GRAMMY PREVIEW: SURFACES

“Best” Practices

Interview by Michael Dominguez

10k Projects/Caroline/CMG’s Texas-bred duo Surfaces—Colin Padalecki and Forrest Frank—met on SoundCloud and soon began crafting their upbeat amalgam of pop, hip-hop, reggae, calypso and other forms. This led to a couple of self-produced albums before single “Sunday Best” catapulted them into the streaming stratosphere—and the Grammy buzz bin.

As “Sunday Best” exploded in every possible way, fans and even casual listeners are engaging with this song on a different level. Oftentimes, it’s the soundtrack to an extremely uplifting post or positive moment in their lives. Was that the purpose of the track from its inception? How does it feel to create something that incites genuine happiness?
Contrary to popular belief, the creation of “Sunday Best” came from a place of adversity and feeling really lost. It was made in an almost redemptive way, with a “we can only go up from the bottom” attitude. It was us expressing almost a personal anthem of putting on this armor that doesn’t weigh you down anymore, even though it’s been though some rough times.

Breaking through in a year unlike any other, how have you been connecting with new fans?
On the music side, we’re always trying to find new ways to express ourselves and push the envelope on what “our sound” is. We want to continually show our fans how dynamic and anti-genre we are without totally escaping the familiarity of the universe we’ve been trying to create. As far as engaging more with fans and giving more dynamic content, we have some really cool stuff coming soon that will expand our branding and all that it can offer our fans.

You’ve created hits out of your dorm, but the “bedroom pop” label doesn’t do your compositions justice. What inspires Surfaces’ sound?
Waking up every day knowing yesterday could’ve been your last. Knowing that every day with air in our lungs and the sun on our face is a blessing and an opportunity to chase down what we love despite everything else.

With new resources and connections—including Elton John—what’s next for Surfaces? More collaborations? Have you considered writing/producing for other artists?
There will always be artists we admire and connect with at all stages of our careers, but wherever fate takes us and whenever we’re allowed the opportunity to work with someone, we just want to make sure it comes naturally. We never want to force our collaboration or ideas onto others. So our plan as of now is to just keep doing what we’re doing and let the rest fall together, as in our experience with Elton.

What would a Grammy nomination mean to you?
Receiving any form of recognition of this magnitude would be so incredible. A nomination would bring a new level of pride to our work, knowing that respected artists and members of the music community understand and appreciate the art we’ve worked so hard to make. There’s a reason the Grammys are considered the highest accolade in music, and we’d love nothing more than to earn and deserve such an honor.