To celebrate the release of his single "I should be happy," FLEX enlisted Canadian singer-songwriter-producer Chris Grey to give us some background on his musical influences and his favourite tracks! Check them out now:
Ozzy Osbourne – “Crazy Train”
I was five when I first heard this song (not sure who let me listen to this) and I was immediately obsessed! The guitar solo blew my mind and ultimately inspired me to incorporate shredded guitar solos even though my music is R&B and pop. I also love when a guitar answers the call of the vocals which this song does a lot. The Weeknd – “The Hills”
I basically only listened to EDM music before I heard this song. I remember it came on the radio in the car and I had never really heard anything like it. I Shazam’d it and listened to it back to back like three times in a row. It was a pretty long drive so I ended up diving into his back catalogue and fell in love with some of his older albums. My music taste definitely wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for this song. Within about a year I had almost fully switched to listening to R&B and rap. Michael Jackson – “Man In The Mirror”
My dad was a big MJ fan and he introduced me to this song when I was pretty young. At that time I just liked the way it sounded but as I grew older, I began to really appreciate the meaning of the song. Man in the Mirror is my favourite kind of ballad - the kind that feels epic and really builds. This song inspires me to write more personal and self-reflective lyrics lyrics. Chase Atlantic – “Church”
It was actually pretty random how I found this song. I had an idea for a potential album title and was checking to see if any major artists had used the title. When I searched it, Chase Atlantic was the top result. I listened to a few of their tracks and heard Church, which they had just released. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at first but for some reason I kept listening to it over and over and it eventually grew to be one of my favourite songs. It’s super intense and had a bit of a rock sound which was very different from the other music I listened to. Bruno Mars – “Moonshine”
I love the dark mysterious vibe of this song. I remember hearing it for the first time at his concert, at what was then called the Molson Amphitheatre. The melodies, spacey vocal elements, and drum grooves in my music are inspired by this track.
Check out Chris Grey's music video for "I should be happy" now.