Starting out at the mere age of sixteen years old, Fernando Garibay wasted no time curating a dominant career for himself in the music industry. Garibay first broke through by catching the eye of the millennium Latin-Pop scene, and worked with artists such as Mya and Enrique Iglesias. As the mid-2000s arrived, Garibay continously collaborated with Enrique Iglesias, and by the time 2006 hit, he created a memorable reggae-pop effort… Paris Hilton’s “Stars Are Blind.” In 2007, a newfound musical romance walked into his life, Lady GaGa. Together they made “Dance In The Dark,” one of GaGa’s most notable tracks (as well as the intro track for world renowned Monster Ball Tour) to date due to its combination of vampiric-chic vulnerability. Garibay is now taking on the lead of head-chief musical director alongside GaGa on 2011′s most anticipated pop record, “Born This Way.” It was completely necessary for me to call and chat about his views on millennium pop, the sacred writing process him and GaGa uphold, and who had dibs on “Stars Are Blind” first.
Alex Kazemi: You started producing music during the glory days of late 90s and early 2000s pop… Mya, Enrique, Marc Anthony, Beck… Latin pop, a bit. Do you feel that in 2005-2008 pop music took a switch from that pure-bubble gum pop, (Jessica Simpson, Britney, Spice Girls, N*SYNC) to a more electronic-techno based sound? Possibly music that fell into the genres of Dance, Techno and House in the 90s, could be considered what mainstream pop is like today?
Fernando Garibay: Yes, but actually before that I was putting out techno/house records. I was developing a bit of a name for myself doing underground records when I started getting calls from labels asking me to remix some pop stuff. Inadvertently, pop music was going through a bit of a Latin invasion at the time, which happened to coincide with my goal of proving to my Mexican family that I could actually succeed at this. I knew they wouldn’t know who Beck or Mya were, but they sure as hell know who Enrique Iglesias was. After the Latin invasion, I felt pop music migrated to a more urban phase in American pop radio and definitely a more electronic direction in the U.K. I liked both so my remixes and productions where directly inspired by a hybrid of those two elements.
Kazemi: How do you feel about the birth of millennium pop? N*SYNC, Spice Girls, what is known as “Classic Britney”, does that extravagant-pop songwriting/production stand out to you today?
Fernando: I grew up in South Central LA; there was nothing about Millennium pop I could relate to. All we listened to growing up in the hood was anything by Dr. Dre, hard techno records from Europe like Prodigy, and believe or not New Wave records from the likes of Depeche Mode and Duran Duran. I heard subtle Dr. Dre influences in the Max Martin productions of Britney and N*SYNC, which did perk my ears up. I am grateful we got great artists like Justin and Britney out of that period. Justin is always incredible, and everyone, including myself looks forward to the records he makes.
Kazemi: You were part of that pop-wave in a way, working with Mya as I mentioned before, remixed Ashlee Simpson and of-course Paris Hilton . Do you ever look back at how different the industry was then, such as how people were buying CDs or how music videos were religiously played on MTV? Do you think it was a healthier state, and easier to make music? [laughs] Do you understand the genius of “Stars Are Blind” in retrospect? It’s an amazing pop record; such a summer-reggae pop tune.
Fernando: Thank you. Well I always loved reggae, especially when paired with the imagery of paradise. That’s why I named my studio Paradise, by the way. I loved how British artists like The Police and Culture Club were infusing reggae with pop music in the 80s so I felt that I could attempt the bridge that gap again. Hence why “Star’s Are Blind” was born. It was originally written for Gwen Stefani, but as it turns out she decided not to release an album at that point in time. Next, I played it to Paris Hilton whom I met through mutual friends and that was it. To be honest with you, I do very much miss the album cover as an art form and the excitement of buying a CD, especially one that I worked on. But on the flip side, I do enjoy the convenience of my iTunes library. I try not to think of the former music industry too much, it’s kind of heart breaking. We had budgets back then, to make records and to develop artists. Even though I was still struggling to compete with multi-million dollar earning producers at the time, there was that optimism that you could possible write songs that could potentially change your life financially. In order to do that now, you need to be a lot more innovative, and you have to definitely work much harder in comparison. Funny, at the time I thought I couldn’t work any harder.
