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It's no secret Fiji Blue has gained a tremendous amount of traction in the past year. The self-sufficient group creates everything with their own to hands. From their music, merch, music videos to social content, it's all made between the two of them and the help of some close friends.  

Since their debut single "Space Makes Me Sad," we have covered nearly every step of the independent duo. The iconic sad boy chill house group has brought us a genre-bending experience like none other. The two members of the group, Trevor Dering and Val Fritz, have been making tunes since their time at Berkeley School of Music. And now, they've passed a huge milestone. Low and behold, Fiji Blue's debut EP, Reasons You Should Care.

We sat down with the boys behind Fiji Blue to dig a little deeper into the world they live in. We find out about what went into making this EP, the steps they took, and the process that was involved.  

OTW: From writing to recording, take us through the process of this whole EP

Fiji: In September of 2019, which was right after we dropped our song "Numb" and landing New Music Friday on Spotify, we started to get really stoked. We had like a week where we started thinking about the EP. We were like, "Oh we need to get an EP out there. We need to start writing and recording now!" We made "Butterflies" and a ton of songs there, but it took until now to finalize everything to our liking. "95 at Night" is actually the oldest song on the project…

A good collection of these songs were made before we moved in together when I [Trevor] was driving to Val's house every day in North Hollywood. And then "Outside" and "Wait!" are the two songs we wrote here in the new house. The "Outside" you hear on the record is like version thirty. We beat that song to it's pulp. It had an absolute revival and now it's the lead single of the EP, we couldn't be more stoked. "Outside" was actually supposed to be our lead single after our show in March of 2020, but because of the pandemic we figured that it wasn't the best fitting time. But now that things are opening up again, it felt like the right time to drop this. Even though it has nothing to do with the pandemic itself, it's just more enlightening.

OTW: Speaking of the pandemic, how did you guys handle that in this last year? Obviously so many artists were affected by it in so many different ways.  

Fiji: We feel like a lot of the songs we wrote during the pandemic were pretty emotional. Val and I [Trevor] were forced to work on the songs solely by ourselves. As it went on, we were able to safely keep the circle small, but for the most part it was just us. There was a whole new wave of uncertainty that really influenced the emotions we put into our music. But we used all the opportunities given to us to create the best music possible. Happy, mad, sad, everything that was running through everyone's emotions during this time, we tried to pour into our writing.

OTW: What's the story behind the name of the EP, Reasons You Should Care?

Fiji: There's so many reasons you should care. It's right there in the title. I think it's totally okay to show you're sad, emotional, and vulnerable, but that doesn't mean there aren’t so many amazing and beautiful things out there in life that you should care about. It gives you a reason to wake up everyday and go outside and live that day to the best and the fullest that you can. Those aren't mutually exclusive. There are so many beautiful things in life, and sadness and vulnerability are just one part of those beautiful things. That's truly the embodiment of the whole EP.

OTW: What's the all-around message of Fiji Blue in general after this EP? When new fans come in, what do you hope they see in your group?

Fiji Blue: Wow, that's a great question. For me [Trevor], I just want to show people it's not just one sound. We can live in a world of a lot of genres. Between Val being so talented on the production end with what he does, and myself trying to explore a deeper level of emotional lyrics through storytelling, I hope after people listen to this EP people can realize we're a jack of all trades when it comes to music... We hope at the end of this EP people feel emotionally distraught. Like overwhelmed by the story we're trying to tell.

I think to me [Val], I really want people to see us as an experience. The Fiji Blue experience. I really want people to listen to these songs and feel like they can't wait to take their friends to one of our shows. To want to stand in a crowd, dance and scream these lyrics from the top of their lungs. Dance, drink, maybe cry a little, and just have the best time. We want them to be welcomed into our world and really feel the music.

Listen to Reasons You Should Care  below: