Robert Baxter Is Ready to Be Undeniable

Robert Baxter. Photo credit: @gigishoots

Fresh off the release of their new EP and an ongoing support slot for Ashnikko, Robert Baxter is stepping confidently into the next chapter of their career. With sounds built for a sweaty dancefloor and lyrics that hide vulnerability behind ferocious production, the rising popstar has found a space where nightlife, fashion, and queer identity all collide. Ahead of the EP’s release, Robert spoke with Kade about embracing confidence, finding freedom, and the art of making people dance.

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Kade: Before anything else, how are you feeling today? New single, new EP announcement, a lot going on. 

Robert: Yeah, a lot going on. I feel a little bit overwhelmed, but mostly I feel really great and really grateful. It feels like a lot of my work is paying off. I think sometimes things are stressful, but they're only going to be more stressful in the future when more people are relying on me and things like that. So, I can handle it. I'm really excited and grateful.

Kade: How has the reception felt to the announcement of the EP as well as the new single?

Robert: It's been good. I think most people are going crazy for the Ashnikko tour support announcement to be honest, but also the EP as well. I think I've raised the bar pretty high in terms of visuals and stuff, like three years ago, if I posted those photos, everyone would gag; and they still are, they're still like, wow, this is amazing. But that's the standard that I have set for myself. So yeah, it's great.

I think also the way that I'm perceived on social media, I think people think that I am more famous than I am, which is good in some ways. I want the pop star energy, but people will message me and be like, oh my God, I'm sure you're getting so many messages right now. I just want to say congratulations. I'm not actually getting that many messages but thank you! But now it’s like, if I announce Beyond the Valley or announce this tour support or whatever, people just expect that from me and from my life. And that's cool, I guess. It's cool that they expect good things from me.

Kade: Yeah, no, it's really cool. I mean, even just some of my friends were talking about it. Going like, oh my God, this is like the most deserved thing ever. So yeah, I just wanted to say a big congratulations for both the Ashniiko support slot and the announcement for the EP. 

Robert: Oh yeah, thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Kade: So, talking about the EP, one of the most interesting things that I found about it was that you said that it tracks a night out in real time “from the first drink to the drive home at sunrise”. One thing I really was curious about was if that was something that you had in mind from the beginning or if that's something that formed as the songs came along?

Robert: I was originally writing a four-track EP, and so I think I had in mind that it would cover like four different genres, it would cover four different feelings and things like that. Then as things moved on, things changed and ‘ICY’ went really well and we just kind of went in different routes and did different collaborations and things like that. So now it's turned into a seven track EP. So, I would say that maybe for half of it I was thinking about it and the other half kind of just happened naturally.

I think it’s because when I say I'm going to work, a lot of the time it means that I'm going to sing in the club. Nightlife and my life and my community and my music and all of that is all very intertwined. So, it's kind of just inevitable that some of the big feelings I have will be surrounding that time. And I just love to dance. I love to make people dance and I love people to feel sexy. I think that I’m kind of a nighttime artist. Like some artists might find success from having their songs played in the coffee shops, but I don't think that that's my route. 

Kade: You mentioned that you don't feel like a coffee shop artist. If there was a place outside of a club, where do you think you would hope your music's being played? 

Robert: By a DJ at a festival, but also at a gym. At a gym. I think it's pumpy music. Yeah, lots of people say they work out to my music, and I think that's really cool.

Kade: Yeah, good to get sweaty to.

Robert: Yes. Or a dance class, yeah.

Kade: Oh, yes, yes. I could see a Zumba class.

Robert: Yeah, I'd love a Robert Baxter Zumba class. Maybe I'd do Robert Baxter Zumba for a class. That'd be really cool.

Kade: Going back to the new single Nameless, you spoke a little bit about how sometimes Melbourne's gay scene can feel a little bit like it runs on gossip. I wanted to know what about being somewhere completely anonymous in London let you write about those feelings so honestly?

Robert: Well, to be fair, when I said that I wasn't trying to shade Melbourne. I think every gay scene probably runs on gossip a little. It's like the devil that I know because when I go out here, I know everyone. And so, I don't want them to see me kissing someone because that feels like I'm co-signing someone. I was like, I don't know this person. So, when I was in London, no one knows who I am. I don't know who they are. And it just felt very freeing.

I'm grateful that people know who I am. That's part of my life and part of my career that I want people to know who I am. But it was kind of just nice to have a break from it for a sec. I think the way that people engage with people they perceive as having fame or having clout or like whatever you want to call it, is really interesting to me. It's something that I've always written about and it's something that I've had to navigate in my relationships a lot, which is interesting, but it's all worth it. I love being a pop star.

