photo credit: Chantal Anderson
DEBUT ALBUM THE ROOM OUT NOW TO CRITICAL ACCLAIM
PARTNERING WITH THE SOLUTIONS PROJECT TO MATCH DONATIONS IN SUPPORT OF HYPER-LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE;
“ROOM-AID” FUNDRAISER TO RUN THROUGHEND OF YEAR
Grammy-winning, multiplatinum producer and songwriter Ricky Reed’s official animated video for “Fav Boy” with Alessia Cara and Jonh-Robert is premiering today. Watch/share the video, produced by The Wild Honey Pie and directed/animated by Bela Unclecat and Yulia Drobova, HERE.
Of the video, Reed explains, “This video encompasses so much of what this album is about: using love and hope to turn your little world into a big beautiful one.” John-Robert furthers, “I start things on a somber note by highlighting how little I grieved the loss of my great uncle and how little joy my partner at the time had for her sister’s holy matrimony. How being related by blood requires this almost arbitrary obligation to care/love a person. I think the song highlights the privilege of choosing who you care for. The music video is refreshingly cute and positive in tone. Showing the beauty in companionship and nature.”
“Fav Boy” is taken from Reed’s debut album The Room, out now via his own Nice Life Recording Company.
The Room is a result of Reed’s remote collaborations during lockdown, mostly created during the NICE LIVE! sessions, where many of the songs were started and/or worked on by Reed and his collaborators in real time. The songs are inspired by Reed’s and his collaborators’ feelings, attitudes, and experiences in the first half of 2020. The album features collaborations from Leon Bridges, Jim James, Dirty Projectors, Ayoni, Kiana Ledé, Lido Pimienta and duendita, among others.
On March 16, in direct response to the current global crisis and the stay at home ordinance, Reed moved his producing and writing sessions online from his home studio and published an open letter in the Los Angeles Times addressing the artist community and urging them to “band together by staying apart.” Beginning as a mental health exercise to keep motivated, as well as to help inspire, challenge and gather fellow creatives, Reed took the online sessions one step further; he began hosting livestreams twice per week (Mondays and Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. PT) on his Nice Life YouTube channel, and NICE LIVE! was born. The sessions offer an unpolished look at the conversations between Reed and friends, which are often the flashpoint for a new song or instrumental that Reed will then create live on the spot.
Ricky Reed is best known for his work with Lizzo, Maggie Rogers, Twenty One Pilots, Halsey, Leon Bridges and many others. Reed started Nice Life Recording Company in 2014 as a joint venture with Atlantic Records, signing and developing global superstar Lizzo. While Lizzo remains in the joint venture, Nice Life went independent in 2017 and the label earned its first #1 record with Lizzo’s smash hit “Truth Hurts” in 2019.
