
I never placed too much faith in my heart
But the siren call of the chandelier city
And inch by inch we’re breaking apart
As we’re rising through the dark
From the sky I bet the lights look pretty

Floating empire
Held up by fraying wire
I’ll cover you in winter like a blanket by the fire
And when the rent is too high
We’ll just buy cheaper wine
And hang on to see if whether
Constellations hold together or not

Lyrics source

Official versions

Brooklyn

from Monsters

Brooklyn (Instrumental)

from Monsters (The Instrumentals)

References

‎

Click the heading above to read more!

Kids

This template is about the album. For the songs, see Kids (Prelude) and Kids (Reprise).

Kids
Album by The Midnight
Released	September 21, 2018
Genre	Synthwave
Length	33:51
Label	The Midnight Music
Producer	Tim McEwan
The Midnight chronology
Nocturnal (2017) Kids (2018) The Midnight Remixed 02 (2019)
Singles from Kids
"Lost Boy" Released: July 13, 2018 "America 2" Released: August 3, 2018 "Arcade Dreams" Released: September 7, 2018

Kids is the third album by The Midnight. It was released independently by the band on September 21, 2018, and was preceded by the release of three singles: Lost Boy, America 2, and Arcade Dreams.

Background and composition

The Midnight's previous album Nocturnal featured a distinctive dark and noir sound. For the next album, Tim McEwan expressed a desire to move away from this sound and create music that was more upbeat and happy but still had some hints of sadness. Inspired by the television show Stranger Things and the idea of living in the memories of childhood, McEwan called Tyler Lyle the day after the release of Nocturnal and shared this vision with him. Lyle was receptive to the idea, and thus the process of creating Kids began.

One of the first public mentions of a new release came during a November 2017 interview with Vehlinggo shortly after the release of Nocturnal. McEwan revealed that a new and more "summer feeling" EP was in development and planned for release in the spring or summer of 2018. Giving an early hint at the theme, he stated, “I like to think about it as what the kids from Stranger Things are listening to when they’re not chasing monsters.” The band said on social media in March 2018 that the next album would be "dedicated to the disaffected youth." In May, more info about the new album's direction and theme were shared, with the band stating the "the opening track on our next album is gonna hit you right in the feels" and that it would be their most ambitious album to date - the most challenging so far for McEwan as a producer. They also stated that "A lot of the tracks on our new album are dedicated to late nights on the Internet."

Kids trailer

On July 2, 2018, it was announced on the band's social media that a new single was imminent. On July 6, a small snippet of the single's artwork was shown and a release date of July 13 was given. The next day, the single was confirmed to be Lost Boy and the full artwork was revealed on July 11. On July 28, another single was teased. On August 1, the second single was revealed to be America 2 and was slated for an August 3 release. More songs were hinted at on August 11, and on August 16 Kids was officially revealed with a video trailer. The trailer played a small snippet from Kids (Reprise) and gave a release date of September 21 for the album. On September 5, Arcade Dreams was announced as the third and final single from Kids and was released on September 7.

Kids was officially released on September 21, 2018. Despite receiving more mixed reviews compared to previous The Midnight releases, Kids was a successful release for the band commercially, debuting at number one on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Album Sales chart with week one sales of 2000 copies. It also charted at number 12 on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart, number two on the Heatseekers Albums chart, and number 13 on the Independent Albums chart.

The title Kids was suggested early in development by McEwan, with Lyle also approving of the name. At the time, he and his wife Anna were expecting their first child. The first song created for Kids was Lost Boy, an old track of The Midnight's that had been written back in 2015 with Finnish DJ Lenno Linjama. The song was originally titled In The Dark and had a more house feel compared to the final version. Although the band liked the track, they felt it wouldn't have fit well on Nocturnal and held the song out for a future release instead. Deciding to use the song for Kids, McEwan took the original demo and rebuilt the song, doubling the tempo and running the melody and beats in half-time. In the words of McEwan, Lost Boy would be a table-setter for the rest of Kids, which the band considers to be their first "theme" album. The album was originally planned to be longer with more tracks, but it was decided to shorten the release to reduce Lyle's workload while he was caring for his newborn son. The band eventually decided to make Kids the first release in a trilogy series of albums, which would be followed by Monsters and Heroes.

The artwork for Kids was designed by Aaron Campbell, who also designed all the artwork for the album's singles as well. The date on the album art for Kids, October 18, 1985, is a reference to the North American launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Singles

Lost Boy
July 13, 2018

America 2
August 3, 2018

Arcade Dreams
September 7, 2018

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle except for Lost Boy, which was written by Tyler Lyle, Tim McEwan, and Lenno Linjama.

Kids

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Youth"	3:09
2.	"Wave"	4:31
3.	"Kids (Prelude)"	2:13
4.	"Lost Boy"	4:37
5.	"Saturday Mornings (Interlude)"	0:57
6.	"Explorers"	4:16
7.	"America 2"	4:01
8.	"Arcade Dreams"	4:03
9.	"Kids (Reprise)"	6:04
Total length:		33:51

Release history and variants

Digital release history for Kids

Date	Edition
September 21, 2018	Standard
-
October 30, 2018	Instrumentals
Only includes songs that had vocals on the original release.
April 2, 2021	Stems
Contains the nine songs from the album denoted with BPMs plus 99 stem parts comprising all songs except for Kids (Prelude) and Saturday Mornings (Interlude). The stems are not royalty free but projects and remixes made with them are allowed to be used on non-monetized platforms.

Physical release history for Kids

Year	Format	Color/Design
2018	Cassette	Transparent Purple
First tape variant. Color also referred to as pink.
2018	CD	-
Original release included a set of four postcards of artwork from Kids and its singles. One postcard in each set was signed by Tim and Tyler.
2018	LP	Midnight Magenta
First vinyl variant. Preorders began prior to album release and started shipping in October. Saturday Mornings (Interlude) is not listed on the tracklist but is still present at the beginning of side B. After the initial run sold out, there was not a repress until late 2022.
2022	Cassette	Transparent Green
Second tape variant. Color also referred to as "seafoam green".
2024	LP	Transparent Pink
Second vinyl variant.

References

‎

Click the heading above to read more!