Kade: Did it feel relieving? in a sort of way to kind of distance yourself from how you were perceived.

Robert: Well, I think most people, from what I've heard, perceive me in a good way. So, I don't really mind how people perceive me, I guess. It’s kind of just like a holiday. It's like I like this life I love who I have around me and I love who I am. Then going over there and writing music with new people who don't really know me and going to events where no one really knows me, it's just like it was a holiday. It's kind of just relaxing I guess.

Kade: Another thing I wanted to ask about when it comes to the EP wasn't just the lyrical side of things, but also the production side of things. You described it as being ferocious and head banging, while the lyrics hold sometimes more of a vulnerable side of things. Were there any songs on the EP where those two ideals fought each other and you had to pick between one of them?

Robert: Honestly, I'm obsessed with allowing both to exist at once. I love a song where the music makes you feel good, the production makes you feel good and then if you listen to the lyrics, it could make you cry. That is to me, a perfect song. Kind of like when you're watching a movie and there's a really sad scene and they put the soundtrack behind it to make you feel a type of way. Or maybe they double down on the sadness and they really want to make you cry, sometimes that can ruin it. So sometimes I really love the idea that if people aren't listening to lyrics, they can dance and they can feel good to this music. Then maybe if one day they listen to the lyrics, they're like, oh shit, I've been dancing and singing to this song when it's really about heartbreak.

I think ICY is one of the best examples on the EP because everyone says they run to that song and they feel it and they're like, take, take it off. It doesn't actually mean take off your clothes. It means to take off your layers, take off the things that you're using to protect yourself, like your walls. I actually really love that lyric. Like I love that when I first wrote it, it was about letting down your walls and letting someone in. Then when you're in the club screaming, it sounds like you're asking people to take off their clothes. Like that's Robert Baxter.

Kade: Were there any songs that inspired you with that idea of danceable music and heartbreaking lyrics?

Robert: I think there's so many, I think a lot of music that I listen to is like that. I guess examples I can think of is ‘Demons’ by Doja Cat, for example. It's about her demons chasing her and how the public perceives her. But then it's such a banger. Like it's such a good song. And if you don't listen to the lyrics properly, I don't think you're going to think that it's a vulnerable song. What else is there? Pretty much like any upbeat Billie Eilish song, like ‘L’AMOUR DE MA VIE’, you know, that one that has that bit at the end? She's singing about sad stuff, but the music feels good.

Kade: Does it ever feel difficult to be vulnerable with your lyrics?

Robert: Not really. I love being honest. I love to come from a place of honesty. I think sometimes there's an urge to exaggerate things to be like oh if it's a sad song let’s make it sadder, or if it's a cocky song make it cockier. So, I think when that happens I think I'd bring it back to wherever the honest place is. Some of these songs on this EP are really cocky and I wanted to write songs like that like three years ago but I didn't actually feel it. But now I feel it. I was faking it until I make it back then and now I'm not faking it anymore. Like I'm genuinely this confident and I genuinely love myself this much. So, I think like, it's not hard to be vulnerable as long as I'm being honest, I think.

Kade: Are there any times where you've tried to be open and vulnerable and it's felt inauthentic?

Robert: I think if I ever did that, if I ever was writing something and it felt inauthentic, I wouldn't release it. So, it's not something that you've heard from me. Yeah. But also, not really. I think when I'm in a session, I think I am always writing things that feel authentic to me unless I'm writing for someone else.

Kade: Going back to the discussion about touring, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about you performing live. So, you're going on this tour, and you’ve also got BTV and Wildlands as well. Are there any songs in particular that you just cannot wait to just get up on stage and play?

Robert: ‘I <3 GIRLS’ is my favourite song to perform. It just goes off every single time. Every time I perform it, it goes even harder. And the crowd is in it with me. And then when I get to that rap section in the second verse, I watch them, their eyes change and it's like they're losing their minds. And I'm like, thank you for reacting exactly how I wanted you to react. This is exactly why I wrote this song. I also think that some songs do better at streaming and some songs do better live, and that's one of the songs where in terms of commercial success or whatever, it doesn't have that many streams or anything, but everyone tells me it's their favourite song after a show.

