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GAME MASTERS

THE GAME HAS CHANGED. BUT THE BLACK EYED PEAS ARE LEARNING HOW TO PIVOT IN THIS BRAVE NEW MUSICAL WORLD.

BY LAURA SCHREFFLER PHOTOGRAPHY RANDALL SLAVIN STYLING BROOKELYN STYLES STYLING ASSISTANT CARLOS AVILES SHOT ON LOCATION AT FYI STUDIOS, HOLLYWOOD

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ill.i.am has an announcement to kick off our interview, the first he and his six-time Grammy-winning musical group, the Black Eyed Peas, are doing for their ninth studio album, Elevation. “I just got accepted to Harvard!” he declares.

The analytical, highly specific BEP frontman has a very good reason for pursuing higher education at age 47, and it has everything to do with creating longevity for his band. The game has changed, and if he doesn’t learn the new rules, he and the Peas aren’t going to survive in the everevolving music industry.

“It’s not even the same game anymore. At one point in time, we were playing baseball, and we’re not playing baseball no more. That bat turned into a freakin’ Padel.”

Fellow BEP group member Taboo interjects. “[It’s turned into a] VR set. You don’t even need a bat and ball.”

“It’s a totally different game,” agrees will.i.am, who explains it like this: “At the peak, yo, we was diamond. The old game was, you made a piece of a product that you held. You sold it to 10 million. It was played on the radio, and those 10 million people came to your shows. They bought merchandise. You made a good living because it was a physical transaction. That was the business. And now, the game is not selling anything physical. The game is attention and listens, and you get a fraction of a penny for a listen.”

Taboo, 47, adds, “You have to get a billion listens to get like … well, anything.”

“Right,” concurs will.i.am. “Digital downloads, you owned that. Now, on a day to day, you don’t own anything and everybody owns everything, so people don’t own their audience. And as your digital assets go out, you don’t own that. You give that up for access to your audience. So it’s lack of ownership that we’re working with now.”

He doesn’t hate it though; that would be a waste of energy, and will.i.am doesn’t do wasted time. “It is what it is. You don’t hate the game — you just study it and reimagine new paths, and you build.”

In this new game, will.i.am has no intention of going down, with or without a fight — hence Harvard. “I just want to learn more and network better. Music is fun, the way it used to be, the business of it. And it’s not the way it used to be, but you can still make money. I want to make ‘Lionel Richie’ money. I ain’t rich like Lionel Richie,” he jokes.

Third member Apl.de.Ap, also 47, is on the same page; he has transformed into a TV star in his native country, the Philippines, having been a coach on The Voice of the Philippines since 2013. “The entrepreneur self is starting to play for me, too, because now you have to think of other avenues to create, and to create business. As Will says, it’s very exciting because we’ve done music our whole lives now, and stepping into this new way, new age, new mindset, is really exciting.”

Taboo, too, has been focused on other projects in recent years, with several active series and shows in the works in the indigenous space, including the October (Indigenous Peoples’ Day) premiere of Netflix’s Spirit Rangers, which features his son Jalen (and which also happens to be the 13-year-old’s first job). “Giving indigenous voices a platform in mainstream media has been an important focus for me. It’s something I’ve been advocating for since I went to Standing Rock [Indian Reservation]. I’m a kid from East LA that is proud of his Mexican and Native American roots, and if I can create opportunities, but also create a business that creates content for that space to exist in mainstream media, then I want to do that. I’m starting to see a lot of people really embracing it,” he says.

But where does this leave the Black Eyed Peas? Given that we’re sitting W in will.i.am’s FYI Studios in Hollywood discussing the group’s first album since 2020’s Translation, and that they’re all actively figuring out ways to succeed, I’d say they’re in a very good place. And I’d be right. “This is just fuel!” Taboo promises. “I want to make content for youth, like Will does for his kids in East LA, like Apl does in the Philippines. My gift is to be able to give back. It’s a thing that I want to do — be of service.” Tellingly, being of service is the point of Elevation. The group, which is known for its typically upbeat sound, intentionally put even more effort into making the world a happier place. The album’s first single, “Don’t You Worry,” a reunion with previous collaborators Shakira and David Guetta, is an ode to forgetting — an international anthemic banger meant to eclipse genre lines and borders, with lyrics like “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing/’Cause everything’s gonna be alright” setting a precedent. The single was an instant hit, sweeping to the top of radio charts in Mexico, Italy, and France, and dominating both YouTube and Spotify with 100M+ views and streams, respectively. Incidentally, both this single and the new album, like Elephunk (2003), Monkey Business (2005) and The E.N.D. (2009) before them, were born in the U.K. (initially their home base while on the European leg of their Translation tour, and then, a place where they hunkered down to write during the second half of the COVID-19 quarantine in 2020). Taboo refers to Old Blighty as “a great hub of energy for us to create” — the perfect place for an album focused on what Will describes as “an elevated state of mind: optimism, joy, that frequency of togetherness, and celebration of life.” As of November 11, when the album officially dropped, fans will find a plethora of festive, fun, up-tempo songs that pay homage to the energy that the Peas bring on tour. Explains Apl, “Will would record crowd participation during the live show, and then we would incorporate that same live energy that we get from the stage and put it in the album.” This helped will.i.am to produce his sound and simultaneously and systematically adhere to the overall ethos of the album. “This whole entire record is a zone, a vibe of festive optimism,” he explains. “If you’re going through hard times, those will come to pass. Be grateful for what you have, and don’t worry too much.” Taboo goes to another level with his explanation of Elevation. “I think it was part of the healing that we all needed sonically, musically, and thematically, that we can express joy and happiness and optimism in such a dark space, coming out of the uncertainty of the pandemic. It was also a way of being able to say, ‘Look, we’ve been in the game for a while now. We took a hiatus, but we came back.’ It was uncertain, but we never worried. We were always like, ‘Yo, let’s just believe in us, double down on us, and everything’s going to be alright.’ So that sentiment that we actually live verbatim, we implemented that into the record and created something special.” The new album, which features collaborations with Daddy Yankee (“Bailar Contigo”), Nicky Jam (“Get Down”), Ozuna (“L.O.V.E.”), Nicole Scherzinger (“No One Loves Me”), and Bella Poarch (“Filipina Queen”), is something special. In fact, all three guys agree that it’s “simply the best” — which happens to be the name of their second single, which was released in late October and features vocals from Brazilian singer Anitta as well as Dominican artist El Alfa. “‘Simply the Best’ is about loving the moment that you’re in,” explains will.i.am, adding, “[There are times when] all you can complain about is the little minutiae. For example, I’m a detail freak, so I’ll complain about any detail that’s off. And when you’re always in like, this ‘edit’ mode, it could really fuck up your perspective of life, because you’re always trying to edit everything … And so sometimes I’ve got to tell myself, ‘Like, don’t. This is it. This moment here is simply the best moment.’ We’ve got to have that reinforcement to erase the state of work that you’ve been in and just enjoy life. One of the lyrics is, ‘I want this and that, nothing less/All that BS put that to rest/I be steppin’ right to the highest moment/Because that’s my definition of blessed/Negative step to the left, primitive step to the left.’ They’re like, notes to self when I’ve been at the computer all day.”

