EXCLUSIVE: Kian Jenner of Gameboi reveals everything you've ever wanted to know about the duo's recent sophomore album, 'Climax'.
It's no-holds-barred for Kian Jenner as he sits down with Homobyte to discuss all things 'Climax'!
Once a solo project, now a duo comprised of American singer-songwriter and video editor Kian Jenner and British producer and visual artist Euvn, Gameboi as a music-making entity is an enigmatic force that has captivated the underground pop music scene ever since the project debuted in 2019, and after several years of social media blackouts and discography overhauls, they finally found artistic stability in 2021 with the release of their debut self-titled album — a collection of songs from the first two Gameboi EPs: Game Over (2019) and Stages (2020).
In May of this year, they released their sophomore album, Climax, which was reissued last week as Climax (Encore Edition) with two additional tracks, and I had the opportunity to speak with Kian Jenner in a no-holds-barred interview about all things Climax.
Before we discuss Climax, I’d like to talk a little bit about your career thus far. Since starting the Gameboi project all the way back in 2019 with your debut single, “Ken Doll”, you’ve gone through several rebrands and artistic evolutions from Gameboi to McSynth then back to Gameboi. How has your mindset and general attitude towards being an artist changed over the years?
“Gameboi is so weird because it was so unintentional and started off super uninspired. It kind of just happened back in 2018 out of pure luck. I remember finding [British graphic designer and visual artist] Glitchmood’s cover art for “Candy” by [American singer-songwriter] Slayyyter, which was my introduction to the scene. I remember being like ‘Ok word, the song is cool, but this art is tight’. It was like that future nostalgic shit, but it was so fresh, and the scene at the time, even though it was recycled concepts of 2000s pop culture, was super fresh and new, and I attribute so much success to Josh (the mind behind Glitchmood) for starting this entire thing. It was basically an unintentional joint project between [American singer-songwriter and producer] Ayesha Erotica and Glitchmood. Ayesha’s production was funneling everyone into, like, MySpace cult-esque stardom, and Glitchmood’s visual delivery gave peak professionalism. We all became these weird package deals, and that’s what I’m kind of referring to when I say ‘uninspired’. OG Gameboi was a full-on rip-off of Ayesha that I created after Ayesha posted a beat sale. ‘Ken Doll’, ‘Sugar Baby’, and ‘Bling Ring’ were all using those, like, ‘keywords’ featured in the McBling aesthetic like ‘juicy couture’ and ‘cocaine’. ‘The Valley’ was the first track I wrote and sent to my producer, and she was like, ‘This is great, let’s make this’, and it felt unique and true to me while also channeling its own unique space within the pop culture scene. ‘The Valley’ is really the foundation that built into Climax and is a very true story of who was once a close friend of mine that fully sold out into an industry that burnt him out. Climax as an album is an ode to him, which he knows, and I’m sure, hates.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that music was a means to impress for a really long time. I’ve always liked art. My heart is really dedicated to editing videos — that’s what I’ve always gravitated towards as a medium — but being able to navigate creating an aesthetic or ‘brand’ based on music has been the most fulfilling part. I think if there’s something I can do well it’s curate, and Gameboi is a curation of the dark arts of Hollywood. During the early stages of Gameboi, I had a lot of little wins that felt like it could be a potential career move, which is funny to look back on but also not unrealistic with Slayyyter being like one degree of separation away from me. I had gotten playlisted by Spotify, put on [English singer-songwriter] Charli XCX’s future playlist, had a quick Paper Magazine moment — enough small things had happened for me to fall into the delusion of this being something more than a hobby. By the time I fell into the rebrands, I had accepted that we had plateaued and had reached our climax. I joke all the time with Euvn that it’s all downhill from here, and we’ve done the best we can do, and I do believe that to be true, but I’m also really happy doing a hobby that I get to share with so many people. I have the most control over my music that I’ve ever had, and maybe at the expense of popularity, but I guess it means I didn’t sell my soul like the character of Gameboi has.”
How did you meet Euvn, and how has your creative partnership influenced the direction of your music?