So, it's so interesting to me, but maybe they just don't want to have a such a banger song playing in their car or something. It's more like something that they want to feel when they're in the club or when they’re watching my show. So yeah, ‘I <3 GIRLS’ is always a favourite to perform. Then there's another song on the EP that's not released and I am really excited to perform that more. Every time I perform that, people ask me what the song is and now they're finally going to have it.

Kade: ‘BRB’?

Robert: Yeah, ‘BRB’. They're finally gonna have it. 

Kade: Yeah, that's my favourite. That was definitely my favourite. I loved it so much. It felt difficult sometimes to try and listen through the EP because I would try and listen from start to finish. But when ‘BRB’ would finish, I'd just go back and play it again. 

Robert: Oh, that is so sweet. I'm so proud of that song and I love that it's the opener and even the first line being “I put in the work” when I think that right now that is my mentality and why I feel pretty undeniable. People can hate on me. Most of the time if I get hate it's because I'm gay or whatever. It's not because my music's bad. They can't say that. Like if they're saying my music’s bad, they’re just showing that they have poor taste. ‘BRB’ is so fun to perform and people will often be like, what's that energy song? Like, I can't find it on Spotify. I'm like, it's not out yet, but it will be soon. Yeah, I'm really excited.

Kade: Does the energy from the crowd feed back into you? Like if the crowd's jumping and moving around, does that get you more excited in return?

Robert: 100%, like if they are like giving me everything, I give even more. I think I used to base how I perform off the crowd a lot, but I had to change that because I realized that I'm in control of the crowd in some ways. Like if they're not vibing and I show that I'm also not vibing, it's over. Obviously every time I perform it's good, like I've practiced and whatever, but it's not the energy that I really want to be giving. So, I've decided that if the crowd's not vibing, I'm going to convince them to vibe. But if they're already vibing, then I can just push it even further. I don't have to convince them to be on my side. They're already on my side. Then I can just perform to my fullest capacity and fullest extent.

Sometimes I'll be like, oh, why did I sing a higher note than usual? Or why did I do a crazier dance move? And it's because I was really feeling the vibes of the crowd and I wanted to give them something special.

Kade: I don’t know if this is necessarily always possible, but do you think you would be the type of person to go down into the crowd and get moving with them if you're at a venue with no barricade?

Robert: I do that all the time. I love to go into the crowd. I think, yeah, it depends on tech and stuff. Like mostly, as you said, if there's a barricade there. But I was a theatre kid, so I love to use the space. Like that's one of the things they always teach you in theatre is to use the space. And so, one time I was doing this gig and the stage is here and then the audience is here and then there's this balcony up here. I looked at that balcony and I said, wouldn't it be nice if I could start up there? I was like, I don't know how to do that.

So, what happened was I went out onto the regular stage, and I pressed play and the tracks started playing and my microphone wasn't working. Then I was like, oh, what the hell was going on? Then the sound guy's like, just give me one moment. So, I said to the crowd, I was like, okay, so I'm going to have to start that again and then I ran up to the balcony. I was like, if we're going to have to start again, I may as well give you what I wanted to give you. And they all ate it up. So yeah, I got to start at the balcony like I wanted to because the mic didn't work.

Kade: Another thing that I wanted to ask about was in the One of One interview you did, you mentioned a not so great show experience that you had. I wanted to ask how you fortify yourself when stuff like that happens, because you seem very confident and sure of yourself. But in a situation like that, how do you keep going?

Robert: This is a hard one. Because sometimes if something goes really wrong out of my capacity, like the sound is really horrible, for example. It makes me really upset and I'm not actually mad at the sound person per se. I'm more upset that I'm not able to give the crowd the best version of my show. But like there's literally nothing I can do. At the moment, I might pause for a second, just ask the crowd, can you hear me properly? And if they all said, no, we can't hear you, then I would stop the show. If I had to skip a song, I'd skip a song if it meant that the sound guy could come and fix something. But every time I've done that, most of the time the crowd just goes, yeah, we can hear you, because they don't want to miss out on anything. They just want me to keep going, which is fair. I think at the end of the day, after a show where the sound is bad, I think if they go home saying the sound is bad, that's not really on me. Like it is, but it isn't. It's like they'll go home and be like, Robert Baxter was such a great performer, and I'll just have to see them again when the sound was good because I know that I'm always giving my best.

Kade: Another thing I wanted to ask about from the One of One interview, which was something you mentioned earlier, was that you spoke about your love of films that make you cry.

Robert: Yeah.

Kade: I wanted to ask you what are some of your favourites? Are there any that you go back to regularly?

