Julian Cross is an up-and-coming musician making waves in the music industry with his latest releases, ‘All I Need’ and ‘Antidote’. In this interview, we discuss Julian‘s new single, upcoming album, and his creative process. Julian shares his excitement for his upcoming album, ‘Stories Of The Nebula’, which he has been working on for the past couple of years, and how the album will showcase his diverse sound. Julian also talks about his experience working with Afrojack on his latest single, ‘All I Need’, and the importance of being open and diverse with his sound.
Hey Julian, how are you doing? Let’s kick things off with your brand new single, ‘All I Need’, together with Afrojack. How happy are you with the finished product?
I’m good. I’m good. This one has been in the works for quite some time but I think this track is the perfect example of what’s to come on my upcoming album ‘Stories Of The Nebula’ so I’m pretty excited. It’s a cool summer track.
Speaking about your album, is this something that has been in the works for a long time?
It’s been in the works for quite a while. I’m 25 now and I wanted to do one when I was like, 15. I was like, one day, I’m going to make an album, telling my friends, just wait for it, I’m gonna do an album and now nearly 10 years later, it’s finally coming. It’s in shape how I wanted it and pictured it myself but yes, it’s been quite a while. I think I’m more than happy with the result of what’s been the last 10 years. Of course, the tracks are not 10 years old but I feel the progression since then and now is exactly how I pictured it. And I feel like I ticked every box that I wanted for this album so far.
Will we be hearing more new music as part of this album over the coming weeks and if so, how many tracks will be included in the album?
Yeah, quite a few. I’m going to release a few tracks before the official album and then once the album is released, the remaining tracks are going to be on there. It’s going to be a 12-track album and I’m actually really looking forward to it. It’s like exciting as well, because you’ve been making it all this time and then you finally are able to release it. In terms of the style of the music, I think everybody has something they will like on it.
For both of your latest singles, ‘All I Need’ and ‘Antidote’, the music style is diverse. Will the album showcase more of that?
Yes, but I think they will all tie in together at the end of the day. But I think it’s really diverse, you have something of everything. ‘Antidote’ was more for the festivals and ‘All I Need’ is more of a radio track. So there will be a lot of different styles on the album but they will all connect together because it’s the ‘Stories Of The Nebula’ and I’m trying to do like this cool concept with it. So it’s all together like visually, from the video to artwork to track IDs, so it’s going to be one complete story and that is what I find very interesting concept.
As an artist, how important do you think it is to be open and diverse with your sound?
I feel like it’s really important to try a lot of different stuff and different ideas and different kinds of styles. Because at the end of the day, if I hadn’t made some of the demos that I made before, I wouldn’t have learned as much to get to this result. So that’s why it’s very important to learn and watch what other styles are doing and teach yourself a little bit of this, because maybe you won’t use it in this track or the next track. But at the end of the day, you’ll learn something. And I think it’s important to learn something new every time you’re in the studio. So you keep pushing yourself to get the best result.
Is there anything you’ve learned about yourself in the making of this album?
Well, I didn’t know I was going to be so diverse with this album 10 years ago, I don’t know how I envisioned it back then but I’m pretty sure I had my own idea back in the days. But I’m super happy with it, and that’s the most important thing. I feel like this is what I wanted to do. This is what I want to release. I want to bring a lot of styles together but also just in general, have good vibes on the album so people enjoy it.
‘All I Need’ was created alongside Afrojack, what was it like working with him on this single?
Amazing. Because he’s such a heavyweight, he just so much fun to work with and I learned so much from him. We were just in the studio having a good time. and three, four hours later, we created the first demo. It was all about the good vibes, just jamming. And I think this track is like the perfect result of what I’ve learned over the last two years and what Afrojack has tried to teach me as well.
Is there anything in particular that he taught you during the making of this single?
Yeah, always be focused and direct, and also visualize how you want to work on it and how you picture it, and then work it out how you see it, and how you think it should be, and always write it down. Because before I wasn’t the pen to paper guy, but now I’m always in the studio with my notebook writing stuff down and writing feedback down, because before I was like, Yes, I will remember this, but maybe one day, you won’t remember it. So I like to write it down and even for later because a track is not done in a day, obviously. So it’s nice to look back on what you did, and what you can improve. So it’s really easy to get back in the flow. Because when you do an album, you have a lot of tracks going on around you and it can be a bit hectic. So I tried to keep the focus, and keep it as easy as it can be. So I always keep notes from myself, so I don’t get confused. It’s like so many songs, too many mental notes in your head, not enough notes written down and everything starts to get jumbled up and just crazy.
You recently signed with Wall Recordings, how has it been to be a part of their family?
It’s like one big happy family. Everybody is just working, focusing on the main goal and at the end of the day, we are running with each other towards those goals and we keep pushing each other and giving each other feedback. So that’s like really nice as well. That’s one of the most important things I’ve learned, having a good team around you and have nice people to work with who also think music-minded, or production-wise, that’s like really nice as well.
Thanks for taking the time to speak with us Julian, is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers?
‘All I Need’ together with Afrojack is out now. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it. Check it out and coming soon to you ‘Stories Of The Nebula’.
Stream ‘All I Need’ below.