“I met Euvn at a super pivotal moment in my music. It was right after ‘Bitchmas’ had come out, and I was riding the high of ‘ICU’ being my big comeback and thinking I was hot shit, but my producer at the time was starting to fade out and had noted that she was ready to stop producing for people, and while I respected her decision, she was also all I knew. I was not a singer, and I was not a songwriter before her, and I wasn’t sure I could be one without her. Euvn sent me his first beat back in mid-2020 (I think), and I wrote a demo to it, sent it back, and we went through like five million different concepts as to how we would introduce a new style of Gameboi. I am not dumb. The statistics have made it abundantly clear that 90% of my streams are from Ayesha listeners. I know I’m a proxy, so I was at the point of accepting that not having her stamp of production on my music — even if uncredited — was going to be noticeable, and in turn, less popular. That summer, things played out, and I was actually ready to quit, but Euvn was in a place where he felt like he hadn’t had a chance to even really begin in music. I half-jokingly sent him A Capellas of my old music and said, ‘If you can make my voice sound like this, I won’t quit’, and this fucker figured it out within 48 hours. From there, we just got to have fun figuring out what our style would be together, and having a full-on partner for music was such a different direction from where I had started. I had a lot more creative direction and influence, and Euvn has always made me feel so heard in every element of production. It’s just always been so easy with us. In short, he’s allowed the direction to be directionless and experimental at the drop of a dime. There’s nothing that he hasn’t been willing to try, and I think that’s where our growth has come from.”
Now, onto Climax. How did the concept for the record come about, and how does it compare to the Gameboi album and the McSynth era in terms of theme and sound?
“The first track officially written and confirmed for Climax was ‘Bonnie & Clyde’, which was written in May 2022. ‘Kinky’, ‘Disappear’, and ‘Malibu’ were all played with as far back as 2021 but never with the idea of a larger project in mind. I wrote ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ about a nasty breakup I was going through at the time and themed it to an old, classic Hollywood story. Hollywood has always been the backbone of the Gameboi arc, but this time, I wanted to create a project that was intentional and with more of an actual exploration into what ‘The Valley’ initially touched upon. So, from then on, every track was written to include specific verbiage that built onto the narrative of this Hollywood sell-out character that I had familiarized everyone with. Sound-wise, it’s solely produced by Euvn, who naturally vibes more hyper pop, although I think it’s definitely the most diverse Euvn has ever gotten, sonically. Conceptually speaking, Gameboi was a post-creation project — trying to make a storyline by highlighting a few key moments and focusing heavily on the visuals creating something cohesive rather than the musical content whereas Climax was built from the ground up with visuals in mind.
McSynth is so funny to talk about because it was always super comical to Euvn and I. McDonald’s is and will always be one of the Gods of branding, so stealing something super recognizable and pretending we were developing some origin story off of it was nuts! I will say, though, some of my favorite renders by Euvn exist within that weird side plot we did. Sonically, my previous producer was still involved with a couple of tracks, so we were really just experimenting with what we thought would work long-term. McSynth was never intended to exist past the point of figuring out what was next for us. We knew the audience was tied to Gameboi, so coming back to that name would have to happen at some point if we wanted to grow.”
The Climax era marks the first time that you’ve been the face of your work whereas you’ve previously kept a more anonymous profile. Why did you decide to “come out of the shadows” (so-to-speak) for Climax, and what does that reveal about the overarching story of Gameboi?
“Oh my God, I actually don’t know, and to be honest, if I could change one thing about this entire era, it would be removing my face from it. Something I liked about remaining anonymous is that I genuinely believe there’s an allure to mystery. From a psychological standpoint, people love to project a personality, a character, or a face and image onto something to have it fit more into what they’re looking for, and so really committing to showing a face and it maybe not being what people were expecting was… a choice. With that said, I do believe that Gameboi’s Hollywood sell-out storyline has been fully explored, and I knew going into Climax that the Illuminati/worshipping Satan thing has been done to death at this point, so I think a natural progression and exploration into who I really am makes sense. I just have to figure out who that is, and I do still want to build that into a storyline for the drama. I don’t know, I think I just wanted to do a photoshoot, and now I would literally be so happy never doing one again!”
It’s no secret that you love a fun and sexy feature, as you’ve hosted a variety of iconic guest stars throughout your career from That Kid to Holliday Howe. Which feature from Climax were you the most excited about during the making of the record?
