Meet Archie, a twenty year old singer-songwriter from Scotland. He is kept busy travelling to places like London and more recently LA and playing venues around Glasgow. He has been collaborating, writing, producing and mixing for a number of fellow Scottish artists including Scratchcard Wednesday, Ben Walker, Pat Hamilton and Jasmine Jet. On the day of release for Archie’s new single ‘Colourblind’, I spoke to him all about his aspirations, inspirations, creative processes and more for a song he describes as “a love letter for your future self”. There is lots to look forward to from Archie. On the 15th November, we will be treated to a music video for ‘Colourblind’ directed by award winning director Michael Yu.
Interview and Photos by Katy Mitchell (@_katymitchell)
Creative Process & Inspiration
‘Colourblind’ is a song that was created over “a long period of time”. “So I wrote it in London with two people. I worked quite closely with a guy called Citizen Papes, John Foyle and JP. I wrote the rest of the current ‘Chasing Daisies’ and ‘Olivia’ with JP. He wasn’t even meant to come to the session. I was just on the day [of], like, “do you want to come along to the session?” And so he came along, and we kind of wrote it … literally, at that point [I] just came out of a very bad breakup. [I] wrote it essentially as … a love song for my future self. So, I was like ‘well, if I’m gonna ever go back into anything [romantic], this is what I hope it would be like’. So I kind of wrote it from that perspective.” In terms of creative process, it was “super collaborative. We’d written the first verse and the chorus, and then the session finished really quickly, because I needed to run back to Glasgow. But then me and JP then went in a session a couple months later and finished it off. There was creative input from all angles, which was pretty good. John did most of the production the first day, and then JP did all the production on the second day, and then I did some production on it. We started redoing the production in March, and only finished three months ago. So it’s here, finally.”
When I asked Archie if there was any specific artists or music that he was listening to that inspired the song, he shared that he was going through a bit of a “pop princess era”. He told me that he was listening to 2018 pop music with the likes of Taylor Swift and Jeremy Zucker. In particular, the song ‘supercuts’ by Jeremy Zucker was the reference track during production. He wanted to do something in this genre as at the time he had “only kind of been doing the more folky, pop, cute music. I really want to make just the kind of more down the middle pop track”.
I also asked Archie about inspirations outside of music.
“I would like to say a lot of [inspiration] comes from other music, because I have always grown up around music, but I mean, lots and lots of it will come from just general life experience. I’m trying at the moment to not draw too closely from other music, because for the last year, I’ve really been trying to develop a sound, and that’s been quite hard, because I like different kinds of music, and so when I try and derive too much from other pieces of music, music ends up just being too different. So this year, I’ve just been trying to write things in the way of what feels right to me…like recently, I’ve just been writing kind of being inspired by my surroundings and [my] mood and stuff like that. I’d love to give you a cool, artsy answer that, ‘oh, there was this famous poet that really inspired me, this artist from the 18th century’, no, I’m just kind of writing what makes me happy, and what my surroundings are. I’ve really been trying to move away from writing about the concepts of love and stuff for the next couple releases, because I just feel like I’ve never really looked deeper into my feelings and written about how I’m actually feeling about my outlook on life. So that’s kind of what we’ve been doing at the moment.”
Ambitions
Archie has had a successful career so far through the use of social media in particular TikTok, where Archie has accumulated a strong following. His career so far has included 9 singles since 2021 and releasing his very own EP in 2022. He has played many gigs across the UK and supported artists like Callum Beattie, Ines Rae and New Rules. I wanted to know what Archie’s dreams are for the future, specifically his dream venue to perform at. “I feel like most people’s dream venue in the UK is like Wembley, because that’s, like THE stadium. But I think for me being from Glasgow, the Hydro is like, yeah, that’s that would be like, Yeah, that’s the one. Obviously there’s more venues around the world, I’d love to play, but I think doing a show at the Hydro in like the hometown would be so iconic. Yeah, I’d love to.” I can really see this for Archie, I think his raw talent and determination as a self signed artist will get him there.
