“alté cruise” was just what it was. I had just started going out and becoming more social thanks to

Boj. He was always saying the word so much around me, and I had this alt SoundCloud account called

fridaycruise where I’d just drop music very spontaneously. So I just put the two names together. For

me, “alté cruise” is just a manifestation of a more social version of myself. I was going out,

hanging out with friends. When I made the song, we were all in the studio, and Santi did his verse

last. We were having fun and goofing around. I feel blessed to have this song because I love music

so much, and a lot of this stuff we were making was more than music. It was a lot of sacrifice for

the community and friends. It was built on knowing that people loved us and what we were doing. We

were really making it for them, and we wanted the people to feel it. So, it’s nice to see that it

spread that far.

“hectic” was interesting because the first part of it was just 234jaydaa. I was just recording with

her, and we were trying some stuff. I wrote that part, but I wanted someone else to sing it. We were

also trying to work on another song, that’s why, if you notice, at the start of the song, she says,

“I’m just gonna read it,” but the recording already started. She was reading and singing it and it

just sounded so beautiful. I was thinking of making it a full song, then I made this other song,

“hectic.” I sent it to Amaarae, and she just slides on it. It was the kind of R&B stuff I grew up

on. For me to hear myself making music that sounded like what I grew up on, it just gave me

confidence that it was what I was meant to be doing. It sounded like the quality level that I

admire. At that time, Solis was already sending me demos. She used to sing covers on her webcam. She

was just coming up and making lo-fi pop vibe, and I thought she’d do well on it.

I always wanted to make a song that was neo-soul but had an afro bounce to it. It didn’t exist at

that point, so I was like, “I wanted to make one.” In my brain, I just knew that it was possible to

do it. I used to think about it all the time because I love neo-soul. So, I would always think of a

way to do it with gbedu. When I did the chords and put the drum pattern together, I was like, “Yeah,

this is it.” It was exactly how I imagined it. I sent it to Tay after a while. I already had the

song for a bit. Tay and I were exchanging music. We have so many songs we’ve not released. One day,

I just sent him “green light.” I wasn’t sure he’d like it that much, but he sent it back right

after, and I was like, “This is perfect.”