Faster Times interview

Sometimes an artist comes to me and they’re like, “I’ve made all these things and I’ve been really successful, but I’m lost. I don’t know what to do next.” And then it’s, like, “Let’s figure it out together. Tell me, what do you like? What do you feel? When was the last time you were really excited by it? What was the first time you were really exc

What is the test an artist uses in those crucial moments during the process? How do you know when the work—and the working—is good? How can you tell when you’re moving in the right direction? What does forward motion look like? You could say it’s a feeling. An inner voice. A silent whisper that makes you laugh. An energy that enters the room and po

I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe.

I think we all want to be heard and music is a way to let out our inner emotional life, sometimes in a way that can’t necessarily be understood any other way. It functions different than prose or storytelling in that the music has an emotional base to it, even without the words. So you can feel this energy and express whatever’s going on inside of

This combination of the internal, intangible emotional journey and the practical skill of making music, or, as Rubin describes it, the “heartwork and headwork,” is how he’s sustained his craft across genres for so many decades. He taps into something far beyond the type of music or production style, and instead connects to the artist through a firs