Clever’s self-titled EP marks a bold new chapter in the Alabama-born artist’s career as he embraces country music while maintaining the storytelling depth and emotional intensity that first gained him recognition. Known for his collaborations with hip-hop heavyweights like Lil Wayne, Post Malone, and Juice WRLD, Clever’s shift into country doesn’t feel like a departure but rather a natural progression. “It doesn’t feel like a transition,” he says. “It feels like something I’ve always known.” With deep Southern roots, this move taps into a musical instinct that has been with him all along.
Blending country with elements of rock and pop, Clever’s six-track EP is a deeply personal and evocative exploration of his evolution as an artist. The songs range from acoustic ballads to arena-sized anthems, all while retaining the vulnerability and raw emotion that defined his earlier works. This genre-blending approach showcases Clever’s versatility and growth, offering fans a fresh sound while staying true to the introspective, emotionally charged themes that have always set him apart. You can read our review of it right here.
We were thrilled to catch up with Clever to talk all about it.
Thank you for your time today Clever, I know what a busy guy you must be.
Thank you for giving up yours for me!
The best place for us to start, so as to introduce you to our Country-loving followers, is at the beginning. You grew up in Alabama I believe, is that where you are now?
Yeah, I'm still here – born and raised in the small town of Gadsden, Alabama. I've bounced around a few places here and there but this is my city, man, I love this place. I grew up singing in the choir at church, like a lot of us southern folks do, and in school too. I was also big on sports and at some point I had some scholarship offers but I turned them down, which broke my father's heart! (laughing) I was dead set on music all the way through.
I started writing poetry as a kid and that kinda transitioned into songs and lyrics. I like to think that I got lost in a song and never came back!
What artists were you listening to that gave you this love of music and poetry?
My parents listened to very different things. My mom listened to things like Earth, Wind and Fire and The Gap Band and my dad was into Mellencamp, the Eagles and Skynyrd. I fell somewhere in the middle. I started making hip-hop music, although it was more melodic than most hip-hop and now I'm making Country they're saying it's not Country enough so I seem to be still falling between the cracks! (laughing)
I think it's almost a compliment not to be stuck in a specific box to be honest. I'm not trying to make music like anybody else, that sounds like anybody else, I just want to be me.
When I branched out on my own I was really into Jay Z, his rhyme schemes really inspired me. Robert Plant was a huge influence on my vocals, I loved Led Zeppelin, man!
Your Spotify biography mentions rap battle competitions – tell me about that.
Yeah, that's right. When I first started I was doing straight hip-hop, I didn't sing at all. Obviously in that genre you have people sing some hooks and stuff like that and the first time I actually sang on a track only came out of a frustration with somebody else that they couldn't seem to get what I wanted them to do right!
Those early days were all about straight hip-hop and battle rap. When I was 14 I entered my first competition. I used to do freestyle battles with kids outside school. I used it as a way of getting in with the older kids at school who used to love that kind of thing when I was only 12. One of the older kids invited me to a competition and that led to me eventually having my own radio show we had segments where people rap battled me on the air and that led onto bigger things too. I've jumped through a lot of hoops to get where I am today!
You have music on Spotify dating back to 2018 with you working with artists like Post Malone and Juice Wrld – how did you come to work with those guys?
I'd been stuck in a bad record deal for about 4-5 years by 2018. I'd been writing songs for other people but I couldn't wait for this deal to be over. I kinda worked my way around the industry whilst I was stuck in this deal so I was ghost writing for a lot of huge artists for a while.
Once the deal came to an end I started releasing my own stuff again. A few of the things I released caught fire on Instagram and Juice hit me up from there after seeing them online. He was just about to drop ‘Lucid Dreams' and really take off so I signed to his label alongside a bunch of other artists and we were touring and it was going great until the world came crashing down around us, right? Juice was a big fan of a record of mine called ‘Loyalty,' it was the actually the first thing he ever said to me, quoting back to me the lyrics of that song.
It sounds to me that lyrics and the cadence of words is what inspires you. Is that where you get most of the ideas for your songs from?
Absolutely. I think if you are not saying anything important, like what's the point? It's cool if you have a melody that will stick but if the words don't say anything, there's nothing there.
You've released your new six track EP today (October 25th) What's been your mission statement or goal in putting it together?