Will.i.am isn’t joking — he’s the ultimate editing machine (here, all four of us go on a five-minute tangent talking about his obsessive, yet very relatable, OCD editing tendencies) — but in this case, he absolutely had to be. Not only has the group been working on Elevation for two years, but a series of scheduling snafus had created lots of unforeseen last-minute changes and cuts.

“The album had been done for a while, but when you’re collaborating with people in different parts of the world that are busy, when you have to align schedules, there’s always last-minute changes. The record was done two weeks ago, but then got undone. And then we had to take people off, we had to replace songs, and hence last-minute changes. So literally, the record got done finally, finally, finally … yesterday,” will.i.am admits.

In its final form, there are 15 tracks, including will.i.am’s favorite, “Guarantee.” I ask him to hit me with some lyrics. He responds, “It’s really like, emotional. I’ll read it to you. ‘Bitch, why you trippin’…” before promptly dissolving into giggles. His bandmates follow suit, with Taboo managing to gasp, “Wow. Oh, my God, dude, stop!” before his bandmate continues.

As his laughter subsides, will.i.am shares, “It’s from the heart. It’s like, a boy-meets-girl, boy-loves-girl story; just expressing your love for the person you love in a very quirky way. I think there’s so many ways to say ‘I love you.’ But in this one, the girl tells the guy, ‘Tell me what you want/I got what you need/I’ll give you satisfaction guaranteed/Let me be your lover/I’ll give you satisfaction.’ It’s basic bumper sticker stuff, but then my favorite line — Taboo’s verse — is where he says, ‘Give me all your stimulation/All your love and dedication/Higher love, that elevation.’ There are all these different levels to that sentence. It’s loss, it’s love, it’s appreciation. Because at some point in time in a relationship, one of them starts to fizzle away. So you want to keep all three of those healthy.”

Hence the stimulation? Just a thought.

But will.i.am is being completely serious. He’s nodding. “Exactly. And higher love, the elevation. That’s like, ‘I need you, and you need me,’ right? ‘I’ll give you all my dedication.’ That type of relationship is super important when you get older. When you’re younger, you’re not thinking about love sustainability. That’s the last thing the youth love songs are about. You have some songs that are like, ‘Make this last forever. Baby, won’t you just stay?’” He sings the last two lines while Apl.de.Ap interjects with some bars from Luther Vandross’ “Always and Forever.” And then the mood changes yet again.

“I’m thinking of Dahmer,” will.i.am admits, referring to Netflix’s recent series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Taboo considers it, and agrees. It’s almost kind of like these guys share a brain. “Oh, I didn’t even think about that. ‘Stay! Don’t leave me!’”

It takes the sweet Apl.de.Ap to get his guys back on track. “I like [our new song] ‘Adios.’ It’s a very swag-a-docious club joint. This one is super swag. The lyrics are really cool and it’s very simple and catchy.”

Taboo references a track called “Dance for Me” featuring J. Rey Soul, the replacement for former Peas member Fergie. (J. Rey, who first appeared on the Peas’ album Translation, was a finalist on the first season of The Voice of the Philippines.) He describes the song as “a different type of club banger, very reminiscent of the Elephunk bounce.” “It has a different frequency. It’s got a funk sample on it. It’s fun, it’s playful, and we always love bringing people to the dance floor.”

Will.i.am agrees. “We just want to motivate people and promote good vibes, especially as dark as the world is right now.”

But as a whole, the group isn’t just talking about their fans. When you’ve suffered the lows, the highs should be embraced and held close. And so, Taboo comes full circle to where they are right now, at this exact moment in time.

He says, “We’ve been on a high with the success of ‘Don’t You Worry.’ And right now, we’re choosing to celebrate that win.”

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