Robert: Oh my gosh. Okay. I love that you've done your research. You've read my other interviews. That's so sweet. Okay. My favourites. Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of my favourites. It's gay and it's magical and Asian. So, like, you know, that's basically me. And Your Name., you know that one?

Kade: Oh yes, I love Your Name..

Robert: Oh my God. I just love movies, but also I don't really go back to them too much. I don't want to ruin it by watching it too many times. So, I'll probably like limit myself to watching a movie once a year. Like if I really love it, I'll watch it once a year, but if somebody's like, we should watch this movie, I'll be like, I watched it three months ago. I can't watch it again right now because it's going to ruin it for me. I like to be surprised. 

Hmm, what others? I was thinking the other day that I love baddie superhero girls. Obviously, this isn't like to cry to, I guess, but like Charlie's Angels and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman and Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy, like that's what this EP is for. Like it's the soundtrack of baddies like that.

Kade: Do you feel like the themes from some of those movies ever bleed into how you write your lyrics, from an emotional standpoint?

Robert: For sure. I definitely think that sometimes a line in a movie will be able to describe a feeling that I have thought of before. A lot of the time when I'm watching a movie, I'll write down if something makes me feel something, I'll just write it down quickly in my notes or whatever, because I'm like, why did that make me feel something? Or is it relatable? Then I might try and analyse it and see how I can write a line that makes someone feel how the line from the movie made me feel. 

Kade: It’s really cool how you spoke about that because you also mentioned that sometimes art from other mediums bleeds into your inspiration, like from fashion as well. Obviously that's a big part of who you are. How does it feel with all of the different mediums of art bleeding into your inspirations?

Robert: I think it makes me really unique and I think anyone who has taste and sees my visuals and hears my music, they can understand that my references are pulled from so many different areas. And I love that. I'm so obsessed with that. Not to hate on any artist, but if an emerging artist is basing their whole career off another artist, like another music artist, it's like we already have that music artist. So, I don't know if that necessarily excites me too much. 

I think artists who pull from different genres of music, or they pull from their inspiration from different art mediums, whether it's painting or anything. I think that's really interesting to me and really exciting. Art is all about collaboration. Like how many times has like an amazing album cover been painted by a painter or how many times has a moment in a film impacted so many people because of the song choice. You know what I mean?

Kade: Yeah, yeah, 100%. Well, to start to wrap things up, this latest EP really feels like the fullest version of yourself yet. You know, it feels like a combination of everything you've been building towards over your last two projects. But, a year from now, after this project is released into the world, what is one thing that you would want people to walk away understanding about you that maybe they don't quite get yet?

Robert: This is an interesting one because I talk a lot, like I'm always telling people what I want them to know about me, I guess. What do I want them to understand, hmm…

[after my cat Urchin jumped up to join me in the call]

Robert: Oh my gosh, what a cute cat!

Kade: Yeah, sorry. He loves to jump up and climb up on my shoulder.

Robert: Aw, kitty cat. Okay, right. What do I want them to understand about me? I don't know. Everything but also nothing. Like, I actually don't really mind if they understand me. Like, maybe it's just for me. Well, some people have things that they dedicate their life to caring about and protecting. For some people it depends what topic is theirs, someone could be a vegan and they care a lot about animals. I feel like every show I really speak about queer people and trans people and POCs and making sure that the music industry is diverse and making sure that musicians are compensated fairly and things like that. Those are the things that I care about so much. So, I hope people understand that I care about those things and that I always lead with love and kindness and hard work overall. Like that's basically what I dedicate my life to doing.

[Urchin proceeded to climb higher and higher on my shoulder]

Robert: I just need to take a photo of this cat!

Kade: He’s digging his claws in. It's on my white shirt, so he loves to get his black fur all over my white shirt.

Robert: Oh my god, maybe, okay, I have also, I have all these Asian friends where people come up to them, they'll be wearing my merch and people will come up to them and be like, oh my God, I love your music. That is gaggy to me, it's so gaggy. I look weird. Like people don't really look like me. Like let's be real. People don't really look like me and to just go over to a random Asian and be like, oh my God, I love your music is so, so crazy to me. So maybe I want people to understand who I am.

Kade: That's crazy that people would do that wow.

Robert: Yeah, haha.

Kade: Alright, thanks so much. I just want to say again, thank you so much for your time and also for the awesome answers. You had some really interesting, awesome answers and I learned a lot myself, so, thanks. 

Robert: That's great. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you for your questions. Thank you for your time too.

Listen to Robert’s new EP PARTYANIMAL out now.