Releasing his latest single ‘It’s Not You’ via Duke City, King Henry speaks to us about forthcoming projects on the horizon, including studio time with Diplo. Traditionally trained as a classical performer, King Henry pursued a music-producing career in the electronic music sphere in the last few years. The producer has been climbing the ladder, working behind the scenes on hits for the likes of Miley Cyrus, The Weeknd, and the queen of the stage – Beyonce. King Henry manages to infuse his dance music soundscapes with his ethereal flair, and the result is emotionally liberating dance music. The new song ‘It’s Not You’ shines a light on the importance of mental health, and identifying when you need to talk to someone about it.

We chatted with the prolific producer King Henry below.

Stream/Download: ‘It’s Not You’

Please describe your sound for us.

Hard to say – it walks the line between house/dance music and emotional singer/songwriter. Lots of synths are involved, and usually my own vocals. I don’t like making songs or records that sound the same but I think if someone was to listen to the majority of my music they would get an understanding of where my sound lives. When I’m making music for my artist project, I like to get experimental and try new things out, more so than when I’m producing for other artists.

How did it all start for you?

I’ve been playing guitar for many years and eventually went to college in southern California where I began to produce a wider range of music. I eventually started to meet people in Los Angeles and eventually met Diplo, who I worked with for a number of years on many projects very early on. From that point it allowed me to meet tons of different artists, writers, producers, and more in LA where I lived for a while. I’ve been out in Nashville for a year and a half now and love it here.

Which three artists would you say made you want to create your own music?

Very hard to narrow down to three, but one for sure is Jamie xx. Have always loved what he’s been up to and definitely take inspiration from his releases.

What is your go-to gear/equipment when creating?

Always working with Gibson electric guitars, a variety of acoustic guitars, Prophet Rev2, Fender 1957 Custom Precision Electric Bass Guitar, Gretsch G61 Guitar, a keyboard/piano, and Ableton for software. Overall those are some things that I use quite a lot but I tend to mess around with a lot of different equipment.

What are some of your key influences in your music? Whether it be the sound created by others, imagery, films or any kind of art form.

Jamie xx as I mentioned before for sure is an artist I respect greatly, but even people like Caribou, Labrinth, and more. I tend to find a lot of new music and listen to things on repeat until I get bored. I think it’s always fun to take inspiration from other forms of media, but at the end of the day, it’s very easy to take inspiration from nature. Especially when it comes to creating productions. As it pertains to songs, sometimes I might take a reference from a movie or a friend’s experience and try to tell their story in my songs.

What single night out has been the most memorable for you? As a performer? As an attendee?

As an attendee it’s pretty easy – the nights at Stagecoach are a lot of fun. I’ve always loved a good country music show and it’s fun to feel the energy for those shows. Everyone’s always trying to have a good time and it’s never a bad vibe. As a performer, it’s hard to say as well. As of recent, I haven’t played many shows but I’m looking forward to doing some awesome DJ sets in 2022!

What can we expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?

There’s a lot going on for me right now. Just wrapped up Sasha Sloan’s next album coming out in a couple of months. The Diplo country project (second album) is definitely in the works, and I’ve been working on a couple of other artists here in Nashville that I unfortunately can’t say just yet! On top of that, I have at least 10 more songs on my own artist project coming out in the next 8 months or so. I’m incredibly excited to get these out and share some awesome visuals and music videos to go along with them.

Famous last words?

The best is yet to come, and I’m hyped for my artist project to continue coming out to the world!

‘It’s Not You’ features on the Spotify playlist POP_GROUND.fm

Follow King Henry:

Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Apple Music