With a new year fully kicked in, G’s January has already seen their career reach new heights. Covering Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” for Australian radio station Triple J’s Like A Version, G made global headlines after Swift gave their rendition their seal of approval. For the radio station’s Hottest 100 of 2023, G also set a new record for the artist with the most entries in the countdown in a single year with seven songs.

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Continuing their world domination, G embarked on three back-to-back sold-out concerts in the UK at London’s iconic KOKO after fans had been demanding for years that they perform in the city. Winning over crowds each night, they now have plans to return with their first full UK tour in September where they will visit Brighton, London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, and Glasgow!

As they prepare for what is set to be an even wilder 2024, Principle sat down with G following an exclusive photoshoot.

It’s been since 2019 since the last time you came to the UK to perform. You’re days away from playing three sold-out shows at KOKO, how are you feeling?

It’s fucking wild. Well, I didn’t have any idea that fucking anyone knew me over here. When I played The Garage in 2019, which was about 500 cap, I thought, you know, maybe we’d do a 750 or something like that. My booking agent and my whole team didn’t know. We thought we were gonna be lucky to sell one KOKO, so we were so shocked at the demand when the first one sold out nearly instantly It was wild. Then we were like, “Should we sell a fourth?” And then we were like, “No, let’s come back and do a proper all of the UK tour.” So I’ll be coming back in early September. But it was just a shock, man. I couldn’t believe it. I’m still pinching myself. I’m thinking, “Who’s coming?” “Who are these people?”

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Does it still take you by surprise when you walk out into these crowds and they’re sold out?

Yeah, I cry a lot [laughs]. I’m always crying. I don’t know, I just feel like such an unfamous person. I just feel like it’s crazy that that’s my job. And then there are these people that spend their money to come to see me play, it does weird me out a little bit because I’m like, “What?” I can’t believe that. I’m always taken aback by what my life’s become over the last few years for sure.

Is it one of those situations where you see that millions of people are streaming your songs but it doesn’t translate until you see the people in the flesh?

For sure. Walking out on stage and hearing a roar in a whole other country that isn’t your own country is wild. It is a dream as a musician and I’m so lucky and I’m still pinching myself. I can’t believe that I’m on this side of the world where the UK’s so fucking cool and the people are rad. So, yeah, it’s very exciting. 

The shows are in promotion of your second album, DRUMMER, which has been very well received by both fans and critics. Has that exceeded your expectations in any way?

Yeah, I guess when it comes to actually making music, I’m not one that really gives a shit what people think about it. I just wanna make sure I like it. So I think that’s how I gauge whatever I decide to release or what the single is. I decide what’s on the album and I have to like it. If it goes well, it goes well. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. You never know what’s gonna land with art. I think I just trust my gut and I dig the songs, so I put them all together. It’s called DRUMMER because drums are my main instrument and my first love and what I feel most comfortable and at home at is behind the kit. So it was cool putting the album together and focusing on kit and drums parts.

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And for it to go to number one, that must have felt amazing.

Yeah, that was crazy. That was a very surreal moment. I would’ve been happy with number eight, you know? Getting a number one is so cool. My family was very stoked about it. It was a fucking big surprise. I did lots of crying.

You received six nominations at the ARIAs, taking home two awards. You’ve won quite a few awards in your career already, which got me thinking, where are you keeping them all?

I actually haven’t got my ARIAs yet. I need to suss that out. My mum puts them places. She’s put them underneath the TV on the TV stand. I should get a creative spot to put them. I think the bathroom is always fun when you have awards by the toilet.

Your musical taste is all over the place, you don’t just listen to one genre. Were there any particular artists or albums that you referenced as an influence for this album?

Because the whole album was centered around drums, the main influence on most of the tracks was the drum parts. “The Worst Person Alive” was influenced by Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” it’s like three kick drums and one snare drum. Gang of Youths has a lot of that in a lot of their songs. I wanted to incorporate that kind of drumbeat and that kind of groove. There’s the Purdie Shuffle, which TOTO used in “Rosanna,” which Porcaro the drummer had influence from John Bonham from Led Zeppelin and then he’d made his own take on it. The drums in “Baked” are kind of very Pharrell-inspired. You know, Pharrell’s a really good kind of pocket funk kind of drummer. The production is all very extremely rhythmic. I guess there have been influences more on the beat and production side rather than the lyrics or emotion.

I always wanted to have a song in six-eight, so that’s “Be Your Man.” I had this whole list of drum grooves and drum parts and “7 Days,” which I opened the record with. It has this big drum solo breakdown moment, which is very Dave Grohl to me, like that kind of vibe, but also a bit of Farro from Paramore. I can nerd out for days on drum bullshit. I just love drums, it’s my favourite instrument.

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You’ve been on the road a lot recently. Are you noticing particular songs that always take off every night or any of them that have come by surprise?

