British musician Jacob Collier performed his first one-man show in three years at Expo 2020 Dubai tonight (29 January). The five-time Grammy winner is known for his incredible vocal range, layered musical creations and ability to play a multitude of instruments.
Shortly before taking to the Jubilee Stage, Collier, 27, talked about how Expo 2020 Dubai has inspired him, working with famed music impresario Quincy Jones and what it feels like to be hailed as a genius.
What appealed to you about Expo 2020 Dubai?
The let-your-imagination-run-wild approach to everything – the architecture, the tech, the design of the place … the curves and edges, and the global nature of it. As a musician, I’ve always been ravenous for all the flavours from all the places, so this is an amazing space where you can get a pocket version of each of these and work it into your own thing. I’ve been tasting food, seeing sights and hanging out in Al Wasl [Plaza], which is an amazing venue. Whenever I poke my head into any environment around here, I’m inspired by somthing new.
One of the three subthemes at Expo 2020 Dubai is Mobility – are you always trying to move things forward in your music?
I’m always looking to see what is possible, musically, creatively, collaboratively. So coming to Expo feels like coming back to my roots in some ways, as it is a world that revolves around tech and imagination, but the human spirit prevails throughout. My one-man show is a bit of a thesis of that. I wanted to tour this album without a band, the way I made it in my room in 2016, on my own, in a space with instruments. So my aim was to use a hybrid of instruments that are very real in analogue, and use dense tech that could unite those flavours, but without feeling you are inside a machine or that it is a gimmick. The challenge with all tech products is how do you find a way for the human being to be at the forefront of what is happening, rather than the tech being at the forefront and the humans having to recede into the background. That challenge is perpetual and this one-man show feels like a work out of those ethics and ideas.
Do you see it that there are no boundaries to what you can do?
I think as a creative person you have to try everything, throw paint at the wall and see what sticks. As you learn from the people and cultures around you, you get this sense you are chiselling away at this world that is never finished. You are always seeking the new material or new sensation or new height, and there isn’t a moment where you say: ‘I have done music now.’ There is a deep infinity in music, especially in 2022, where there is so much potential for combination and recombination of styles, ideas, rhythms, sounds – and that is endlessly interesting.
Are there any instruments you haven’t yet played?
Next on my list to learn is the pedal steel. You play it across your lap and the pedals control the tuning, which is a system I do not understand at all. String instruments I can understand, keys I can understand, rhythm, voice everyone can understand, but pedals are a new language.
But you do make use of pedals on stage, with your bare feet?
Very true. There is one instrument on stage called the harmoniser, which is like a vocal synthesiser. I sing a note and play a chord, and you can hear all the notes I am playing sung by my voice in real time, so it is like a spontaneous choir. But it had tiny buttons that were painful to press, so we put spoons on them as pedals. I can’t play it with shoes or I hit two at once. The goal is to get one big toe on target.
You share a lot of what you do online – not just the music, but also the process to get there. Is that you collaborating with the world?
That is a nice way of putting it. I think everyone is contributing to where music is going and where it has come from. As this language has built and become shared, the music becomes more colourful. I’ve never understood people who hold things back and say: ‘No, that is my thing.’ I think it is quite celebratory to share. I get almost as much of a kick out of saying ‘this is why’ as just ‘this is’. It is such a beautiful process that goes into understanding music from beneath, its roots, and the internet has made that easier to have all those things in that creative space.
Is that why you involve the audience in your shows?
There is no better sound that 1,000 people singing together. The voice is such a deeply human thing, so to bring it out of people is a nice exercise. Everyone is a musician to some level.
Do you see it as important to make music that is seen as highbrow more accessible?
Ultimately music is simple – it is sound moving the air. I think there is a deep difference between virtuosity and complexity. With virtuosity, the skill is in the foreground and the result is in the background. Whereas complexity is everywhere – think of a flower, one of the most deeply complex things, but also very simple. One of the challenges when I create is to distil multiple levels into a cosm of understanding, then present it to the world as something simple. I like to think of music as something best shared simple, but that can go very deep or be scaled very high.
You have been referred to as a genius of our time – how do you feel about that?
I think the ancient Greeks look at the word in an interesting way. They say, rather than genius is something you are, it is something you have, and I know that feeling. I think all of us have genius in us to a point. You can practice getting your ideas to fruition and shared. Idea catching is a skill, setting it free at the right moment, so it is funnelled and doesn’t go out of control. I will do my best to make sure an idea has the best chance of surviving in the world.
Quincy Jones signed you when you were 19. How did that come about?
He found some videos of me online and, much to my disbelief, sent me an email. He has this amazing godfather ability to give me all this freedom and space that I frankly demanded at that time. I said: ‘I need to do it my way.’ And he said: ‘I get it.’ He opens doors, and I feel really privileged to be one of the people he has done that for.
You are an inspiration to a lot of young people – any words of advice?
Do things on your own terms and in your own time, and if you have an idea, trust it as it will teach you something and guide you to a place you didn’t know existed before. Never let anyone make you or your ideas smaller than they are. If you make a space for yourself, then the world will make a space for you.
