With already millions of streams on Spotify, pop-alternative Milo Meskens is here to continue his musical journey far beyond Belgian borders.
And with his superb voice that instantly immerses you into any song he produces — along with his catchy pop rock undertones — it is without a doubt the talented singer-songwriter will do exactly that with his new record.
In an exclusive interview with Celeb Secrets, the fine singer opened up about his musical journey as a person who has entered their quarter life (crisis) keeping it as authentic and raw as ever in his recent project, Quarter Life Crisis.
“It is a record of a twenty-something losing a naivety about the world and the people in it,” said Meskens when asked about the message behind the record.
“It’s about looking around and seeing your friends and lovers struggle with their mental health, with unresolved trauma they’ve carried around for too long. It’s about trying to manage a world wide pandemic as a full time professional musician… The longer I worked on this album the more I realized that it couldn’t have had a more fitting title than Quarter Life Crisis.”
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The witty musician also prides himself as quite the guitarist. He’s been playing since he was four-years-old (incredible, right?) which has even landed him to play on a “few people’s records left and right” besides working intensely on his own record! Although, he shares his guitar collaborations will “see the daylight when they are ready to share it with the world,” we can still expect to see him at plenty of shows this summer.
Will you be streaming Quarter Life Crisis all day today like us? If so, take a quick break and check out our full Q&A with Milo Meskens below, where he shares a bit about his musical background.
Let us know what you think of the pop-alternative musician by either leaving a reaction below or by sending us a DM on Instagram @celebsecrets.
You can connect with Milo Meskens on Instagram @milomeskens and TikTok @milomeskens for updates on upcoming music, live performances and more.
Celeb Secrets: For people who may not know you yet, can you explain your musical style and a bit about who you are as an artist?
Milo Meskens: “I’d like to think that my most obvious influences are John Mayer, Jason Isbell and James Bay – but the list of “guitar players who are not just great at playing guitar but also at writing songs” is long and most of the people on that list have inspired me sooner or later. My goal has always been to find that crossover between guitar music and mainstream (dare I say pop?) songwriting, because those are the two things I love the most. My personal record collection has as much Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Philip Sayce as it has Ed Sheeran or Dermot Kennedy. “
CS: Your new record, “Quarter Life Crisis ” dropped on April 7th – can you tell us about the message behind the record?
MS: “I came up with that title early on in the process as a kind of tongue-in-cheek/self-deprecating joke. You see, I was going through a breakup and did all the things you’d hope your dad doesn’t when he’s in his mid-50s: I grew a moustache (the Ron Jeremy vibes were real), bought a motorcycle, started drinking whiskey a bit too enthusiastically, wrote over 300 depressing songs about my ex and (albeit much later) even got a half sleeve tattoo.
The second layer of that title is a bit darker, and only dawned to me while I was already well into making the album. It is a record of a twenty-something losing a naivety about the world and the people in it. It’s about looking around and seeing your friends and lovers struggle with their mental health, with unresolved trauma they’ve carried around for too long. It’s about trying to manage a world wide pandemic as a full time professional musician… The longer I worked on this album the more I realized that it couldn’t have had a more fitting title than Quarter Life Crisis.”
CS: Is there a particular song on the new record that you feel you are the most proud of creating? If so, which is it and why?
MS: “I wrote approximately 300 songs for this record, so every single one that ended up on the album is one that I’m very proud of creating – otherwise it just wouldn’t have made the cut. My personal favorites are probably ‘Fool,’ because I don’t think I’ve ever recorded a more memorable guitar solo than that one, ‘Feel At Home’ because it proves that I càn in fact write a moderately happy song, or ‘Something To Lose,’ because it’s the only song I’ve ever seen my dad cry to on the first listen.”
CS: You also worked on the production and mix for “Quarter Life Crisis,” can you tell me about what that process was like on top of being a lead singer?
MS: “Good question! It can get a bit schizophrenic sometimes, trying to be the singer and the artist and the guitar player and the producer and the engineer and the… you get it. I’m fortunate to have worked with Jo Francken and Pieter-Jan Maertens (who also produce for artists such as Tamino) on my first and this second record, so we all know each other really well by now. That also meant they gave me a lot of space to arrange this record by myself – I recorded all the backing vocals, harmonies, overdubs, extra guitar and piano parts by myself in my own recording studio at home, without anyone telling me what to do. I feel like that made this record into the most true, honest and unfiltered it could be. For better or for worse, this record was not made with charts in the back of my mind. It was mostly one kid in his twenties in a room thinking about what would sound the best on a particular track. Or ‘what would John Mayer do?’ (laughs).”
