Justice: “We heard Sicko Mode by Travis Scott and said, ‘Wow, we’re still thinking about music in an ancient way’”
“We tried to unlearn a bit of what we knew as musicians and producers.”
Getty / Pascal Le Segretain
Justice have revealed that Travis Scott’s 2018 single Sicko Mode made them re-evaluate how they think about music.
The duo are set to release their first album in eight years, Hyperdrama, on 26 April this year. The first three singles – Generator, One Night/All Night, and Incognito – are out now.
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Sicko Mode was hugely successful following its release. The track features guest vocals from Drake, Swae Lee and Big Hawk, and became the first hip-hop song in history to spend at least 30 weeks in the US Billboard Hot 100 top ten. It was also nominated for both Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 61st Grammy Awards, and is certified double platinum in the UK.
In a new interview, Justice say the track shifted how they approached song structure for this new era. As the pair were gearing up to make new music, they wanted to create with a “fresh heart”. Speaking to Billboard‘s Katie Bain at SXSW 2024, Xavier de Rosnay states, “We tried to unlearn a bit of what we knew as musicians and producers and try to step into making an album with a fresh heart — not even a fresh mind.
“We were listening to SICKO MODE by Travis Scott and that song was a huge hit; you have an intro, then 20 seconds of Drake then it goes to something else. We heard that and went, ‘Wow, we’re still thinking about music in an ancient way. Almost by reflex.’ So we tried to put all of that aside.”
Elsewhere in the interview, de Rosnay also reveals that they made more than 200 versions of one song for this new record due to their “almost unhealthy relationship with details”: “For almost every song we have to write, produce and record the human version of it and then the electronic version of it, too,” he says. “If you want to get the best out of it, you have to go to a studio and perform all those things.”
Justice are set to perform at this year’s Coachella Festival. You can view all of their live dates via their official website.
