We were lucky enough to chat with Owl City's singer/songwriter, Adam Young, at Arthur Ashe Kids Day where he, The Wanted, Carly Rae Jepsen, Mindless Behavior and others rocked the house with amazing performances! Behind the scenes, Adam talked to us about the success of his third album, Midsummer Station, and the inspiration behind it and how that infectious summer-hit "Good Time" with Carly Rae came to be!
J-14: So we hear you knew Carly Rae before the song happened? How did that all come about?
Adam: We were fans of each others' music, and at the time, she had just been signed to her management who my manager knows. Both managers were friends. They kind of put us together on more of a business side, and the song just kind of happened.
J-14: Why is the album called Midsummer Station?
Adam: It's kind of an abstract title for a good reason because it's sort of an open-ended idea that makes you maybe feel a certain way. It's all about the imagery. It's all about "What is it?" It kind of means something to you in your own head. Everyone's perception hopefully is different.
J-14: What does it mean to you?
Adam: It's means somewhere safe I can go, maybe like a cabin in the woods or a beach house in Hawaii. It's some place I can go and visualize. It's safe, and I can shut the door, and I can recharge. I can be safe, and it's somewhere I can to and come back from whenever I want.
J-14: And "Shooting Star." Were you inspired from a specific incident? What inspired that song?
Adam: The instrumental track of that song was actually an idea that I produced a few years ago that didn't make a cut on one of my previous records. I had this instrumental idea that I fell in love with, but it was sort of middle-of-the-road, and it wasn't really going anywhere. I got together with Stargate, a great production duo from New York, and they helped me bring it across the finish line.
J-14: We're big fans of Relient K, and we were so exited that you've been working with Matt Theissen. How did you guys meet? How did you cross paths?
Adam: I grew up with Matt's music. I was a big Relient K fan, too, growing up. I didn't know him until my manager said, "If you want to start thinking about collaborations, maybe we can put you together with some people in the industry," and Matt was on my list, of course. It was as simple as giving him some music, and he was gracious enough to listen to it and enjoyed it enough, so we got in the same studio and just became friends first and then we started writing music after. It was really cool.
What's your favorite track off Owl City's 'Midsummer Station'?
Photo Credit: Pamela Littky
