Photo by Noah Dunton
Interview: ringgold finds solace from broken friendships in pulsing pop music
The pop tunesmith discusses new song “I’m Not Yours” and lost friendships.
Electricity courses through the song’s veins. ringgold‘s “I’m Not Yours” oscillates between a cloudy, downcast ballad and a lowkey club banger, creatively allowing the singer (real name Nick Jaeckel) to switch up his vocal approach amid a flurry of musical firepower. Admittedly, he sculpted six different versions of the song on a hard drive somewhere. Initially, ringgold penned the song over piano as he “wanted to keep some of that raw energy in the final track, but I also wanted the production to feel as turbulent as the type of relationship I was singing about.”
His first instinct was to craft a rock song with hand-biting drums and electric guitar. At first, he and his producer Jim White produced it in such a way, but White’s decision to write “this incredibly emotive and dark club beat for the second verse” was like a lightbulb going off. “What we ended up with was a track that feels like you’re on the subway and stopping in different sonic neighborhoods and picking up pieces of each stop along the way,” ringgold tells B-Sides & Badlands. “I love how it turned out, and I think it perfectly encapsulates how I felt writing the song.”
What’s as striking as the song’s musical backbone is ringgold’s vocal performance, clawing through the haze of indie-pop machinations and its rocky and foamy undertow. “You go through a lot of bad takes before getting to what feels right,” he says about his vocal approach. “I try and let the melody and lyrics dictate the performance as much as possible, but I’ve found that knowing when to hold back is the best way to get to an honest place.”
Nestled deep within the rattling exterior lies a story about the friend archetype, which depicts someone with a magnetic personality who crashes into and out of your life. While ringgold didn’t have a single person in mind, he did fuse three or four experiences into the thematic fabric. “I’m admittedly a very sensitive person so the truth is I’ve felt this kind of insecurity in most of my close friendships at one point or another and have been trying to put that feeling into a song for a while.”
“It wasn’t until I had friends share similar stories about that same feeling of giving more than you’re getting, that I was able to take myself out of the picture and create this character,” he continues. “It’s someone desperate to be loved by a person whose priorities aren’t inclusive of them, and then reaching a breaking point.”
With clanging percussion and a luminescent skeleton, ringgold’s “I’m Not Yours” makes an early bid as one of 2024’s best pop songs. The track samples a forthcoming debut EP Pragma, expected to drop later this year.
Below, ringgold discusses lost friendships, growing up on bluegrass, the scope of his EP, and lessons learned.
What relationships do you miss most in your life? What did those teach you about connection and yourself?
I’m a firm believer that our platonic relationships are equally as important as our romantic ones. I have such immense love for my friends, and I find those to be the hardest relationships to let go of. If you break up with a partner, there’s this understanding that you’ll get some sort of closure in the aftermath. You’ll have a post-mortem or at least acknowledge something went wrong, but we don’t necessarily get that, or even expect it, when it comes to losing friends.
Coming to that realization made me learn how to be more communicative about my needs in the moment, rather than letting things build and build until I reach a place I can’t come back from.
You grew up on bluegrass. What albums and artists have influenced you most?
We were talking about approaching vocals from an emotional and honest place, and I think bluegrass is where I first learned that. These guys are singing about killing, dying, drinking, loving, and losing all in the same song, and it takes an insane amount of versatility and dynamics to convey that.
‘Shaken By A Low Sound’ by Crooked Still is an album I’ll always go back to. Their lead singer, Aoife O’Donovan, does a phenomenal job with finding the emotion in her lyrics.
Chris Thile and Nickel Creek are also huge influences. I remember hearing their song “The Lighthouse’s Tale” for the first time and thinking I want to write a song like that.
Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Sierra Ferrell. I think she has the coolest tone and puts on one of the best live shows I’ve seen.
How did you find yourself going into a pop direction rather than bluegrass?
The past few years have obviously been very tough. For me, pop music was the thing that consistently pulled me out of the dark places. Some of the best memories I have of 2020 onward are so intertwined with pop, like listening to Chromatica on repeat in the early days of the lockdown or spending two weeks in July chasing Beyonce across the US during her Renaissance tour. I was listening to so much pop music while writing this EP that it felt natural to go in that direction when it came to deciding on production. I love the idea of writing about these really complicated feelings and putting it with the catchiest hook I can come up with. Pop music almost feels like a science, and living in that world has been really fun as a writer. And that’s also not to say that I wasn’t also working on some bluegrassy folk music at the same time, but these songs were written with a pop lens.
Did you emerge having a newfound perspective on those sorts of relationships?
Absolutely! I’ve learned that building a foundation is paramount. As tempting as it may be to dive headfirst into a relationship that just feels good, you have to put in the work to establish yourself as your own person before getting lost in someone else.
Why does it make sense for this to be the EP lead-off single?
I knew as soon as I wrote it I knew that “I’m Not Yours” would be the lead single. It’s a good representation of what I do, and it tells the listener what to expect in the coming singles: vocal-centric, lyrically relatable music with hard-hitting, intentional production.
How does it fit into the scope of the project?
It’s one of several vignettes on the EP showcasing moments when love isn’t easy. Some of the songs on the EP, like “I’m Not Yours,” are drawn from personal experiences and conversations with friends. Others are inspired by books, reality TV, and other random media I’m consuming. Every song has this underlying theme of trying to make things work, though, and that’s what inspired the title of the EP, ‘Pragma.’
Pragma is a type of love characterized by commitment and perseverance and is regarded as a love that leads to long-lasting relationships. I think it gets a bad rap and is often regarded as an almost business-like type of love, but I like to think of it as a love we reserve for the people we want in our lives forever, and one that we’ll do whatever it takes to keep it.
What does the rest of the EP feel like, emotionally and musically?
I wanted to take these sad love songs that I wrote on the piano and build them out into these big pop tracks that channel the joy and the rage and the thousand other emotions that can exist at the same time as “sad.” Musically, you can expect to go into a bunch of different corners of the pop genre. There’s some R&B influence, folk, dance, and rock, and if you listen closely, you can also absolutely tell that I did college a cappella.
Do you feel pressure with this forthcoming release?
There’s definitely some pressure, but I’m just excited to finally have it out in the world. It’s been a labor of love, for sure. Four years of writing and two years of producing, and it’s a body of work that I’m ready to stand behind. I’m hoping that this music will help me stand out as a writer, as well as an artist. I’d love to start working behind the scenes and writing for other artists while continuing to release music myself.
What did Jim White teach you, about music, life, and yourself?
Jim is such an incredible collaborator and friend. He taught me to trust the process and follow through with ideas. Some of my favorite moments on the EP wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for him. I take pride in my musical instincts, but it can sometimes be a detriment to the song when I get stuck hearing something in my way and only my way. Working with a producer who can challenge that and change my mind, while also fully understanding my vision, has been such a pleasure. In life? He taught me that it’s okay to be friends with straight people.
