"He was my point of entry into making music. He actually caught me the first time I was messing with his keyboard and equipment," Jones recalls. "But he was like, 'Nah, it's fine. Go ahead.' He started teaching me the basics." Within a few months, the student became the teacher, and Jones was passing out self-produced mixtapes to his middle school classmates.
Today he is a Grammy-winning producer, songwriter and artist in his own right. In 2014, he and Drew Love formed THEY., after they both got their start in the music industry producing for other popular artists. "I always wanted to be a rap producer, but for whatever reason, something clicked with me when it came to doing more of the pop stuff. When I got my start, I was doing things for Kelly Clarkson, Chris Brown and will.i.am — big pop stars at the time," Jones recalls. "There was a certain fulfillment I got from that. I won a Grammy for the Kelly Clarkson record, and it was a Top 10 Billboard record when it came out. So I think that I was able to check off a lot of boxes very early.
"But like I said, I was a big rap fan. I was huge into indie rock," he continues. "I was inspired by all these different types of music, and one thing that I started to run into was, the music industry can be very conservative when you're trying to pitch records and try to get artists to hop on different sounds."
Frustrated by the music industry's aversion to experimental sounds, Jones shifted his focus back to writing and producing his own music. "That's when I met Drew and I played him some of my demo," he says. "That was the beginning of THEY."
No longer beholden to another artist's vision, Jones and Love found a new sense of creative freedom in THEY. "At this point, my favorite aspect is just the fact that I don't have to answer to anybody when it comes to the music I've made," says Jones. As a self-described "music encyclopedia," he pulls sonic references from a variety of genres and time periods. "I'm a big Vampire Weekend fan. I'm a big fan of Tame Impala. I love to take those aspects and integrate them into R&B in a way that feels fresh and new," he says.
He and Love are driven by a mutual desire to fuse seemingly disparate genres into a cohesive sound. "The first EP that we put out started off as an idea where you're doing these pop melodies over rap drums with grunge guitars. On paper it doesn't seem like it makes sense, but very quickly, it became almost the sound of urban music. I actually had one artist come up to me and say, 'Man, when I heard your first album, it was like the sound I heard in my head my whole life, but I didn't know how to get it out.' That's the main place that I really operate from," he explains, adding that he's also been inspired by OutKast and Kanye West, "people that pushed the envelope, but they had to do it themselves. It wasn't by means of the music industry."
Nü Moon is the first album that THEY. has produced outside of the major-label system.
Jacob Bzowski
All of these previous eras are incorporated in THEY.'s latest offering, Nü Moon, which is available to stream now and includes guest features from Yung Bleu, Blackbear, Kacey Musgraves and more. "This newest project is a good mold for all those sounds coming together. There's never going to be one direct influence, and I think that's the appeal of THEY. We can hop from genre to genre and it still all feels cohesive and seamless," Jones says. "'In the Mood' is very Donnell Jones-inspired, whereas 'Blu Moon' is coming from the same era of R&B, but a different perspective. You have songs like 'Twenty One,' where I'm even rapping on the second verse, and I was channeling 8Ball and MJG Memphis-style [rap], or '301 Freestyle,' that almost feels like a Tupac beat."
Of course, THEY.'s love of rock is found on the album, too: "You really feel that on a song like 'I'm Just Going Through the Motions' or 'Set Me Free,' which are more guitar-driven," says Jones.
Nü Moon is also the first album that THEY. produced completely independently. "One of the reasons we called it Nü Moon is that it's a new era for us. This is the first time that we've ever been independent throughout our entire career. We're stepping into new roles, even within our own careers," explains Jones.
"On this particular album, the main thing is it's very introspective," he notes. "Throughout our career, we've touched on some different introspective moments, but on this one, I wanted to really give as much of ourselves as we could within the writing. Everything just feels more authentically us, because there are fewer voices, and it's us making the decisions throughout the entire process."
That authenticity is reflected in the honest and raw lyricism that addresses more serious and personal topics than the duo's previous discography. "I'm talking about mental health struggles, reminiscing about the old days, family members that are gone and wishing that they could see us, stuff like that," Jones explains. "I think that comes from maturity, as well. We're getting a little bit older now, so it's not necessarily as much about hyperbole and turning up and being wild and young and dangerous."
THEY. will be headlining a full tour this fall for the first time in several years. Jones, who says touring is one of his "favorite aspects" of music, is thrilled to take the stage again.
"I'm just excited to get back out on the road. Making the music translate and having an experience for the fans is something that's always been really big for me," he says. "Also, there's going to be a lot more music. We're really seizing the opportunity that comes along with being independent. There's going to be a lot more coming from us."
Nü Moon is available now on all music platforms.
