Mr Regular is a track from What So Not’s second album,Anomaly,and very much a product of edgy meme and internet culture.
Australian musician Christopher Emerson performs as What So Not.Jonti Wild
Emerson is a magnetic,ego-less character who retains the same I-can’t-believe-this-is-my-life disposition whether big-wave surfing,DJ-ing a main stage festival set with teeth-rattling bass drops or answering questions from LA about his craft on a Zoom chat.
Originally from Queensland,Emerson started What So Not in 2010 with musician and producer Flume (the stage name of Harley Streten) and issued the7 Dollar Bill EP. It caught some buzz,but not as much Streten,whose solo project blew up intensely and the two parted ways amicably.
What So Not continued as a solo endeavour for Emerson,steadily building until he stepped out of Flume’s long shadow at Coachella in 2015. Since then,his collaborations,remixes and solo work have amassed nearly 300 million streams.
“Today is manic — it’s my album launch party here in LA,” he says of his second recordAnomaly,the follow-up to 2018’sNot All The Beautiful Things. “I have 170 industry people coming through,the only industry I hang out with in LA are people I make music with and Aussies like Tkay Maidza and Benson. Oh yeah,and Oliver Tree texted saying ‘I’m tryna come down’.”
Collaboration remains Emerson’s strong suit.Jonti Wild
Oliver Tree features on the aforementionedMr Regular with the rapper Killer Mike. Emerson picks up the story. “So,I had a little bit of drunk confidence and I was showing my mate,like ‘keep the drums super simple’ and I’m playing some chords and thinking ‘actually this is fire’. I stopped drinking then worked for 12 hours straight. As soon as I got into a creative sphere,I was sober as hell.”
Tree is a loose cannon:a singer,producer and (according to Wikipedia) comedian who stole the show when he toured Australia for Laneway Festival in 2019.
“I met him and thought ‘holy shit,this guy is wild,he has all these meme-able ideas’. Oliver came over to a studio I was at in Nicaragua and I showed him the beat fromMr Regular and he freestyled the rap front to back,” he says. “I went to bed at 3 and woke up at 7.30am to go to LAX and he was still up,processing vocals,creating an outro.”
From there,they enlisted Killer Mike from Run The Jewels (What So Not had previously remixed their trackJU$T featuring Pharrell Williams and Zack de La Rocha). “Killer Mike dived in. He sounds like butter,so smooth.”
What So Not knew he had something special on his hands and hatched a cunning plan with his internet-savvy collaborator. Emerson went into subterfuge mode and posted on TikTok,Instagram and Twitter:“I just spent $50,000 hiring the world’s fastest car for this music video,and Oliver Tree didn’t even f---ing show up.”
The internet ate up the fake beef. What So Not’s loyal following got mad at Tree and after a few days they did the big reveal:it was all a prank. They droppedMr Regular and it has quickly become a live favourite.
Elsewhere onAnomaly,What So Not jumps from brooding,skittery drum’n’bass to dance pop and an epic opening track,Alive,in which Emerson sings for the first time.
Collaboration remains Emerson’s strong suit. He has worked with Skrillex,George Maple,Kimbra,Daniel Johns and ... Toto. Now the album is out,it’s nearing tour time and the indefatigable talent is,as usual,thinking big.
“It’s very exciting;we’ve literally been building a world in the metaverse for the last three years. We’re on the cusp of it right now,people are literally choosing to spend their time in these other worlds. Look atGrand Theft Auto — it’s become a game where there are 150 on a server,being medics,cops and administrators,” he says,then continues explaining his irregular career path. “I have this concept I wanna execute. I don’t think anyone has done this kind of show before.”
What So Not’s new albumAnomaly is out now through Sweat It Out.
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