Johnny Orlando has been making music in public since he was a kid, and by now the résumé speaks for itself. Toronto-born, four straight MTV EMAs for Best Canadian Act, close to a billion streams, a following in the tens of millions. His sophomore album, Songs for Young Lovers, is out now. But there's a part of this record we wanted to dig into. Johnny took on a producer role this time, credited across the album, shaping how it sounds and helping steer the calls the record was built on. For an artist who's spent his whole career being the thing everyone else builds around, that's a real turn, and a new way of understanding what everyone else in the room actually does.
That's what we sat down to talk about. Johnny's always been generous about his collaborators, the writers and producers who make the songs work. This time he stepped into that role alongside them. We got into that shift, what producing taught him about the rooms he's been in for years, and his relationship with the people he builds records with.
Did you already know you wanted to play a bigger role on the production side this time around, or did it just happen naturally? Walk us through why and how that curiosity evolved for you.
I started getting more into production pretty naturally. I was 14 making trap beats on FL like everyone else, but mostly I just wanted to stop being confused and useless in sessions. I didn't speak the same language as the producers and some of the writers, and I hated that. It's really cool to be able to be present and creative in that way. It really is like learning another language. This was the first project where I really took an active role in producing alongside the producers I worked with.
Throughout the process, how did you learn to jump back and forth between your artist role and your producer role? Which part of that made things simpler and which part of it made things trickier?
I generally am not just sitting back letting things happen. I like to be in the mix the whole time, but ideally when you're working on a song with someone you move as one. I'm the only one singing, yes, but they might be the only one playing bass. It's still collaborative, and I feel like the closer you get with someone, the better/weirder the songs are and the less your brain is anywhere else.
What’s a song on the album that happened very quickly, and what’s another one that took longer than expected but was worth it in the end?
The Crowd happened really fast. It was really weird in its first form but then kind of developed into a real song as we started recording vocals. A lot of the decisions, like not having a V2, repeating the B verse section in both verses, not saying the name of the song until the very end, were all things that were supposed to be "fixed," but ultimately it was cool so we kept it. Charlotte, on the other hand, took forever. The lyrics came together really fast, but I spent like 2 months tinkering with that song every day. It ended up sounding super polished, which I think is the right choice for that song, but I tend to overcorrect when I think something sounds a little wonky and it can take the feeling out of it at times.
Please tell us about your main collaborators on this project, and something that makes them special.
The name that appears most on the project is my friend Soran. I feel like he just understands what's going on in my head. Like I said before, I have a tendency to overcorrect when I think something's wack, and he told me my mission this album was to trust the process. That was really valuable to me. We came up making music in completely different ways, so it was really cool to learn from him. There aren't that many names on this project, but if you see one appear more than once, they're a really close friend.
What are some blind spots you used to have that were somewhat alleviated by seeing everything from a wider lens as a producer?
Omg literally everything. If you're an artist reading this, LEARN EVERYTHING BEFORE U TRUST ANYONE. You can't delegate shit unless you really understand what you're asking someone to do. I remember one time my vocal sounded weird in a session and I was like, I think it needs more compression??? And the producer was like, yo, I'm compressing the shit out of you right now. I felt so useless.
Walk us through the different phases of creating a song on this record. Writing first before any production? Producing while writing? Did you guys lock in a routine or was it different every time?
A lot of times it was "write the topline to guitar because if it bangs on guitar it bangs anywhere." Kind of like what old heads say about NS10s. But it's definitely true. It does kind of lock things in early to specific rhythms based on the strumming pattern, and in turn can affect which melodies come to mind. Sometimes we would start with a weird drum loop. Sometimes we make the whole beat and then start muting shit because, again, specific rhythms really lock my head into specific melodic spaces. I just tried as much as I could to break my own patterns. I think that's important or else your whole record sounds like one long ahh song.
What are some habits you’ve had to learn in order to keep your love of creativity alive in a such a complex industry?
Make things outside your genre. I still to this day make trap beats all the time; it's so fun. I also make really awful electronic music, but it helps me discover patches and learn more about sound design. My goal is to get in a room with one of the homies and guide them down a path they've never been down before. I will never be the best producer in the world and that is completely fine. I have other shit to do, and I'd rather just lock in with someone who's nasty and be able to speak their language. Also, never look at numbers. I legitimately do not care. Not everything I love will hit, and to think that it will is completely insane.
There are times during the creation of every song where the mind gets saturated with decisions and frequencies. Who would you lean on to provide relief in those moments, and what kind of perspective was the most efficient in grounding you back into the project?
God, I have no idea. That's a mission for the next project. On this one I tried to just trust my former self. If you listen to a song enough times you will hate it or think it's mid, period. Coming back to things after a while always helps, but sometimes you don't have that luxury. I think I'll just try to do less in general to the songs after day one for my next project.
How has your relationship with trusting your taste evolved as you’ve gotten more successful? How do you nurture it?
I look back at the things I loved five years ago and shudder. I think that's like the definition of growth. I'll probably like things in 10 years I think are wack right now. I accept it as a part of the human experience. Whatever makes you feel something will probably make somebody out there feel something too.
How have you learned to differentiate when to move with urgency and when to move with patience?
Grab opportunities by the throat and nurture the relationships you value. Never force anything, though. You'll just make people think you're weird.
Do you actively want to produce for other artists, or do you prefer channeling that side only for your own work?
I mean, I would. There's a part of me that still doesn't trust myself enough to be on someone else's project. What if they hate what I do? Also, artists are a pain in the ass. I'd definitely be open to it with someone I love, though.