Scotty Seed is an Italian Jersey boy who would describe himself as a “rockstar pig”. His music is an eclectic soundscape of electronic music, infused with punk rock and pop. Since he was four years old, he was drawn to the pop music his teenage cousin played on the house stereo. From an early age, artists like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Cher, and Ricky Martin led to his musical journey. He started playing the piano at six years old and developed infatuations for different music genres such as classic rock, classical, and Broadway tunes. He later went onto perform annual piano showcases at Steinway Hall in New York City. Scotty Seed then met vocal mentor Katie Agresta who mentored Cyndi Lauper and Bon Jovi and helped Scotty discover his voice and confidence.

Throughout his life, Scotty went through more musical phases such as witch house, grunge, PC music, and screamo music. Now that he is more grown and self-discovered, he doesn’t feel obligated to stick to one genre. Scotty started taking his songwriting seriously when he entered his twenties and started working on and helping produce his own records. His sound design production consists of many influences and experimental vibes which also reflects him as an entity. His musical muses would include Crystal Castles, Marilyn Manson, Hole, David Bowie, Madonna, and Depeche Mode. His influences also include people like Drew Barrymore, Harvey Milk, Harmony Korine, Gareth Pugh, and The Muppets.

“Disorder” is a re-invented rendition of Joy Division’s “Disorder”. Scotty Seed put his own spin on the song, as well revamped the production, and added a main chorus and lyrics. The song takes on a hauntingly beautiful acoustic guitar vibe, has two voice melodies that balance each other out perfectly, and witch house synths that act as transmitters. The fusion of post-punk writing, vocal melodies, guitar, and witch house synths make this song unique from the cover and explores deeper territory with its meaning and added lyrics. Scotty Seed relates this title and song to the angst and depression he deals with battling bipolar disorder. In the song he asks questions like “Can I be what you see, or am I disconnected from reality?”. This poses the thought of if he can be the person he wants to be, a successful artist who will make it in life. He also pokes at the thought of if he is delusional for believing in himself and his potential. The main line is having the “spirit” but losing the “feeling”. This can represent a bipolar person of having the spirit (manic phase) but losing the feeling (depressive phase).

This is the struggle of an artist with mental illness, an unhinged and disconnected artist: how to take inspiration from the things around him, how to use them to create, instead of growing bored and detached from living solely inside his own head. He goes out to close the chorus with “You are just like me, disconnected from reality”, one of the key lines in the song. Scotty reminds his listeners that they are not alone in struggling to make their story, dealing with mental illness, as well as the obstacles life can throw at you. He is saying he understands disconnection, and believe everyone should disconnect to the fear, judgement, and ways of society.

This song was produced by Scotty Seed and Michael Banks. “Disorder” was also mixed by Alex Zelenka and mastered at Abbey Road Studios. Listen to the song below:

Check out Scotty Seed on Instagram. Images by Farrell @farrellfigure