We had the pleasure of interviewing Kristian Kostov, and here’s what he had to say:
Q: What was a typical day in the studio like when you were recording “Mine”?
KOSTOV: We wrote “Mine” together with some of my songwriter friends and then finished production a year later at another studio with our music producer. I can say that writing the song was very easy, we wrote the whole thing in a few hours and then recorded the demo the same day! To me, that session was very therapeutic because I was heartbroken and I shared my story with the co-writers and they helped me make my feelings come to life in the form of this song.
Yet finishing the song at first felt like a complete disaster haha. Don’t know why but my brother Daniel, our co-producer Sasha, and I struggled a lot with finishing this song in particular and what we ended up doing was deleting the whole project, leaving only the vocals there. And guess what, we had a version that was 70-80% ready the next day!
Sometimes you have to take a step back, look at what you’re doing and do something crazy with a song if it doesn’t feel right.
Q: What would you say was your favorite aspect of the creative process?
KOSTOV: Turning my actual drama/heartbreak experience into this beautiful and fun song is probably my favourite part of it all. Now every time I hear this song I go back in time but in the best way possible and it feels like I have no bad feelings toward that person at all, I’m grateful! Because of them, I have this smash of a song on my hands!
Also getting inspo from other art forms – in this case, it was the movie “Swiss army man” and its soundtrack – is one of my favourite things ever. It makes me feel like I’m a part of a bigger creative ether and gives more meaning to the resulting work.
Q: What do you enjoy most about creating music?
KOSTOV: It fascinates me how you can exaggerate anything and “rewrite” your history and basically make a totally new story that you sometimes end up believing in more than what had actually happened. We, artists/songwriters, are also actors in a way cause we turn stories that are based on our personal experiences (not always, but most of the time) and tailor them to suit the narrative of the current project we are working on. And then we sing it as storytellers and we have to make it believable and to achieve that you kind of have to act!
But obviously, there’s nothing that makes me feel better than listening to the final master of any song I wrote for the first time.
Q: How has your 2023 been so far and what’s one thing you’re really looking forward to doing this year?
KOSTOV: Very challenging, to be honest. I moved to Spain without knowing the language or having any friends here. But it is an experience that has shaped me as a person so much. I’m now in therapy, working out daily, cooking my own meals, and working on one project after another and that makes me extremely proud. Obviously, there is a cost to this lifestyle – my social life is basically non-existent so for the second half of 2023 I wish to find more time for that!
Q: How long have you been making music and what is your best memory from the process so far?
KOSTOV: I started playing the piano when I was 3 years old so I’ve basically been a “musician” for about 20 years. Sounds scary but it’s the truth. I can’t possibly pick out one favourite memory cause there are oh so many of them, good and bad, but I can definitely say that there’s something magical about seeing people you’ve never met in your life vibe with you and sing your songs in unison with you. The light that you see in your audience’s eyes shines the brightest and it’s filled with so much love that I’m sad that not everyone will be able to experience that.
Q: In what way(s) do you think your sound has evolved since you started making music?
KOSTOV: If you listen to my first releases you’ll be surprised how far we’ve come as producers and writers. Again, I can’t pick one thing. Basically, I’m more confident in every aspect of my artistry. I feel like I’m a much better vocalist, writer, and producer than I’ve ever been and also our visual representation of our releases is something I’m very proud of and constantly talk about.
Just listen to my first song ever released and my latest body of work and you’ll understand what I mean.
Interviewed by Zoey King
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