Savannah and Brandon Hudson have stamped their name on the LA music scene since the 2018 release of we just need some time together, their breakout EP. The profile of the alt-pop sister-brother duo, who go by Between Friends, rose greatly after the project – largely in part to the syrupy lovesick anthem “affection,” which remains their most-streamed song to date. But even as their star rises, their DIY-style creation process has endured.
Between Friends went on to put out three more EPs, followed by a 25-track debut album called i like when you shine!. For such a prolific output over the past half-decade, the duo tells Hypebeast that they’ve more or less retained the same insular approach to making the music that they’ve had from the get-go: working from their home studio, watching YouTube tutorials to figure out how to generate a certain sound and inviting few collaborators into their familial bubble, with the exception of one or two close friends.
Just a few days after dropping their new single “What’s up,” Between Friends opened up about their steadfast musical process, a few of their recent singles and what it’s like to be in a band with your sibling.
Before diving into “What’s up,” I wanted to touch on another recent release of yours, “Bruise.” Listening to it felt like a throwback to an early 2000s Avril Lavigne-like style of pop, particularly the guitar riffs. What prompted this change in direction?
Brandon: That was the first song we made that led us into the direction that we’re working in now. At the beginning, I remember I had Sav come down because I was making the beat at our home studio. And I was like, “Yo, I think I have something cool, come mess around with it.” We started writing together.
Savannah: We dove in more specifically with our friend, Luca, who’s become our sole co-producer. It was really great to have like a to a third opinion, because we’ve literally never allowed anybody into our workspace. This song is the raw, best, most relatable version of ourselves and we’re happy to kind of be breaking down that wall with our listeners.
Brandon: You kind of learn these things as you get older too, especially when you’re writing and making music. At some point your work will be this extended expression of what you feel like. For a lot of our career, we wrote with the intention of telling a story. “Bruise” was the first time in a while that we approached it just as genuine emotion.
How do you divide the workload as a duo? Is one of you writing, and one producing?
Savannah: Each song is a different process, and there’s never an exact formula. That’s why it’s always exciting for us to make music. Most of our musical creation springs from a discussion between us, or one of us coming into the studio with a feeling that then inspires us to write. If you start to get too calculated in your way of working, it becomes very redundant and stagnant.
Brandon: Not overthinking things was something else that we learned while making this album. The music that was over thought just… wasn’t cool.
Savannah: We save overthinking for the technical aspects of song creation, like , “Okay, can you make a better version of that melody? Can we switch these lyrics?”
How long have you been making music together? Are you self-taught?
Savannah: Being siblings, when you’re both interested in something it makes sense to do it together. As we grew up, we wanted to learn together and were teaching ourselves. The bond that we have is irreplaceable.
Brandon: I tried guitar lessons when I was young and couldn’t comprehend the technicality of it. I didn’t like the rules, and my guitar teacher would throw markers at me and said I was unteachable. I remember I went home one day, and I was like, “I’m going to figure this out myself.”
“We’re really students of the Internet in every way.”
Savannah: We’re really students of the Internet in every way. We’re that generation where, if we wanted to learn something, we’ll spend hours in our rooms online, trying that thing for ourselves. That’s a fun way to learn things because you build your own sense of creativity along the way.
Brandon: When we were making the album, there were times where I was like, “how can I make this sound? Do this thing? Oh, I’ll YouTube it.” The Internet has become our biggest teacher. It’s also how we discovered our music taste.
It wasn’t until this year that you clocked your first guest feature – Teezo Touchdown on “Redlight” – and brought on another producer. Do you find it difficult to let someone into your process?
Savannah: We’ve always kept our heads down. Allowing someone in was definitely nerve racking, but [working with my brother] taught me how to collaborate with outside people and now that we’ve done that I want to work with more people that we f*ck with.
Brandon: We first heard Teezo on Tyler, the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost. His voice is so sick. He brings such a character and his tones are so unique. I was like, “we need him on a song.” When we have a featured artist, we don’t want them to do what they traditionally do. We want to see how they can morph into the world that we’re creating.
Returning to “What’s up” I can see how it still fits into the Between Friends sonic universe but it’s, comparably, a bit punchier and light hearted.
Savannah: We originally made “What’s up” as an ironic joke. We were listening to Soulja Boy and he has that song “Turn My Swag On.” He’s like, “look in the mirror and say what’s up.” I had the beat already and we made it down.
“We’re on this quest to humanize pop music and make it something different.
Brandon: It was sort of an ironic challenge to make a pop song. With anything we do, we want to make it a little bit different. Pop music can be so static, so I like to embrace the humanistic aspects of making it. I love the flaws, the kinks and the dents in our music. That’s something that I want to continuously highlight. When we were getting the song mixed, I told our engineer that the flaws and mistakes were on purpose and should be left in.
We’re on this quest to humanize pop music and make it something different. You’re hearing two kids grow and evolve while they’re making this stuff. That’s my favorite part about Between Friends: you can literally hear us having a blast.
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