TWO years since the release of his debut album A Twenty Something Fuck, Zachary William Dess, better known as Two Feet, has made a triumphant return to music with his new album Pink. The highly anticipated second album from the 26-year-old New York native was produced with the live shows in mind, blending an eclectic mixture of rich electronic sounds, acoustic moments and unrivalled guitar riffs. Pink goes deeper than just its music production, the lyrics take you on an emotional journey through love, loss, pain and acceptance proving the multifaceted nature of Two Feet’s music.
Two Feet by Shervin Lainez
His music career started in 2016 after returning home at three o’clock in the morning after a long shift, Two Feet drunkenly uploaded his song Go Fuck Yourself to Soundcloud and went to sleep. He woke hours later to find four million streams (now over 300 million), a newfound fame and major record labels offering deals to sign him. This fortunate viral moment paved the way for the artist to release First Steps; his first EP – this was followed by another EP in 2017 titled Momentum and then his debut album in 2018. In the midst of these releases, Two Feet was propelled once again with the song I Feel Like I’m Drowning, which rivalled the success of his first single by becoming the number one track on US radio as well as reaching number one of the US alternative charts.
Pink is an album that was born to be toured, however with the world on pause during this heart-breaking pandemic, Two Feet has had to postpone the live shows. Speaking to Glass from Brooklyn during self-isolation, Two Feet hasn’t wasted any time and admits he has already nearly finished writing his third album. It’s clear that Two Feet is an unstoppable force in the music industry continuing to excite his audience with both the raw emotion in his lyrics and his excellent music production, ultimately creating a nostalgic album that you want to dance and cry to.
Two Feet by Shervin Lainez
Congratulations on Pink, your latest album. All your songs, especially in Pink, are emotional and relatively intimate – how does it feel putting out music that is so personal to you?
It’s more nerve-racking to put it out in the first place as it’s something more intimate and personal. You’re scared of what people might think when they listen to it, especially as it’s super personal. When it’s not super personal it’s easy to hide behind the lyrics or hide behind the meaning of the song, whereas digging in is a scary experience as a musician.
On the album, there’s not just a musical development, you also have a narrative that the listener follows – was that something you intended to do? And if so, does that play an important factor in the album?
It wasn’t something I intentionally tried to do right away. I wrote three or four songs for the album and felt like there was a theme going – obviously, because you’re writing lyrics, writing songs all occurring at a certain time of your life so they take on the meaning of that particular chapter. I guess as I went along I started thinking ‘Oh, this is all really good together’ so it wasn’t really a planned thing; at least not from the beginning.
So, what was the most difficult song on the album to write?
That’s a good question. Probably Pink. The production itself took me a really long time. The production of the song slowly gets bigger as the song goes on and I really wanted to capture that dynamic with loudest part being at the end with the solo.
You have already had such success with previous singles like I Feel Like I’m Drowning. Did you feel a pressure releasing this album?
Not really, honestly. I knew I wasn’t trying to go for any big singles in particular with this album. I just wanted something for my live set, so there was no real pressure – my team and my label understood that from the beginning. I will say though, in the building process to my next album, which I am already almost done with, I am definitely aiming for another I Feel Like I’m Drowning or another Go Fuck Yourself. So, there’s more pressure with that’s coming up, especially since this album has been so well received by my fans. I went up like 40-50,000 followers since the week it came out, so the next one has more pressure.
How did you pick the name Pink for the album title?
I named the album Pink honestly after Pink Floyd. I was listening to them a lot at the beginning of the writing process, and for a song I came up with the name was Pink. I wanted to be loyal to the initial sound that was there when I first started making the album.
Your tour for the album has been put on hold for the moment, how are you going to translate Pink into a live show? Is the production going to play a big part?
Like I said this album was made for the live shows as it translates the best that way. I put a ton of money into the light show production, hired three additional crew guys and added a percussion section and dancers. So, production wise it’s going to be a really big show and I am excited to finally tour it.
Two Feet by Shervin Lainez
Now going all the way back to the start – what was the moment you realised that you wanted to pursue music as a career?
Right after I got out of high school was when I realised that this is what I wanted to do. The time then comes when it’s like what are you going to do with your life. Music was the only thing that ever made sense to me.
The first song you put out was Go Fuck Yourself in 2016 and it went viral – was that something you anticipated or was it a complete surprise? How did it happen?
It was a total and complete surprise. I had no idea it was going to go viral. I knew that I liked the song, and the one or two friends who I sent it to the night I made it thought it was cool. But, I definitely did not think it was going to go viral. It was an insane surprise and I have no idea how it went viral, it just took off on its own.
It seems to have made a full circle as its gone viral again today on TikTok – are you aware of the impact that your songs have on social media?
This is a funny story. Two weeks or so ago, I was doing an interview and someone asked about that. I didn’t realise until a week ago that Go Fuck Yourself, after my team sent me a message after I asked about it, that it had been used over a million times on TikTok. I had no idea! It’s crazy! The song is super dramatic and funny too in a way so I think that’s why it is used so widely on social media.
Your music has a very distinct sound to it, did you know straight away this was the sound you wanted to be known by or did it come from experimentation in the studio?
I had no idea what I wanted to sound like actually. It came about because I lived in a super tiny apartment in Harlem in New York City. I would have bass players and a drum kit come over and the cops would always show up. So, I started using electronic drums and electronic synths in my music, and it eventually meshed to sound like what I sound like now. It was an accident.
Two Feet by Shervin Lainez
Today, with most of us on lockdown and having to press pause on our lives – looking back at your career, what has been a personal highlight? What has been your biggest challenge?
I think a personal highlight was when I Feel Like I’m Drowning went number one on the radio here in America. The viral stuff is different because it’s going on the whole time so you don’t feel a peak of it, you don’t really feel like you’ve accomplished anything. You get a ton of plays but there’s no real validation, whereas seeing a song as number one on all radio is a super high point.
And then my biggest challenge, (laughs) oh God! Honestly, I had a lot of people find their team or their people that helped them right away, some are even lucky enough that they have the same manager for like 30 years. Not that I’ve even had bad management at any point, it just took a really long time to get a team that I really liked together in both the touring world and on the organisational side of my career.
Finally, where did the inspiration for your name Two Feet come from?
The real truth is, and its honestly sort of pathetic. I worked as a cashier on the side of my music career at the beginning before it was making any money. It was three in the morning and I had come off a really long shift and had just written Go Fuck Yourself. I was very, very drunk, just nodding off in my chair and all I kept looking at were my feet. I needed to make a name for my Soundcloud page so I could upload the song – I saw my two feet and was like ‘There you go, that’s a good name’. That’s actually what happened.
by Imogen Clark
Two Feet’s album Pink is available to stream on all platforms