Rostam Batmanglij

I was fascinated by the word ‘Rudy,' which is connected to the Jamaican term 'rude boy,' which migrated from Jamaica to London. I was also fascinated by that name, because it exists in Persian culture and Iranian culture. There is actually a place called Rudy in Iran, and there's Iranians that I know with the name Rudy."

I would hope to make a record that interacts with culture in a macro sense. That is something to aspire to.

I think that for a lot of us gay people, we do feel that pop is our music. We identify with it and its iconography, and that's been a tradition.

Whatever you are making, whether it's a song, an album, a painting, a film, you're connecting with a tradition, and I do feel connected to New York music.

Radio or no radio, I just like the way records sound when the drums and vocals are loud.

When I moved to New York, I remember thinking, ‘I'm never going to live anywhere else.'"

There is a sense of tranquility that I think people can get from being in an organized group, where a singular leader handles the responsibilities of individual thinking.

There's a joy I get from collaborating with other artists, and there's a joy I get from making songs on my own.

I don't think teenagers in 2017 identify with heterosexuality, and that's a positive.

I can't even begin to express the joy I get from writing songs, both on my own and with others, I hold it all sacred.

I can pass as a lot of things: people meet me and don't think I'm gay and speak about gay people in a certain way or they don't know I'm Middle Eastern and do the same.

In the West we are constantly hit with music of Middle Eastern descent signifying terror, intrigue or sorrow.