“I still find this quite awkward” are the first words that come through my computer speaker, a rough start for the conversation I had with the Swedish rapper, Broder John, which would continue on for three hours. Broder John has been on the Swedish rap scene since he was 19 years old. In 2016, he released his first solo album that evolved from his personal experience as someone trying to find his place with “the boys” while growing up. The innovative and genre-crossing sound on his recent album took him to the ColorsxStudios show but forced him to reevaluate his vision.

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J: As I understand it, the creation of your second album DRIFT came from the process of somehow finding your way back to the music. As well as you went in with the attitude that it would be the last thing you did as Broder John. How was it realizing you were saying farewell to your alter ego?

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BJ: After my first album Cool I was very lost. I fell into a darkness of wanting to please everyone which led me to not finding any joy in the music I was creating. I had gotten the idea for DRIFT because I wanted to write about what I went through after releasing Cool. I felt that I had to get this out of my system and then I was done. This realization felt like a huge weight was lifted off my chest, to not even have to identify with Broder John and all that entailed.

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J: Your album DRIFT is a concept album where the songs fit together. The note on the last track fits with the first note on the first track, creating a loop. How was this concept created?

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BJ: I was going through a big process in life so it was created along the way. One of the first songs I wrote was IGEN. It came out of the grief of saying goodbye to Broder John. But it hit me that I had felt this before, connected to other things. Even though they were different experiences, it was the same feeling. I realized that we are all in drift. The elevator pitch for my album is how you go through things and not what you go through. Part of the idea was to leave Broder John in that loop so if someone would ask “What happened to Broder John?” I could answer “He got stuck in DRIFT, he’s still there ”.