I want people to know who I am. A lot of people have asked me questions around my transition into Country music but I want people to know that I'm not forcing anything – Country music speaks to the narratives and stories that I've lived my whole life in this small town in Alabama. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing and I'm making the best music I feel I've ever made. Right now, I want people to feel something. I want to speak to people who are familiar with having had the same experiences in life that I have had.
‘Billy the Kid' has a delightful cadence and melody to it whilst also saying something that feels biographical in terms of your own experience.
That was the first song I wrote when I decided to move in a more Country-ish direction. I wrote the song at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals. There's definitely something in the water up there in that town. The song was everything that I wanted to do in Country music – I love Outlaw Country and artists like Hank Williams JR and Johnny Cash and I also love storytellers like Randy Travis. ‘Billy the Kid' is both of those rolled into one with a healthy does of nostalgia added into the mix. We're all a little Billy the Kid, right?
‘Cowboy Killers' is such a dark, dramatic song. Tell me the inspiration behind that song.
My producers already had a record called ‘Cowboy Killers' done when I first met them. It was a very different direction but they were told that I wanted to cut it but I write my own lyrics, I don't cut anyone else's. Once we got past that misunderstanding I said that I did like the title and I did actually have a pack of Marlboro Reds that I was chiefing on in the car! (laughing) I got out the car and the smoke rolled out of that thing with me, right! (laughing)
These guys were meeting me for the first time and I wanted to write a song that was a time stamp of that moment so the concept kinda just wrote itself. I was singing about smoking and the original idea was about girls or something like that. The real challenge was how to write a song about smoking in 2024 but once I drilled down into it it became more metaphorical and took on a life of it's own and now I think it's also about freedom and redemption.
‘Gently in the Night' has got such an arena-sized chorus, I love that. How much thought do you put into how your songs are going to sound live or do you just follow the muse of the song?
Thank you! I'm usually just driven by the song. I wouldn't also not say that I'm not conscious of needing to do some highs and lows vocally for the sake of the live performances. I don't usually write under the motivation of thinking ‘I need this song to do this,' or “I need this song to fit right in here in my live show' although now you mention it I probably should be a bit more like that, right? (laughing)
I focus more on the emotions right now – so I want someone listening to my song on their phone to feel the same as someone who is stood infront of me in a club somewhere.
‘Trainwreck' is a great song – is that the song that you are most excited about right now? You've been giving it a lot of air time on your socials.
I've got a bunch of songs that I'm sitting on because I've done a bunch of writing this year. I'm aiming to have about 30 more written before the end of the year too. ‘Trainwreck' is one that put its head above a lot of the others although I am sitting on about 7-8 others that I think could be even better right now! They're all my babies (laughing)
I'm trying to hit the ball out of the park right now and ‘Trainwreck' is the one that people are telling me on social media is the ‘most likely' to do that. I wrote that with David Ray Stevens who wrote ‘Save Me' with Jelly Roll. When I went into that session I didn't know it was for me, I just thought I was sitting in on the session with some of these big hitters! (laughing) We keep teasing different songs on socials and then we see which catch fire and which don't as much. I have a great team that helps.
Nashville is a notoriously difficult town to get on your side and the traditionalists and gatekeepers can be an issue. There's been seismic change in the last 5-6 years and it feels like it's becoming a more inclusive place for new artists. What's been your experience?
Country music, in general, has become a broader church and you don't necessarily even have to be in Nashville to make it anymore. People all over the world listen to Country music now but there are places all over the south of America where it is just as popular, Nashville is just the focal point. Just like Atlanta is for hip-hop or L.A. is for films, if you don't make a name for yourself in Nashville doing Country music it can be difficult but not impossible.
I haven't encountered any gatekeepers as yet if I'm being honest, folks up there have been very good to me. You have to go in with your head down and some humility first. Work hard, prove yourself and make friends. It's up to you to make the noise – the town will run as fast as you run or walk as fast as you walk, you know, look at Jelly Roll! Right now, I'm making noise on TikTok, that's where my biggest noise is coming from and that is a global platform. I respect Nashville and I wanna go up there and prove myself at some point.
Clever's self-titled EP is out today (October 25th) – Go check it out in all the usual places.
