Q&A: Dive Into the World of King Henry’s Artistry

Q&AMusic

Sep 6

☆ BY NICOLE NGO ☆

GRASPING THE CRUX OF AN INTENTIONAL ARTISTRY — American record producer, DJ, and songwriter King Henry’s intrinsic desire to inspire others through sound drives each project he crafts. Experientially, he values spontaneity and observation, where each element, vocal, and detail of his tracks embeds its immediate association and transforms an individual moment into one that reaches a hand to listeners — a moment that becomes new and constantly renewed with each listen.

From his first 2016 EP, Don’t Stay Away, to his recent 2022 single releases, “June,” and “Fall with Me”, King Henry continues to experiment with styles, textures, and sounds, and his production proves its excellence in his 2017 Grammy nomination for Beyonce’s “All Night.” Fascinated by music as a medium for emotion, King Henry is skillful in the utilization of his life-long classical music training, elevated not only by a mastery of his equipment and technique but a yearn to suggest just how intimately vast music can be through songwriting. In the idea that music is a reflection of life, King Henry’s discography shows none other than a masterful exploration of dichotomy, where his affinity and attention to audience subtly forms a space in which the vulnerability of emotion through his songwriting and the ethereal, energized soundscapes of his dance music collide seamlessly.

Having collaborated with the likes of Beyonce, Diplo, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, The Weeknd, and more, his most recent projects include the production of Sasha Alex Sloan’s I Blame The World and Nicole Gallyon’s firstborn, both of which were released earlier this spring and summer. Throughout his body of works, King Henry has crafted a world of his own — one that is fluid and insusceptible to boundaries, immersive and able to simultaneously zoom into the minutiae of split seconds on the dance floor. Glances fall vibrant within his rhythms and yet find a way to accompany clashes of emotion, thought, movement, and what it means to feel everything at once.

Read on as King Henry unpacks his motivations, inspirations, and craft.

LUNA: I want to start off by saying how appreciated your contribution to music is.

KING HENRY: I appreciate that a lot! I think it’s hard to understand that sometimes as an artist, but I’m glad that you feel that way.

LUNA: Of course, and I know what you mean. I guess it can feel like the magic wears off when you’re in the position of constantly creating it. Or maybe not — is it the opposite?

KING HENRY: Music can often get boring, but it can also be the most exciting thing in the world. I do like to think my music has been important to at least a few people who have heard it!

LUNA: Oh for sure. Could you tell us a little bit about your story as a musician? How did you find your footing in this field?

KING HENRY: I’ve been playing guitar ever since I was young, so it’s hard to say where it really began, but music has always been an important piece of my life. I would say things got really serious when I was in southern California and in college. I was able to meet a number of people there that led to me eventually moving to Los Angeles, where I started working with more and more artists. I eventually started to form my own sound and was working with Diplo during his come up and that opened the door to a ton of other opportunities.

LUNA: That just kept on growing and growing, right? You’ve hit many milestones — that’s insanely cool.

KING HENRY: I was nominated for a Grammy with Beyonce and was able to work with Miley Cyrus, The Weeknd, and a lot more. It eventually led me to meeting some of the artists I’ve been working with for the last few years: LANY, a wide variety of projects from Diplo, and of course Sasha Alex Sloan.

LUNA: I know you have a classical training in music — was it a process of where this foundation evolved into the music you produce today? When and how did you turn this kind base and love, passion — all that — into something more?

KING HENRY: I’m not sure it really derived from classic music; I think it was more experimental at the end of the day. I think getting into more studios with people who were bending the rules of music that I had known allowed me to have an open mind to creating different music. I think it’s also a constant evolution — music is never supposed to stay the same over the years. I would say my current music has drifted a bit from what I’ve released in the past, however I think if people did compare them there’s always going to be some similarities.

LUNA: There's something super liberating about your sound — you craft these worlds that are quite mesmerizing. Enveloping is a good word for it actually. I would say you have a super wonderful way of creating these very enveloping soundscapes — you know, experiential, all-encompassing. What is your creative process?

KING HENRY: A lot of the time the inspiration comes from things happening around me and from my past experiences, but other times I might try and put myself in someone else’s shoes and write songs from their perspective. A lot of the time the actual track starts from ideas that I may have had from guitar starts or loops, but overall it’s hard to say if there’s a specific process.

LUNA: Is it a sporadic process, or do you have a specific practice you tend to fall into?

KING HENRY: A lot of things just happen naturally and I try to run with them.