Recent Work
Archie’s last few singles have included old photographs of him as the cover art. Archie shared that “It’s been really nice doing the childhood pictures, because I know no matter how much right now, if I’m struggling mentally with music because I’m not where I want to be, or if I’m really upset and things didn’t do as well, it’s like looking at the pictures in like that wee guy would be so proud of like what he’s doing now, and it’s just kind of nice. It’s a really nice reflection to see where he is now. I think the nature of the music, because it’s quite cute, and it was quite folky [and it was] really nice and just have, like, the baby pictures on it, [it] definitely made sense.” We began to reflect on our younger selves and the nostalgia that comes with getting older. “You start to question everything too much. And just when you were younger, you kind of appreciated everything for how it was. Just lived in the [moment] and a lot of the songs have some similarities to being young, because it’s very like – you’ve just fallen in love, and it’s that thing of it makes you so naive and feeling almost like a little kid again, because it’s just like insane feelings that are coming over you, and you don’t really know how to make sense of it.”
LA
“LA was fire. It was so good. I’ve inherited that term from LA. Everyone says it like ‘oh, that’s so fire’ but no, it was really great. I feel it was the first time in my life that I felt I was just truly making the music that felt right for me and felt true to me. I just liked mixing with the people over there. Everyone was just so insanely talented, and I feel it really brought out the best in the music. And it was just really interesting for me, because I’ve never been overseas by myself. It was my first kind of big solo trip that I did, and I went there not knowing anyone, and then kind of came back with so many new friends and connections and just different outlooks on life. Everyone there is very positive, which is great. And it was just good to be surrounded by those kinds of people. And also it really helps having sunshine, it really helps actually! It was really sick. Big, big fan. But it doesn’t feel real anymore that it feels like I didn’t ever go. I’m just going back here now.”
When asked about the filming of his new music video, Archie reflected on the experience, saying, “That was really, really amazing. It was my first time working with, like a really kind of professional music video team, and it was just all so effortless and flawless on that side of things. It was just really interesting, I think, for me to see into the world of film, because I knew nothing about it. And I kind of came out with so much new experience in that kind of lane of work, which was really interesting. And it is kind of interesting to put a story to the song, and just nice to make some visuals for the video. And it was like we had actors and stuff. It was really fun working with them. And it was just, it was just really great. The director, Michael, is one of my old friends from when I used to live in Hong Kong, and we’d kind of reconnected. So it was just really nice working with a team of lovely people and good friends and stuff.”
Now that Archie is back here in rainy Scotland, he is already planning to return to LA, but he looks back on his time in LA with gratitude and said “I just got to experience some really cool studios there, and just working with some amazing producers, the stuff of dreams for wee Archie in those photos!” Which is, in a way, a full circle moment for him.
Future Projects & Upcoming Music
Archie teased his upcoming projects: “You could say the next project is very different. Very, very different. And I feel like the next project feels like me, and it’s fully me, and without too much influence from other people. It just kind of feels, sonically, [that I’m] making the sounds that I want to make. It’s a lot more musical. It’s a lot more fun, a bit geeky”. There are lots of exciting things happening in the next year for Archie, including “another music video coming in the next year, which will be good and I’ve got a show on the 22nd of December, so that should be fun”. Thinking about goals and expectations for the new year, Archie said “Ideally, my kind of main goal is just to get as much music out as possible, and also just get consistent with releasing, because this year was quite on and off. And so next year, I will really consistently release music, and then hopefully get some more singles out, maybe another EP or something could be great. And then hopefully another headline show at some point, but I’ll see about that.”
Fun Questions
Katy: So, if your music was a colour what colour would it be?
Archie: That, that’s a crazy one, because this current EP is 100 percent blue because that was my favourite colour from like, age four. Like, I really like light baby blue, and my bedroom was painted blue, and it was just always my favourite colour as a little kid. And I feel like all this kind of music feels very blue to me, but not blue from a sad point, just blue from looking interesting and nostalgic. Yeah, 100 percent and just like these songs are like, they’re not lyrical masterpieces. They’re not meant to be lyrical masterpieces, they’re just meant to be really sweet music that can kind of get you through a tough time or help you make sense of feelings and stuff like that. The next batch of music, I would say yellow, like, that’s, I don’t know why yellow, but that’s what it feels like. Okay, I think maybe moving from blue to yellow, the yellow is like a kind of a new light shining on the sorry, that’s so pretentious. The yellow is like a new kind of light of music and era coming through. But, yeah, I think at the moment it does feel very blue
Katy: No, but that makes sense to me. I feel like the colour of your room or your favourite colour when you’re younger is, like, ingrained in your brain and it sticks with you somehow.
