Jeff Bhasker

Beyoncé/Story 2013. 2. 20. 02:10

And after years of studio thumping, Bhasker intends to crack the divide and release solo music under his alter egos Billy Kraven and U.G.L.Y. During his downtime, he's recorded "blue-eyed soul" songs for the Kraven project, knocking out personal demos that ended up becoming Beyoncé's "I Care" (originally titled "Who Cares") and Keys' "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart."

"It's a struggle to find time for this imaginary alter ego that you have," he says. "Now it's just like, let's wrap it up and get it out there."

He hasn't yet contributed to Beyoncé's upcoming fifth album and is quick to skirt around the subject of his involvement with West's upcoming solo album and G.O.O.D. Music's Cruel Winter compilation: "I'd probably be assassinated" if he talked. For now, he plans to take the formula he used with Fun. and apply it to an undiscovered R&B talent.

"I would love to work with the next Alicia Keys and Beyoncé. It's not out there right now.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/fun-producer-jeff-bhasker-caps-big-year-with-grammy-nods-20130109#ixzz2LMkYMcRH

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That’s what kept happening to in-demand producer Jeff Bhasker as he worked for nearly three years to compile the songs for his upcoming solo debut under the name Billy Kraven.

“It’s basically done, but I always get sidetracked working on other projects, so I have to come back to it in between,” said Bhasker.

Along the way, tracks he’d earmarked for the project, such as “I Care,” ended up on Beyoncé’s 4 album.

“My sound is maybe a little more pure version of it,” he said of his take on the Bey song slated to appear on his debut, Born on the Fourth of July, which he plans to release online for free on, yes, July 4th.

http://www.mtv.com/news/1702362/jeff-bhasker-billy-kraven-solo-project/

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On Beyoncé

“That’s a different thing where I don’t have this great friendship or bond like I do with Kanye or Bruno. But she made it really easy to work with her. And just her choosing to work with me and so some of my songs was kind of our connection point. [4's] “I Care” and “Rather Die Young” are very almost obscure kind of vibes for her to be going after, especially at that time period.

And you know, she’s just a force of nature. I love how when she performs those songs live, it’s like you’re watching Aretha Franklin or one of the greats. I don’t think there’s anyone to even compare her to. But to be honest, that was a little harder, because we didn’t really spend as much time together as I’m used to spending with other artists. Sometimes it’s a matter of not being overwhelemed by the magnitude of an artist, and putting your honest opinion out there. I think in the end, they always appreciate that more. Sometimes it might not go over as well in the moment, because it’s uncomfortable.

But my job isn’t just to record – an engineer can record them and be like, ‘Okay! That sounds pretty good.’ You’re the producer, you have to think about the end result. So that was kind of the case with Beyonce, looking at it at angles that maybe the artist isn’t seeing right now, and be brave about telling them. Do it in a respectful way, but be strong. And it took me a while to figure that out. But it’s like, ‘Hey, I’m pretty f—ing good at this!'”

http://music-mix.ew.com/2014/01/24/jeff-bhasker-producer-kanye-taylor-beyonce-fun/

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