Backstage Interview
Blanco – “I’ll do a certain section of the song, then record it, listen to it out loud, and fill in the rest”
Studio Talks caught up with Blanco, a successful UK artist with a dedicated international fanbase, for exclusive backstage access at his sold-out Amsterdam show at Bitterzoet on February 25th, 2025. We spoke to Blanco before his performance about memorable moments from his tour, the influence of anime on his music, and his upcoming projects. Watch the video for a full backstage report from Blanco's incredible show.
What’s one item that can’t be missing on your rider?
Obviously, you’ve got the alcohol, the Hennessy and all that, but I like olives on my rider. It can be mixed olives, any type of olives, especially green ones—anything that’s seasoned.
How does anime influence your music? You reference it a lot in your songs.
In my music, I’m a storyteller, and with anime, it’s like one of the best forms of storytelling. So, it just goes hand in hand really. I get a lot of inspiration for storytelling from anime, and obviously, I like it, so it makes it fun.
Is there an anime universe you'd want to live in right now that you’d really vibe with?
I’ve got to look for the ones that are the least dangerous. The ones I can kind of cruise by. I’d say My Hero Academia—I mean, it’s a light universe, not too dangerous. I can cruise through and got a little quirk.
So far, you’ve had about 6-7 shows in February across the UK and Europe. Has there been a memorable moment with your fans when you were like, “Okay, now I feel like this is me connecting with my fans”?
There was one show in Dublin where some random guy decided to crowd surf up onto the stage. Obviously, when he crowd surfed, the stage is far from the barriers, so he hit his head hard. But he got up and started vibing, and I was like, “Yeah, now I really f**k with you guys properly.”
You have a bunch of songs that are f****ng bangers. Is there a song that really gets the crowd going, something that really hypes them up?
It’s “Kennington Where It Started” and “Brilliant Mind.” Those are the two songs that people go crazy for, especially “Brilliant Mind,” man. It goes crazy.
You did a remix of “Brilliant Mind” with Nemzzz. How did that collaboration come about?
So, after the song dropped, there were people in my TikTok comments saying, “Yeah, you should do this,” but I already had Nemzzz in the back of my mind. When people started saying it, I thought, “Okay, I need to think about it,” so I messaged his team. His team said, “Yeah, let’s start and go to work.”
If you could collaborate with one artist right now, dead or alive, outside of the UK, who would it be?
I’d say, this might be a generic answer, but I’ll say Kendrick Lamar. He’s making bangers right now, and his last project was sick! Definitely, I think me and him would go well together—we’ve got bars.
When you’re with a producer in the studio, is there some sort of structure or scheme that you like to have when creating music, or do you just freestyle and go with the vibe and talk about the music first?
I feel like what we do is see what we like. Obviously, now I’m learning that producers, just like artists, have a certain pocket. So, most of the time, I let the producers create, and I give them little tips on how I want the beat to sound. From there, we start cooking everything from scratch—beats, lyrics, everything. I’ll do a certain section of the song, then record it, listen to it out loud, and fill in the rest. It’s a good process.
What’s next for Blanco after the tour?
I’ve got new music coming out. I’m going to be back in the lab, working. I’ve been away from the lab for a minute, but yeah, I’m cooking like we always do. Probably a tape next year.
Follow Blanco on Instagram: @blanc0b0urne
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