Song Premiere: Tae & The Wave’s “2002”

Alt-pop artist Tae & The Wave is bringing the first feel-good song of the summer. His new self-produced single, “2002”, is an ode to the idyllic days of pop music. The song shimmers with positivity and hope, transporting listeners back to their youth. Pop Culturalist is excited to premiere “2002”, and we caught up with Tae & The Wave ahead of the release.

PC: Tell us about your new single, “2002”. What inspired the song?
Tae & The Wave: Songs have this really cool way of serving as time portals to different periods in our lives. You hear an old tune from your youth and you get all nostalgic, recalling memories, and maybe even starting up a convo in the car about that time in your life. I love that feeling and set out to capture the essence of that with “2002”.

PC: How does “2002” differentiate itself from previous singles you’ve released?
Tae & The Wave: Amidst everything I’ve written so far, “2002” is the jam that most captures the universe I set out to create with this project. Instrumentally, it was the first song I wrote when I started offloading a lot of the sounds and ideas I had for Tae’s vibe. It took me another year to find the lyrics and melody because I loved the groove so much and became really picky about finding the perfect melodic match. It was a beautiful evolution, and I couldn’t be happier with how it came together.

PC: Tell us about the process of producing the single.
Tae & The Wave: All of the initial writing and production came from me jamming away in my pool house, as I usually do. I worked out a demo and sent it over to some trusted ears, Jerry DePizzo (OAR) and Nick D’Andrea (Doc Robinson). Both offered some great advice on how to polish things up and pointed me in the direction of mixing engineer Glenn Davis. From there, Glenn became one of the greatest engineers I’ve ever worked with on a professional level. He executed my vision perfectly and really nailed the aesthetic I was going for, which is everything a songwriter can ask for in an engineer. A couple weeks later, we had a product that we were all extremely excited to share with the world.

PC: What does the rest of the year hold for you as we look ahead in 2019?
Tae & The Wave: “2002” is my fifth release and the ultimate goal is to package these five singles (plus one or two more) up into an EP and release by the end of the year. Most importantly, though, I want to get our live show on as many stages and in front of as many people as we can. So, we’re working on a tour for the fall and just announced we’ll be part of this awesome event in September called the A&F Challenge in Columbus, Ohio. It’s a fundraiser meets music festival where we’ll be playing alongside Galantis, Misterwives, Arizona, and more.

Listen to the track below:

Keep up with Tae & The Wave by following him on Facebook and Instagram, and pick up “2002” on Amazon Music or iTunes on June 14.