We caught up with the legendary Eric Benét to get the scoop on his new album “The Co-Star”, his duets with female artists, developing talent, his place in the current music industry, future dream collaborations, and much more.
YouKnowIGotSoul: Excited to be here on this new chapter for you, the new album coming out “The Co-Star”. You know, it’s been quite a while. We’ve been waiting for something. So I’m excited about the concept of this album. I mean you started with, you know, kind of the duet collaborations on the EP and now we have a full length album. What made you want to go that route?
Eric Benét: Yeah, well It has been quite a minute as you said since I’ve come out with anything as far as like a full project, a full album and you know some really fortuitous things have happened and very excited to have secured the relationships and the necessary funding to launch a label. It was a desire that myself and a very dear friend of mine who has the financial means to support such a venture. We wanted to create a label that was very pro empowering the artist very pro allowing the artist to have have ownership in their career both creatively and financially. You know me being being an artist who I’m grateful for my experience in the major major label system, but I think I think I was able to navigate very interesting circumstances successfully. As kind of a case of a minority, not a majority of artists and to be able to like sustain over decades and in spite of a lot of things that are happening behind the scenes in corporate America. So I just wanted to have this safe home for artists not just safe for their creativity, but safe For helping them a build their financial literacy helping them to just give them give them the autonomy to have agency for themselves. I always felt like that wasn’t the case for me. Again, I’m grateful because I wouldn’t be here talking to you if I wasn’t signed by one of majors and you know the fates and God or the universe, whoever allowed the dots to connect for me. So anyway, once I started this label I know my limitations.
I am not an executive person I’m a creative person. So I I reached out to the person who gave me my first record deal, that’s Allison Ball. She signed me to Warner, and and we had remained friends like really close friends through the years and so I have this opportunity of basically a ship that could plot a course somewhere. But I didn’t want to be captain, so I asked her to be the CEO and she graciously accepted. We’ve been sailing pretty strong man, I mean we decided that my first project should be something unique and looking back on my major successes over my career a lot of them have been duets. So it’s like yeah, let’s do it. It’s a big undertaking because it’s a lot of coordinating with schedules and a lot of logistics involved but we pulled it off. Huge thanks to the incredible women who extended and offered their talent and the time and their energy and their love to this project. So yeah, it started off as a as an EP, a five-song EP, and it was always the expectation to do a full album. I couldn’t be more excited not only about how that probably a full album feels but even before it’s come out and just letting people know that it’s come out. It’s a pretty groundbreaking thing to happen and it means a lot to the culture to the industry right now because the type of music that I’m associated with and the type of music that we made is the type of music that is needed I think in the industry right now. When people hear it they’re like, oh, yeah Damn, that’s what we need. That’s what we’ve been missing. So I’m just so honored to be the curator, to be able to present it to the world.
YouKnowIGotSoul: It’s really special to see that you’re doing something like this because I feel like to me some of the most special moments in R&B is when we have these surprise collaborations, special artists coming together to make something, and you have a full album of it, which is a big deal and definitely special. How did you even choose who you’re gonna feature on this album? I know you probably had a lot of choices to pick from but how did you figure it out?
Eric Benét: I’ve always been of the philosophy that with music, let the music lead the way. Because for me, I mean that’s what works for me. Sometimes it’s lyrics, for some people sometimes it’s the music, but for me I’m usually struck by when conceiving a song or writing a song, I’m struck by a melody. That just hits me out of nowhere and it resonates a certain way and I realized oh, I gotta get that down now. Once I’ve established the music, then let the music lead the way, the music is gonna speak to me, the music is gonna tell me like what kind of tone is gonna be right over this hook. When I hear that, first is what kind of characteristics do I need in their vocal timber the cadence? Then that will be like oh, I know exactly the person that could Kill this and make it make it a complete piece and come to its full potential of its its initial inception. So that’s kind of how it is for me and that’s that’s how we did it with every song. It was like whether a producer sent me something, and I was really fortunate to work with a couple incredible producers on this project Tony Dixon DJ Camper. Once we hear it, once we’ve established what the foundation is the music for the track. That leads the way to choose who’s gonna be who’s gonna be right that particular song.
YouKnowIGotSoul: And I like earlier how you pointed out that what you’re coming out with is something unique to you and something that people are missing. How much does it mean to you to do something from your heart and from your soul?
Eric Benét: I Mean as far as like creating music, that’s the only way I know how to do it. Let me give myself goosebumps. I think that’s been the consistent for me with creating from inception of a song. I Have to sense something that is moving and coming from my heart coming from my soul. And let them let the music lead the way once we establish that music, then I’m like, oh, I got to honor that. Yeah, I have to honor that melody with a lyric that honors how how that melody just made me feel.
What is that melody? What stories is that melody telling me right now that that will make me want to write what words to it and and so, you know with every step of the way you come authentic you come from the heart and You know, that’s pretty much how we handle this project to whether I was writing songs or I was co-writing with somebody.
YouKnowIGotSoul: It’s been almost ten years since your last album and the landscape and R&B and music in general changed so much in that time. Was it always a given that you’re gonna come back with another album? And I only asked because so many artists have like kind of strayed away from doing new music with with the way it supported now.
Eric Benét: I mean, I think anybody who’s gonna tell you that they it wasn’t even a guarantee that the music industry will still be here and and as far as I’m concerned the music industry that I found my early success, it ain’t here no more. It’s something entirely different so to answer your question. No It was not always a given but what was always a given is that music is always gonna be in me.
YouKnowIGotSoul: One thing I’m missing when looking at the track list is a male collaboration. And I know this is all females. But I’m gonna put you on the spot. If you were to collaborate with a male on a duet, is there anyone that comes to mind that like, be like, yeah, that would be the one I can see myself making a great song with?
Eric Benét: You know what I’ve always thought would be dope? I’ve always thought it would be like crazy if Maxwell and I got on a track. You know, Maxwell and I, I often think of that song way back in the day. A lot of people may not remember it, but Luther did a song with Gregory Hines. And it was just two brothers talking about just how wonderful love is. Yeah. And I would love to do a song like that with somebody like, yeah, yeah, that would be dope. Somebody like Maxwell. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
YouKnowIGotSoul: You were actually on tour with two amazing artists in Musiq Soulchild and Joe. I can’t even imagine what a collaboration with you and them two would have said would sound like, but I would love to hear that.
Eric Benét: I mean, that’d be so unexpected. Man, listen, I would love to hear that too. Like me and Joe or me and Musiq, so much. Oh my God. Or what about a super group? Oh.
Photo Credit: Russell Baer
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