Interview: placard Is An Artist To Watch!
Photo Credit: placard / “trust” music video
Interview by Tara Saraf
placard is an artist on the rise. Coming from Dayton, Ohio and Bengali and Malayali parents, Neil Dey caught my attention with his song “ivy league bound.” It pulls the chords from “Young” by Vacations, placard’s all-time favorite band. Interestingly, he didn’t feel 100% about the song because he “did something weird with the mix” but it still did well on social media. In my opinion, he is able to reinvent the tune with his own bitter-sweet lyrics, resulting in an endearing coming-of-age cut. I was especially interested in how he marketed the song for “dumb brown kids” and we discussed the high standards that exist within the South-Asian community and how one must go above and beyond to feel worthy and not just be average. The music video for the song was nicely made, but placard thinks it was a little too “on the nose.” Due to health issues, he unfortunately wasn’t able to be there when it was being made and be a part of it. He’d rather have a music video capture him in “his essence”, whether that be him chilling at a gas station or smoking a joint. The point is that his music isn’t supposed to be taken that seriously and music videos are “really just like a hub for people to come celebrate the song.” Going back to the messaging, placard says “part of who we are is just like hyper competitive, somewhat toxic, you know, and to be honest, I'm not even mad at it. I'm part of the problem to some extent, but, at the same time, I love to see brown artists going crazy. When I was super young, I didn't have that many brown artists that I liked, especially American ones.”
You performed “ivy league bound” on On The Radar. Can you tell us the story of how that came about?
Yeah, that was dope. So, like, “ivy league bound” was like my first and really my only sound that, like, has done super well on TikTok. That’s how On The Radar found me.
They followed me around the time I released that song. And then they sent me a message like a couple of months later. Actually, when stuff was kind of like trending down is when they actually reached out to me. So that, like, I don't know, maybe they were trying to just support, but yeah, like I went and did On The Radar and that went super well.
One of my personal favorites of yours is “dayton”, a song with personal lyrics presumably in homage to the place where you grew up. How has your childhood influenced your musical choices?
I'm definitely just like a Midwesterner. So I feel it just comes across in the way I talk about things. I feel like I don't really premeditate too much about what I'm gonna write about, or what the meaning has to be, but I feel like just when I'm writing, it, yeah, it just sounds like super Midwestern to me. I don't try to exaggerate it really. Like, that's pretty much how I talk, is how I sing for the most part. I grew up like a big basketball fan because I followed LeBron. So I guess in that sense, l have like sports references in a lot of my music. But outside of that, nah, Ohio is chill, but I mean, I live in New York now. Nice to be out here.
It seems you’ve created a signature sound that audiences on TikTok have been liking. How do you decide on the intriguing song titles and cover arts for your projects?
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. My ex used to always roast me for [that], so I've always kind of just assumed it wasn't like anything crazy, but that's the first compliment I've received on my cover arts. But, I mean, obviously I mess with it. I'm on Pinterest a lot. I'll randomly just stumble on different pictures and graphics that I think are cool, and usually, like, as soon as I finish [the] song, I usually just drop it right then and there, so I don't put too much thought into, like, which cover.
What do you listen to?
I listen to a lot of different stuff. Right now I'm listening to, like, a lot of Florida rap, like, um, I love 1900 rugrat. I love Luh Tyler. I love Jorjiana. I'll like see the vibe that they're projecting online and I'll be like, okay, that's [how] I want to do it like.
You are a Berklee NYC alumnus. What was your experience like and what are some of the most valuable things you’ve learned?
The most valuable thing was definitely just like, don't be precious. [Successful people], they're gonna just put stuff out and basically not be perfectionist about it. I just needed to hear that. I met some cool people that are also doing really well. I need to be around people that, like, we can just kick it. And like maybe we'll make some music. Any networking that's really amounted to actually helping me in my music is just actual real relationships.
I guess placard exists somewhere within the realm of indie-pop, but when I asked if he has a genre, he told me that he can’t just pick one; “I just love to make music, and I could never just make the same kind of music forever. I definitely love the kind of music that I've been making.” His favorite song from his own discography is “baby doll”. He’s waiting to make a music video for it and wants the “aesthetic to come across in the right way”. I asked him about this aesthetic he’s going for and he brought up movies like the original Bladerunner and Midsommar: pretty but a little disturbing too. I truly hope he’s able to achieve his vision and grow his fanbase more so that we can watch placard in a live setting and keep doing his thing.
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