As the music scene continues to grow and expand its unique, talented pool of artists, pop visionary Boy Blu, also known as Jamie Bennett, defines art in a way that will surely spark conversation as a new artist to watch out for. Building his fanbase and community through the fast-paced life of Los Angeles, you can always count on him pushing boundaries when it comes to releasing music that's both uplifting and adrenaline-fueled after each listen.
Speaking of that energetic spark, his latest track, "Platinum Pleasure," brings you that perfect snapshot of bold, yet vibrant energy while shaping a seamless introduction into his best era yet. The commanding new single comes after Jaime's recent announcement for his debut EP, "Eye Of Desire." I recently had the opportunity to chat with Boy Blu about his journey as an artist in LA, the creative process behind Platinum Pleasure, and what he's looking forward to with music. Here's what he had to say.
How did your musical journey start, and what experiences confirmed this was the direction you wanted to pursue professionally?
Boy Blu: Actually, I was a professional dancer to start. So I grew up dancing and dancing behind a lot of other artists, and I loved it, but eventually I wanted to tell my own story, and I had my own ideas. I have things that I want to say, and sometimes low-key I was like, "I can do it better." So, I needed to actually go for it, and a little over 5 years ago I started really focusing on doing my own music. I just worked really hard and started taking lessons and crafting my sound and figuring out the direction. Now, I've released a few songs, but this is my first debut EP and a full-body project that I'm releasing. I'm just very proud and excited about it. It's kind of where I started and now where I am, and it's amazing to be in the front now and telling my own stories while getting to share that with people.
Growing as an artist in LA can be both inspiring and challenging—how has the city shaped your sound and mindset all together?
Boy Blu: Love that! I'm originally from Georgia, so I feel that shaped my personality a lot, but then I moved to LA; I've been here for 12 years now. I think in LA, I've had way more of a community here and been surrounded by other queer pop artists that don't have much of a following and are really working hard to build that up, and it's a really amazing feeling to have a community like that. Where we could bounce ideas off of other people and have your friends who are also smaller artists. I think LA is such a competitive city, but in a good way. It really makes you have to be good at what you do and stay inspired and really have your finger on the pulse of what's happening or even create what's trending or happening. I love that about LA. It keeps me at my best because I'm always competing.
Are there any musical or personal influences that continue to inspire you as an artist?
Boy Blu: Yeah, I mean, the queen of all of them, Lady Gaga. Gaga is my number one, and always will be, but she's more like the overall, I mean she's just incredible. I guess artists that musically inspired me, like Slayyyter, COBRAH, and Lolo. Some of these artists, that are again, kind of more niche, smaller queer artists in my opinion. They just do such strong visuals, and they have such a strong sense of who they are as an artist. I'm also inspired by my friends, like my friend Gregory Dillon, who also does music. He produces a lot of my music. I'm very inspired by him and his work ethic. I'm so inspired by people who need to be able to create, like they're just naturally creative and want to create, and it's so much fun to do. I'm always inspired by people like that.
When starting a new track, what's your process like before it's finished? Are there any elements you pay extra attention to during the creative process?
Boy Blu: I'm so visual, so when we start with the production of a track, if I can start visualizing a music video or visualizing what it's going to look like, I know that we're doing the right thing. If I'm listening to something and it's hard for me to visualize, like, "What's happening here?" For me, I have to visually see it in my brain, like, "What is the story? What's happening here?" That's when I know, "Oh, this is good! This is meant for me." So that's something that starts the project for me, because I love a concept for a song like "Platinum Pleasure," or another song on the album "Hurricane." I love thinking about what the song will look like if that makes sense. That's like a big step for me, and also as a dancer, I think about the choreography and what the body is going to be moving like, or what's happening in it. It's something that is kind of a strange thing, but it really helps me identify that this is a Boy Blu track.
How did the concept for "Platinum Pleasure" take shape, and what emotional thread, if any, did you want listeners to resonate with the most?
Boy Blu: For just a little context, I had back surgery, and I gained some weight, and I had a breakup, and I was just not feeling my best. This was also during Covid, so I was just not feeling great, like confident or anything. I started writing some of these songs in the last little bits of me that did have confidence to help me feel better about myself too. So, a lot of the songs in this EP are about confidence and also losing desirability to either your partner or just in general, even yourself. So, I think the emotional thread is wanting people to feel confident, feel like that bitch, feel sexy, and feel seductive and desired. I really struggled with that, but this was really a way for me to pull myself out of it and feel, like, "Oh, I am that bitch!" And we all can be. It's just a matter of a mental thing, and it all rolls together. Platinum Pleasure was kind of the first song that was like that, where I was like, "No, we're not going to write a sad song. We're going to write a song that feels good when you listen to it." So, that's where that came from.
What led you to select this song as your first single following your EP announcement "Eye of Desire"?
