FrankHaveMercy Is Ready To Make Waves With Debut Project 'TPLA'

FrankHaveMercy has always found a way to turn his pain into art. And being that art reflects life, and vice versa, you could say the former U.S. Army soldier's art, his music, is layered, intense, and unique.

Whether he was getting through a tour in Afghanistan or journeying in and out of love, the photographer, designer, and now musician faced each challenge fearlessly and that's what he's doing with his music.

Ahead of the release of his debut musical project The Process of Loving an Artist, out today (September 13), FrankHaveMercy sat down with iHeartRadio to discuss his transition into music, his sound, his new single "No Solutions," and what sets him apart from other new artists.

Frank, a North Carolina native, who moved to Los Angeles three years ago with the purpose of finding a creative outlet after a traumatic deployment to Afghanistan, explained that he took what he called an "inevitable" leap into the world of music by creating TPLA. While he's new to the music game he's not new to using art as a form of expression, and he looks at his music as the "highest" form of his artistic expression.

TPLA is neither an album nor an EP, but rather a project that Frank's giving space for "people to call it what they want." It's 14 songs, made in collaboration with producers ila orbis, jy, and Naem, that is FrankHaveMercy's introduction to the music industry that he's set on disrupting like his inspirations Kanye West, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Pharrell, and Travis Scott have all done before him. TPLA tells the story of his "transition into art and the relationships that came and left with it."

Get to know FrankHaveMercy and his music in the Q&A below:

Who is FrankHaveMercy?

I would say I'm somebody who's free, somebody who's innovative and a futurist. [...] I would say I'm a singer, songwriter that raps sometimes. It depends on how I gotta get my message across. Sometimes I need minimal words and more melodies, or sometimes I might need to say a bunch of words in a short period of time, so it just depends. I would probably just call myself a musician.

Describe your music.

I think it's a bunch of different textures and different inspirations that I gathered growing up, like Sade, Avant, J. Cole, and Travis Scott, just a lot of different artists. I feel like it's very different and each song is a constant sound, but it's just different textures in each song. I'll say it's very dynamic, pretty spacey. It's a lot of frequencies.

How does your music connect to your story?

I always had like a mantra that I live by: 'pain into art.' And I feel like my music just kinda connects to that, 'cause it has a lot of emotion in it and is very vulnerable and open and honest. So I feel like everything that I've been through in my life just translates into the music, just turning losses into wins.

Being that you're already a photographer and a designer, what made you decide to switch gears and pursue music?

I feel like I needed another expression. I feel like I express myself as much as I could in photography and design and I feel like the music can elevate all my other art mediums. I also feel like it can help people connect to me a little bit more and a little deeper.

So, would you say that music has always been a part of your life?

I'd never been this deep into it, but I grew up playing the drums in church, singing in the choir, just because I had to. I was always around it and then my mom really loves music. Before A-Z Lyrics and Genius and all that stuff, my mom would just listen to music and write down all the lyrics to her favorite songs, so just stuff like that definitely influenced me.

Now let's talk about your new single "No Solutions." It's the first song you released from TPLA. What was the inspiration behind that track?

The song is about not having a plan B, sticking to your plan A. It's basically surrounding yourself with people that have solutions for things and if they don't have any solutions, then you don't need to be around them. That's kind of the inspiration behind it.

What was the story that you wanted to tell with TPLA?

TPLA stands for 'The Process of Loving an Artist.' I wanted to talk about the process that a lot of people go through not only in LA but in college or in their careers or in work where you just find something that you really love. I feel like people fall in love with the process of it and then they restart when they get to the point where it gets really serious.

Physically speaking, I know when people get in relationships or when they're about to get in relationships, they love the butterfly part or when they go on a date, they're having sex, and doing all the fun stuff. But then when it gets serious and they're really trying to love a person, they kind of depart from that relationship and start over. So, to me, it was just a process that I noticed and in retrospect, I've always seen it. People seem to fall in love with the process more than the actual result of it, when it comes to love, at least.

What do you want listeners of the project to get out of it?

I want people to be sucked into a world that's probably better than reality. I also want them to be able to just be more in tune with their emotions because the project is so honest. I purposefully sequenced the tracks so you don't get too sad or too high or too low. So, it's more of an up and down journey, which is really how love is.

How does your music compare to what else is out there? What makes FrankHaveMercy's music different?

I mean, naturally 'cause I'm human, I compare art to other art. And me personally, I don't think there's anything that sounds like my music, which is just amazing. I don't even know really know how it happened. I think I just got in with the producers and we just did what we felt and didn't really look at anybody's music as a blueprint to make what we wanted to.

And I think it's better than a lot of music. At least a lot of the newer artists. I think that TPLA specifically will be a little nostalgic for some people because it's a concept project and there's a lot into it. I don't really think I can compare it to anything that's really out right now.

What do you hope to accomplish in music?

I would say I want to be one of the best artists ever, obviously, but I think more important than that, I just want to inspire as many people as I can and get as much visibility on my art as possible because I know it can impact people in a positive way. I also want to just change the world in terms of like how people approach their daily lives. I feel like people should approach it with more love and lead with that emotion versus other emotions that we're taught growing up.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

TPLA is out now. Check it out HERE.

Photos: Baz (@baz)


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