Swedish producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Håkan Persson – also known as I Don’t Speak French – has recently released his brand-new single “Blow The Speakers Up.” It has already seen success after hitting 500k streams within the first week of release! You can be one of those streams by checking out the bands Spotify.
“Blow The Speakers Up” is a track that will get stuck in your head the moment you press the play button. You’ll find yourself humming the tune, but not knowing where you heard it in the first place. That might be because “Blow The Speakers Up” is the soundtrack for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 worldwide campaign.
We absolutely love this single and wanted to know more about it. Check out our chat with I Don’t Speak French below!:
Hey there! So, you’ve just released your single “Blow the Speakers Up” – an absolute anthem, we’re loving it. Can you start by telling us a bit about it?
First of all, thank you! Happy you enjoyed it!
It’s a bombastic, “tap your feet and whistle” kind of song. With an outro that takes you on a mystical space journey you never could have imagined from the start. It’s filled with weird production tricks and fun details, Håkan used a lot of old school recording techniques to capture something unique and gritty.
It’s currently the soundtrack for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20, and it reached over 500k streams just in the first week of release which is incredible. How have you been finding the feedback? What’s it like having your song reach so many listeners globally?
Being an upcoming indie act from a small town in Sweden, this campaign with Samsung is totally life changing and surreal. We are absolutely thrilled to read all the feedback in the comment section on our social media pages and our family of fans are growing everyday.
When we first found out about the campaign the band went out and bought a couple of bottles of champagne. Relaxing and celebrating. The next day we started preparing, working day and night. We’ve been planning to start our own label “Indieshake” for several months but now we only had three days to wrap this idea up. The song needed to be released when the campaign launched. It was so stressful but all the pieces fell together in the end.
You have quite a unique sound that makes you stand out from the rest. How would you describe your sound to someone who may not have heard your music before?
Unpredictable, psychedelic, indie rock’n’roll. It’s like an experiment of wet and gritty guitars marrying lunatic sounds of whistles and distorted pianos, in a fusion of modern pop melodies and synthesizers.
Who in the music industry do you look up to the most and why? Has there ever been anyone you’ve felt hugely inspired by?
We would say we just love the mad soundscapes of Tame Impala, as well as the punch and edge of Oliver Tree. Our origin of inspiration comes from many great indie bands like Foster the People, Peter, Björn and John and the Shins.
We want to know the origins of the band and how “I Don’t Speak French” came about. How did you come together? What made you want to start a band?
We were a bunch of youngsters studying a music production programme at the university of Växjö in the south of Sweden. Everyone was making music back then. Håkan was sitting in his small student apartment, mixing different sounds, and came up with the concept. He played it for his girlfriend and his friends and they all loved it and wanted to be part of the band. The name “I don’t speak french” was taken from one of the earliest songs called “Hopeless Romantic.” The song is about being a total indie nerd with a big heart, that doesn’t know classic romantic manners.
“I don’t speak French or Italian, baby, but I’m a hopeless romantic”
What would you say has been the best advice you’ve been given in your career so far?
Being patient. Being humble and nice, and understand the music industry.
Make sure your team is like family. Always prioritize working with people you enjoy hanging out with, that care for you genuinely and will have your back when things aren’t great.
A follow up question from the last, what would you say has been the worst advice?
Signing an agreement with someone, because they have a big name. (It all comes down to the work, passion and the effort they put in to your music)
Finally, can you tell us of any future plans? What are you currently working on?
As we mentioned before we’ve just started our own label and are planning the upcoming releases for this year. It’s gonna be a couple of singles with I don’t speak french, but also our other project Stranded Mermaid and maybe some other fun stuff.
Big thanks to I Don’t Speak French for taking time out of the day to answer our questions! We wish “Blow The Speakers Up” all the success it deserves. For more updates, be sure to follow I Don’t Speak French on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
What did you think of “Blow The Speakers Up”? Let us know your thoughts over on our Twitter! – @AboutThe_Noise