I think “Baked” is one ’cause it’s very much an album track but then when I play it live, it’s that pocket groove that people are singing back to me. And it’s not exactly a hard song to sing. I’m almost talk-singing, it’s not like I’m hitting big notes like, “Be Your Man” or anything. “Be Your Man” is another one that people scream the shit out of. They are just with every part of their being, they are roaring that chorus, which is fun to sing at people who are singing that shit at you. And “The Worst Person Alive.” I always see friends that are grabbing each other and they’re just singing it at each other and it’s a cool moment.

A few weeks ago, you covered Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer,” which she gave her stamp of approval of by liking your post on Instagram. Where were you when it happened?

I was asleep. I was totally asleep when it happened and I woke up and I’d got missed calls and texts from Chrishell. My manager Megan was messaging me. My phone had blown the fuck up. With the time difference between America and me being in Australia, I was asleep. I woke up to it and me and my team were like, “Do you reckon it was really her?” And then we were like, “No, it has to be!” I’m just so stoked. It’s the ultimate tick of approval and she’s so awesome. I admire her so much as an artist and a creative and lyricist. My drummer brain loves her melodies. Some of them are just so rhythmic, they’re like conga and bongo parts. She switches from really rhythmic kind of drum rhythms to elegant, soft, alienated notes. She’s just an amazing artist and obviously the biggest artist of our generation. She liked my arrangement. I really thought people were gonna hate it. I’m gonna see her play next month in Australia. 

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Glasses Robert la Roche / Socks FALKE 

I saw your mum has started a petition for you to be one of the opening acts. In less than a week it had over 15,000 signatures. It seems Taylor is going to be left with no choice but to have you!

She has Sabrina Carpenter. But for her other tours, I think she’s had two at every show. Obviously, I would do it. I would love that. My mum’s really cute and she was just so naively asking me why I wasn’t. I was like, “Mum, it’s the biggest artist in the world. This doesn’t happen like that.” But mum’s really cute and absolutely losing her marbles that she’s got 15,000 signatures because she thought she was hoping to get a thousand, so 15,000 is wild and it’s probably gone up now. I’m happy that it makes my mum happy every time she checks. She’s checking all the time. 

It might be too early to ask, but are you already mapping out or working on what’s next musically?

I just spent the last week getting back into writing for other artists. I do writing and producing for other acts. So I just spent a week setting up a big studio in my house in Melbourne and had different Aussie artists fly in where I’d do a day or two with them writing and producing. That was really good to just get my creative juices flowing again. I’ve got some ideas for the next record, but then I’ll really go in at the start of March to write the next one.

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Do you think some of that new music will come out this year?

It probably won’t be released this year, but I’m hoping to finish the recording, production, and all of it by this year to then hopefully release something next year. 

You spoke about how there was a time when you were thrown into pop sessions where people very rarely had a drum kit or any real instruments in the studio and that started to become the norm. That wasn’t the case when creating DRUMMER. Do you have a strict rule that you only want live instruments when making your records?

Yeah, a hundred percent. When I produce for other people, I can stand midi drums, but for my own music, I don’t want midi drums. I want a real kit. And if we can’t get the tone exactly right then yeah, maybe we’ll add a little trigger to it to just to hit that sweet spot. But I just love live instruments. I just love a live piano. I just love playing instruments and I love having my friends also play instruments and record parts.

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In your PAPER Magazine interview, you said you wanted to work with Mark Ronson and Pharrell Williams. Have any other artists come along that you’ve got your eye on?

There are so many. And I think with me, there are so many artists I wanna play drums for their records but then there’s artists that I just wanna co-write with or top line for. There are also artists that I personally would love to write with. Mark Ronson’s a big one just because of his musicality. I love instruments and he writes great bass grooves and I’m a drummer. There’s this guy Ethan Gruska. He did some of the latest Ryan Beatty stuff and I loved that album.

I just love working in studios, to be honest. I love making a song. I love walking around in circles trying to find the lyric that hits, sitting at the piano, and working out different inversions to make the chords sound more beautiful. I love listening to the track over and over. I love the whole creation of music and I could just live in studios the whole time.

You were asked what you thought the best pop song of the past five years was. You praised the likes of King Princess, Miguel, “Leon Bridges, and Rihanna. Not that another five years have passed. What do you think are the best pop songs from the past five years? 

Well, I think “Cruel Summer” is the best pop song of all time. That song is just the best. “Flowers” [by Miley Cyrus] is a great song. The simplicity of it. Basically, the production’s just on a loop. If you can master that, like Dominic Fike’s “3 Nights,” where it’s not much change, it’s fucking wild. I love Olivia Rodrigo’s stuff too. Her producer Dan Nigro is amazing, I’d love to work with him. Of course, Billie Eilish. The way she can change her vocals and her mouth shapes to get different textures and sounds out of her mouth is so interesting. Like her breathy tones in “What Was I Made For?” but then her screams in “Happier Than Ever.” I really like “What Just Happened” by The Kid LAROI. I also got obsessed with Fred again.. like we all did.

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