Kazemi: I could not agree more about the art form of buying a physical CD, the excitement was some type of natural high. In 2008, you worked with Britney Spears on “Amnesia,” which is very Britney, by the way. How did you come up with the concept?
Fernando: It was one of those songs that my songwriting friend Kasey Livingston and I came up with one evening after she asked me how my weekend was. My response was “I can’t remember,” her response, “that good huh? Amnesia.” As soon as I finished it, I sent it over to Teresa Labarbera Whites (Britney’s A&R) who asked for a record for Britney. She played it for her and we cut it two weeks later. That’s how I’ve always worked. I approach all my music as if I were scoring a movie about myself. I guess I have always seen music that way, as a soundtrack to my life… and hopefully everyone else’s.
Kazemi:When did “Quicksand” come up? Did you call GaGa up for some help? Was this around when you first got to know each other and were writing for other artists?
Fernando: “Quicksand” was one of the first songs Gaga and I wrote. We started working together right after she had just finished The Fame album with Red One. Gaga and I were both artists at Interscope and Jimmy Lovine had asked me to meet up with her at my studio. That same night in came a blonde girl in her underwear who would eventually change my life. Her and I were going through a bit of heartbreak in our lives and I was playing this piano motif right as she walked into my studio for the first time and she just started writing, “baby, because you and me are sinking like quicksand.”
Kazemi: I think basically after that, it was all up-hill! The second public Gaga-Fernando collaboration was “Dance In The Dark” off The Fame Monster, the concept behind the lyrics puts us in the eyes of someone who has sex in the dark and is ashamed on their body. But then again, someone else could interoperate it in a whole different way. Are these songs intentionally supposed to be puzzle pieces?
Fernando: It’s interesting how Gaga’s songs are very open for interpretation yet very specific. That is her true talent. It relates to everyone. It tells her story and your story all at the same time. And she is successful because it’s real, it is who she is, and it is who we are at times.
Kazemi: Do you like the CeCe Peniston mix of “Dance In The Dark” from The Monster Ball Tour? Did you have to approve it before it became the introduction to the concert?
Fernando: That was an edit for The Monster Ball. It’s perfect, approved!
Kazemi: Why didn’t “No Way” make The Fame Monster? How do you feel about the whole leak culture spreading different information and often leaving everyone confused? Was it ever finished?
Fernando: Gaga is holding onto “No Way” at moment and saving it for something special. No, that was a demo that leaked, unfortunately. Leaks are not my favorite thing in the world. It’s like showing the world a sketch of a painting for people to judge as the masterpiece.
Kazemi: When did the Born This Way sessions begin? Was it a particular night? Did GaGa just call you up and ask to work on the second album or was it more complicated?
Fernando: It was more like she called me and said “I have this song I just wrote and I want to play it for you.” Two hours later I was on a flight to Australia. She’s super spontaneous like that; I just go with the flow and try to capture every moment of her creativity to tape, so to speak. I guess you can say that’s how my role of Music Supervisor for the Born This Way album came to fruition. Before I knew it I was traveling the world producing the album with her.
Kazemi: You wrote most of the record on the road, right?
Fernando: That is correct. The whole album was done on the road. From the American leg, to the European leg, and back… we recorded it all along in a bus with a purpose-built studio in it. We recorded with laptops backstage in her dressing room, in her hotel room, you name it. That’s how we were able to get it done in the middle of a worldwide tour.
Kazemi: Could you explain how your writing/creative process coincides with her many influences/inspirations? Do they go hand in hand? You co-wrote almost every song on the album.
Fernando: Well most of the time she’d come in with completed songs, so my job was to facilitate in executing her vision. Sometimes she heard a song in various forms, i.e. a rock version, a techno version, a full electro version, so we had to do many revisions of a song to get to a point that made sense for her. I’ll never forget the way she would describe the way she wanted her records to be like… sometimes she would dance it out for us, other times she’d describe an emotion or give us a visual, and many times she would flat out program the parts. Insane, right? Who does that?
