Phoenix vocalist Thomas Mars and guitarist Laurent 'Branco' Brancowitz chatted with VICE News about the making of J-Boy, a single from their album Ti Amo, released last Friday.
Ti Amo's vibe was inspired by a song called, "Weekend in Rome," by the French artist Étienne Daho.
"We talked a lot about this song and especially the video which is really cool because it's a song about Rome, but you can really tell that [Daho] had never been to Rome," said, Laurent Brancowitz, "it's a fantasy of Rome, and the video is shot not in Rome but in a tube station in Paris which is called Rome,"
The album is about Italy, from a French perspective, "from the tube station. That's [where] the beauty comes from, this contrast of not living a dream, which is boring, but wanting to live a dream and failing but that's the beauty of it."
J-Boy is the first song on Ti Amo. "The song started with an 'ah,' and we wanted that sound to be the first thing that comes off it because this record is about being relieved," said Mars.
The song's creation stemmed from Phoenix's favorite musicians, including an LM1 Drum Machine- closely tied with Prince's music legacy- to achieve the distinct flanged effect in J-Boy.
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