Could Ever’s Debut Single Is Both Vulnerable and Strong
A good musical artist knows the value pairing their sound with a powerful vision—be it through album artwork, music video direction, or promotional photo shoots. One such artist is Ian Watt, better known by his stage name Could Ever. Watt has been making music for a long, long time, but it wasn’t until he was…
A good musical artist knows the value pairing their sound with a powerful vision—be it through album artwork, music video direction, or promotional photo shoots. One such artist is Ian Watt, better known by his stage name Could Ever. Watt has been making music for a long, long time, but it wasn’t until he was asked to open for LANY back in 2015 that he decided to fully commit.
Today, he makes his official debut with “I Got It Wrong” out via Heard Well, a music label owned by former YouTube star and photographer Connor Franta. The track enraptures a vulnerable plea to an estranged lover or friend–specifically when the lyrics switch to “Take me back and start me over.” It’s a sentiment we’ve seen often, similar to when YouTubers make apology videos. It reminds us that while we’ve all fucked up at one point or another, we can say sorry, and grow from said fuckery.
Pair this with Watt’s flawless vocal delivery and you have yourself a Mark Ronson-worthy “sad banger.”
In honor of the release, we chased down Connor Franta to talk about the latest addition to his label family and comments on the artistic direction for the start of his new journey.
V: How did you and Could Ever meet and what drew you to sign him to HeardWell?
CF: Ian (Could Ever) played a show years ago with my friend Paul from the band LANY, so that’s where I first heard of his music. We were reintroduced more recently by an employee at my record label Heard Well and decided to sign him soon after. It felt like fate. After hearing about how he writes, records, and organizes all of his music himself in his one-of-kind car studio late at night while his two kids sleep, I couldn’t not fall for his music.
V: What inspired the artwork for this track?
CF: There’s a certain tension between the song’s light synths and the deeply poignant lyrics. I was trying to address that juxtaposition through a sort of damaged end result.
V: How was it interpreting another artist’s work and creating something that captures the aesthetic?
CF: Luckily, we’ve become buddies, so the whole process was very collaborative! He was open to my interpretation of his work, but I was desperate to stay within the bounds of his own creative vision. I think the end result reflects us both in harmony, which quite beautiful really.