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Eddie Benjamin has an infectious energy about him. On the morning we meet, it is absolutely frigid, but that doesn’t stop Eddie from bouncing around an empty and particularly windy Brooklyn street. The singer-songwriter is on the rise, having written for big names like Shawn Mendes and Meghan Trainor. He’s worked with SIA. Most of all, he’s taken on something of a mentorship with his friend Justin Bieber. This kid is charming, and extremely cool. When I ask about his musical journey, he tells me he grew up in a creative space. His mother was a choreographer and his father was an ex-session drummer turned composer. “Instruments all around, mom dancing, doing yoga all the time, but I was never pushed into music. I just stumbled upon it,” he says.
Around his eleventh birthday, he started “playing some stuff, hearing some stuff.” He didn’t enjoy school and felt secluded there, so he spent a lot of time in his room playing music. “I grew up on the beach, which was a beautiful way to connect to the earth,” says Benjamin of his Australian roots. “I felt very grounded there. Beach boy, hated school, creative background is pretty much the vague energy.” Below, Eddie and I discuss his passion for music, why he thinks older generations are making too much of the harmful effects of the Internet and social media, wearing garments designed for women, and plenty more.
Fit One
Jacket and boots (throughout) by Bottega Veneta, turtleneck by Uniqlo, pants by Basketcase, watch (throughout) by Audemars Piguet, and vintage necklace (throughout) by Benjamin’s grandfather.
When did you first realize you had a passion for music?
There were two moments that really integrally affected my psyche. I was sitting in the car with my dad when “Superstition” came on by Stevie Wonder—the Clavinet bassline. I just never experienced that before, that sensation. I was like, “What on God’s earth is this? This is the expression; this is the format for this realm for me.” I was just totally shaken by it. That same month I went and saw Prince and he actually was playing bass most of the show. The mixture of that expression and then the performance aspect was really just not even a question. It just was in me.
I have kids. I think of the internet as a really scary thing for their development, but I read some interesting stuff you were saying online about how you used a YouTube Explore page to discover music. In what ways do you think technology aided you in your music journey?
I grew up with this phone. I haven’t experienced life without it. Of course there are unhealthy sides of the engagement side of social media, but I really thought that was brought on by the older generations attempting to mediate our platforms that me and my homies—when we were ten, eleven, twelve—were posting super-fun-chill shit on. I learned a PhD-level education of music theory online by myself. Obviously you have to learn how to learn, but it’s the most powerful tool of all time. I didn’t have to go to college because it’s right here for my profession. Of course, if you’re a doctor, that’s a different thing. Some of my homies are having kids now, I’m just like, they’re going to be good because they’re going to be integrated with this way of communicating and expressing. I get emotional talking about it because I posted five videos and it changed my life.
Fit Two
Jacket by Prada, turtleneck by Uniqlo, Hoodie by Songzio, and trousers by Basketcase.
Do you have any rituals to get yourself in the mindset to write and record music?
My ritual is to not have a process. People get really caught up in, “I do it this way.” But then you’re leaving no room for divine intervention to occur. You’re leaving no space for that one random phone call that shifts the whole song. Sometimes I’ll start my session at 9:00 PM. Sometimes I start it at 9:00 AM. I really try to be fluid in the sense where all I can control is my breath, and that’s about it. The whole thing is a ritual. Singing a mantra, writing a piece of music that is present to you, that’s a ritual for me. Stevie wrote it, “When you believe in things you don’t understand, then you suffer.” So I just try to be present.
Could you give me three non-negotiable albums that you think everyone should listen to?
Innervisions by Stevie Wonder. Still Crazy After All These Years by Paul Simon. And A Great Chaos by Ken Carson. Got to troll a little bit. I do love that album. Kind of Blue, Miles Davis, is my real answer.
Fit Three
Vintage hoodie from Varsity Los Angeles, T-shirt by Comme des Garçons, vintage shorts by Killah Babe, and leggings by Lululemon.
When did you first become interested in clothing and style?
Honestly, really young. I remember I used to get bullied at school all the time. I remember my first day in high school—pretty fucking ballsy, I guess—I pulled up in a suit vest. I was like 12. And everyone was like, “What the fuck are you doing?” I was just like, “Yo, I’m vibing out.” When I was really young, like eight, nine, I loved British suits. I loved the clean, kind of colorful, well-tailored energy. Then I was a skater for about six or seven years, heavy into skating on the street, skating with my friends, vibing out. It kind of meshed into this style of being on the street, being able to run, being able to fight, being able to have protection when you fall. It’s just expression, honestly.
Can you remember what your first significant purchase was?
My first one—I was in Paris for the first time, I was maybe 17 or 18—and I bought this pink Chanel sweater. I actually wore it on Jimmy Kimmel, but I had it for a long time. It was way too expensive. I have too many clothes. I can’t even fit them in my apartment.
Fit Four
Overshirt by Lemaire, T-shirt by Comme des Garçons, and jeans by Wales Bonner.
Any favorite brands you’re loving at the moment?
I wear a lot of YSL. My stylist custom-makes a lot of pants for me. I wear a lot of vintage Japanese stuff. And women’s. I wear everything women’s. Quicksilver, an Australian surf brand.
I used to work at Billabong.
I love Billabong too, but my little brother is sponsored by Quicksilver. He’s an amazing surfer, so I like to rep that energy too.
Fit Five
Vintage sweatshirt and vintage trousers by Quicksilver.
How do you approach wearing and buying women’s clothing?
I just love flow and I love shapes, and I feel like a lot of women’s designers express those things in a more extreme way, so I definitely gravitate towards that. In terms of the social interaction, when I walk in, I feel I’m a pretty feminine person, so I just love it. It’s never been an uncomfortable endeavor, but if it was, I would probably double down.
If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it consist of?
It would be those black pants, the black hoodie, and that black puffer and the turtleneck. I love all black.
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