Boy Blu: That's a really good question. I've listened to it for so long now so I have to think, "Why did I choose it?" I think it's my favorite one on the EP. I have a tendency to like the most recent song I finish the most just because it's new, but every time I listen to this song, I'll say, "I still love this song so much!" It was my favorite one and it just felt correct to me. I also wanted it to be a little provocative. I wanted to grab people's attention. That song is pretty provocative and striking, so I wanted to kind of, do that first.
Were there any production choices that really helped bring this song to life for you?
Boy Blu: Yeah, I guess the inspiration behind it was, I've been listening to a lot of Britney Spears' "Blackout" album, which is to me one of the most perfect pop albums ever, and there's just this I don't give a fuck, raw emotion that she has behind it that I really wanted to convey. I also was inspired by Lolo. In the beginning of the song, there's this little cashier voice. I love little moments like that in a song that kind of add to the storytelling of it. I also was really tapping into retro futurism with the visuals and also the sound. I wanted it to sound slightly robotic and glitchy, and digitalized with the vocals. Also, just high energy club ready was really the vibe for all of it. So, all of that combined production wise.
Can you walk us through the concept behind "Eye of Desire" and how it came together as a project?
Boy Blu: Yeah, absolutely. Kind of what I touched on. 'Eye of Desire,' to me, was like, the eye could be your partner, it could be the world, or it could be yourself feeling desired, and everybody wants to feel that. Now that I'm 32, when I was younger, I always felt desired, and it was always something I had been so used to. So, as I got older and gained a lot of the weight and wasn't feeling that great, it was just such a shocking feeling of, like, "Woah, I don't feel the same way as I used to, and I didn't really know how to process it." That's what the actual title track, "Eye of Desire," and EP name came from. Is falling out of the eye of desire and kind of craving it. In a way, it's kind of like exaggerating it, but, "Oh, I want to be back in that light. I want to be back in the eye of desire," and it's like this crazy fight to be back there, and that's kind of where it came from. We all want to be desired, and I was just really being vulnerable in a sense, like, "I want to get back into that," but maybe it's myself desiring it instead of being like, "I need the world desiring me; I need my partner to desire me." It's like, I want to desire myself through confidence, which has kind of been the whole through line of this EP for me.
How does performing your music live reshape your perspective on it? Does the energy of a live performance affect how you approach each song on stage?
Boy Blu: Performing live is my favorite. Yeah, definitely! Well physically, some songs are harder to sing than others when performing them. I naturally love to do choreography. I have to tell myself to chill with doing too much choreography sometimes so I can just perform and connect. I think performing Platinum Pleasure live is very seductive, and it's a choreo-heavy song, and it feels good to do that one live. Whereas, like, Hurricane is something where I want to be able to just connect with the audience and connect with the listener without having to be, like, dancing all over the place. I also love reinterpreting songs for the stage, like, what it means or how visually it's performed, or the theme of the song could mean something different when you're on stage. Also, what costumes you do or however you want to interpret it. Yeah, I love the challenge of reinterpretation of a song while performing live.
Beyond the music, what do you want people to know or understand about you personally?
Boy Blu: Right now, I want people to feel connected and feeling confident regardless of what they're going through. I think, kind of like what you just said, when you're not having a great day, it's so amazing how music can change your whole day, change your whole mood, and change everything for you by just listening to a really good song that you just love. I want people to connect with my music like that and to be able to pull themselves out of a rough day or a rough moment and put it on before they're going out to the club or if they're hanging out at home and just want to dance in their bedroom to it. I want them to feel that way because I love the way music has made me feel when I've been in that position as well. Like Gaga, the way she has pulled me out of so many places just by her music. Also, when I listen to Slayyyter, even in my room, I want to go be crazy, and it just makes you feel so good and in a much better place. So, I hope that people can connect with me in that way, and also I hope people can identify with the visuals and appreciate a story and think about every little moment when it comes to music and what I'm doing. I really value that, so I hope people pick up on that.
What excites you the most about this next chapter for you as an artist and what feels like the biggest goal you're working toward currently?
Boy Blu: What excites me is getting to finally release all of this. I've been working on this for, like, a year because I kind of readjusted my sound and direction, and I'm just excited to release it all. I'm also really excited about building a fan base and connecting with people, and having people say, literally, what you just said. That was such a great compliment for me because it just makes me so happy, and I'm so glad you did that. That's the whole point, to help people feel better and feel good. Yeah, I'm really excited about that, and I think a goal for me would be to do more performing live. Live performances are my favorite thing to do, so I'm hoping to do way more of that. I also want to work with other artists and work with other producers and just grow the whole world of Boy Blu and really establish myself as an up-and-coming artist. That's a big goal for me.
Before we close things out, is there anything else you'd like listeners to know or take away?
Boy Blu: Yeah, I'm really proud of this EP, and I'm proud of my community. I'm also proud of the smaller queer artists that are working really hard to make an imprint and make a statement and be out there and taken seriously in music. I think being a niche artist in music is hard sometimes, and being an independent artist is really hard, but it's so important and valuable. I just hope that people connect with it and want to be a fan for a while.
