Sitting down for a chat after promoting their latest single ‘Painkiller’ all week, the London trio explore their viral rise to fame, where they would place themselves in the rap scene, and their commitment to their craft.
The Origins
The bond between Harvey, Orlando, and Alex created back in school is solidified and united by the notion of Insincere. “When we left school we decided to give it a go properly,” Harvey notes. From messing around on Garageband ahead of their GCSEs to cementing themselves as NME’s Breakout stars in March 2022, the boys have their goals and priorities set straight.
Recalling how they penned the name, Insincere, Alex jumps in immediately and says: “It was me!”. Within seconds Alex is shut down by Orlando, who joins the conversation outside with his headphones on and solidly shouts: “Woah! Okay okay”. The trio laugh in unison as Alex re-explains himself: “It was not that interesting, Orlando said sincere, and I said no insincere, to be honest, this was when we were fourteen”. Joking among themselves, the band decides Alex’s account is a more interesting story: they should stick with that from now on. Adding on at the end, Harvey jokes that because they penned themselves as Insincere at such a young age, they could have been called “Groovydolphin296” for all its worth.
The Influences
With a vast collection of rappers, especially those originating from London, the influences Insincere grabs from are endless. Alex makes a stand-out comment: “Kendrick Lamar, in terms of production, I started learning how to produce music the same year DAMN came out, that album inspires me massively”. Discussing their joint love for Loyle Carner as an influence in their music, the conversation deviates to the music played on the top 40 radio stations.
“I grew up listening to the top 40, and it was Loyle Carner who made me realise, oh there is more to music than the pop stuff that is played on the radio”, Harvey notes. Growing up in an era of top 40 pop hits, Insincere have found their musical influences and adapted this sonically into the music – heavy stylistic similarities to Loyle Carner, Kendrick Lamar, Dominic Fike, and XXXTentacion resonate through the trio’s sound.
The London Underground Rap Scene
“I do not think we try not to be in it but we are not in it, I prefer it that way”, Harvey claims when asked about which specific genre or section of the London rap scene Insincere fits into. The trio steps out of these confining stereotypes the rap scene creates and aims to be Insincere – a group with their sound, style, and image. Taking control of the importance of Insincere being in their genre bubble, Harvey continues: “It sucks to be put in a bubble, cause when you get to the top of that group you struggle to get out of it, so it is good we have our bubble, there is less pressure.”
The Writing Process
Every artist has their routes when creating and writing music – Insincere are no strangers to that. “If it is a good day me and Orlando will have a similar sound or idea, but if it is a really good day we can think of one or two ideas. It just gets hard when he brings the RnB and I bring the Indie, two opposing ideas are hard to merge”, Harvey replies when asked what it is like having two vocalists within the band. Alex immediately adds: “I feel like if we feel something strongly though, or I notice one of the lads is passionate about an idea, we can sense that we trust each other.”
“We understand and back each other creatively, always.” This comment by Harvey is the core of the interview. The boys first and foremost support every music decision or idea thrown into the writing process – this makes Insincere so raw and personal to the trio.
After the writing and production process – which tends to be lengthy – bands may be accustomed to second-guessing their creative choices. Insincere adheres to this notion and Orlando says: “When we release songs, at that time we do not believe they are our best foot forward, we would still second guess even if we thought it was our best song”. This notion of self-doubt stems throughout the band, yet it has not stopped them from reaching viral and trending potential – especially on TikTok.
Their first single, ‘Angels Don’t Fuck’ reached viral numbers on the app, allowing the boys to get signed and start their career on a good foot. Nevertheless, Harvey states: “TikTok has its advantages but there are a few problems, some people are not taken seriously on there as they get boxed in as a ‘TikTok artist’, it defeats the point of art”. Despite their trending success stemming from the app, Insincere do not want to become lodged in this notion of a trending or viral artist – they want to make big moves in the industry. “It is not a measure of success” Harvey adds. The rapping trio do not wish to base their career on one hit song – their potential to grow and adapt as a band is visible.
‘Painkiller’ Talk
‘Painkiller’ – their latest single – is a bold, vibrant song with a catchy melody. Discussing the meaning behind the music, the band says:
“We use ‘painkiller’ as a metaphor for a girl … “She’s my painkiller” to demonstrate the addiction and infatuation that a lot of people experience with love. Although this song is deeply metaphoric and can be understood differently, we don’t want to bore you. The most important thing about this song is that it’s fun, and it was fun to make and at the end of the day, we’re just three twenty-year olds who still feel like kids, and who sometimes want to make playful music.”
Working with Tommy Baxter and Sam Preston, the group delivers a somewhat punk element to the rap stylings they had already established.
With a self-edited and directed video, Orlando replies that it was a “Stressful!” process. Elaborating on the comment, Alex reiterates: “One day the hard drives all broke and we thought we had lost the footage, I never wanna experience that again”. The trio joke and laugh between each other about the hard work and stress it took to create ‘Painkiller’ and the video accompanying it, which ends with the comment: “We pulled off this idea, and we love it.”
The Future
The future is bright for this budding rap trio from London: “This time next year I want to fully back where we are going,” Orlando comments, followed swiftly by Harvey as he notes: “I want to be on tour, I really wanna do that to grow our audience.” With many possibilities out there for the future of Insincere – the band’s principal goal is to grow and grow – there is no stopping them.
