Quick Chat With Clayton Francis
A self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, Clayton Francis has just released 'Best Friend', a poignant romantic pop track that celebrates love's inception while honouring the enduring bond of friendship with his wife. As a self-produced singer-songwriter, Clayton's compositions emanate intimacy and honesty, a form of healing therapy after his sister's loss. 'Best Friend' delivers a romantic pop ballad capturing the excitement of new romance, an ode to his wife who's remained his best friend since their high school days over a decade ago. With passionate vocals, he eloquently expresses his admiration, backed by layers of instrumentation that bloom into an immersive soundscape. Adding to his impressive 11-single catalogue, Clayton Francis solidifies his place as a pop music standout. We caught up with him to find out more.
Can you tell us what this track means to you and what you want people to take away from it?
This song holds a special place in my heart and has a lot of significance for my wife and I. This song is so special because I wrote it about what it was like at the beginning stages of our relationship and how they’re some of my happiest memories. I wrote this song in 2021 after we had been together for twelve years since we started dating back in high school. At that point I hadn’t really written any openly romantic songs about my wife and I’s relationship. I had been writing a lot about grief and coming to terms with loss after my sister had passed away and the breakup of my band. So this song helped me journey through that to another, happy, romantic side of me as an artist. ‘Best Friend’ celebrates love and is a love song for all the self-proclaimed hopeless romantics.
Who are some of your influences and why?
The list is long and endless. A big influence on me to start writing and performing music is John Mayer. He is still my favourite guitarist and has incredible lyrics to match. The second most influential artist on me was The 1975. Their sound and aesthetic gave me the confidence to do what I was doing at the time and know it could be received by audiences. And finally, Jon Bellion. The dude is a creative genius that continues to motivate and inspire me to write and keep getting better at the craft.
What's the creative process for you, from writing through to recording?
I feel like it always changes from song to song for me as a writer. I try to approach every song from a new angle to help inspire different parts of me. Sometimes it starts with music and or production and sometimes it can start with a title/theme or even just a single melody hook. For example my newest song ‘Best Friend’ started when I sat down and wrote what is now the first verse. The melody and lyrics were strong enough to build a whole song around and the rest of the song just evolved from there
What do you think makes a great song?
That’s a really great question and I often think about this quite a lot actually. There is no measure or rule as to what makes a song great. I think the baseline for what makes a great song is the heart and emotion behind what made the artist originally pursue writing that song in the first place. No formula, no cheat code, just the heart behind the music. Music is universal and anything can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone. Personally though, I really enjoy listening to songs that have a motif and sonic-aesthetic that build in dynamic, layer and evolve. A recent example of something like this I’ve been enjoying is Harry Style’s track ‘Satellite’.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Paul Klein from LANY has definitely been somebody I’ve really admired as a songwriter for the last couple of years since stumbling upon their song ‘ILYSB (Stripped)’ - I remember hearing that song for the first time and being really inspired by their sound and aesthetic as a band that I hadn’t previously heard before. They opened my eyes to what sound I would eventually find as an artist. So it would be really cool to collaborate with them for that reason as I feel we’re similar hopeless romantic songwriters.
When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?
I’ve always enjoyed film and tv a lot and even studied it for a little while at university until I began pursuing music. So I find myself creatively writing and making other types of visual media. I’ve actually recently began learning Blender, a 3D modelling software. My intention to pursue film and tv was to make music videos. So it’s funny how I’ve come full circle and use that knowledge to make and shoot my own music videos for my music.
Who are some local bands we should check out?
Heaps. I’m a little biased but the drummer in my band started his own Pop Punk Band in 2022 called Two Times Shy. They just released their fantastic debut EP ‘It looks better than it sounds’ that you should definitely check out! The other artist you should keep a look out for is a new artist called Cool The Kid.
Winter or summer and why?
1000 percent winter. I usually run hot and feel way too lethargic in summer. I find myself more motivated and inspired to write and record in Winter.
What else do you have planned for 2023?
The next step for me is planning on releasing my upcoming album ‘Tension and Release’. I’m also planning on playing shows on the back of the album’s release, to be announced. My other priority is to get into the studio to record 13 tracks I’ve already written for my sophomore album, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
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