Exclusive Interview with 'N4NOVEMBER'

N4November is Alex, an Australian-born Filipino-Chinese singer-songwriter. Alex sings lead, plays guitar, and writes songs. “Dear Friend,” a pop-rock anthem that will be released in July 2021, explores topics like mental illness, conversations, and abandonment. N4November’s second single, “Constant Reminder,” was written during Sydney’s second major lockdown with nothing but his overly-thought-out thoughts, and it was released in February 2022. N4November now has three songs after the June 2022 release of “Mistakes and Heartbreak.” A fresh take on alt-rock that is experiencing regret and hopelessness. In 2016, N4N claimed that this song was his first original composition.
When he was 16 years old, he wrote his very first song, “Mistakes and Heartbreak.” Six years ago, he didn’t even know he wanted to be a recording artist; all he knew was that I loved music and that I wanted to write down everything that was inside my messed-up head. Now, at the age of 22, he is finally able to share this song with the general public.

For him, even after all these years, this song “Mistakes and Heartbreak” still held strong, so here it is today. He feels that most people don’t appreciate the early work they do when they first get into the creative field they’re in. Check out the single and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?

N4November: I’m from Sydney Australia, with a Filipino mother, and a Chinese father. I’ve always loved music, especially gaming soundtracks. Even as a child who didn’t really understand what music was, I mean I still don’t to be honest, I had a fascination for music. And looking back it’s crazy how I never realize how much I truly do love music. HEaring is probably my top ranked sense out of the 5. I started writing songs when I was 16. I remember one day I was scrolling through Tumblr and saw this picture with a quote at the bottom, and I wondered to myself what that would sound like if it were sung out. So I grabbed my acoustic guitar, started strumming the only chord progression I knew at the time, and started writing a heartbroken story. Which lead to my latest release “Mistakes and Heartbreak”.

2. Do you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

N4November: I have no formal training whatsoever. I thought about studying music after high school, but I remembered that I’m a horrible student that won’t concentrate or do the homework. I guess you could say I’m self-taught, I mean everything is some sort of skill, and I guess song writing is one of those skills. To me song writing is just like watching a movie, you just got to figure out what the story you’re trying to tell is, in rhymes of course.

3. Who were your first strongest musical influence and why the name “N4November”?

N4November: I will always answer this question with the same answer. My first and strongest musical influence is Taylor Swift. I’ve been listening to her music since the original release of her 2nd studio album “Fearless”. But by far after 10+ years, my favourite album by hers will still be her 3rd studio album “Speak Now”, and I can’t wait for “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)”. I’ve always loved the topic of “love”, and especially the heartbreak that comes along with it. And Taylor definitely knows how to write a great breakup song. The origin of my artist name is not that interesting to be honest. When I was working on my first song “Dear Friend,” I didn’t have a name picked out yet, and I knew I didn’t want to go by my normal name. I was thinking to do something with “Dragon”, well mainly because I was born in the year of the dragon, my ethnic name has the word dragon in it, and it just seemed write at the time. But instead the dragon idea went into my music branding’s logo. N4November came from something I say regularly, as my name as an “N” in it, if i ever have to spell out my name to someone, I always say “N for November”, well cause “N for No” just sounds wrong. And as time got closer to the release of “Dear Friend,”, I needed an artist name so I guess that name stuck.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with the listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

N4November: Well for now, I think one of the key elements in my music is not to write from a 3rd person perspective. Majority, if not all my song storytell through 1st person perspective. Which is great as I don’t have to use gendered pronouns, so whoever is listening can adapt their own situations and feelings to themselves without having to hear the wrong gender when listening. Another element that I write about is abandonment. I’m not sure if it’s just my music now or will forever will be, but I write a lot of songs about being alone and people leaving, and hopefully when people listen to my music they hear this heartbreaking story of someone left alone and feel as if they can channel their feelings into this work of art to that they are heard. I’m still trying to find my sound right now as I’m at the beginning of this music journey. But for now I’d say my sound is “alt-pop-rock of abandonment”. Honestly, when producing these songs, I just incorporate sounds I love, pop-rock instruments, orchestral sounds, and even 8-bit gameboy sounds. Who knows what my future music will be like. I’ll tell you a secret: If I ever do turn pop, like many of the main stream artist have (Taylor Swift, 5SOS), I want my pop music to sound like Owl City’s Ocean Eyes. Always wanted to work with Adam Young, the creator of Owl City.

