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ILLY Any ladies in the house?

Platinum selling Australian artist Illy has just dropped the latest single and video, Oh My, from his hugely successful album Two Degrees. It has been a massive year for Illy so far; he has been touring his album nationally with sold out shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. Oh My features Tonight Alive’s lead singer Jenna McDougall, and CLAUDIA MOORE caught up with Illy to discuss the new single and album.

What is the inspiration behind your latest single Oh My?

The song is about all the influential women in my life who have inspired me such as the women in my family, my long-term friends and my ex-girlfriend. I just wanted to create a song that was a shout out to strong women in general. I realised how loved I was and wanted express that in a way which was personal and fun but not sappy or over the top.

What was it like working with Jenna McDougall on this song?

It was incredible, I hadn’t heard Jenna live before this song and when I heard her singing the part it was instantly apparent that nobody else could do the track justice. I was really annoying a lot of people because I had a lot of women sing the vocals and nobody was right so it was taking a long time, but when I heard Jenna I knew she was perfect. The song was so important to me that I wasn’t willing to settle and Jenna was exactly what I wanted.

The video clip for Oh My was shot in LA, what made you chose this location? 

Well Mark (Staubach, Director) who I had previously worked with on the Catch 22 video shot the clip and I wanted the opportunity to work with him again. It all lined up pretty perfectly because I was on my way back from Canada and I had just wrapped up touring over there and it was two days before I was due back in Australia. It all happened very quickly because there was just a small window to shoot the clip. I was very happy with the way it looked in LA and having Jenna there to film with me was great too.

You just came off the back off a national tour for your album Two Degrees were you happy with the way audiences responded to the album?

It was an amazing response especially playing at Festival Hall, which was just incredible having grown up in Melbourne. Festival Hall has been a venue which I have gone too and loved my whole life so it was a surreal moment playing there. But the whole tour was great and I really enjoyed the way audiences responded to the album.

Where there any key ideas behind the album?

The whole idea behind the album was improving on my past work and making meaningful and important changes. It was really important to me that the album is more than just being a rapper as a lot of rappers don’t write their own hooks they have producers help them. Song writing has become much more important to me and I wanted to really focus on that and creating tracks which were more melodic.

What are your plans now post the album?

I have a huge regional tour being announced in the next few days and also planning some overseas touring as well. I have about a month off before I start touring again which I am really excited about. I missed being on the road while recording the album so it’s been great to get back out there and tour the album. I really enjoy international touring in particular because I feel like Australia has me figured out and vice versa. International touring feels like starting over again as its so different playing in front of crowds of thousands versus playing in front of crowds of hundreds.

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