CS: What did you learn about yourself while making this new project?
MS: “That I’m horrible at making decisions. And moving on. I mean, hundreds of breakup songs? Even I can say that’s an objectively worrying amount of sad songs.”
CS: Is there one song that you hope really speaks to listeners off this project, and if so, which is it and why?
MS: “Khloe is a song that seems to capture exactly what it was like to be in a relationship with someone who was suicidal, struggling with her mental health. That push and pull, the highs and the lows, the trying to love someone who can’t or won’t be loved. I wrote beautiful love songs and gut wrenching heartbreak songs about this person and in the midst of all that was this little song, where we were still together but I was starting to have to come to terms that it was never going to be a love like love should be. Sadly enough I think that’s a very relatable feeling for many people so I hope the song can bring some solace to whoever is going through a similar situation.”
CS: Have you thought about bringing the project out on the road? What does the next few months look like in terms of playing live shows?
MS: “I’m currently finishing up the European headline tour for this album, and it’s been incredible to see the response to it. The show in Tivoli in Utrecht for instance, a venue I’ve been wanting to play since I was a teenager and saw footage of Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) at Pinkpop 1992 with a Tivoli T-shirt, was nothing short of memorable. The Netherlands is a country where I haven’t had a lot of airplay (my latest single is the first song to ever to be fully featured on a playlist of a radio there), so to drive hours in a van, arrive in a city I’d never played a headline show before and have hundreds of people show up and sing along to every song from back to front was really magical.
As for the future: we’re currently booking the shows for this festival summer and a tour this fall. After years of COVID I just want to get out there and play as many shows as possible!”
CS: Who would you like to collaborate with?
MS: “I mean, everybody knows I look up to John Mayer, so he’ll always be the first one that comes to mind. I’d also genuinely love to get in a studio with Anita Jobby, because we’ve always had a great time and a good laugh when we hang out but we’ve never collaborated!”
CS: You also moved to London early last year which led to the result of your EP Plimsoll Road – how was the creative process being in a different country and how did that impact your career level?
MS: “Loved loved loved LOVED living in London. Can’t wait to be back. It’s such a different energy than Belgium or anywhere else in Europe. There’s just so much happening there, there’s so many people who are good at making music and willing to collaborate, there’s so many good shows EVERY SINGLE DAY, and I also have a bunch of really really dear friends there that made life so beautiful. Honestly the happiest time of my life so far, I think.
Creatively it definitely pushed me to think bigger, write bigger sounding songs, to think bigger – because everyone there writes a song as if it can be the next world hit. I liked that attitude. On a career level it was crazy to see how I suddenly ended up in the studio with the producer of Rihanna or the writers of Fallout Boy, or at parties with the manager of James Bay. I was also very humbled to see how everyone in the music scene there seemed to accept me – no one questioned me being in those rooms at any time. It meant the world to me.”
CS: What else can fans expect from you this year? Any other music or projects you’d like to share?
MS: “I’m hoping to release the duet with Nona that’s on my album as a single. I’m also playing guitar on a few people’s records left and right, but that’ll see the daylight when they are ready to share it with the world I think. I honestly just hope to get to play as many live shows as possible!”
CS: Do you have any goals for yourself in 2023 career-wise?
MS: “To not die, because I’m 27 and that’s a bit of a tricky age to be a musician. Apart from that, it would be really nice to have a European hit. (A man can dream can’t he?)”
CS: Lastly, since we are Celeb Secrets, do you have any secrets about either yourself or your music that fans might not know? (these can be fun facts)
MS: “The worst kept secret in the world is that I’m a massive nerd. I can tell the difference between a Gibson ES-335 from 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1966 from across the room – and that’s not even my favorite kind of guitar! Whatever I lack in social skills I make up for in incredibly intricate knowledge of musical gear. It drives my label insane to the point where we literally had a meeting where they told me I needed to stop posting about guitars so much. In their defense, a befriended musician from Scotland also told me that he thinks it’s ridiculous how specific my terminology is when it comes to gear ‘when English isn’t even yer damn native language.’
So I guess they have a point?”
LISTEN TO “QUARTER LIFE CRISIS” BELOW:
