Don’t Try To Put Phony Ppl In A Box

Each week, we’re bringing you a new video by one of 300 Entertainment’s best up-and-coming artists, as part of the BRKRS series. Each musician was placed in the same 10x10 room, with the assignment to make the space their own and tell their audience who they really are. They’re the next big names in the music industry, we’re just letting you know first.

Phony Ppl has been a band for almost a decade but started making real noise in 2015 when their then-new single “Yesterday’s Tomorrow” shot up Billboard’s Trending 140 chart, seemingly out of nowhere. Now, with the band’s video collaboration with 300 Entertainment for its BRKRS series, they’re ready to make new waves.

The video for “Something About Your Love” sees the five members of Phony Ppl taking turns in the spotlight, each vibing out to the catchy tune in their own way. When all the members appear together, the video becomes a party—balloons and killer dance moves included. And if you couldn’t tell from the video, the members are real-life friends: They started their band when they were in grade school in New York City. Aja Grant, Phony Ppl’s composer, told Shanté Cosme, “We started making music as friends. I didn’t imagine this to be something where I’m 26 years old and still doing it; I just thought it was something fun, and it was fly as a young kid in high school.”

As a whole, the last thing on this band’s mind is the genre of music that they play. “We don’t want to put ourselves in a box,” Grant noted. “It’s just, we make music. That’s what it is.” Bari Bass, the band’s bassist says this could be due to the rise of streaming: “I think it also stems from the changing theme of the music industry and how people get music. People don’t really only listen to one genre of music, and I think, in turn, the artists are changing into not only making one type of music.” Their rejection of genre labels gives more attention to the music itself, and what they are allowed to do as a band. And their main focus is the music.

Elbee Thrie, the band’s vocalist, said that this was one of the first times that the band had put as much thought into the video as they had with the song. “We have been a band for 10 years, but we have been so focused on the music,” he said. “Now it is the beginning of us actually  [putting] that much detail into the videos as we put into the music.” The care that was taken for the production of this video, he said, was unparalleled.

When it comes to their goals for themselves, Bass says that he doesn’t know when it will feel like the band has “made it,” because when you do what you love, it can always feel like you’re striving for more. “I think in music and in any career, if you’re really passionate about what you do, it can always feel like you’re on the rise.”

Watch the video for “Something About Your Love,” above.