Flume has recently admitted to being nervous before releasing his latest mixtape Hi, This is Flume, and it’s easy to see why. After all the success that Skin received, it can be daunting to follow up such an iconic album. But Harley said that during this period of hesitant production, he would “sit in this room for hours doing all of these lines for radio stations, like, ‘Hi this is Flume and you’re listening to blah blah blah’ and [hated] it” (GQ). This insight gives new meaning to the mixtape title: it came from a time when Flume felt that his actions weren’t living up to what he wanted to be doing. As a result, he decided to ironically name the mixtape after the very phrase that brought him so much annoyance, effectively breaking out of that phase that was holding hi back. He eventually chose to release HTIF as a mixtape because it made him feel less pressured and “less serious” (GQ), two emotions which can often stunt artistic creativity. Harley admitted to being “freaked out about putting out something that might not grow” (GQ) after Skin’s exponential popularity surge.

Read more at GQ Australia.