Interview: Conor Maynard

Editor John Delaney talked to Brit Pop sensation, Conor Maynard, about the release of his debut album, Contrast. Check out what Conor had to say!

John Delaney: I’m here with UK pop star, Conor Maynard, how are things going?

Conor Maynard: Really good, we are in New York right now, so I’m having a lot of fun

John Delaney: Earlier this week, your debut album Contrast released finally in the US, I imagine that is something you’re pretty excited about?

Conor Maynard: Yeah, definitely, I mean, right now it’s the first that I’ve released, and the reaction of the fans, and that some people become fans from listening to it is really cool.

John Delaney: Let’s talk about the album, how did it feel to be in the studio recording it?

Conor Maynard: I definitely consider myself pretty lucky with the people I work with! With Ne-Yo, Frank Ocean, Pharrell Williams, I really got to work with people who I grew up listening to, that I listened to when I was younger so I had an incredible time recording it.

John Delaney: And you actually co-wrote the majority of them, can you tell us your writing process?

Conor Maynard: Yeah, it kind of new for me because, obviously I started through covers, but you know, I was always writing original material, but for me it was kind of a weird transition going from covers to original material, but it was incredible that I had chance to work with really cool people in the writing, so I could learn and get better at that. For me it was based through experiences in my life that I’ve been through, and I kind of became my audience, as I thought what would I and my friends want to hear in a song right now , what do we want to sing along to, and what we want to hear.

John Delaney: Now I’ve been fortunate enough to have the album for a few months now, and to be honest I had it on repeat the majority of the summer and overall I’m going to have to say my favorite track goes to Turn Around, is there a track that you like that you favor most?

Conor Maynard: Oh thank you, I think one of my favorite tracks I recorded was Animal. I didn’t want to make it to dance-y tracks, I wanted to have more of an edge to it. I thought Animal was cool because it’s a dance track, but with a more urban edge to it, it’s slightly different but still fitting. It’s the first track on the album so we open strong with it, and then one of the last tracks, Just In Case, is another one of my favorites.

John Delaney: And speaking about Animal, how did the collaboration between the newly released version of it with Wiley come about?

Conor Maynard: I bumped into him in a festival in the UK, and I had recently tweeted him that I love the new single, Heatwave, and I didn’t say anything about working with him, but at the festival he said “Yeah man, let’s get into the studio” so definitely that would be really cool. For me one of the really interesting, in terms of recording Animal, was I was just like “Let’s get into the studio and record some new music”, and then when I heard that he was going to put another verse on Animal, it was even better, it was pretty cool he wanted to do that.

John Delaney: What was it like collaborating with Ne-Yo, Pharrell, and Rita Ora?

Conor Maynard: I think it was definitely amazing, I really respect them as musicians. It kind of goes both ways, as I’ve learned a lot from the people…….

John Delaney: And on that note, if you could collaborate with any artist in the future, who would it be?

Conor Maynard: I think for me it’d be really cool to work with someone kind of with a different singer/songwriter, someone like Ed Sheeran or John Mayor would be really, really cool to sing a song that’s like, acoustic or something, that’d be something I’d like to do.

John Delaney: Now you’re currently on a mini American tour is that correct? Can you tell us a bit about that?

Conor Maynard: Yeah, I’m really, really excited about it because the way it was mapped out was this thing called the ‘Maniac Map’. Where fans had to go to ManiacMap.com and had to vote their cities to the top. The fans would get together and they would vote, and the top 5 that had the most votes, I’m now going to go be performing. So you know, I’m really looking forward to go thank all the fans for showing their support on such a high level.

John Delaney: When can we expect a full American tour?

Conor Maynard: I hope so, that’s kind of one of my dreams is a full american tour so for me, there was some cities that tried really hard, but didn’t make it to the top 5, so I definitely want to kind of go around to different places and perform, I feel like I still want to share my music with different people.

John Delaney: Is there any cities that you would look forward to play most?

Conor Maynard: Umm, I think it would be quite fun to play somewhere in Vegas. I think there would be a lot of energy, especially when it came to Vegas Girl.

John Delaney: Is it tough at all being so far away from home, for such long periods sometimes?

Conor Maynard: Yeah, I feel like that’s one of the things that is kind of difficult being an artist. I don’t really get to see my family as much. For me I feel like, I try and keep contact as much as I can. Also I’m with people who are like my family anyways; my managers, and my band, they’re all really close to me, they act as my family whenever I’m away.

John Delaney: And what do your friends have to say about your success?

Conor Maynard: My friends think it’s insane, they’ve almost got their own fans for being my friends, they’ve got like 10,000 followers on twitter, and all that kind of thing. Just because, they get to be a part of them as well. It’s not like I’m leaving them behind and just doing music, they get to be a part of it all as well. I brought my two best friends and my brother out here to New York for New Years, and I try to keep as part of it as much as possible.

John Delaney: Have you noticed some people that you weren’t good friends with before, try and become closer to you?

Conor Maynard: Yeah, I definitely noticed that right away. As soon as I released my first single, but I understand what they’re trying to do, so I try to keep away from that.

John Delaney: Now finally, you had incredible amount of success in 2012, including going to #1 in your homeland of the UK, do you have any goals for 2013?

Conor Maynard: Yeah, for me every time I reach a new target or a new goal I want to try and get the next step I can make. When my album went to #1 in the UK, I thought that I want to get my album to #1 now, in a different country. For me I feel like it’s a chance to keep motivated, and keep going. I want to keep reaching higher and higher success, I don’t really know what that means, but for me it’s about what’s next.

John Delaney: Do you feel being from the UK played an influence your album, opposed to if you were from different areas of the world?

Conor Maynard: I feel like there was definitely some british elements in the track, but I also grew up listening to a lot of American music as well.

John Delaney: Well, thanks a lot Conor, was a pleasure talking to you! We hope to see a lot more of you in the future!