“So hard to pick, but probably ‘Review’ with [American singer-songwriter and visual artist] Graveyardguy. Even though ‘Malibu’ was written with a literal soul sister of mine ([American singer-songwriter and producer] moistbreezy), it was also like the fifth song we had made together, and I wasn’t really sure if it was going to come together. ‘Review’ was a super last-minute moment. Euvn and I were originally slated to open for Graveyardguy on his tour last fall, which didn’t end up happening, but Dustin has genuinely become a friend of mine, and it was my second Halloween spent with him. Euvn and I went down to see him after a trip to NYC to shoot for Climax, and we just played this demo we had been working on, and it was a quick sell. We recorded the whole thing in my bedroom the following week in this makeshift studio made of pillows in like an hour, and I knocked out one of my favorite bridges I’ve ever written. The memories tied to that track are so fucking good!”
My favorite song from Climax is “Les Deux”. What are some of your favorite tracks from the album?
“It’s so wild that you say ‘Les Deux’ is your favorite because, I kid you not, Euvn and I literally talked about how we believed that track would be the worst performing. We really thought it was the weakest. Now, I look back, and I actually adore it. It really feels like the most nostalgic [song] on the album. I think mine would likely be ‘Perfect Lover’. It just gives me the dirtiest grunge club vibe, and the production work Euvn did on the drop is so tight! It felt like the freshest track on the whole project for me and still does. ‘Les Deux’ is totally up there, though!”
What can you tell us about the new songs that have been added to Climax with the newly released “Encore Edition”?
“‘Runway’ and ‘Starry Eyed’ are two tracks that were originally demos for Climax that just didn’t make the cut due to timing and my weird obsession with numbers. I really wanted to keep things to a perfect 10, and with the timeline we were on and the fact that it was past six months from the first single (‘Kinky’) to the full album, I was just pulling the damn trigger on releasing Climax even if it felt unfinished. That’s maybe my biggest regret — I think the original drop for Climax could have been done better, which is fully on me. I had so many more ideas for the project that I just didn’t have the time to flesh out — working seven days seriously limits how much time I can dedicate to music now. ‘Runway’ was written during a studio session, and I pushed so hard to get that on the original release, but it just didn’t work out, so I was always gunning for that to happen — even if on a double single. ‘Starry Eyed’ was the absolute fan favorite from my SoundCloud demo leaks, so that was just a no-brainer. I also think the writing on that hook is some of my best — ‘Obsessive genes, the limousines, the crushed-up magazines, the flash of sympathy, it makes me feel famous’ — like those lines encapsulate everything Climax is showcasing in five seconds of high-pitched twink screams!”
Will these tracks be the final additions to the Climax era or do you have more surprises in store for us?
“This is it. I think we’ll slowly roll out some more promotional material like more lyric videos, and we’ll really flesh out the behind-the-scenes and share the creation via the Valley Club, which is currently showcasing on Instagram a song I had written with [American singer-songwriter and producer] Jake Germain about our journey and how he was the true inspiration for the whole album. Then it’s time to gear up for the next chapter, which already feels so different.”
Forgive me, but as a fan, I just have to ask: What will become of the infamous McSynth tracks? “Suicide” and “Love Me” are personal favorites of mine.
“‘Love Me’ is the only one I could ever see us reworking and re-releasing. Anything else from McSynth is gone. We’ve bounced around the idea of doing a limited press of McSynth demos for a Valley Club members-only physical drop, and maybe that’ll happen someday, but to be honest, I lost all of the tracks! Fingers crossed Euvn has them saved somewhere.”
And finally, what can we expect from Gameboi in the future?
“I think Gameboi is going to find God. This satan shit is wearing me thin as fuck! I had a really nasty time during the latter half of Climax’s creation. After Euvn had gone home and we started the post-production process, I fell into a really bad place, and I think this is where artistry has saved me. This summer has really helped me re-center. Climax dropped on arguably one of the hardest days I’ve had in years, and on the day it dropped, the story it was telling felt so far removed from me. I think I’d like to find a form of resemblance in the future with Gameboi. I think I’d like to see myself more in him. I guess I just don’t think we’re all that different.”
I told you it was no-holds-barred! Now you know everything there is to know about Climax, which is not only a fantastic record but a remarkable way to close the current chapter of Gameboi’s story. I’m especially proud of Kian Jenner because I know that being an artist on top of a public figure has not been the easiest thing for him to navigate, and despite multiple ill-fated rebrands, he’s never stayed down for long and always picked himself right back up to return stronger than ever. Jenner and Euvn have worked tirelessly to bring about the new phase of Gameboi, and with the Climax era reaching its end, I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next!
Climax (Encore Edition) is available now across all online and streaming platforms!