Corey Harper Leaves His Past Behind on Debut Album ‘Future Tense’
Jenny Sorto
It’s been two years since Corey Harper released his last project. Now he returns with his biggest endeavor yet, his debut album Future Tense. Harper is a singer-songwriter that isn’t defined by genre – from upbeat pop to emotional acoustic tracks. His honest songwriting is what grounds his work. What came about as a new collaboration with producer Alex Salibian (Harry Styles, Young the Giant, The Head and the Heart) is a collection of songs that chronicle Harper’s deteriorating relationship. He opens up about the inevitable breakup by writing in the present tense instead of the past, giving the project a hopeful tone.
A week ahead of the release of Future Tense, Corey Harper joined us for a video chat to discuss his album and delve into his musical process. He tells us about the difficulty in being vulnerable, crying on airplanes, his hopes for bringing his album to the world and more!
Bad Wreck: How did you go about starting to work on your debut album?
Corey Harper: I started recording the album in October 2020. I got in touch with Alex Salibian and he had heard my music through a contact of mine at BMI. He was just really interested in wanting to work with me. I was like, ‘that’s really interesting’ because I have always wanted to do an album. So we kind of got together that month of October and talked about what I wanted to do as an artist, what I wanted to make, kind of my story and we just started working from then on.
BW: With that would you want to tell us a little bit about your own writing process? Is there a certain way that you normally go about making songs?
CH: There isn't a normal way for me. I think there are ways that are more often and there are ways that kind of happen to come together in weird ways. A big question is always, ‘Is it the music or the lyrics first?’ and I always just say it depends on the day and situation and like how hot it is outside. I don't know, it depends. The writing process for me is time by myself meandering over thoughts that I have and things that I'm going through. Then I will put it into something on the acoustic guitar that I'll take into being produced into a bigger production… I've never done a process like this for my album where I was writing with one person most of the entire time like having a solidified collaborator which was my buddy Nate… and write songs with the intention of being cohesive and being put on an album. This album cycle looked a little bit different than the traditional way that I would record and write songs.
BW: Were there any songs that didn't make it onto the album that you weren’t sure about? How did you narrow it down to these 11 tracks?
CH: It's kind of like throwing paint against the wall… I guess a good analogy I can use to explain it – because I'm a painter, I like painting. If in my mind I have something I want to paint and I can see kinda what colors I’m supposed to use but I’ll go to the store and I'll buy so many things that are so unnecessary that I end up not even using them at all. Like different paint rollers or the size of a brush that was way too big or way too small and you kind of overkill. And then from there you narrow it down to what you actually really need to the necessities and use that. Sonically it's the same thing. You’re just throwing all these things onto a canvas and some of them look really great, some of them don’t, and you paint over those and then you make it more concise. So yeah there's a couple songs that through the fruition of the album ended up not being a part of it just because a lot of them were in the beginning stages…. If I hadn’t written those songs that didn't make it then I wouldn't have written the songs that did.
BW: I didn’t know that you were a painter!
CH: I mean what really is a painter?
BW: Someone who paints.
CH: Yeah, that's true [laughs] but I make mostly nothing of value. I mean my mom likes my paintings so that counts.
BW: Yeah, that’s what matters!
CH: I do love painting and being creative. I found a love for it a few years ago.
BW: Getting into the themes of the album, you talk about your past relationship. Do you ever find it difficult to be vulnerable when you're writing about real-life things?
CH: Yeah, I do all the time. It's really hard to write songs about things that people and your peers know you're going through. It's really easy to shock people with these lyrics because they’re hearing it in song form and they’re like ‘Oh wow,’ and they can relate it to themselves. But when it's pretty identifiable to you it's harder to write about because other people know the story. And there are two sides to a story always. So, writing my own perspective of it is like, ‘Am I saying too much? Am I giving too much?’ Yeah, it's hard. Obviously, that's what being a songwriter is. This is what I signed up for when I said I wanted to write songs for the world and help people get through things that a lot of other people go through.
