Demo Taped is the epitome of a quiet storm. Hailing from Atlanta, Ga., the music prodigy is an icon in the making. Unabashedly cool and unapologetically quirky, Demo Taped (born Adam Alexander) showed up to chat in true creative form, with his keyboards and sound equipment in tow.
“I drove right down from a show in San Francisco,” Demo Taped explains, demonstrating the passion he has for his work. The singer-songwriter, producer, musician wears many hats. But today, he’s wearing a cotton candy-pink sweatband.
The striking presence Demo Taped cuts in person is reflected in his music, colored with strong electronic beats and house-infused tunes. The 20-year-old says he pulls inspiration from a wide range of musicians, from Flying Lotus to Herbie Hancock. Demo Taped also cites his father as one of his greatest inspirations. “I grew up watching him in the church play the bass guitar. That was something. It’s incredible.”
For him, music goes back as far as he can remember.
“I was 4 years old when I started playing piano. And I really hated it. But I’m happy that my parents [made me], because my piano teacher was actually the one who discovered I could sing and after that, I was playing and singing. I started making music when I was around maybe fifth grade. I started writing things, writing out other notations, things I would write on the piano, and then I got my first Mac computer and yeah that’s what sparked it, got on Garage Band and just start playing around.”
Demo Taped released his debut three-song EP Heart in early 2015 followed by a single titled “Not Enough.” Other singles “Open Arms” with the artist RKCB and “Game On,” his first under 300 Entertainment, came out in 2016. His first live performance came on Spotify’s Pigeons and Planes No Ceiling show at South by Southwest. Throughout 2016, he toured with the British singer Nao in the United Kingdom and indie pop group Wet in the United States.
The artist says he’s always looking for ways to tell impactful stories through his work. He uses his music as a creative outlet, but also uses his platform and the power of music as a method for change, rewriting norms, and tackling major topics, like views on masculinity, and emotional and mental health issues.
In his recently released video for “Pack of Gum,” viewers see Demo Taped embrace his anxiety with a stop-start animation love story that features actual pieces of gum. He talks openly about his struggles with depression and anxiety and is very interested in addressing the taboo that surrounds mental health in the Black community.
“When my anxiety was at its peak, it affected me physically. Sometimes I would get sick and so I resorted to carrying around a pack of gum at all times.”
He adds, “It’s not too hard to go over those subjects for me. It’s something that I feel needs to be said, especially the mental illness thing. It’s something that we need to talk about more and more so that we can break the stigma, because it’s crazy.”
His last EP, Momentary, gives listeners a further glimpse into his anxiety, panic attacks, and insecurities. Demo Taped explains his process on the album: “What I did was before each session I wrote down thoughts, ideas, fears, things I like, things I don’t like, I just wrote it all down in this sort of stream of consciousness way and I took that to each session, basically that was the playbook. I didn’t want to go too far from it. I wanted to be very real and very true to me, and I think I did just that.”
Already working on his next EP, Demo Taped says, “After that I’m working on my first album. This process is kind of deeper and I’m getting more into what it is and who I am and trying to piece that together and figure that out in a musical way.”
As an artist, he has creative visions beyond music. “I really wanted to be a filmmaker — a director actually. And you know, that was kind of my dream for the longest time, and it’s still something I really want, so I came from that visual world and now it bleeds over into the music, and I kind of view what I’m producing — a few things — as kind of a scene in time and a moment in time and it really helps me to just build a world around the track.”
But despite his attraction to visual stories, Demo Taped acknowledges the power of music, “It’s something that I’ve really just come to appreciate more and more over time. I’ve had people come up to me at shows and say the [music] that’s kind of helped them in some way, and that — I’ll never get used to that. It’s really an incredible thing to hear. … [Music] is just a powerful thing.”
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