So it's crunch time for me this week as my debut album Electronic Earth is finally out! It's been a real learning curve for me, and my single (Last Time) was out last week and it went in at No. 4 which was amazing! That was a really healthy result, and I owe my fans a lot for supporting me and being patient with me. The last few weeks have made me think about things a bit differently and I've definitely learnt a few things. I think with Last Time I went into my own head a bit and I really wanted to push boundaries with the video. At that point into the campaign I was really up against it time wise, but I still really wanted to be ambitious and crazy.
I'm not gonna lie, it was always going to be hard to top what we achieved with Earthquake, but that song I think was an easier catch to get into. The track was very edgy and I think with Last Time it was a bit more of an odd slide, and it took people a while perhaps to understand it. I honestly didn't expect it to go to No. 4 and I really respect my audience so far, as when you are trying to achieve something fresh it can be difficult for people to follow that.
I think as an artist I wear a lot of different hats and people have to join all of the dots. I guess I'm a bit of a jigsaw puzzle - and this album is me putting all the pieces together! I'm a perfectionist and to actually finish something is good for me. As a breed, I think artists are never 100% satisfied with their work and we will always want that little bit of extra time to put the final gloss on it.
It's been a mad couple of weeks, I did Jonathan Ross last week and that was brilliant. Creating and putting the performance together was really enjoyable and I like to think it gave people a good taster of whats to come. We had an incredible response, and that was so encouraging for me to see that people were into what I was doing. You put yourself out on a limb when you do TV shows like that and sometimes the feedback you get can not be what you want to hear... but the response I got also reassured me a bit that the wider market is into Labrinth!
I've been touring with Drake at the moment and this has also been an eye opener, as his audience and mine are quite different. The London shows were interesting for me as the London crowd is always a hard one to win over. It's kinda like they scrutinise you harder than anywhere else! Standing on stage at the 02 is mad... I mean, I never thought I would be doing that 12 months ago. Getting in front of that many people at any one time is no mean feat in itself and once you are up there you just gotta do your best and give the audience something to talk about! Team Lab have been great at supporting me throughout this, and at one point we trended on Twitter, which was amazing!
It's been a journey to say the least, and I gotta show some love for all my fans out there that have allowed me to do my thing, and I really hope the finished record is as enjoyable for everyone to hear as it was for me to make. I can't tell you how much hard work has gone into that and how many sleepless nights I've had during the whole process - but hey, that's what it's all about right? Challenging yourself to always go one step further and above the rest.