Joy Orbison: still striving
“I’m really surprised at some of the people who’ve been playing it, but it’s great. Great records should be beyond the scene. At the end of the day, ‘flight’ has like three notes in it, maybe not even three!” he laughs. “It’s not about being a virtuoso, which I definitely am not, but about sonic ideas, and what’s possible, and how impactful that can be.”
While Joy Orbison has had a huge following in the UK for years, ‘flight fm’ took off worldwide, especially in the States. A bootleg re-edit of the track by Fred again.. , ‘flex fm (freddit)’, added the rap verses from Lil Yachty’s ‘Flex Up’, with superstar MCs Playboy Carti, Future and Yachty giving it a whole new appeal. Since its official release, it’s become one of his most popular tunes.
“It was really funny, ’cause I heard about it through Overmono, and then my manager sent me a video shot from like his leg, of Fred playing it, like a secret video of the track,” O’Grady says. “So I sort of knew about it, it was exciting. I love Playboy Carti, I love Yachty, I love Future, so it’s definitely not an abstract thing, it makes sense with what I’m into, which is really fun. But I would never have put the two together. The way Fred’s done it is really artful. When I started playing it, it felt really natural. But it was a surprise, I didn’t think about putting a rapper on it. I’m amazed that we got it out, to be honest, it took a lot of effort. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many lawyers CC’d in one email! But I’m glad we did.”