Tobias Forge , from Ghost , recently spoke with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1 and revealed that the inspiration for the new single “Twenties” came a decade ago from a Brazilian rapper.
According to the musician, he was watching a TV program in Switzerland when he came across a video of a Brazilian singing outdoors to a large group of people ( MetalInjection ).
“It was a story about a Brazilian rapper, I think, or a Brazilian artist who I think was doing more underground work. He used to do a lot of street parties, as far as I remember. If I recall correctly, he was doing a show in a favela. It was all dark and it was like a big backyard with thousands of people,” says Tobias.
It's impossible to guess exactly which artist the Ghost vocalist is talking about, but it's likely he's referring to one of the traditional dances in the Brazilian favelas. Tobias continued his account, sounding quite impressed.
“It was one of the most musically aggressive things I’ve ever seen,” he recalls. “And mind you, I come from death metal, black metal, that kind of punk, which is obviously a source of prosperity, not an idea of being violent or dangerous… But it was a party. It was very synchronized. Everyone was jumping and singing the songs and it was very… He was like a rabid dog.”
“As soon as I heard that… Of course, I had heard the rhythm before. But it seemed like a fun way to write an aggressive song that I had never really heard before. It was about 10 years ago. And I felt that one day I would write something similar to that,” he concludes.
Listen to Ghost's new single, "Twenties":
