Today artist and producer Tsatsamis releases the spiky and sexy ‘Spit or Kiss‘. Taken from the upcoming mixtape Tsycophant, the track is the follow up to ‘Recreational’ and about trying to figure what exactly you want from someone, to fuck ’em or fight them. Maybe both?!

‘This song is a thematic cornerstone of the Tsycophant mixtape,’ explains Tsatsamis ‘It’s about not knowing what you want more from someone: their approval or affection. How it can consume you and have you slurring your words in the smoking area, bitching about them behind their back or confessing your love right to their face.’

Taking inspo from Queer legends such as George Michael and SOPHIE, Tsatsamis looks as much to the legacy of those that came before him as he does to experimenting with his sound and pushing things forward. The new mixtape Tsycophant is out 24th May and he’ll be playing some UK live dates to celebrate. Loverboy catches up with him to discuss BVs, songwriting and being a hypochondriac.

We’re about seven weeks out from Tsycophant being released…
Fucking hell that’s so soon.

What have you got left to do?
I’ve still got like three of the tracks mixed and mastered, including ‘Recreational’ and ‘Spit or Kiss’. Then I need to finish the remaining ones. They’re mostly finished. Some of them. I need to finish the mixtape, basically. There’s a lot.

Previously you’ve released two EPs. What is the difference for you between a mixtape, an EP and an album?
An EP is shorter. After doing two, I wanted to do something a bit longer, to push myself and whatever. For an album I want to wait till I have the full resources, time and space. So, I think artistically a mixtape gave me more freedom.

My favourite thing across the EP is the backing vocals. I love hearing those stacked layers.
Yes! My favorite thing to do.

Do you lose your mind a bit doing all those vocal takes?
I don’t know. It’s such a comfort thing for me to do. I was doing loads just yesterday. On the Our Shame EP there’s an interlude called ‘Yves Klein Blue’, which is basically all backing vocals. Yesterday I was like, ‘I want to have one on this mixtape.’ It feels like such a core brand thing. I love that you brought that up.

Which track do you think has got the most backing vocal layers?
If the one that I just wrote yesterday ends up on the mixtape, that would be it. But otherwise, maybe ‘Violent Thoughts’. It has loads of different sections and different vocals.

My current two favourites are today’s single ‘Spit or Kiss’ and also ‘First One To Go’ which I thought was really beautiful. What is a Tsatsamis ballad?
With ‘First One To Go’ I wanted to try and write a love song for my boyfriend. Typically, I always write heartbreak songs. I tend to be quite cynical but I wanted to find an interesting angle. I think the intention of ‘First One To Go’ is beautiful, but it is quite gruesome. It’s an interesting concept of being like, ‘I want to die before you.’ I started it as a poem when my boyfriend was cycling to work without a helmet and I was like, ‘Don’t die!’ I’m a hypochondriac. I was listening to The Smiths a lot as well. So I went into the studio with Max Wolfgang and was like, I have this idea. Then we wrote it really quickly. I love that morbid, sorrowful tone.

You’ve spoken about a lot of influences but someone I heard in the mix, when really reading the lyrics, was the cinematic songwriting of Tayor Swift. Am I reaching here?
No, I mean, I used to be a huge Swifty. Especially during the Red and 1989 eras. I think she is such an incredible storyteller. Especially the older albums. They’re full of timeless songs. So I think as with all classical songwriting, I’m really inspired when you can hit a lyric in a way which is really anecdotal, visceral and very personal, but still so relatable and universal. I think those are the best lyrics and ‘First One To Go’ is definitely one of those songs. Also, Max, who I wrote it with, is just an expert at being able to pull those lyrics out.

Tell me about structuring songs in your world. There are some second bridges in there. They sound great.
Yeah, I mean, I tend to follow pretty typical song structures, like verse chorus, verse chorus, bridge chorus. I love a song really taking you on a journey, developing and ending up somewhere different to where you started, whether that’s narrationally or sonically.
I’m also at that point of, ‘Okay, I’m trying to change things around.’ Like ‘Spit or Kiss’ has lots of sections as opposed to ‘First One To Go’ which is very typical.

