Max Bennett Kelly is a name you should know (if you don’t know already). He is already making a name for himself, with more than a couple of his videos garnering more than 10k views, which is pretty good if we do say so ourselves. You’ve probably heard of his track ‘Happy, Healthy, Well-Adjusted,’ it’s his best earworm yet, but that was until his newest track ‘2am’ came around. It has all the melodrama a good track needs. And guess what? We got to talk to the artist all about ‘2am,’ his upcoming EP, as well as musical inspirations. You can check out our interview with Max down below!
Hey Max! Welcome to The Honey POP! We’re so excited to have you here during the release of ‘2am,’ How are you feeling about the release?
Thanks for having me! I feel really proud of this one. I haven’t released anything this minimal before so it’s a cool change of pace.
‘2am’ is all about being stuck in a melodrama self-sabotaging relationship. How did the idea of this song come about?
I was in a fight with a girl I liked at the time and was super upset. I was even more upset because I was really excited about the writing session with Aaron and Dan that night and I was all in my head, ‘cause I wanted to write a cool song with them and this whole thing was starting to distract me from my music. But Aaron was like, “nah we gotta write about this, what’s going on?” to which I said, “Well, this girl won’t call me back..” And the song just wrote itself.
You have some pretty cool people on this track, how did you get Lil Aaron and Dan Geraghty to join? Who approached who first?
Aaron found me on TikTok when I was teasing ‘Happy, Healthy’ and DMed me saying “I want to make you a banger” haha. I was stoked.
We are kinda in love with the Ikea line, we find Ikea dates pretty fun. How many dates have you taken to Ikea?
Haha. I plead the fifth. But I’ll tell you something embarrassing to make up for it, which is that I got the idea to do an Ikea date from watching 500 Days of Summer when I was like 12.
Your lyrics have always been pretty witty, how long did it take for you to wrap up the lyrics for this track? Also, what’s your favorite line from the song?
Thank you! This one actually came together really quickly, maybe an hour or two. I only like to write songs when they’re bursting out of me. I’m proud of the line “you kissed me in the mirror, closer than we appear” because it’s a good turn of phrase with the car mirror analogy, and the play on words doesn’t overtake the actual meaning of what I’m saying.
Netflix had used your track ‘Happy, Healthy, Well-Adjusted’ in a TikTok of theirs. What songs of yours perfectly fit a Netflix type of show/film?
I think The Outsiders would be absolutely perfect in a coming-of-age Netflix movie. ‘Emo Nite’ would also be perfect.
How have you found ways to constantly develop your sound and who would you say are some musical influences in this Max Bennett era?
Honestly, I don’t really have a choice. My inner artist is a rebellious lil guy who will only create when he’s inspired so I have to constantly find new ideas and sounds to play around with. Otherwise I find I literally can’t create. If I try to do the same trick too many times, I get these huge creative blocks. For Junk Male I was really inspired by Weezer’s album Pinkerton and its spiritual protégés, poppy emo DIY stuff. Lyrics so expressive they make you cringe a little haha. For the production and recording I took lot of notes from Remo Drive’s debut. Songwriting wise I was listening to a lot of Front Bottoms, Say Anything, Joyce Manor.
We currently have ‘2am’ on repeat, what tracks are your current faves?
‘Apples & Oranges.’ This song I think really encapsulates a lot of what I want to express with my music, between the abrasive lyrics, loud-soft thing, and repurposing of classic sounds in a more modern context.
We know you have an EP on the way, and we are beyond excited to hear it! Can you give us a sneak peek at what to expect from it?
The EP takes you on a journey of what it was like for me to live in LA right after ‘Happy, Healthy’ took off, I went through a personal tragedy with my friend dying and the end of a relationship with someone I put on a pedestal. It’s like, I’m here living the life I want to live, but at what cost? You hear me kinda sonically go through it and express my rage and frustration at the situation.
Finally, what can we expect from you for the remainder of 2023?
The big crazy thing I’m doing for the EP is this short film- I’m starring in it and I wrote it, and the songs are the soundtrack. It has nothing to do with music, it’s actually about boxing. It’s dark and funny and violent and just, something I’m really proud of. The film and the BTS documentary will premiere a bit after the EP.
‘2am’ has been on our repeat playlists since its initial release, what about yours? Have you added Max to your favorite artists’ lists? Let us know in the comments down below, on Twitter @thehoneypop, and don’t forget to talk to us over on Facebook and Instagram!
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