Greentea Peng Goes In On 'Tell Dem It's Sunny' [Interview]

It can be hard in modern times to spark individuality through creativity, however, Greentea Peng has a strong tendency of riding in her own lane when it comes to this. A complete maverick, she’s an artist who refuses to allow external sources to influence her, whilst her music is driven through a raw yet provocative passion. Having recently released her highly anticipated album ‘Tell Dem It’s Sunny’, Greentea Peng once more delivered her signature honeyed vocals, building a smoky soundscape through spiritual anthems, spanning genres across anything from dub, reggae, and psychedelic rock.

We sat with the artist and discussed the creative process of the new album and what life looks like post release, her thoughts on current affairs, and heading out on tour. 

Hey how are you feeling, you recently released ‘Tell Dem It’s Sunny’. What's the reception been like? 

Yeah I’m good, and it's been really good thank you. It's always nice to get a project out, you know it builds up, gets really busy and kind of stressful to be honest, and then you put it out, and it feels like nothing again. But I’m relaxed and grateful really, it's also the sigh of relief after the anticipation. Now that it’s out I’m just excited to play it and tour it, you know.

For sure, and on the album there is always such an immediate distinctiveness in your sound, which has always been present throughout everything you've done. How have you carried that kind of unique sound throughout your project?

I don’t know actually, it's just me init. Maybe I just have a weird voice or something haha. Obviously I’ve been working with the same people since the beginning of my career, and a few other people who have jumped on like St Francis Hotel, he’s a new collaborator who I really love. I just work with people who bring out the best in me, and who I am 100% comfortable around, and that way I can be myself - that’s what’s traveled throughout the projects is that I can just be myself. 

And then also on collaborators, on ‘Tell Dem It’s Sunny’ you worked with Wu-Lu, what was this creative process like? 

It was lit. Me and Wu-Lu we got a lot of love and respect for each other, we’re always around each other and basically have the same band, we’ve known each other for a while and it’s always something we said we’d do. We booked the session and it just kicked off straight away, it was very natural, we just started playing around and then we had something that we ran with - he’s a wizard. 

To build on this, what are the main inspirations behind the album both from a sonical perspective and your life experiences that helped you build this new world the album sits in?

Musically, I would say nothing because I just kind of don't listen to music anymore as a deliberate and direct attempt not to be influenced by anything, because I want to sound myself.

That's quite a unique approach …

Yeah, I guess I'm a little bit mental like that. I’m just trying not to sound like anyone, to me it's really important to cultivate originality. Yeah, so no real musical influences to be honest, just experience - there was a lot of grit, a lot of grunge, it was a lot more moody than past projects. It's always emotion, really, that's the main drive - emotion, experience and environment. 

Would you say this album is a bit more introspective than your previous work? 

Yeah I mean, I think it comes in ebbs and flows with me, when I zoom out and look at my project, it is introspective. ‘Man Made’ was very much looking out, it was a political statement, whereas this is definitely taking a deeper dive into my own inner turmoil and chaos. It could’ve been a much more political album but some emotions can’t be gathered in words and articulated like that, it’s a very complicated and emotional time, and I chose instead to focus on the reaction within myself, rather than a literal goings on and happenings in my outside environment. 

On that, people interpret your music based on their own listening experiences, like you say it's all subjective, but what did you set out for people to feel when listening to your music?

To be honest, I don't. If I’m just being honest, I don’t, this is between me and a pen and paper, it’s my method of transportation and my form of healing. ‘Man Made’ was a little bit more like that, you know? I wanted to amp people up, I wanted to get them thinking about their freedom, this album was not like that.

'Tell Dem It's Sunny' Out Now

Yeah, of course. And then you mentioned earlier, how are you feeling about going on tour?

It's mixed emotions really, with everything that's going on in the world, often I slip into mixed thoughts of feeling like a hypocrite and feeling quite selfish and self obsessed, getting excited for things like tour and stuff like that, when there's like children literally being blown to pieces. It's really mixed emotions, on one hand I'm super excited, on the other hand, I'm like, “what does this all mean?” Do you know what I mean? I'm very disenfranchised with the whole western civilization. I'm excited, obviously, I love singing, I love spreading the sound, it's what I love to do. But in the same breath, I feel quite selfish and just don't know what any of it means anymore, bro. 

Completely understandable. Lastly, following the release of the album what have you got planned after this?

I’m going to relax and rest really, I feel like I’ve just kind of been non stop since 2018, I feel like I've just been touring and playing and in studios. I want to take some time and hang out with my kid and just appreciate life. I want to make the most of these blessings while I can. 

Greentea Peng is shortly kicking off her European tour, and will be taking to o2’s Brixton Academy on the 9th May.