A born and raised Londoner, Max Valentine, is an artist who has carved a name for himself in the UK underground scene and collaborated with some of the UK’s most respected rappers, including Blade Brown and Nines. With an evolution in the industry that is rooted in a desire for self-improvement, not just in music, but also in his personal life, and the energy he gives to the world. Max is ready for this chapter of his career to be his most defining yet.
New Wave chopped it up with Max over Zoom to talk about his latest single ‘Red Wine’, why Ghetts was the perfect choice for the feature, the lessons he’s learned in the industry and more.
The Initial Reaction
‘Red Wine’ introduces itself as a smooth R&B jam with warm vocals, laced with a crisp production. This combination creates a clean and polished sound that appeals to a wide audience, as the duality of both Max and Ghetts proves to be the perfect juxtaposition that portrays the ups and downs of any relationship.
Max delivers his vocals with a rich texture that can make the listeners reminisce about the loving times of any relationship. Whereas Ghetts, uses his verse to portray some of the struggles and hardships that come with any partnership and tries to reignite that initial spark that was once had.
Speaking on his inspirations, Max references a wide variety of influences including PARTYNEXTDOOR, Drake, Musiq Soulchild and Jaheim. However, he emphasises that the inspirations for his work doesn’t just come from artists, it’s from the people around him and the world that he lives in. “As long as there is a message, then I can take inspiration from it”, he says.
Artistic Perception
Growing up in London, Max has lived a lot of lives and has gone through his fair share of struggles. However, instead of seeing that as a boundary, Max is using that insight to harness his motivation to spur him forward in his music and career. By growing up in London, it has led him to experience a variety of sounds.
Speaking on the sound of this record, and his sound in general, Max is fusing his personality of being a “lover boy” with his background of growing up in the streets. Explaining, he said: “This sound is smooth with a little bit of thug thrown in”, “I like to call it Trap Love”.
Max sees this sound as a departure from his earlier years within the industry. He speaks candidly about when he first entered the scene, most of the artists that were around him were much more into rapping. After having many releases of him rapping, he decided that he wanted to stand out from his peers.
“Everyone seemed to be rapping as their intro into the industry, at one point I realised I wanted to do something different to what was expected, so I started singing”.
“My older stuff was very much pushing a particular narrative”, he said. "Singing wasn’t really considered cool where I’m from, but I had an epiphany that I wanted a change after getting in trouble with the law, and since then I’ve carried on”.
Visuals
For the visuals, Max has gone for a behind-the-scenes view of both himself and Ghetts working on the track in the studio. It’s simple yet effective. Max divulges that the thought process behind the idea was to create a contrasting effect to what the song itself is portraying. “We didn’t want to have a polished song with a polished video to go with it”.
The video also encapsulates the close partnership between Max and Ghetts, which highlights that having Ghetts on the record wasn’t just a feature for the sake of a feature. Ghetts was added to the song, as Max knew that he could bring out another side to the track, giving the song the “Trap Love” element that Max identifies with artistically.
Final Thoughts
‘Red Wine’ is definitely a lover boy summer anthem that is bound to be on many summer playlists. “I want to make people feel sexy with this song”. Both Max and Ghetts have managed to deliver a record that can stir up many different emotions and feelings with the audience, creating an intoxicating effect.
With Max crooning and gliding across the beat while Ghetts raps with a layer of passion and heartbreak that is rooted in both pain and hope. The song captures the many different elements of relationships and its complexities, hitting you right in the chest.
The single is out now and is from an upcoming project called ‘Bad Intentions’, coming out later in the year, which we can look forward to.
Listen here
