Vasco, aka Nick Labajewska Madsen, is the Danish producer crafting infectious electro-pop compositions. Today, Nick steps out of the studio life to premiere his EP launch of “[**_Tender Luv_**](https://bigbeat.lnk.to/VTLPR)” via Big Beat Records. Nostalgic vocals, captivating instrumentals, and abstract beats showcase a promising start to his solo career. With the release of “**_Tender Luv_**,” Flaunt debuts the final video of the trilogy directed by Jonas Bang (“[**_N’ Now I Feel Like_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggqxxErVkeA&feature=youtu.be)**_”_** & “[**_Diamond Rings_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0HGT0rBoA)**_”_** released earlier this year). Irresistibly catchy, “**_Everybody Needs Someone_**” draws intrigue with Bang’s hauntingly visualized storyline. In an exclusive Q&A, Vasco and Bang sit down to dissect each other's inspirations and creative processes:
**Jonas Bang: What’s the difference between Vasco as an artist releasing his own tracks and Vasco as a producer/songwriter for other bands?**
**Vasco:** I think that with Vasco as an artist I get to do all the “bad” choices I don’t get to when working with artists. it’s all my vision for the song, except the help from the writer and singer’s input. It feels great to be completely free in the creation process, but sometimes you miss another person’s ears. I feel like working both ways is the perfect setup, and actually helps one another.
**Jonas Bang: How did “Everybody Needs Someone” come along from first idea to end product?**
**Vasco:** I was in the studio with Soleima and we were fooling around with weird effects and stuff. She played the demo of “Everybody Needs Someone” she made with her boyfriend on the piano and sang and just messed about on a bass. It felt really fresh and original, and I convinced her to let me have the song
**Jonas Bang: I love your approach for the vocal parts of the song, both lead and the abstract choir parts. How do you know when to stop modifying/tweaking your vocal tracks? It’s so perfectly done.**
**Vasco:** I guess when I started doing the _Tender Luv_ songs, I found that these modified vocals brought something new to the table, more than a “clean” vocal. Maybe it’s because the singer’s identity is hidden, so you start imagining some made up person singing. It could be anyone, and maybe that’s why I feel like it speaks so well to my, and hopefully, other people’s feels.
**Jonas Bang: What’s your favorite scene from the video?**
**Vasco:** I love the whole thing, but if I have to emphasize one scene, it would be the long zoom to the hotel room window- it blew my miiiiiind!
**Jonas Bang: Extra question- name your top 3 favorite footballers of all time!**
**Vasco:** hahaha, as I know you are a Lazio fan, I will leave out Italian players.
1 Zinedine Zidane (of course)
2 David Beckham (I had hair like him growing up)
3 Cristiano Ronaldo (goat)
**Vasco: What was the main inspiration for the video?**
**Jonas Bang**: It’s a mash up between 60’s and 90’s aesthetics and inspirations; the playful approach of the 60s and the dramatization of coolness that we often see in movies from the 90s. I didn’t want it to be too retro either so I guess there’s some 2018/19 in it as well all in between things. I’m not so much into the whole Scandinavian vibe of things and I like to look to the southern part of Europe and to the US for inspirations. Both films are also a hidden love letter to Emmanuelle Seigner.
**Vasco: The zoom scene is insane! how did you do that?**
**Jonas Bang**: It’s shot on a monster zoom lens shot from the building across. There’s a number of challengers using such a long zoom especially at night time with low light and our schedule was tight. Our fantastic DoP Jason Idris Alami and our amazing producer Mads Buhl told me that the guys at the rental place thought we were crazy, which is usually a good sign hehe.
**Vasco: The storyline is crazy! what’s going on? so much up to imagination.**
**Jonas Bang**: We wanted to show a woman in charge of things. We are not so much into storytelling 1:1 so we left a lot of loose ends in the storyline but there’s one thing that’s certain: she’s dealing the cards. Not him. We’ve spend decades of praising the strong male character in storytelling and it’s extremely boring and old fashioned. We wanted to give birth to a strong fictional woman character and emphasize that it’s OK for a woman to show power through a sexual glow without it being forced down to lowest common denominator. Our female character Maji Claire did an amazing job projecting that exact kind of energy. Power to the women!
**Vasco: And the two beautiful people in the films, how did the casting go about?**
**Jonas Bang**: Maji Claire is a friend of mine whom I met in LA a couple of years ago and she was the first person I had in mind when we wrote the films. She’s was just perfect for the role. Our lovely set designer Anna Ladas (who designed that cool Virgin Mary gun!) recommended Kasper Leisner for the male part when she read the script. Kasper and I talked through the inspirations and films and I could hear that he immediately understood his part and he added a couple of nice ideas. I want to give a huge shout out to both Maji and Kasper - I feel blessed working with such strong performers.
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BTS Photography by: Jonas Bang + crew
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