LUNA: Growing up with music as this home base for a lot of your experiences, would you say that music has a unique purpose for you? What does it mean to you?

KING HENRY: Music has meant the world to me. It’s also been something I have been working on for my entire life. I think I’ll always try to push boundaries as much as possible but in a lot of cases it can be hard to feel inspired. I would like my music to help other people feel inspired in times when they may not be.

LUNA: Do you hope that your listeners are able to gain the same purpose, that your music serves as a source of inspiration for them?

KING HENRY: Oh yeah, for sure. To be honest, I would love for any listener of my music to be inspired in some way.

LUNA: This root drive of wanting to inspire and also this love of being inspired must feed into your collaborations too. You've worked with such notable names — it's a truly inspiring list. Do you find that much of the beauty in creating music is the act of collaboration and sharing such moments?

KING HENRY: Totally. I’ve definitely made a lot of music on my own, but there are often many times when I look back on how a record was made with a bunch of people in the studio and how great it was to bounce ideas off each other and challenge each other to create something more groundbreaking. I’m fortunate to be creating things for a living, both through my own artist project and also through the lenses of other artists.

LUNA: Ah, it must be a very beautiful thing to be able to be part of and allow others into your own creative space, and I say this in terms of your figurative internal mind and ideas and also the physical space in which you begin and end each project. Is there anything specific that draws you towards the artists you have worked with?

KING HENRY: Yeah definitely, it is a beautiful thing. There are a ton of artists I respect because they don’t stray from their vision as a creative, even when society tells them you need to have another TikTok hit to be successful. Those artists are the ones that draw me closer.

LUNA: Continuing from the idea of inspiration, what in particular inspires your artistry? Would you say inspiration is more experiential or do you seek things, people, and places that you can learn from — perhaps both?

KING HENRY: It depends, but I often do think most inspiration is experiential. But it’s hard not to feel inspired when watching a gripping TV show or movie. There are stories that many people are inspired by not relating to music at all that I’ve learned from. I think it would be awesome to explore a bit more in the movie scoring space. There’s tons of inspiration from visual representations of what someone can write or dream about.

LUNA: I’m absolutely obsessed with film scores — I think it’s such a magical thing, combining visual worlds with [sound]. I’d love to see what you would do with that. Are there any names that have shaped your own music and personal journey as a musician?

KING HENRY: Honestly, there’s too many to count. I think what Jamie XX has done in his career is something really cool, something I might see the King Henry project really looking like. But I’ve also loved bands like The Format and Nate Ruess’ songwriting all of my life. It’s hard to say!

LUNA: I get you — there would be too many that have shaped different facets of your work, music, process, inspiration, everything. You’ve said you’re inspired by film and TV — super cool — are there any unexpected genres or artists, maybe other art forms that you find, that inspire your own music?

KING HENRY: As I mentioned earlier, movies and TV tend to inspire me more than most other forms of art or media. Visual art in general tends to be something that generates excitement in me for the track side of things, but as for songwriting, those are more from personal experiences. I’ve worked with a number of amazing songwriters and they are always generating tons and tons of ideas. I envy them a lot of the time for that!

LUNA: Yeah! Like an endless vacuum of ideas. Well, you've written such a wonderful pool of tracks too. What do you love about songwriting, and what is powerful about creating something with such an intricate process?

KING HENRY: Songwriting is always the hardest part about creating a record but it’s always the most rewarding. I find a lot of the time my writing tends to not be as good as the other writers I work with — aka Sasha most of the time — but once a song is finished it absolutely makes me feel like I’ve achieved something great.

LUNA: I completely agree — songwriting is an art unto itself, and such a subtle one. Do you use it as an emotional medium?

KING HENRY: Yeah, It feels amazing to pour your heart and soul into a song and let someone else experience the feelings I may have felt at that time or felt before. It never gets old.

LUNA: It must be a very vulnerable process, very freeing I would imagine. 2022 — we’re well into it now (laughs). What are we looking forward to for the rest of the year?

KING HENRY: This EP has taken me a bit longer to put out than I would have liked, however I’m excited to finally get some more records out and create my first fully formed piece of work in a few years. I’ve mostly released singles for the last few years but I felt it was finally time to put a piece of work together that has really inspired me lately. On top of that, I’m pumped to get some awesome remixes out from some artists I’ve been excited to help put on the map soon. They have crushed some new mixes of my records and I have been excited to get them out to the world!

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