Interview: Synth-Pop Artist Roosevelt Talks New Album 'Embrace'

Written by Jackson Resnick

German-born, synth-pop artist Roosevelt is as sure of himself as ever on his fourth album Embrace. Rather than reinventing himself completely on the new project, he chooses to double-down on the sound that got him to where he is in the first place. His signature sound, a blend of synth-pop, funk, and electronic, is omnipresent on Embrace. This time, it feels like we’re hearing a more mature and evolved version of it. The writing is sticky; the basslines are groovy, and the production feels massive. He delivers an album full of festival stage-ready hits, just in time for his fall tour to kick off. On Embrace, it’s clear that Roosevelt knows his audience, but more importantly, he knows himself. 

Jackson: Let's talk about Embrace and what this album means to you, thematically. What are we “embracing” here? 

Roosevelt: In the beginning, it was kind of like a note to myself to just “embrace” what I'm doing, embracing my career, my sound, and the kind of life that I have. Even when it has moments of writer's block and being depressed, it can be quite an emotional roller coaster. I kind of realized it’s all worth it in the end. When I wrote the record, it was just a working title. But when I wrote the record it made sense in so many different ways. Lyrically, I wrote a lot about that motif of trying not to hide or run away from feelings. I really have my signature sound on this album, still, and I really enjoyed diving into that. So, it's also about embracing the sounds that come out of me. 

Jackson: This time around, you took a different approach to making the record, moving around the world and recording in different spaces and different environments. What compelled you to switch up the process for this record? 

Roosevelt: At some point, I just felt like I needed to change things and break things up. I had my little studio in Cologne, and I was really happy in it. It came from talking to other musicians and producers on the road. It felt like I was almost the only one that always had to go home to make music, which is something I kind of just grew up with–you have your little studio at home and just do everything there. It might sound crazy to some people, but I never produce things on the go. So it was really an experiment on this record to rent Airbnbs, put a little studio set up in there and just get out of my comfort zone. Also the improvising part of it was fun. I was sometimes in studios where I just had one microphone, but I wanted to record drums so I found ways to make it work which, from a production point, was really interesting. 

Jackson: What was it specifically about the experience of creating in isolation that kind of made things click for you creatively? 

Roosevelt: I don't think the isolation was that much of a difference because I always had my studios in more rural parts in Germany. I think the contrast of taking those demos and also working on them in Brooklyn and these cities where I normally just go to play shows, that feeling that you're taking a song into different environments helps, almost like a filter that you have to run it through. It sounds strange but for me, if I'm [listening] in the middle of nowhere, and it also works if I'm sitting backstage at a venue where the floor is rattling from the band that plays, it just adds this filter that is really interesting, where I was even more sure about the music. This time, I took this record on the road before I even played shows.

Jackson: I noticed that you said that you were really “sure of” about the music, and I can totally hear that. Listening back to your discography, you haven't really steered away from this synth-pop, funk, and EDM sound, and I mean that in a really positive way. Nowadays, especially in the pop space, you very rarely see an artist stay so true to their musical DNA and not be tempted to follow new trends. Is there anything in particular that keeps you coming back to this set of musical tools that built up the “Roosevelt sound” to this day?

Roosevelt: I feel like it's more interesting to me to be a timeless artist and to stand for a sound rather than following a trend. Also because I might not be that good at it. I'm just more drawn to those kinds of artists that stand for a certain sound. I was never really interested in reinventing myself on every album. I think the evolution comes from itself and now when you listen back to the first record, there's so many production choices I would never do again, even if it’s, to other people, a small difference. I also don't try to think about it too much. Like I said earlier, I realized that this whole sound that I'm doing is not really a plan that I had. Maybe I thought that it was a plan, but it's much more of a natural thing. When I lock myself away in a room for six months, that kind of music just comes out, and that's also where the title is fitting for the record. 

Jackson: The Roosevelt fall tour kicks off next week. How are you preparing for that and what can we expect out of the Roosevelt live set that we haven't seen before? 

Roosevelt: The main difference is that I have a way bigger range now of things to choose from. It feels like the first time I thought about the show as a representation of a discography. Taking different chapters into the set list of different eras of my career. Now that I have this big catalog by now. It feels a bit liberating. I can design the show with it and place the songs in certain positions. Similar to what I said about my style on the recordings, I also don't want to change the live [show] too much. It's kind of just what I'm doing. There's lots of new production design elements on stage. The show will look different and I'm really excited about it. But how I play the songs with the band, that approach is very similar to how we were doing it in the past. 

Jackson: There's no doubt that the Roosevelt catalog belongs on a live stage. I remember, specifically, listening to this new record, hearing “Paralyzed” for the first time, and thinking about this music festival I used to go to every summer as a kid. It made me wish I was 16 years old again, singing this song with my friends in a huge crowd. It has this sweet, nostalgic sound embedded in it. 

Roosevelt: It's funny you mentioned nostalgia. I was just reading an article about this TikTok trend about nostalgic soundscapes. I think it's interesting because I never was aware of nostalgia. I never purposefully put it in my music, but it's definitely an emotion that is part of my music. There's no recipe on how to do it. I'm way more positive about the nostalgia thing now than a couple of years ago. I think from the first or second album, I was a bit tired of being called nostalgic, whereas now, I kind of find it really interesting that it's definitely part of my music.