Jadagrace and Swim talk about their collaboration since childhood, role models like Kendrick Lamar and the energy of their live shows in Europe.
The American hip hop duo Party of Two was on tour in Europe. In the canteen at Berghain they created a dance atmosphere to their rap tracks. Here Jadagrace and Swim in an interview.
Your last show in Europe is behind you? How are you feeling right now? What do you have planned now?
Jadagrace: The biggest plan after a tour is always to catch up on sleep and recover. Because now it’s time to go back to the studio and work on the next project. We were on the road a lot, traveled a lot, were on stage a lot. But it was a great tour and I’m very grateful.
How was your final show? What was it like touring Europe in general? Did you notice any differences between the cities?
J: To be honest, people in Europe move around a lot more. They have more fun. Sometimes people in LA are a little stiff. There is a small language barrier here. But I think it’s nice that they can still connect through music. The European shows were absolutely incredible.
Swimming: I think music has to really move people to overcome the language barrier. People in Europe are really excited to see us – especially because we’re not from here. That is nice. I love performing in Europe.
How close are you to your fan base?
S: Yes, we are very close with our fan base.
J: We often recognize the fans at the concerts, also from social media. We remember many fans who are absolute super fans and have always supported us.
You’ve been very close friends since you were little. What has changed between you two since you were children? Especially now that you’re making music together and being in the spotlight together.
J: I think our work ethic has changed. We were child actors and entertainers. We have always worked. When we were younger we just had fun. Making music together was just fun, we didn’t take it too seriously. But now that it’s our job and we’re a duo, we have more intention. We both have the same goals. We have great chemistry.
S: I would even say that nothing has changed. I think a lot of people who know us would say we’re exactly the same as we were when we were 12 or 14. Of course we’ve gotten older and things have gotten more serious and mature. But our dynamic is really exactly the same. I think that’s why the music is so much fun. That’s why the videos are so funny. It was always just us having fun as kids. We try to keep that alive through what we do today.
Do you think it helps you to have been in the public eye as children? Now that you’re becoming more famous?
S: It definitely makes it easier to deal with. I think people don’t necessarily realize what they’re asking for when it comes to success and visibility. It brings with it so much more than just the cool stuff. I think we learned this very early as children. It’s definitely easier for us to deal with. It can be challenging, as a person and as an artist. To be honest, we’re pretty introverted, but music is where we come to life.
Do you ever have moments when you get on each other’s nerves?
J: Luckily we don’t argue. We get on each other’s nerves, we sometimes provoke each other – especially when we work together, we often have different opinions. But these are also the moments that lead us to create something truly unique. We have different perspectives and musical influences. I think that’s actually an advantage. Sometimes we just disagree, but in the end we always have the same goal.
What does the creative process look like for both of you?
S: It can vary a lot, but most of the time we both sit in the studio and throw ideas at the wall. Most of the time I come to Jadagrace with a crazy idea, sonically speaking. I always have my headphones on, always listening to something and coming up with new ideas for music and creativity. A lot of times I’ll do something on production and bring those ideas to Jada. She gets in and plays with melodies. We build from there. Often we don’t go in with the intention of making something that sounds one way or another – we just explore and experiment. Whatever happens, we follow the feeling.
J: There is no guide that we follow. It’s just what feels right at that moment.
So go in day by day and see what happens. Do you have any particular influences or inspirations?
S: Oh yes, definitely. From Kendrick Lamar to Tyler, The Creator to Michael Jackson. I would say our biggest inspirations are people who are all-round artists and performers – who tick every box: from outfit to visuals, music to stage presence. All of this is very important to us.
Okay, you mentioned a lot of names, but you probably can’t decide on one person. That would be too hard, right?
J: I would say as a duo it’s probably the Black Eyed Peas the most.
Your name is Party of Two. Is it about partying and going out, or is it political – i.e. meant as a party? Because you also have political influences in your music.
J: It’s honestly a bit of both. We play with both. I think that was kind of the beauty of the name – we can play back and forth. But I think for this specific album, “America’s Next Top Party,” we’re definitely leaning into the political commentary and kind of creating our own party with our fans and just a safe space. But yes, we also like to party. We like to make music with a fun factor.
S: I think even more than that, the idea behind “Party of Two” as a name is simply that as a duo we are always on the road together and always in harmony. No matter where we go, what we do – it will always be a party of two. As long as you have music, you’re always a party of two. Even if you’re alone, you can hear any artist and be connected through the music. It’s about connecting people through music.
Do you want to give people who listen to your music a certain message with the political references?
S: I would say the message is in the music.
One of the biggest songs on the album was “Poser.” Some of it really went viral and the music video was pretty well known too. How did the video clip come about?
J: Honestly, every time we make a track we immediately think about the visuals behind it. They are really very important to us. We love shooting and creatively directing our own videos. We weren’t trying to make this viral – we just wanted to show everyone how we work, behind the scenes. It seemed like people were really interested in seeing our process. When it went viral, it was definitely unexpected. We took that and decided to make an album because we didn’t expect this buzz so quickly. We’re very grateful that people have connected with it. “Poser” is definitely one of my favorite songs on the project.
You just released the extended version of your new album. It has three more songs on it. Why did you decide to expand it?
J: I think we just felt that this era wasn’t over yet. The fans really made us aware of this – the world we were building didn’t feel complete. I think these three tracks are a great way to round it out. We could have released the album with these three tracks from the beginning, but I think it’s a nice way to extend the era and show that we still have more to give.
Would you say the era is now over and you are moving on to a new one?
S: For us internally it is coming to an end. Part of the reason we wanted to extend it is because we’re working on the next project – but that still needs some time. We didn’t want to disappear from our fans while we were working on it.
The title of the album is “America’s Next Top Party”. Would you say – party in Europe or party in America? What do you prefer?
S: I don’t know if I have a preference, but there are definitely differences. I think you stay up quite late here, which I like. I think it’s really cool that we’re from America but can still bring that party energy to Europe. I loved the tour here because we had the best of both worlds.
Yesterday you played in the canteen at Berghain. Have you ever been to Berghain before?
S: No. I heard it’s really cool. I definitely want to go again. We didn’t have much time. I’m really curious about the whole techno rave scene. I would like to see more of this.
Yes definitely. You already played in Berlin last year. That was in a Späti, right? How did this come about?
J: I think we just wanted to test what our fan base is like here. It was our very first time in Europe. We just said come over and we’ll do a little performance. It wasn’t a big production or anything. We just wanted to connect with the fans. It was pretty busy. I think at that moment we thought – we should definitely do a headline show in Germany.
Great. This year it was probably a little bigger. You did a rap battle yesterday. I would like to know who won in the end. The audience voted for Jada, but you also had the QR codes to vote on.
J: Yeah, I honestly didn’t even look it up. We never look into it.
S: The audience always decides. It’s always Jada. Jada always wins.
J: We have to do another round.
Do you have a message for the Musikexpress readers who listen to your music?
S: I want to say the same thing we say at all our shows. It’s very simple, but really from the heart – I love you. We are so grateful for every single person who listens to our music, who interacts with us, who comes to a show, who buys merch, who makes their own pins or beret hats. It really means a lot to us. We are incredibly grateful for everyone who supports us.