James Reid has opened up about his experience working with former real-life partner Nadine Lustre on her latest single "Wildest Dreams."
As seen on the teaser for Nadine's sophomore album, "Wildest Dreams" is "a sonic adventure into the mind and heart of Nadine’s artistry.”
Reid, founder of Careless Music, said that they did not intentionally create a new Nadine in this project.
In a recent interview with Myx Philippines, Reid said: “It’s really what’s in Nadine. This is really the kind of music she wanted to make, the visuals that are inside her head and the things that mean a lot to her, the topics that really resonate with her. It was quite natural the way it all came out."
"When we started making this album, it’s always the most difficult part thinking like, ‘What is this album gonna be about?’ And then I just asked her, if say MYX interviews you, what would you say that the album is about? She’s like, ‘Everything that I’ve been through. All the obstacles and challenges I’ve faced, how I grew through them and where I’m at now.’ That was a starting point for us,” he added.
Reid also stated that the album is about Nadine's journey of self-discovery with the word 'dreams' being a symbolic medium.
Nadine also shared her experiences and how the pressure of being surrounded by songwriters pushed her to once again try songwriting. She also confidently identifies herself as a songwriter by having co-wrote 70 to 80 percent of the songs in the album and she said she is eager to learn more about songwriting since it is a path that she wants to take seriously.
“I just jumped into it. I really just took out the fear and the doubts because I would always doubt my writing before. I just trusted in the things that I wrote about,” she said.
Asked about the inspiration for the album, Nadine shared a little bit of what occured on a hike they took two years ago
“This was in Sagada. 'Yung lyrics kasi nun, there are really photos to use as kind of like a visual for that song. Pretty much, it’s really just about the hike,” she said.
James also commended Nadine for coming out and doing this project for the fans.
“One of the things that became really apparent during the process of making this project is that Nadine has a really rich imagination and the ability to take these difficult concepts to understand and translate them across for other people. It takes a real storyteller to be able to do that. She’s a real artist,” he said.