Every so often, an artist comes around with an almost supernatural ability to capture the mutability of adolescence in their work. will hyde does exactly this, weaving a powerful, emotional story of youth throughout his sophomore EP ‘nothing ever changes’. The EP combines singles released previously as ‘chapters' with new unheard tracks, narrating a journey of growth and acceptance that serves as a testament to will hyde’s growth and maturity as an artist.

I was able to interview Will and gain an insight into the creative process behind this EP and to understand where he is emotionally at this stage of his career. 

Nishtha: “nothing ever changes.” is an incredibly powerful visual and audio scape for a sophomore release. Listening to the EP play track-by-track feels like the unfolding of an emotional journey. Is there some significance to the track order and if so, what inspired it?

Will: i definitely wanted to create a world that humans could land on & get emotionally invested in. the track order actually came quite naturally, i have a lot of songs that i write, so it was mostly about picking the strongest ones that seemed to fit into a space of time. i make music in a way that can seem inconsistent, in the sense that each song has its own lane - i do it intentionally because i believe i am all the different types of emotions in one. sometimes my favourite artists will set out to make a cohesive body of work, i just believe that people are not cohesive; they’re complex & ever changing. my music reflects that part of myself, so i made the track order a journey from something intimate like ‘nothing ever changes’ as an intro to ‘obsessed.’ & then ‘fukced up.’! you get a lot of different emotions in the project that hopefully can help you understand me better as a human that feels everything.

This inconsistency enhances the charm of the EP starting out with softer, intimate tracks from ‘nothing ever changes (between us)’ to stronger displays of vulnerability in ‘fukced up’ and ‘when you need me’. There's a simultaneous infallibility and anxious longing for meaningful connection weaved through the quiet whispers and danceable melodies. 

N: For students reading Farrago and many others in their early adolescence it can often feel like we live through multiple lives in the span of 2-4 years, our past selves becoming increasingly unrecognisable. The EP holds similar sentiments for me, resembling a powerful, reflective piece on youth. What does the EP mean to you and what was your inspiration?

W: i think as young people we are on an ever changing, non - linear journey towards meeting the ‘concept’ we have for ourselves. the ultimate realisation for me on this journey is that there is no final destination, only the next steps. this EP means a lot to me - it’s about faith, patience, beauty & being lost. growing up means walking a path, straying from it & then picking up where i left off. that is what the EP means to me & the inspiration for it was purely life experience. going through struggles & realising that maybe they will become my biggest blessings has made me grow up so fast. now i see things as on the way, instead of in the way. i don’t mean to speak with ambiguity, i just also hope people can take their own meanings away, because it is now theirs to have/own <3.

N: The EP is accompanied by a beautiful film - tell us about the process. Why did you choose to include one and how different has it made this EP feel from your previous releases?

W: i chose to have a film because the EP sounded so much in its own world, so i thought - why not make a world for it to exist in visually?! i think as an artist in this age, with the amount of people dropping songs, i always want to do things that will separate me as an artist. i truly believe that if i give people the chance to understand me, they will be able to appreciate where i am coming from. that is hard to do on social media, as people don’t get the opportunity to really sit down with you & chat like a friend would. hopefully these types of things can help give more context to what i am trying to do! 

also, thank you to the Wildebeest production crew, Pack Records & The Orchard for believing in me & helping me create an amazing film that i will show my kids one day!

The film in question is a 25 minute visual album, an aesthetically tight, inwards descent into the psyche of this EP. As Will said earlier, through this film ‘nothing ever changes' has been conceptualised into a world of its own, much like ours but in high definition. The first track is styled almost like a confessional with Will slowly walking down a path, transitioning effortlessly into ‘boy’ which plays out through a tv screen of childhood memories, a tender trip that brings up questions of the past. It's no surprise that as Will said, this first track was the easiest to write, “simply because i wrote it late at night when i felt super emotional & had so much to say. it was completely unfiltered, i had no goal or theme, i just wrote each line as i went.” The film expertly deconstructs the EP’s themes, exploring the facade each track puts up while delving into the underlying thoughts and emotions beyond the lyrics. It balances both voyeuristic exploration and introspection, creating a uniquely intimate way of consuming the EP. 

