Josh Lumsden, an independent DIY pop musician and Brooklyn-based producer, releases “Want Have Fun,” the latest track off his upcoming debut EP. After the release of his song “Right Here,” as well as collaborations with RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Yvie Strangely (“Energy”) and Aussie pop star Brendan Maclean (“Drowning”), the futuristic Kelela-inspired pop track is his latest release.
Josh says, “‘Wanna Have Fun’ is about the thrill of living life without commitment, worries, or obligations. The only thing that matters is to “have fun” and to go the extra mile in making sure you do so, regardless of what situation you’re in.”
Josh is a Mexican-American musician noted for creating supernatural earworms by blending R&B, witchcore, and dance in a dark experimental pop blender. The mysterious musician, who is from Texas, began making his own music as a child and became formally educated in music theory and a variety of instruments.
The DIY music video for “Want Have Fun” (directed by Josh Lumsden and his colleague Abraham Bec) depicts the artist experimenting with artificial intelligence platforms to generate heightened graphics and effects that are difficult for small musicians on a budget to achieve. Josh, for example, utilised DALL-E to create the changing shirts scenario using EbSynth to ensure that they moved with his body.
With FrameGUI Josh was able to create animated frames throughout the video. Josh says, “AI has presented a real fear among artists–especially independent artists like myself who create every single detail of their art from the ground up. To combat this fear, I decided I would use AI to my advantage to further explore the world of pop I’ve been dreaming of.”
“Wanna Have Fun” is featured on Josh’s upcoming EP due out this spring. Josh adds, “Sonically, the EP is a little family of misfits. They all pretty much revolve around the idea of creating exaggerated versions of pop, R&B, and dance. They really are just tributes to different styles of music that I’m obsessed with and putting my own spin on it. The lyrics, however, usually tend to gravitate towards love, sex, and having a great time!”
Josh is inspired by artists like Shygirl and Grimes, and is proud to be the sole producer of his own music. Josh says, “It all started when I was a kid because I wanted to sing and I didn’t know anyone who could make me beats, so I just started making my own. It took years of hard work and studying. But now, I really appreciate the fact that I learned because now I get to have 100% full creative control of every single sound, with the flexibility to experiment with as many different production ideas as I can. It also gives me the ability to flip a song from a dark, witch-hop track into a pop/dance record at any point if I decide to randomly change my mind, without bothering anybody.”