Fred Again Breaks Down His Creative Playbook in Instagram’s 'Ask It Anyway'

​Instagram brought together young musicians in London for a rare mentorship session about creativity with Fred again.., in the middle of his 'USB' tour. The intimate Q&A was moderated by Femi of Ezra Collective and produced by Uncommon Creative Studios.

During the Q&A, Fred deep dove into his creative process: live-mixing a new sample into a song in under 15 minutes; walking through the many versions he made of his hit, 'Danielle: smile on my face' and why he looks up to icons like D’Angelo, Pharrell and Brian Eno.

This is the second round of Instagram’s 'Ask It Anyway' series, first kicked off with Tyler the Creator. The content was devised and created by Uncommon in partnership with Instagram.

Key Moments:

• 24:00: Fred live-mixes a vocal sample into a new song in under 15 minutes
• 13:00: Fred plays the many versions he made of his hit 'Danielle: smile on my face', which samples 070 Shake’s voice, before he dropped the final version
• 8:20: On Fred’s creative process, “The best stuff [happens] when you surrender to a state of play. You’re not letting your ego or intellectual side lead, you’re letting your exploratory, inquisitive side lead. That’s why I think of it like, the maker and the editor. When making, I try to be wide-eyed and childish.”
• 20:00: The artists he looks up to, “A thing I’ve learned from Brian Eno – you can’t learn half as much from unreleased music, as from released music. Most of my favourite creatives, like Pharrell, [are] shooting shots all the time and trying out ideas – he’s kept that sense of play so alive, in such an inspiring way.”
• 7:20: On finding your sound as an artist, “Most artists aren’t like D’Angelo, who arrived [as] one of the greats. Most artists make a few albums or EPs, or have a different project… they feel their way into their ‘thing’. Often, when there’s an artist you admire, you’ll be able to listen to them finding their sound, if you go through the earlier stuff – you can hear the ideas weren’t really formed [yet].”