There’s a song on the record called “Vulnerable in the Sky,” which is about how being on an airplane is sensory heightening and heightens your awareness and vulnerability. I think that's one of the songs that I’m most excited for people to hear… For frequent fliers listening to songs and watching movies at higher altitudes, scientifically – I was doing the research – actually your senses are heightened especially towards things that are sadder. You just have so much more time up in the air to reflect on some things and you can't go anywhere, you can’t distract yourself with anything. There aren't that many distractions other than the TV in front of you or maybe walking to the bathroom a couple of times. That song is kind of about that and the vulnerability you feel up in the sky.
BW: Yeah, that’s so interesting, I’ve definitely cried to movies on the plane so that makes sense.
CH: Yeah! Me too, every time! I was talking to my producer Alex about it and he's like ‘Dude, you’re so right! I’ve never heard this ever be spoken about.’ I talked to so many people like, ‘Do you get this too?’ Even a trailer will get me. It’s wild because you’re so removed from society, you’re so removed from the world and you’re so high up there. It's like you finally have your own time to think.
BW: How do you hope people connect with the overall themes on Future Tense?
CH: I hope people can understand the story of what this group of songs is about. Future Tense, the title, represents me being in something that I knew the outcome of…The times I was writing these songs they were set in the future for me. I hope people can connect with the overall hopeful story of it. Because it is a lot of stuff that is kind of sad to think about and sort of melancholic but it is hopeful. It’s bridging the gap between doing what you need to do for yourself because you know you have to do it and also trying to let go of something peacefully, easily and gracefully at the same time. So I think that's a big one for me. Also just discovering more about myself. I hope people can do the same.
The song [“Future Tense”] is about self-discovery and questioning why I feel the way I feel. I think what a lot of songs you hear that are really sad – they don't have the question of ‘Well why do I feel this way?’ and ‘How can I come to a conclusion?’ Maybe you never find one but it's at least important to start the question and start a conversation of ‘Man I feel this way a lot. What do I need to change? What do I need to do?’ But I hope people can just connect with the vulnerability that I felt and my story as a singer-songwriter. I'm super excited.
BW: How do you hope to bring these songs to the stage? Do you have any plans to play them live?
CH: Yeah! I’m playing a show in Maryland, Ocean’s Calling Festival. I'm playing all acoustic. I love doing that. It's really a challenge for me to play that many songs acoustic especially because I haven't played in a long time but it'll be nice to be back on a stage again solo acoustic. I definitely am working on some tour dates here for the winter and spring. The live show is going to be a lot bigger and a lot more cohesive and more thought out and planned. It’s hard to give a specific look and feel to it because I'm still figuring it out but it definitely won't be like anything I've done before. It'll be different. It'll be more exciting and on a larger scale just because it's a full album. There are a lot of wheels turning creatively in terms of what the live show looks like.
BW: This is your debut album. Do you have any favorite debut albums by other artists?
CH: That’s a great question. Oh yeah, so Dominic Fike obviously. I'm a huge fan of his. I think the first album he put out. I listened to it a lot in the latter half of this album process. I like how vulnerable and real he was to write the songs that he did and sing the way that he did. I think it was different to what a lot of people were doing – bridging his earlier sound which was so different from his newer stuff. He was rapping on Soundcloud and rapping on a song but then you see his live show – there’s a live show of him at the Roxy and he's covering John Mayer. It's the versatility of him to be this rapper and also bringing the softer acoustic music into his repertoire which I really love. Like I want to do the opposite. I want to bridge that soft acoustic side of me with a more energetic feel. I was really impressed by his first album.
BW: Lastly, how do you feel knowing this body of work is going to be out there for the world?
CH: Terrified. Terrified and eager and anxious to have it be listened to. I feel proud of the work that I did with these amazing people. I was honored to be able to make this record. I made some of my best friends now through this process so it's really special for me… It took the better part of two years so it's really important. I hope people connect with it. I hope people love it. I hope it puts me in an area where I can be on the same stage as other peers in my field. Other than that I'm more just wishing it was already out. Right now it’s like I have senioritis of the album cycle. It’s out literally in a week from today which is wild. I'm at the stage where I'm already cutting class and going home early.
