We caught up with SIDEPIECE, the collaborative project from respected producers Party Favor & Nitti Gritti. Their breakout hit, ‘On My Mind,’ was co-released with Diplo on his underground label Higher Ground. With over 75 million global streams, the song is nominated for a GRAMMY in the "Best Dance Recording" category, marking their first-ever GRAMMY nomination as SIDEPIECE. We wanted to find out more about their work, their creative process, how they came together and more.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we get into your collaborative project, tell me when you realized that you wanted to create music individually as Party Favor & Nitti Gritti.
NITTI GRITTI (RICKY): I started making music in 2012 as a hobby during college. I was just so competitive and determined that I ended up quitting everything to focus on it full time. Something about pro-duction and EDM blowing up at the time gave me the inspiration to really try and make music my career.
PARTY FAVOR (DYLAN): I got into electronic music when I was in my freshman year of college. It hadn't really popped off yet as dance music in the states and was still relatively underground. The only main-stream artists pushing a similar sound were the Black Eyed Peas/David Guetta at the time. The energy of the music and the unique soundscapes really attracted me and made me want to make dance music. It stirred something in me if you will haha.
AM: As producers, both of you have worked with amazing artists and have had a number of hits, how would you define the Party Favor and the Nitti Gritti sound?
PF: I think both of us are similar in the sense that we make all types of genres and I’ve always had a hard time being boxed into one thing specifically. The Party Favorsound originally started out as fun booty shaking music and over time I have been bringing in more songwriting and serious subject matter into the project. As I get a little older, my tastes and interests are changing and I like to constantly challenge myself. My upcoming album I’m finishing up right now is going to be a complete departure from early Party Favor and it’s very conceptual. Doing a full visual experience with it as well.
NG: Nitti Gritti is my project that allows me to release almost any genre and getaway with it. From Trap to Dubstep to Future Bass to Pop, I try to take inspiration from virtually any sound I want.
AM: Who have been some of your favorite collaborators that you have produced for/with?
NG: Getting to produce for artists like Major Lazer, Bad Bunny, SAINt JHN, Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull has been incredible. Seeing songs racking up huge streams over the years is always a great feeling.
PF: For me, early on working with Diplo was a great eye opener into thinking outside the box and how the process and industry works. He’s always thinking of what’s next and that inspired me to be better and not get complacent when I was starting out. I have worked with A$AP Ferg a few times both for his and my projects and he is one of my favorite people to work with. His vision for how he wants a song is crazy and he loves to make stuff up on the fly in the room which is how I work best as well.
AM: What is your process when you’re individually working with other creatives?
PF: It depends on each song and each situation. I love working in person because I think when you have that energy feeding off each other, there's nothing like it. The best music gets made that way. If I can’t get in a room with someone, I like to first take at least 45 minutes to chat/catch up and get to know the person before even discussing one bit about the song. Making music is all about feeling. For other records though, I might not even work with another person and maybe do everything on my headphones.
NG: I usually like to just hangout for an hour before we even start making music. Talking about life helps to open up the flow of communication, and then I like to start from scratch on a guitar or piano so the vibe is natural and we don't force the production process.
AM: How do the two of you work together when you’re creating music within this SIDEPIECE project especially with the craziness of 2020?
NG: We usually work remotely by sending Ableton sessions back and forth, but I go to LA to work in person with Dylan all the time. There's no doubt that we haven't been able to work face to face as much as we would have liked to this year, but we're making it work however we can right now.
PF: It’s been great because we have been on the same page mostly about the music and our skills really complement each other. So when I’m feeling lost on an idea or start something and want to hand it off, I know Ricky is going to be able to take it to the next level or fill in the blank of what’s missing. We both have our own separate projects so the SP project never feels like there's too much pressure and that's why I think it works so well. We treat it like our SIDEPIECE. Working in person for us is where we’ve made our best music, but we FaceTime all the time and show each other ideas. Going back and forth, we just make do with the situation. We’re sitting on so much music because all we’ve been doing is producing haha.
AM: How would you define SIDEPIECE’S sound?
PF: I guess Tech-House with a twist. We wanted this project to honor house music and its history and styles but wanted to bring something new to the table. I think coming from the world we do as PF and Nitti, we approach songs a little differently in the house world. We aren't in it for a fad, we're here to stay :).
NG: I'd describe it as "timeless house mu-sic that also pushes boundaries."
AM: What was the thought behind coming together as SIDEPIECE and tell me about ‘’On My Mind” and co-releasing it on Diplo’s underground label, Higher Ground.
NG: SIDEPIECE happened after Dylan and I showed each other some music on Face-Time one day. In about an hour, we realized we should try something together. It was cool how quickly we clicked mak-ing this style of music. As far as "On My Mind," I actually made it with Diplo in Bali on a writing trip we did, then almost a year later we made SIDEPIECE and all agreed it would be the perfect collab release for us.
PF: Ricky started this song with Wes (Diplo) before the SP project even started. When we initially started working on the project, he showed me the record as it was at the time and we both agreed it was perfect for the project. We worked on it more from there and turned it into what you hear now. We didn’t really have a choice on where it would end up label-wise because Diplo had a label haha, but we knew it was the right fit regardless.
AM: Not only has this song been successful streaming-wise, but you just scored a Grammy nomination for it in the “Best Dance Recording” category. How did it feel to get this nomination?
PF: Such a surreal feeling. We knew the song had potential and the response has been crazy but it was still such a surprise seeing our names up there. Honored and humbled by the response and the nomination. It’s chosen by our peers so that's even more of a big deal to me than the actual award. Now we gotta somehow top it haha.
NG: I've been a part of a Latin GrammyAward but I never got the actual trophy, so this time I'm really pumped to attend the GRAMMYs and try to win the damn thing! Haha!
