In today’s music climate when you think of love music you think R&B, not topics addressing social environment, violence and life experience. Rob Murat an Ivy League crooner has more to talk about than love ballads, he using R&B like Marvin Gaye to touch topics that relate all aspects of an listeners life. Rob took full control of his album contributing as an musician and producer on ‘So Much to Say.’ Singersroom: So Rob, according to your album title ‘So Much to Say’ you have a whole lot to say. Does this new project draw on personal experience? What are some of the things that you need to say that you address in this album?
Rob Murat: Well I think ‘So Much to Say’ is a mixture of having to say a lot lyrically but also musically. I think you can say a lot with words but also with music as well. If you listen from start to finish, to the entire album, it comes from a lot of different angles. It definitely has a backbone but you can feel an array of different sounds and influences and I think things need to be said not only lyrically but musically as well.
Singersroom: You classify yourself of as R&B artist right?
Rob Murat: I do R&B Soul. People often box R&B into a category that addresses just love and all its intricacies.
Singersroom: Can R&B touch on more than love and do any of your new tracks do so?
Rob Murat: That’s part of why we call it ‘So Much to Say.’ What I challenged myself with on this album was to tell a full story, not only about love but also other things that happen in life; other experiences. Given the current climate of our environment, of the world, I think I touch upon other experiences, challenges we’re faced with. Violence, things going on overseas, so I do my best to keep a broad perspective. Even when I’m talking about love, I try to stay away from the regular old sappy songs, and really hit the relationships from different angles. There are break-ups, getting to know and then of course you have the typical love stories as well. I wanted to do all that in one package.
Singersroom: So apparently you’re a one man band, producer, writer, vocalist. Wearing so many different hats, do you ever find it overwhelming being the go to guy for every aspect of all the tracks on your album?
Rob Murat: I do my best not to get overwhelmed. I think at points where it becomes a little too much on the production end or if there are certain things that I want to do creatively that I don’t think I can do alone, I tap into some of my reliable resources. You’ll hear some collaboration with a great producer by the name of Optics on there. We actually collaborated on “Dilemma” and the title track, “So Much to Say” and I’m really proud of how those tracks turned out.
Singersroom: From what I’ve read you graduated from an Ivy League School?
Rob Murat: Yea I did, I did. (laughs)
Singersroom: Which one? Rob Murat: I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
Singersroom: There seems to be a new class of Ivy League artists taking the industry by storm (Ryan Leslie, Kids in the Hall, Chester French, etc…) How do you think graduating from a prestigious institution affects the way your fans view you?
Rob Murat: Although there does seem to be more of us on the rise as artists, I think it’s less about being an Ivy grad, and more about having a smart approach to your career. In general, the smarter the approach you have to your business in this changing industry, the better off you will be. I mean, we’re experiencing something phenomenal in the industry where the tighter you are with your business, the more attention to detail, the more specific you are with your career the better off you’ll be. The better you are with your business the better off you’ll be as an artist.
Singersroom: In 3 sentences what should we expect.
Rob Murat: ‘So Much to Say’ will make you think. ‘So Much to Say’ will make you feel. ‘So Much to Say’ will make you laugh.
Singersroom: Why do you love R&B?
Rob Murat: I love R&B because of the broad range of emotion that lies within that realm. —— By: Interview By Fritswa Baffour
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