Ryan tells Bullett about this video and being signed to G.O.O.D Music:
Tell me about the song. What inspired it?
I try to write my songs to mean what they’re supposed to mean to whoever’s listening. Yeah, that’s the vague mysterious answer, so let me give you something better. OVERFLOW is about wanting someone or something you care about to come into the fullest expression of who or what they are and who or what they were made to be. I think this is what it means to love, whether it’s your girl, family, a dream, the world at large, or a sexual experience. It’s the desire for everything to be the fullest, most truest expression of whatever it is.
Where did you shoot the video?
We shot it in a couple different locations which all had meaning for the video. The desert scenes were shot in this incredible dry lake bed where they film all those car commercials. The desert is where we start from. The ocean scenes are in Malibu. The ocean is where we’re trying to get. And with the exception of the pool, everything else was filmed in a Hollywood studio, and that part represents “us” trying get “there.”
How did Kanye first discover your music?
I think my name had been in his ear as far back as 2008 through a designer friend of mine named Tracey Mills who messaged me on Myspace, where at the time I had over a million and a half plays from stuff I had thrown up there. Long story short, years later I get introduced to a guy named Che Pope who had recently been brought on to help run things at GOOD. I played one song for Che (“Paradise”) and a couple days later I was in Paris with Kanye, who offered to sign me on the spot after meeting me and hearing my music.
What has being signed to GOOD meant for your career?
Autonomy, which can be a blessing and a curse. One of the things Kanye told me in our first meeting is that he understood what I was doing musically, promising me the freedom to do me. With that being said, as much as I have the freedom to do things on my own, I really am doing things on my own, with the help of my team of course. I’m very blessed to be signed to one of the most respected artists and label families in music. That association brings its benefits and it’s really what you make of it.