A: Yeah and you know, the crazy thing is, my room was blue and then it was yellow.
K: So there you go then, full circle.
A: Full circle moment for sure. I actually just painted it, I painted it brown and gold.
Going a bit crazy on the design, but I got back from LA and I felt really out of place. I was like, right… I feel like I’ve just matured a lot as a person and moved on in life. But everything was the same when I came back. So I’m like, I need a complete switch up. So currently working on that project at the moment, that’s a good project for next year. Great project. Don’t know about the music, but my rooms gonna look fire
K: Exactly, love that sometimes you just need a change.
I then asked what is a song that you would recommend to our Karma! readers. He gave us quite a few recommendations.
A: My favourite song ever is ‘Chocolate’ by The 1975. But I feel like that’s quite generic.
Should it be something cooler?
K: Just whatever you want to recommend, really!
A: Let’s have a little look in my recently listened playlist. I’ve been doing some serious playlist action recently.I don’t really want to go super pretentious, though.
So this is impossible, what I would really recommend is that they listen to ‘Colourblind by Archie’. That’s definitely one of my favourites.
K: Wow, mine too actually!
A: There’s a song called ‘Gimme Back My Soul’ by Medium Build. I’ve been listening to it a lot this year. And feel this year, a big thing for me is finding myself and also putting like priority in myself, because I feel like for the last couple years, one of my like biggest flaws was kind of people pleasing and letting people take advantage, and letting people just always kind of going with what everyone wanted, and I feel, especially with going away and finding a new perspective on everything, I’ve really been focusing on just trying to do everything that feels right to me and just be the most like open and honest person with everyone as well, and not trying to please everyone and live up to their standards. And that song’s really kind of all about that, just like not being pushed around, like just really trying to find yourself and taking back the parts of you that other people have inherently stolen from you because of the relationships you’ve been in with them.
K: Yes, aww I really love that. Will need to give it a listen.
A: Yeah but if that’s too much yap, then ‘Chocolate’ by The 1975.
K: I say, what about we recommend ’Colour Blind’ by Archie?
A: No yeah, that’s the one! That’s the one.I feel a bit cheeky if I just said like ‘Tears of Heaven’ by Pat Hamilton. I have got to back my boys.
K: Of course, back the boys! Absolutely love Pat’s music; definitely a good recommendation. And, how do you feel now that the single is out?
A: I’m just really happy it’s out. I’m really hopeful for it actually. The last release didn’t go as well with ‘Chasing Daisies’, it didn’t go as well as ‘Olivia’. Which I was really disheartened about. So I’m really kind of like right, this one I’m just gonna lock in and just put lots of work into it. And it’s really, I said, as, like an independent artist, it really is all down to you. And it’s like, I really feel if I put the right effort and I can make something of the song, which I’m really excited about, and also it’s just, even if it doesn’t do it as well as I hope for, it’s like, it’s still exciting. I’ve got a music video coming out too. I’ve got lots of really good content for it, which has been really fun to put out. And, yeah, I’m just feeling hopeful. That’s what I’m feeling, really perfect. For a long period of time I felt a little bit like I was lacking purpose or something to do. But with a release, there’s always stuff to do. But in between releases, it’s like, I don’t really know what to do myself. So now I’m just like, right. Keep grinding, get working, yeah, take over the world. That’s the goal, world domination.
A: You know, a little delusional, just a tiny bit
K: Yeah, definitely! No one would be anywhere without a little bit of delusion.
It was lovely to chat with Archie and get a real insight into his journey, creative process, and what’s next for him.
Make sure to stream ‘Colourblind’ and check out his music video out now!
Follow Archie @archiecwmusic on Instagram and @itsarchiecw on TikTok.
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