NBDY Announces Debut EP 'Admissions' & Shares Its Lead Single "Battlezone"
The Sony/Arista signee is dropping his first project very soon.
Preparing for the next stage of his professional career and artistic development, Sony signee and multi-talented singer-songwriter NBDY is announcing plans for his next studio project and serving up its lead single. Specifically, NBDY is introducing his Admissions EP by dropping a video for one of its standout selections, “Battlezone.”
Opening up to us for an exclusive conversation, NBDY reveals that “Battlezone” was created during a particularly rough time in his love life. “I always found it hard to express myself,” he reflects. “We kept finding ourselves at a dead end, largely in part due to our egos, so I just wrote down everything I wanted to say to her at that moment and those words became this song.”
For the “Battlezone” video, NBDY wanted to create a visual that showcased the most powerful and captivating parts of the romantic bond he shared with his significant other. “I wanted to focus more on the essence of our love rather than a narrative,” he says. “In this video, you get to see and feel love but also the pain from conflict and things left unsaid.”
“Leading up to the shoot NBDY and I had quite a few conversations about emotion and colors,” Khufu Najee, the director behind the “Battlezone” clip, shares. “We never talked about a concept — just emotion and colors. I hate talking about concepts. What we wanted to do was make something that made you feel and something that wasn’t too direct in its message. Emotions and colors, bro.”
Concerning the EP that “Battlezone” belongs to, NBDY took an open-ended, free-form approach to its creation. “I just wanted each song I wrote to be as honest and as in the moment as they could be,” NBDY says, looking back at the creative process that birthed Admissions. “It’s a collection of stories on triumph and finding myself through the many different languages of love … it’s literally everything I’ve never said before now.”
“The influences behind Admissions stem from my past relationships and the women who helped shape me into who I am now,” NBDY adds; like today’s single, the rest of Admissions‘ content and themes revolve around love and all the consuming emotions that come with it — whether they build us up or break us down. “Sonically, the darkness of the production paired with haunting background vocals and melodies were inspired by my childhood love for artists like Brandy, Usher, and more recent sonic inspirations came from people like The Weeknd and Justin Nozuka. The passion they capture in their vocals is unmatched in my opinion and I wanted to hopefully capture that same effect by giving my listeners the rawest version of me I was able to give. I’m still learning how to open up more in my music and I hope when I look back at my career I can say that all of it, everything up to this point, made me a better person.”
You can check out NBDY’s new “Battlezone” video and single above, while Admissions is scheduled to see release on May 24 via Sony Music and Arista Records.
