By Ace, 06th of March, 2023.
With a long path into music Jacob Bellens has been in the game since he was 18 years old, the Denmark music writter and producer has the ability to capture your senses and your attention with his music. We have a nice talk with Jacob Bellens about his music, his plans for this year, the creative approach to part of his last work, how is his community; musically speaking, and other interesting topics we can read below:
808blogg: How can you best describe the sound from Jacob Bellens?
Jacob Bellens: I am a songwriter first and foremost, so the link to my sound is probably mostly my way of writing. The production can vary quite a bit and take shape after what kind of music I find interesting at the time of recording a song. These days most of the songs I do are quite physical and funkish, but I am also very much into more quiet stuff and have been in that ballpark when recording several times before.
808blogg: Do you consider yourself a promoter of the leftfield pop sound?
Jacob Bellens: I wouldn’t really know, since I dont really know what the term means, but I can see why my music can be described as pop, but not quite pop. I have studied classical songwriting quite a bit and have a passion for hooks, earworms and kliches in general. Plus, I don’t have a problem with stealing ideas rather than just being inspired by something, which probably makes some of my writing on the edge of being tacky at times. I guess my baseline is that no matter how accessible my writing can be, it will probably never come off as a mainstream pop song, eventhough that can actually be what I aim for most of the time ha. So yes, ‘leftfield’ is probably a totally legit way of describing what I do if it means ‘odd one out’… ….which makes a lot of sense.
808blogg: We read you constantly collaborate with other artists and friends during your productions, do you think you get more influenced by them, or they by you. Or do you think it is a mutual thing?
Jacob Bellens: It is totally a mutual thing. I always grow creatively from and get inspired by the people I work with. I really enjoy writing and recording and feel very much at home in a studio and in a creative process in general.
808blogg: How can you describe the music community where you live?
Jacob Bellens: A lot of people doing a lot of different kinds of music, but with a high standard of both writing, producing and performing. There are a lot of very talented and inspired artists and producers here and I feel the music scene is overall very ambitious and diverse. I am in contact with many different people during most weeks but sometimes also need to slow down because I can end up being involved in too many projects for my own good. I have many ideas and thrive in the company of others, but it also needs to be balanced. Which is why the combination of being a collaborator for others and being an artist in my own right is good for me.
808blogg: Recently you released your single Everybody Needs Some Loving, what made you choose such a mainstream pop chorus for the track? Which by the way works out great.
Jacob Bellens: Like mentioned earlier, I have no problem with borrowing if it makes the song better. It came up as an idea and worked well. Obviously its not an economically viable way of writing, but I think it all has to do with what serves the song best. In this case I ended up giving 100% of the copyright to Max Martin who wrote the original song for Backstreet Boys, even though the song only used a small portion of their original.
808blogg: About this single Everybody Needs Some Loving, the visual work is really good. How does the idea and conception of the video made by Sara Nana was?
Jacob Bellens: Sara contacted me and proposed that she should make a video for me, which I was very flattered by. I had just finished the song and knew I would have to clear the rights in order to release it and probably pay through my nose in order to obtain the permission from the right holders. So, my logical conclusion was to go all in and make a video that also referenced their original video for Backstreets Back, which is the title of the song Everybody… samples, if I was to give up the rights anyway. Sara was onboard with the idea after a bit of persuasion and conceptual ping pong back and forth between us. She came back with the outline for the video and a whole universe that I could have never imagined. She worked on the video for the better part of a whole year.
808blogg: What are your plans musically speaking for this year?
Jacob Bellens: I am cowriting with and for quite a few artists, but will also release an album myself in October. Before that, I will play a few selected concerts with my old band ‘I Got You On Tape’ and also release a demo album we recorded before making our debut.
808blogg: In your free time, if there is some now in such a busy world, what do you like to do the most?
Jacob Bellens: I draw and paint a lot, swim and mostly just spend time with my daughter and her mom.
808blogg: During your music production process what instrument or tools do you use more?
Jacob Bellens: I use my phone a lot. Garageband for iOS is an important tool for me when writing and in the creative process in general. Also, when doing rap music and some pop stuff I love playing the bass and writing baselines in general, though piano and guitar are my main instruments.
808blogg: What music or artists can you recomend to us?
Jacob Bellens: Hmm.
A lot of stuff, so hard to pick but here’s a few songs I’ve listened to lately
Addis Black Widow – Goes Around Comes Around
LL COOL J — Mama Said Knock You Out
Simply Red – Stars
Ornette Coleman – Lonely Woman
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For more information on Jacob Bellens visit his: Website / Bandcamp / Instagram
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Hey, I’m Ace from 808blogg a music addict, a video nerd, an information freak, and I wrote this interview, you can get more 808blogg content here: 808blogg.wordpress.com.
Thanks for reading and please don’t ever say no to good music…
808 blogg 
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