PopJustice: What We Want to Know From October

Remember 19 days ago, when we were all celebrating the New Year and finally taking a day off to not worry about any new music. Yeah, what a laugh that was. Meanwhile, October dropped her 13th studio album "History" with no warning. That's right. A complete 9-track 1-hour album, produced by Deadmau5, uploaded right upon iTunes. It was a shock. But what isn't shocking is how good the album is. With her newest, October decides to go into complete electronic-progressive-house-dubstep mode. You read that right, October has finally meddled with dubstep. But not only does she master at that, but a couple tracks mix electronic with guitar and piano. The album is truly a kaleidoscope of musical genre, as October fully intended it. We contacted her and had a lot of questions. Unfortunately we didn't have 57 hours for her to answer every question, but we did get a good interview.

PJ: What were you looking to accomplish with History?

O: With History, I wanted it to be a complete spiritual journey of my past through music. Being an artist and a musician, I obviously connect best through my writing and my music. I feel like with this album, my fans truly know who I am and what I have gone through to be here. And that's really important for someone like me.

Was this album always planned as a surprise release?

Yes, I knew that I wanted to try this method out and see what would happen. And it was really fun, to be honest.

How was working with Deadmau5? Who came up with more concept for how the music would go?

It was amazing working with Joel. I would say it was an open collaboration. I would write the songs with some sort of beat or melody, and he would transform that original idea into a whole world of electronica. What I loved is how he pushed himself out of his comfort zone and experimented with instruments like the guitar and piano. There were no boundaries.

Do you envision this album more visually or musically?

I would say, musically. Definitely a number of my previous albums, such as Cloud Living and Waves, were imagined visually, but this one was definitely musically driven.

Will you tour this album?

I will be going on a world tour with Joel for this album.

How do you think these songs will translate live?

Since Joel is gonna be there, everything will be a live performance. These songs are fun and I really want the audience to have a blast with me. It's not really going to be an 'October concert' but more of an experience.

What kinds of inspiration drew you to History? How did you decide that the time was right to release History?

A huge part of inspiration was from Joel's music and electronica in general. I always enjoy genre mixing and I feel I did that. I felt like this was a good time to release History because with each album I give you a piece of my past. But I think this is truly the big reveal. Each track on the album ventures you through what kind of person I am and the wars I've battled. It's a rainbow of goods, bads, perfections, and flaws. It's the history of who I am.

Does the art direction for the album have a specific meaning?

I worked with Mert & Marcus on the photoshoot. I approached them with my vision for the album, I knew I wanted some kind of painted-up rainbow aesthetic. I really love what they did for me and for the album. The shoot is very different from what I've ever done, they had me in a lot of goofy props and eccentric outfits, but that's exactly what I love about it. It's so weird and so bold, and so me.

Are you satisfied with how the documentary turned out?

I LOVE the documentary for this album. It's the best one we've done yet. What I love about it is that it doesn't just document us in the studio while we're making it. They filmed the entire process of us meeting to eat, talking about concepts, our reactions after performing our track on the VMAs, and also shows us on New Years for the big reveal. I'm really glad we included so much because, for one, WHILE I'm making an album, I will talk non-stop about the concept, how it makes me feel, etc. But when I release the album I have so much less to say! It's like you have to be there to understand, and now fans can totally understand because of the documentary. And that's what makes me so happy about it.

Do you have high expectations for the album era in general?

Well, I would think any artist would have high expectations for their own solid piece of work. It's my creation and I obviously don't want to see it fail. I do have high expectations. I may say this with every album, but I truly feel I have outdone myself and I'm very proud. Very proud.

There you have it, folks! BUY THE ALBUM ON ITUNES.