Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Eighty Ninety

We’re 100% all in on indie-pop duo, Eighty Ninety. The Brooklyn-based band has taken the music industry by storm with hit singles including “Three Thirty”, “Heartbreaker”, and “Your Favorite Song”. They’ve been featured on countless Spotify playlists and publications, including Ones to Watch, Alternative Press, Billboard, NME, and The Huffington Post, and even received a nod from Taylor Swift herself. This year, brothers Abner and Harper James are back with infectious new single, “Got Your Message”. Pop Culturalist spoke with Eighty Ninety and got the inside scoop on all the new music heading our way.

PC: How did you discover your passion for music?
Abner: When I was four, I found a tiny Casio keyboard lying around my family’s apartment. My parents are musical, and at some point, my mom had bought it for my dad. I was immediately obsessed. Harper picked up the guitar in a similar way. Once we started, that was it!

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Eighty Ninety: This may be a mushy answer, but probably each other. When we were young, we promised that we would be in a band together. Since then, if one of us ever wavers—musically or otherwise—the other is there to help get things back on track.

PC: Tell us about your new single, “Got Your Message”. What inspired the track?
Eighty Ninety: That song is about wanting to be with someone that you know ultimately isn’t the right person for you, but knowing that doesn’t change how you feel. That can be really painful, and “Got Your Message” came from that feeling.

PC: What can you tease about your upcoming EP, Bowery Beach Road?
Eighty Ninety: The more we’ve put out songs, the more we realize that it feels like we’ve been releasing Bowery Beach Road song by song with every single since our first EP, Elizabeth. The title Bowery Beach Road is partly a reference to the distance between where we grew up and where we are now. So, it’s almost like these singles are tracking that journey as it happens. And more music is coming!

PC: If you had to select one song off Bowery Beach Road that best encompasses you as artists, what would it be and why?
Eighty Ninety: That’s hard—how about this: “10K Summer Nights” encapsulates the storytelling aspect of what we love to do; with “Your Favorite Song”, we tried to capture a nostalgic feeling that we love; “Dream” has a lot of sonic experimentation; and “Got Your Message” is pretty much just a stream of consciousness of unfiltered honesty.

PC: You guys are brothers and bandmates. How do you manage that dynamic? What’s one thing you’ve learned about each other after becoming bandmates?
Abner: We got a lot of the harder sibling stuff out of the way when we were younger. We’re lucky that our relationship these days is more about mutual respect than rivalry. We can do things the other can’t, and rather than getting competitive, we realized that we should just collaborate. I think since making the band an official thing, we’ve learned just how much the other brings to the collaboration.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already in your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that sticks out to you?
Eighty Ninety: Thanks! We feel so grateful every day. There are a few moments that stand out, for sure. The time our first song ever, “Three Thirty”, went from less than 1,000 plays on Spotify to almost 60,000 in one night definitely stands out as a defining moment in our career and lives. We were like—wait, maybe this can be real! The other was when Taylor Swift added “Your Favorite Song” to her “Songs Taylor Loves” Spotify playlist. We’ve been lifelong Taylor fans so that was—and still is—absolutely surreal. Finally, we met someone at a show who had a tattoo of some of our lyrics. That was very awesome.

PC: What does the rest of the year hold for you as we look ahead to the end of 2019 into 2020?
Eighty Ninety: We’re heading to L.A. in November to work on a new Eighty Ninety project that we’re so excited about. Don’t want to say too much more now, but that’s what we’re going to be focused on.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Eighty Ninety: Keith Jarrett might be a little bit of a surprise. We love the way he creates these massive cinematic worlds with his piano improvisations.

PC: First album you bought?
Eighty Ninety: The Joshua Tree by U2

PC: First concert you attended?
Abner: When Harper was way too young, our babysitter took him to see Smashing Pumpkins. [laughs] It was apparently (and of course) awesome.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Eighty Ninety: Our dad had Tom Petty’s greatest hits in the car when we were really little. We probably heard it a thousand times—so, songs like “Learning To Fly”, “Free Falling,” and “American Girl”—they made us fall in love with great songs.

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Eighty Ninety: The Bowery Ballroom in New York. We’ve seen so many great shows there. It would be so fun to play.

PC: A must-have on the road?
Eighty Ninety: Healthy snacks. Seriously. Mom was right. Otherwise you die a slow Dorito death.

To keep up with Eighty Ninety, follow them on Twitter and Instagram. Pick up or stream “Got Your Message” on Amazon Music, iTunes, or Spotify.

Photo Credit: Ashley Yu