5. For many artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning, and often emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as rock?
N4November:
I’ve always loved to rock genre of music, no matter if it’s tied in with different genres, like country-rock, pop-rock, alt-rock. Listening to traditional band instruments has always been a love of mine. And incorporating digital instruments into the rock genre has been quite fun. As my music continues to grow, I learned I can incorporate any element of music I enjoy into my own music, which like I said before, are orchestral instruments, digital sounds, and rock instruments. For now, I’d say those are what make up an N4November song. I’m proud to have used those elements in my music, it feels more authentic to me.

6. What was your view on the role and function as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try to affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?

N4November:

I think as content creators, we all have an obligation to speak out on certain political and cultural subjects. I always knew I wanted to be the type of artist to speak out about my personal injustices whenever I got the chance to. I’m not good with words and I’m definitely not the right person to talk about such serious subjects with, but I will try my best to do so. My songwriting does explore a few sensitive subjects that could spark some interesting conversation, like mental health. That is a big element I channel from when writing my lyrics. I’m yet to be brave enough to mention the specifics of these sensitive subjects to dive into the details, but hopefully one day I will be.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

N4November:

Well I am still in the beginning of this music journey, so the pay off from the hard work, time, and money I spend putting into all of this is still yet to show. Just like many artists out there, I want to sell out shows, hear the crowd screaming my songs back to me, see random people on the street wearing my own merch, and all the things that come with making it in this difficult industry. But above all, I want people to not feel alone when listening to my music, even though my songs are all about feeling alone. That’s how I feel when I listen to music, I heavily enjoy “sad” music, and they make me feel heard, so hopefully I can make someone feel the same. I don’t expect any of these things to happen if I’m going to be honest, my music for now is just for myself, I feel a sense of purpose when making music and it fulfills me right now.

8. Could you describe your creative process? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your bread? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

N4November:

Well right now, I’m in a bit of a writing slump, so it’s hard to think of how I start to write. Usually I have to have a chord progression behind any lyrics I’m about to write. Always need my trusty guitar with me when song writing, I can do without. In my everyday life when consuming media, I’m always on the lookout for quotes, topics, feelings, storytelling, anything that can spark that song writing process. I always wondered how I’d explain how I wrote some of my songs, and the best way I can describe it is “it just mes to me”, which isn’t really helpful. Ironically, for someone that writes a lot of words, I’m not too good with them. I haven’t really collaborated with anyone when it comes to my own lyrics, I usually turn to others for validation. But with the topics, it’s usually me that writes out majority of them. It’s my story telling, and my own experiences, so it has to come from me.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far? Wow, getting straight into the gorey details for the world to see huh?

N4November: I’d have to say the most difficult thing I had to endure in this short life was myself. I tend to create a lot of my problems myself, and then don’t know how to dig myself out of them. I’m my own problem. And I don’t know if that sounds really narcissistic or not, but blaming others for my problems just seems wrong.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud, or significant point in your life or music career so far?

N4November: Ever since I knew I wanted to create music, that’s all I could think and dream about. I remember back in 2018 or 2019, I wrote in my notes app, something that went like “I can’t wait to have everything I want one day”, and one of those things being able to work on my original songs. And guess what? That’s where I am today. I truly never imagined that I could be where I am now, and even though it is a difficult and expensive road to pave for myself, I am proud of where I am right now. With the release of my debut single, “Dear Friend,”, everything felt like it was coming into focus. And I can’t wait to release this next N4N project, it’s been years in the making, truly. And also can’t wait to release the music videos for my music, it’s gonna be a hectic time creating all of these projects! See you then!