Hip-hop duo Joey Valence & Brae talk new music and the quarter-life crisis ahead OC show – Orange County Register

Joey Valance & Brae don’t care how old you are—they just want you to dance.

“A lot of the songs on this new album are about Joey and me going out and being the only people dancing and having a good time,” Brae said during a recent Zoom interview. “It’s okay to grow up, but you don’t have to get stale and grouchy.”

Growing up and enjoying everything from the celebrations to missteps is the driving theme of the Pennsylvania hip-hop duo’s third album, “HYPERYOUTH,” released in August. The pair is currently on tour supporting their new music and will stop with a performance at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

“The rules are simple: come ready to dance, know the music and get ready to mosh,” Valence said. “Have a good time and forget anything that’s going on, come and experience the moment. It’s a party and it’s going to be a good time.”

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Joey Valence and Brae will perform at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Sept. 30. (Photo by Luca Venter)

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The hip-hop ambiance that Valence and Brae emulate is a throwback to an era where fun was the genre’s focus, which has become scarce over the last few decades of clout-driven rap and hip-hop. Valance and Brae’s style is reminiscent of the old school party rhymes and funk hits, while mixing the new school era where drum kit beats, more complex sampling and experimentation with genres like EDM have thrived. Valence and Brae’s previous albums, “PUNK ANTICS” and “NO HANDS,” carry the restless attitude of the Beastie Boys with the groovy dance numbers of Quad City DJs.

Their latest release incorporates that same message, but the subject matter is a more self-conscious assessment of an aging metamorphosis. The opening track,” HYPERYOUTH,” which shares the title of the album, features a sample from the animated series “Adventure Time,” where the character BMO asks, “Does growing up just change your body or also your soul?” then follows up with the thought, “Maybe I could just stay the same,” before hearing the words “Dance” and “Bounce” kick off the track.

“We’re actively learning and growing as we make these albums, as much as we are in real life,” Valence said. “You can hear it through the music, and every time we make new songs, we’re like learning how to express ourselves. Everybody’s just hearing us actively mature in real time and go through life, which is really cool because our audience is doing the same thing and can relate.”

Valance said the title, “HYPERYOUTH,” serves as a double meaning: youth passing you by, but also refers to the internal battle between clinging to youth and fighting to preserve it. The Gen-Z duo, in their mid-20s, gained fame in part through TikTok. They offer a unique perspective on the quarter-life crisis as a generational group grappling with adulthood and hyper-aware that youth inevitably fades.

“We’re not that old just yet,” Brae said. “We still have some light left in us, but things are just changing for Joey and me, too. We’re always on the road, barely ever home and just on a grind. Every day, we wake up and do things to push JVB forward. We’re growing up a lot in a business sense, but also growing up just as humans. Stuff goes on, and things happen. You get older.”

Their music, stage presence, and vibe serve as a counter-culture to a generation that has never known a world without the internet and social media, where personalities can be performatively edited and curated. The antidote for their peers is simple: be your most authentic self, free from what others think, and proudly bust a move as if nobody is watching.

“We attract similar fans to us,” Valence said. “Our audience is non-performative; nobody is there to look or act cooler than anybody else. They know that they can come see us and not feel a pressure to do anything besides be themselves.”

Valence and Brae also share a chemistry with their fans, who tend to come out in loud, colorful jumpsuits and outfits that echo the fashion sense of 1980s and 1990s hip-hop. Their music, like that of their predecessors, delivers rhymes full of modern cultural references from the Xbox video game console in “PARTY’S OVER,” to the iconic NBA power forward LeBron James in “LIVE RIGHT.”

The duo has also collaborated with several different artists, including IDK, Danny Brown, and on their new album, TiaCorine, Rebecca Black and JPEGMAFIA make an appearance. Black is featured on the song “SEE U DANCE,” which sounds like a mid-2000s club anthem with Timbaland influences. Black’s rapturous and heedless vocals add a layer of pop that gives the song that throwback feel of the club hits from the aughts, led by strong female harmonies and choruses.

Brae said that he and Valance have felt like there’s a newly sparked renaissance happening in live music. People are going out and fully immersing themselves in the performance by dancing and letting themselves get loose. It’s on par with the club taking center stage from Charli XCX’s “Brat” to the more recent release of Tyler, the Creator’s “FREAKS” off of his new “DON’T TAP THE GLASS” LP, where he sings, “If you ain’t gonna dance, get the f— out of the club.”

In addition to welcoming fans to dance and have a good time, the fundamental message from Valence and Brae is to enjoy the process even if it comes with all the other emotions associated with growing pains.

“We also wanted people to know that it’s okay to grieve, cry and be sad because that’s a part of being human and growing up,” Valence said. “A lot of what we talk about on this album is about the different feelings you have while growing up, whether it’s love, loss or battling your friends that are doing different things than you and losing people in your life in every sort of sense. Ultimately, it’s a celebration of youth in general. We’re all doing this together, so enjoy what you have and experience life just as it throws itself at you.”