Kazemi: [laughs] Only GaGa, only GaGa! When you released “Born This Way” a lot of “in the know” publications named it as a carbon copy of Madonna’s “Express Yourself”. Did it just end up sounding like that? Do you have anything to address? It is a common-found disco chord progression though, if we put all of the passé “comparisons” bullshit to the side.
Fernando: We take any comparisons to Madonna as a compliment. We are all big fans of her. One of my favorite songs is “La Isla Bonita.”
Kazemi: [laughs] In the studio, what is a natural session like with GaGa? How does a song like “Marry The Night” happen?
Fernando: “Marry The Night” was inspired by two things. For her, it is her metaphoric husband that is New York; for me, I was just trying to outdo the feeling I got when I first saw “Dance In The Dark” performed live as the opening number for the Monster Ball. It was the look on the audiences’ faces the minute that intro started; it was like I saw her for the first time and she was bigger than life. I felt like the audience was going to church, as if they were having a religious experience. I just kept hearing church bells in my head. It’s strange how her and I were so on the same page; upon hearing the track she instantly made to correlation with it being ceremonious and still dark. She looked at me, pointed, and sang, “I’m going to marry the night, I won’t give up on my life…”
Kazemi: Was “Marry The Night” an experiment at all? I’ve noticed the mix of 80s hair-band based choruses over massive pop beats pattern throughout the album worked out really well; was this intentional or unintentional?
Fernando: It was no experiment; she knew exactly what the vision was. That never wavered.
Kazemi: The obscure melodies overpower some of the huge pop production at times through the record; would you agree?
I wouldn’t say it’s the obscure melodies, I would say it’s the power of her songwriting that stands out. And that right there is what a good production should be; it should highlight the song, not the tricks. Anyone with Ableton and a laptop can do tricks; the magic is in the song… that’s where it counts. The rest is fashion, and we do have a good fashion sense I think.
Kazemi: Was it a strange feeling knowing that you were producing an album that was self-proclaimingly aimed as the album of the decade? Did that add any pressure to the job?
Fernando: Pressure? No pressure! It’s not like… I was asked to be responsible for executing the vision of the most influential woman on the planet… All joking aside, once I was over the initial shock of being asked to oversee the album, I quickly got into soldier mode and committed to a mindset that we were not going to fail, no matter what.
Kazemi: [laughs] “Heavy Metal Lover” is, without a doubt, the production highlight on the album. The rave essence of it, the manic vocal shreds, and all the smutty talk makes it an incredible pop track. If “Heavy Metal Lover” were to get on the radio, it would change the state of pop music and open a lot of doors for Top40 artists. Would you say that you and GaGa have created control with pop music, changing it for the better?
Fernando: Wow, you think so! I’m flattered!, but I really think a lot of the songs on this album could potentially have that power, from “Marry The Night” to “Bloody Mary” to “Americano.”
Kazemi: I honestly do believe that..When GaGa cut “Heavy Metal Lover” were you like, “whoa… what have I done? Did I really just make that?” Does she inspire you to make productions like you’ve never before?
Fernando: I just go for it! She would expect nothing less.
Kazemi: I’m sure other artists other than GaGa want to work with you. .
Fernando: Yeah.
Kazemi: You are always going to be a bit more involved with GaGa. How do you create balance? Will an outside artist be getting a more toned down product? Are those productions only as amazing as they are because you and Gaga have such incredible chemistry?
Fernando: I’m passionate about every record I do with whatever artist I work with. I try to take myself and my biases out of the equation for the sake of the artist’s vision I’m working with. I’ll go as far or hard as an artist would like me to go; I see myself as a catalyst for their artistry. Gaga is a producer; I make records with her, and that’s why our records will always sound like Gaga records. She’s not part of the equation, she is the equation.
source: http://alexkazemi.com/2011/05/fernando-garibay/
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