Few artists in the world of R&B have had a bigger year than Magnus Ferrell; from opening for the Jonas Brothers on tour to his three-night residency at the Blue Note in Los Angeles, he’s turning heads all over the world, and is now coming off the release of his new record. Ferrell’s latest release, an EP titled “Groove Therapy”, reflects not only the sounds of the record, but the dynamic between his emotions and his creative process. “For me, it was specifically during COVID where I started to notice that whenever I would feel a certain emotion, whether it be good, bad, neutral, I would always find myself as the piano and that was like something that kind of motivated me to continue to dive deeper into music and that’s, to me, where the therapy comes from,” he said about the origin of the record’s title. “ Like, ‘Oh, okay, I do this to help process my emotions and think about things.’ I like to add the ‘groove’ in because it describes how the EP is, but also, it makes the title a little weird because you wouldn’t think you could have groove in therapy, if that makes sense.”
Ferrell’s upbringing in an artistic family and early introduction to the piano led him to discover jazz stalwarts such as Miles Davis and Bill Evans. While he wears his jazz influences on his sleeve in his new EP, it wasn’t always that way; he had to make the deliberate choice to include those sounds after making more straight-forward pop music. When asked if making music became more rewarding after utilizing those influences, he said, “Definitely, because I started liking it more when I had those chords. When I started to enjoy the music I was making and once the work starts to make you happy, it’s just this awesome, positive cycle you can get into and then everything else is awesome and that feeds back into inspiration to make more music.” He noted that making music that reflected his true musical aspirations is important to him as he continues down the path of his music career. “At the end of the day, I have to live with all these tracks out for the rest of my career and I want to look back and be like ‘Oh, I still really, really like this song, and I still really enjoy listening to this.’”
The EP’s opening track, “She’s Gonna Break My Heart”, includes a feature from R&B star Jenevieve. Ferrell praised her contribution to the song, and emphasized how the contrast between their respective singing voices took the song to new heights. “She sits in the pocket so well and is such a smooth R&B voice, but it’s completely different from my voice…[she] kind of textures the song in a completely different way and makes it more interesting.” He also spoke highly of her character and their time in the studio together, saying “It was such a pleasure to work with her in the studio because I just sat back and watched her do her thing. She’s got such a great voice and is such a kind and talented human being.” Fresh off his new EP and now on tour with the Jonas Brothers, Magnus Ferrell is going to be a name to watch in the coming years in the pop and R&B world.
- Evan Weidl
