If there’s one thing anyone can take from 2020, it’s the fact that life can change pretty quickly. At the same time, it can feel like time is dragging on and on. There’s two ways one can approach that feeling of dullness. You can either let it consume you, or you can keep pushing and know that things will turn around.
It takes a ton of strength, and Christian French’s new EP good things take time tells a story of a young artist who didn’t let life’s curveballs steer him off track. Christian has come a long ways within the past few years. Growing up in Indiana, Christian taught himself how to play the piano by watching YouTube videos. He would upload covers of songs on SoundCloud, and went on to write his own music. While attending Indiana University, Christian decided it was time to head out to LA to pursue his dreams. He dropped out of school, and did not look back!
The next year, Christian was invited to join Chelsea Cutler on a sold out North American tour, to be followed by a tour with Quinn XCII. In 2019, Christian got himself signed to Disruptor Records, and released his bright side of the moon EP.
… And now it’s time to feast on some more new music from Christian French! We got to chat about good things take time, as well as reflect upon life. Follow along below.
Congrats on your brand new EP! Overall, how would you say the experience of stitching these songs together went for you?
I wrote a LOT of songs to get to this final list, but it seemed that inspiration really came in waves. I would write a lot of average songs for a while, and then one week would hit where I would write multiple great songs – “crowded room”, “make or break up” and “i think too much” were all written in the same week, so it was really about being patient and knowing that the good songs were gonna come as long as I kept trying. (hence “good things take time”). I decided not to limit myself by starting this project with a name and theme and then trying to fit in lyrics within that, I wrote the songs first off of whatever inspiration came and let the story build itself before finding the themes in each song & fitting them in from there.
If you could pinpoint a song on the EP that means the most to you, which one would it be and why?
I would have to say ‘good things take time’ – it was the theme behind this whole EP and will continue to be a theme in my life forever. I keep going through these transitional phases of my life where my beliefs and desires change, and with that comes a lot of growing pain. “good things take time” always reminds me to just put my head down and do the work the best I can and things will work out.
Personally, I feel like (the title track) “good things take time” has lyrics that are easy to resonate with. Would you mind explaining the story behind this track?
“good things take time” is about the trial and error of figuring life out – finding what works for you and what doesn’t, and then learning from it. As I was writing these songs, the phrase “good things take time” kept popping up in my head – it was keeping me sane when I wasn’t writing the best music that I thought I could and was getting frustrated with myself. This “be patient” mindset has saved me from being swallowed by failure and has helped me move past it and continue to grow.
So we’re unfortunately (still) in a pandemic, and there’s so much going on socially and politically. How has all of this impacted your creativity?
It’s been very off and on, honestly. At the beginning of lockdown, I was at home in Indiana writing and producing my music by myself for 2 months, and I credit that period to so much growth – I learned so much about production and taught myself how to play guitar. I wrote a few songs that I’m really proud of.
After going back to LA though, I’ve found it difficult to write meaningful music. I feel like I’m in a weird transformative period in my artistry right now and I’m trying to figure out what the next step is for me, and with that has come me writing countless songs but coming up with only a few that I’m truly proud of (I guess that’s how it goes). I think this period has a lot to do with it – being stuck in the same place for a long time and not really getting to experience new things – as an artist I feed off of experience for inspiration, so it’s been weird, but I’m just trying to take hold of inspiration whenever it comes and not get too in my head about it.
I’ve been able to spend all of this time focusing on new music, and I’ve been trying to develop myself both as a person and a musician – quarantine has been a blessing in disguise in that sense.
Over the past few months, you’ve probably had time to reflect over not just your career but life in general! Are there any songs you’ve written that have taken on an even deeper or perhaps new meaning for you due to the state of the world?
Yeah absolutely. This song isn’t even out yet, but I’m confident it will come out on this next project because I wrote it months ago and still love it – its called “heavens only here with an open mind”. I don’t want to give away too much about the song, but the title itself gives enough away. The world is in a really weird and sad state right now – a pandemic is in full swing STILL, a lot of racial injustice has been brought to light, the whole west coast is on fire, and we have a president who is dividing more than unifying this country. It’s easy to just get swallowed up in this misery, but what good does that do for you or anyone else? How can you help a bigger cause if you can’t even help yourself? Allowing yourself to have an open mind and be confident that better times will come is so important for getting through this period together.
Throughout your teen years, you were posting covers on SoundCloud, but things really started to take off when you were in college. You eventually dropped out, made your way to LA to focus on music, and the rest is history! What were some of the biggest things you learned throughout the whole journey that still stick with you today?
Don’t be afraid to try new things. Failure is part of getting better at ANYTHING, and before you become really good at something, you have to go through a lot of trial and error to get there. But I promise you the journey is so fun and exciting. Constant failure is the only thing that’s allowed for continuous growth in both my career and life. Try your best, correct your mistakes, and move forward – that’s all you can do
If you hadn’t taken that leap of faith, what do you think you’d be doing right now?
I was pretty deep into the medical field by the time I dropped out of school – so if I wasn’t making music, I’m pretty positive that I’d be in grad school working to be some sort of doctor. I’ve always loved science, so to me, that would be the next option if I wasn’t doing music.
Now that good things take time is out in the universe, do you have any other huge plans for the rest of 2020?
2020 has been absolutely nothing like I thought it would, so who knows what the end of the year is gonna look like. I’m really excited about this next cycle of music that I’m making, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear some of these songs later this year. Other than that, I’m using this year to get better at production, piano, guitar and songwriting. I’ve already come a long way, and I can’t wait to see where it goes!
To wrap things up, what has been one of your favorite good memories of the year?
I’m really thankful that I got to tour this year, even if it was only for a few weeks. We made so many amazing memories in those few weeks, and we were playing the best that we ever had. I miss shows so much, and I keep thinking back to earlier this year – it keeps me motivated to push through and keep working, because one of these days this lockdown will be over and live shows will be back stronger than ever.
Hang in there ♡ Stream good things take time below!
ALSO make sure you check out the “good things take time” music video!