N: Tell me about your creative process. Who are the people you write about and from where are the stories in your music? Are they all yours? Who are you singing to?

W: when it comes to making music for me, i feel as though i’m channelling things when i’m in the studio. i have full songs come to me & i usually write everything in 45 minutes. that’s my process - i only get in the studio if i feel energised to create something special. when i sing, i feel like i channel an emotion & i just think about the power of the words i am saying. words have so much power even in regular speech, so i think about the message of the song & try to set an intention for what i hope it can do for the world. my music creation process is very spiritual & that is why i did a lot of the EP by myself.

N: What’s different about this EP? What’s changed for you since the last one; creatively, professionally, emotionally?

W: creatively - i wrote & produced a lot of the songs by myself. naturally, i sung all of them too! on my first EP, i wrote with lots of friends & then they helped me find my sound. this one - i wanted to go out on my own & carry my sound forward. there’s a power in doing that! i also feel like the first EP was much more about things/people/experiences around me where as this EP is very much an introspective journey. 

emotionally - 2021 was the most difficult journey of my life. i started having lots of health issues that affected my body in different areas, including my voice. it really made me start to have a complex relationship with music because the thing i wanted to do i suddenly was not able to do. in that sense, i learned about faith, purpose & i asked questions to myself like “what do i really want from life?”. those are powerful questions & ones that have set me up for an amazing 2022. like i mentioned before, i started to empower myself & realise i had the ability to change how i thought of situations, so instead of seeing things are terrible, i just embraced them & saw the positives i was getting from it. 

N: Live shows have forever been the heart of discovering new artists, how has your experience with gaining momentum online during this pandemic been different to how you perhaps imagined the trajectory?

W: i went into this project with goals/ambitions yet i would say i was very flexible & quick to adapt when things changed. as i mentioned in the last question, we can look at situations as positives or negatives. within each experience, both sides exist. i could say COVID was a negative for a bunch of reasons, yet i have so many positives that also came from it. i started a podcast around mental health because i realised that i needed to have various ventures i was apart of to be able to be a creative full time. that podcast idea has turned into ‘Really Mental.’, a podcast that is launching in Q1 of next year & has some of the biggest musicians/influencers in the world on it. i’m so thankful for the journey & am very grateful to be able to have made it through the pandemic.

i think i managed to continue to move things forward with my career in spite of the pandemic by taking things online & just absolutely doubling down. i created my community called ‘the Misfit Angels’, it’s a community i have around mental health. i spent all my time focusing on building that community of people so that when touring opened up i could see them!

N: Lastly, it’s always incredibly heartwarming to see artists from here in Melbourne succeed. What is something you want to tell our readers; current students (the University of Melbourne) and fellow young aspiring artists? Especially after such a creatively challenging and frightfully turbulent set of years.

W: definitely - there are so many cool Melbourne artists! i would say ‘what up’ to the University students! congrats on being dedicated to school - it’s important & it will pay off in the long run. my only thoughts would be: follow your heart, believe in yourself before you expect other people to believe in you & start chasing your dreams NOW. 

the last year(s) have been hard for sure, however we are the only ones that can limit ourselves. BELIEVE that you can make things work & you will be surprised at how far you can take them. life is full of unknowns, so put together a plan for getting to where you want to be & come back to it every week to see how you are tracking.

lastly, i would just say: practise being kind to EVERYONE! it’s a basic tip, yet very underrated. it will take you far in both the business world & in the music industry. people tend to forget the actual memories, they only remember how you made them feel. so, make them feel good about themselves!

The concept of a “journey” is evident in this EP both with the film and the composition of each track hinting at the urge to move forwards. Progression is embedded in the essence of will's work, seeping into every corner of the EP and cementing it as a strong and memorable youth anthem about love, growth and self-acceptance.  

will hyde’s new sophomore EP ‘nothing ever changes.’ is out now via Pack Records. 
Buy/Stream here. 
Watch the visual album on youtube.