“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.”