Interview: RMR Talks Returning to Music After 2 Years and Releasing a Hit Record Right Before the Pandemic
The “Dealer” singer sits down with Afterglow to talk about his new single, “Crazy,” and how his experience releasing music has evolved since his 2020 debut album.
Written by Lauren Stephens
Photo courtesy of RMR
Genre-defying artist RMR first took the world by storm with his viral hit “RASCAL” in 2020. Since then, he’s continued breaking the rules with his album DRUG DEALING IS A LOST ART, collaborated with countless artists such as Darci and Kid Ink, and most recently dropped his new single “Crazy” with Ryan Lewis. Afterglow sat down with RMR to talk about moving from a major label to releasing independently, future touring plans, and staying true to his artistic vision.
Afterglow: I wanted to start off by saying congrats on your single, “Crazy,” with Ryan Lewis dropping last month. How does it feel to be back releasing new music after a nearly two-year hiatus?
RMR: It feels great, yeah, it was about two years wasn’t it? It’s like a month and some change, but it feels amazing. It feels like a huge weight is off my shoulders right now that I get to put something back in the market. It was a process, but I trusted the process, and we are here now.
Amazing. Well, we’re glad you’re back! During your hiatus, you stayed busy collaborating with a variety of artists of different genres and backgrounds. Did you gain any new inspiration from this period that influenced your new single?
The single … the single was definitely done before a lot of those collaborations happened, but those collaborations very much inspired me as an artist. You know, even the fly on the wall is going to trigger something and inspire the room. It was sharpening my sword and staying active. And some of those artists are friends, some of them were just people that came around where I liked the record and I decided to do it. It was great. Inspirational for sure.
Another thing is, I think it’s very admirable that you waited to release music again until things felt right. I know a lot of musicians would be scared to step away from releasing music, especially after having a release as big as your last album. So, did you have any fears or anxieties when you decided to come back?
Yeah, there’s always that voice of doubt in the back of your head. You just gotta, you know, tape its mouth shut [laughs]. Moving forward from the last situation, I just knew that coming back out, I would have to have the right team — which I do — around me.
I feel like it’s two times better, and it’s definitely growth from the last music that I put out. So, I’m very excited to release that, and I don’t have any fears that it won’t do well. I feel like the music will end up speaking for itself as long as it’s quality and beyond the norm, it should excel.
Absolutely — I agree. Also, that first album [DRUG DEALING IS A LOST ART] was released in the middle of the pandemic under Warner Records, and now you’re releasing music as an independent artist under AWAL. What is the big difference in doing those two things?
I was a new artist. I think I put out the record that ended up breaking me two weeks before the pandemic happened — February 26, I remember this clearly, and then the pandemic happened. March 13 they shut everything down. I put it out independently and within those two weeks, I took some meetings here and there, and March 25 is when I decided to go with a major [label]. That was cool.
I learned a lot about myself, I learned a lot about the industry. The situation was not negative, it was all reassuring I should say, that it was at a place of this is where you are, and that’s where you want to be. You have to do this, this, and this and the steps were, you know, steps I either wanted to take or steps I did not want to take. And, we ended up going our separate ways, which, I feel, was great for everyone, and now I’m here. And the experience is almost the same, I would say it’s kind of [a] mirror. It’s just, instead of 20 people being in the building, it was 100 people being in the building, but they had 1000 different artists they were looking after.
And do you feel like non-traditional labels like AWAL will be the future or that there’s room for both?
I think, I think, like you said, there’s room for both. I feel like some people need, you know, the other side of the coin where it’s, ‘Hey, do this and this and this and this.’ You know, there’s a whole machine around them — from people that write their records, people that bring them records, people that, you know, some even sing their songs for them. And then there’s the other side of artists taking initiative and working with the powers to be and saying, ‘Hey I want this and I don’t want this. Hey, I think we should do it this way and so and so and so…’ Yeah, both are great. Both end up successful. Yea no, there’s definitely room for both, with artists who can find their folds in the industry or lack thereof.
So, shifting gears a little bit, since your success started during the pandemic, you haven’t had the opportunity to play many live shows. Is touring something you’d be interested in doing?
Yeah, touring is definitely getting spoken about right now within my team. And there’s going to be a couple of shows before then, make sure to come up [laughs]. And yeah, definitely need to tour.
Is there any particular artist you’d potentially want to tour with?
There’s a few right now. [A] few are friends of mine, [a] few my team has brought to the forefront. So yeah, we’re seeing what the best situation is.
Yeah absolutely. I mean, that’s really exciting. I’m sure it’ll be cool to play those songs that you’ve had for so long in front of people and experience them in a new way.
Most def.
And now you’re heading full-force into this new era of your music, which is very exciting. Is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to as you move into this next chapter?
I’m looking forward to traveling. I’m looking forward to coming to places like Ausin, Texas, you know? [Laughs]. I’m looking forward to seeing the world. That’s about it. And seeing, and meeting different people. Rascals, all around.
You can follow RMR on Instagram and Twitter and stream his new single “Crazy” on Spotify and Apple Music.
This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.