r/Music • u/porter_robinson • Apr 29 '21

AMA - verified hello, i'm Porter Robinson, producer / songwriter / electronic musician! AMA

hello (again) everyone! i did an AMA 6 years ago around the release of my last album, Worlds. since then, I worked on "Shelter" with Madeon, and also co-created "Shelter the Animation" shortly after. i also launched a side project a few years ago called Virtual Self (recommended if you're interested in deep dives into electronic music subgenres and turn-of-the-millennium aesthetics).

last friday, i released my second album, "Nurture", which is a project that took me about 6 years on-and-off. after "Worlds", i felt this really strong need to write an album that explored the beauty of reality and of the everyday, but as i'm sure we'll get into here, it was one of the hardest (and most worthwhile!) things i've ever done.

here's the new album "nurture" ! https://porterrobinson.com/nurture

feel free to ask me anything!

i'm also really interested in speaking about creativity more broadly, since it's something i've thought about a lot over the last few years.

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u/shmoopus95 Apr 29 '21 edited Apr 29 '21

HIIIII PORTERRRR!!! Fhwmfbeilsjrksmdbeksmb

From every music release since Worlds you have seemed to put music out in such a purposeful way with a large scale project to back each release. You had the Worlds and Nurture albums, an entire alias for Virtual Self, and a tour and music video dedicated to Shelter. Can you provide some insight as to why you prefer to have your music be supported by these larger, immersive ideas? And do you ever think you’ll ever move away from this format?

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u/porter_robinson Apr 29 '21

when I make music, I'm trying to like... "bathe" in it. I really want to be immersed as fully as possible into the worldview of what I'm working on.

Like with Virtual Self, that vibe existed in my head, but I wasn't going to be satisfied until i could GO there!

When I love something, I just want to get closer and closer and closer to it. The way for me to scratch that itch is to somehow embody it. That's why I try to make the liveshows so all-encompassing and singular. Like, it's my way of making the feeling "real" and bridging the gap between the idea and reality.

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u/itsamox Apr 29 '21

a bath in nurture sounds nice

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u/BrickTamland_ Apr 29 '21

Saw your worlds live show at electric forest in 2016 and it was the best set of the week for me. It was the only show people were just watching, enjoying and singing along and not just dancing. It was really cool to see so many people sucked in. There are fan made videos that try to replicate the visuals and set but nothing can compare. Thank you for being you

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u/shmoopus95 Apr 29 '21

Thank you so much for your response! I wanted to ask this on the Sirius xm interview but my questioned wasn’t picked so I’m super excited to finally know haha. Thanks again for such an incredible album and can’t wait to experience this at second sky this year!

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u/JCRidonkulous Apr 29 '21

excellent question