I love this song! What life experiences were you able to draw from in order to write "HATER"?
STEVANS: Thanks! It was a guy who always criticised me and the band STEVANS, every time I heard people reporting his critics toward me, and being hypocrite when in the same room. I finally told him to stop his "suppose to be nice guy" act and of course, as all HATERS, I came to realize that so many people had the same experience with him. These people tend to destroy things rather than create things, they don't take any risks and are jealous of other people's success. When you understand that, you are confident, that's why I wrote "I'm higher now, thanks to you", meaning him and other HATERS will always stay in their same shit while we evolve.
This song was a collaboration with Fanny Leeb. What was it like working with her and how do you feel your songwriting process differs when collaborating with another artist?
STEVANS: I actually wrote the song and Fanny performed the singing of her part. I've always loved her voice and definitely makes me want to collaborate with more artists. I am currently writing songs for other singers, I love it.
Yvan, you started STEVANS during the era of MySpace. How do you feel that the evolution of social media has changed the way music is enjoyed since then?
STEVANS: Big question! The positive part is that an unknown indie band can become super popular in a day, the negative part is there are soooooo many artists, all mixed up in a jungle, it's hard to make it happen. Everything is focused on numbers, likes, followers... it's crazy. People don't judge the music, they judge the followers... you can have the same quality of music, but not have the same impact if you have 5K or a million followers. That's finally like Myspace if you think about it.
After four albums, what has been your biggest lesson about writing music?
STEVANS: Don't try to imitate other styles from other artists. They will always do it better than you. Do what you have to do, let yourself be influenced, yes, but decide precisely that THIS is going to make you groove on stage, or not. People around will always give their opinion, hear them, select the best out of it, and throw away the rest.
As a European-American group, how do you feel the mix of two cultures has influenced your writing style?
STEVANS: On every step and every instrument! Yann (the guitarist) and me can listen to Kendrick Lamar, Frank Sinatra, and Coldplay in the same day. If its good, whatever the style is, we just love it. In the end, STEVANS music is a mix of everything our ears loved hearing.
Interviewed By Tessa Brainard
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