Fred Again.. Shares Insights on Handling Criticism and the Email He Sent to Four Tet
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British producer Fred again.., known for his low-profile approach to interviews, recently engaged in a candid discussion as part of Instagram’s *Ask It Anyway* series. This rare conversation took place during a break from his current tour, which features a unique format of ten weeks, ten songs, and ten cities, promoting his upcoming *USB002* project.
The dialogue served not only as an insight into Fred’s creative process but also as a mentoring session for young artists in attendance. He expressed gratitude for touring, stating, “I’m feeling a bit more stable that I’m getting to travel with my best mates and play shows, and I feel very blessed if I’m honest.”
Fred elaborated on balancing writing music with performing, noting, “I think for me there was just a clear thing, with touring at least. If you think of writing and touring, if you stop one of them, the other one stops. Like, writing leads to touring. So I’m really clear in my mind what’s the most important thing, and it’s writing music. My happy place is being on my ones or being with my mates making tunes, that’s always square one for me.”
His reference to “mad stuff” included a series of global pop-up shows and a surprise performance as a last-minute headliner alongside Skrillex and Four Tet at Coachella 2023. He expressed the importance of mental well-being amidst these activities, stating, “For me, I’m trying to just protect my mental so that I can feel good to make music every day, so everything just kind of feeds into that.”
Fred acknowledged that his approach to mental health has evolved over time, leading to a more productive creative output. He shared, “I definitely haven’t always been good at this, but as I get older I care more about getting good sleep or exercising, so when I wake up I can have the cleanest line between here and here.” He noted that his useable output has increased significantly in recent years.
Reflecting on his growth as an artist, Fred commented, “I reckon probably 0.0001% of things I made came out, and now I reckon 1% comes out, so that’s great.” He emphasized the value of daily music creation, saying, “I try and make a few ideas a day, and most of them are rubbish. The thing is for me, the joy and the journey of finding out what you like… to me, that’s the win.”
Fred advised aspiring producers to focus on a limited number of tools, recommending, “Just commit to two synths and five plugins that you’re going to use the next four years and save yourself all of that headspace and all of that wasted time comparing whether this compressor sounds slightly better than this compressor.”
He also highlighted the significance of a supportive network, sharing, “I have a WhatsApp group with four of us and I’ll send everything to that group. All of them aren’t musicians, and that’s almost why I value their thoughts.” Fred encouraged artists to filter feedback, stating, “Don’t listen to any criticism, listen to the criticism that resonates.”
Fred recounted his own experiences with rejection, revealing that before collaborating with Four Tet, he had emailed him without receiving a response. “Four Tet loves to show people the email I sent to him years before we actually met of me being like ‘Hey mate!’” He concluded with a reminder about resilience in the creative process: “It comes back to this trying to nurture your resilience so you can shoot a million shots and not take it personally.”
For more insights, watch the complete interview with Fred below.