I want to talk about ‘Alexander’ as well. This is about the gay Greek king, I’m imagining…
No. I don’t know whether I want to reveal what it’s specifically about, but it’s about a guy I met somewhere. The opening lyric literally says that he reminded me of this porn star that I used to watch when I was growing up. He’s a Republican now, so I don’t want to give him that credit and name him. Anyway…

So no gay Greek kings…
No, but it’s something that happened in Greece. I won’t say anymore because I think sometimes it’s nice when things are a bit ambiguous or mysterious.

Fine. Well if it had been about a gay Greek king, this segue would work better because I know George Michael is a big influence and then when it was only today that I thought ‘Oh shit George is Greek too.’ But I always think how underrated he is as a producer.
I literally can’t believe it. It’s insane. I had the same realisation. I think it was when I was listening to ‘Last Christmas’ and I was like, ‘Who actually produced this and who wrote it?’ It was just him. He’s so insanely brilliant.
I do think it’s a nice coincidence that we share this heritage. Also artistically, everyone considers him a songwriter and a performer, but he was also just behind the scenes doing everything. Yeah, he’s just a crazy influence, inspiration.

On this mixtape you’ve worked with other writers and producers, normally you do it yourself. How was it collaborating and relinquishing some of that control?
Honestly, it’s been a challenge. A good challenge. I say that because apart from one song I did everything myself on my previous EPs. Everything I did myself until I handed it over to be mastered. So suddenly working with new producers was a new experience because if someone produces something and then I listen back to it, I’m like, ‘This is not me. This is not something I would do.’ So, a lot of the demos are still in someone else’s world. I’m still taking them into mine and figuring out, ‘What is Tsatsamis’ sound?’ For example, backing vocals. Having this vocal style that I wasn’t really conscious of when I first started working with people because I’d never had to think about it. I just did it inherently. So finishing every song on this mixtape really taught me something about what it is that I want in a song. But yeah, so many of the songs, I would never have written if I wasn’t with someone else. I started ‘Spit Or Kiss’ and then, those pianos that come in the middle eight, was Pat Alvarez. I would have never added that in because it’s just something that I would not have done. But it completes the song. Do you know what I mean?

I feel you might be a maximalist. Would I be correct?
Yeah. I’ve tried so many times to write a minimal song and just adding stuff. It always ends up being this huge thing.

Maximalism is the best. With a song like ‘Violent Thoughts’ I could imagine a Tsatsamis solo remix which goes in even harder. Is a remix companion to this mixtape on the cards?
I honestly haven’t even thought about remixes, but I would love the idea of completely reinventing them. I think that would be really cool. We’ve been talking about a remix package. Charli set the bar so high with her remix album. But I really want to bring in collaborators and make it a real cultural moment. Maybe even rewrite some bits and completely reintroduce them, yeah.

One thing that I’ve loved is that going by what I have heard the average song length is 3 mins 19.7 seconds.
Love it. I love that fact.

This really is a great length for a pop song. Especially in this era of TikTok, when everyone’s going shorter.
I did a History degree so I’m very much like ‘Point. Evidence. Explain.’ ‘Introduction’ and ‘Conclusion’. Sometimes I approach songwriting like this. So I think that does mean that the songs end up being that structural way. But again, I want to start this next step of adding a few interludes or things just to mix it up.

I want to talk about the visuals. The aesthetic is so clear. The lighting is either very harsh or dark. It’s in a club. It’s kind of dirty. The colour blue is always very important. Is that because of Greece?
Again I think it’s just one of those happy coincidences. It’s just my favourite colour for whatever reason. Maybe just subconsciously all these things have come together.
But the aesthetic is definitely intentional. It’s kind of a gruelling process because I often find it really difficult to verbalise what I like. I always talk with Sam, who does all my visuals, about this idea of capturing a moment.

My last question is that we are named after the biggest selling single of 2001. So we always ask, what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
Okay. The first one that came to mind was ‘Touch My Body’, but I actually think it’s the MTV Unplugged version of ‘Emotions’. It’s just like the most insane performance ever. Incredible. It’s one of those things that now that I perform live I kind of know what actually goes into a performance like that. That is just phenomenal. Crazy. 

‘Spit or Kiss‘ is out now.
Tsycophant is out 24th  via Listen Generously.
Tsatsamis tours the UK this May.