Jagwar Twin talks about his new music and the digital age

Jagwar Twin. Photo Credit: Ryan Flemming

Jagwar Twin (Roy English) chatted about his new single “Bad Feeling (Oompa Loompa)” and the digital age.

‘Bad Feeling’ single and music video

On his new single and music video, he remarked, “The song came about a little over a year ago. I’ve been exploring my ancestors and my German, Polish, and Slavic roots, and so I was using a lot of accordions and tubas.”

“We were in the studio jamming on this accordion sort of vibe, and I kept saying, ‘We need some oompa shit. We need German oompa music.’ And, then we were like, “Well, what if we just did that? Oompa Loompa.” We ended up flipping the sample and that led us down a whole rabbit hole,” he elaborated.

“The music video was sort of just expanding on that world. We wanted to bring it into this circus-like space and we had this amazing director, Ganna Bogdan who is Ukrainian, so she’s part of the Slavic family, and it turned out pretty sweet,” he added.

Music and songwriting inspirations

On his music and songwriting inspirations, he said, “I am inspired by nothing… because nothing creates everything. So, getting into that place of nothing is what sparks things to come through and allows what’s already there and what already exists to come through.”

Future plans

Regarding his future plans, he shared, “I’ve got no plans at the moment. I’m just letting life come to me. It seems to be working out pretty well so far.”

The digital age

On being an artist in the digital age, he said, “I think being an artist now is the same as it always was. You know, it’s always different but we’re always going to paint with the canvas of the day.”

“It’s like… people thought that the printing press was going to ruin the world and people thought that it was going to destroy the Word of God to print the Bible. I think, in some ways, TikTok and social media is similar – it depends on how you use it,” he elaborated.

Career-defining moments

On his career-defining moments, he noted that he has had “a few.”

“The first major label record deal that I got taught me a lot – mostly what not to do and I’m really grateful,” he said.

“The biggest thing that I learned was not to listen to anybody… I mean, you listen to people, but you need to run it all through your own filter. That’s the biggest thing: coming to your own center and knowing what’s true and what resonates within you,” he explained.

“Running everything through my own filter has been the biggest lesson that I’ve learned from that. I think another defining moment has been ‘Bad Feeling (Oompa Loompa).’ It’s really shifted everything. The song coming out, going viral, and getting tons of views on YouTube in the last 28 days… That’s crazy,” he said.

Dream duet choice in music: Kendrick Lamar

He listed Kendrick Lamar as his dream collaboration choice in music. “I want to do a song with Kendrick,” he admitted.

“I think he is one of the greatest artists in the world and I think he’s one of the bravest artists. He’s not afraid to say shit that no one else will say in a way that only he can say it. I would love to do something with him.”