'House of Balloons' was special because I had no deadlines, and nobody knew me, so there were no expectations. Spent a year making it perfect. Every song had at least, like, 7 different versions to them before picking the right one.
My production and songwriting and the environment around those vocals are not inspired by R&B at all.
My inspiration is R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, and Prince - for the vocals, anyway.
I wanted to drop three albums in a year because no one had done it. It was bold, unheard of.
My mother, my grandmother, my uncles would play Ethiopian artists like Aster Aweke and Mulatu Astatke all the time in the house.
From when I was born to when I was 21, I never left Toronto. That's why I'm such a city cat.