A Quick Chat with CORRJ

“Make You Breathe” feels incredibly intimate and charged. What moment or experience inspired you to write this track?

The foundation of the song came from my love for those early moments of getting to know someone, the thrill of it all. Grinning at your phone while texting, wondering “how far can I go?” or “should I make the first move, or will they?” There’s a tension in that push-and-pull, a pure kind of joy that I find so exciting.
The song captures that dance, holding back while your imagination races, trying to play it cool during those first few times together.
I really felt this when I started seeing my now-girlfriend. She was open yet firm about her intentions and boundaries, which I deeply respected. But at the same time, we shared such a flirtatious and intimate energy, it was magnetic. One night, after a date, we were driving through the city listening to music with a BPM similar to Make You Breathe, and all I could think was how much I wanted more. That spark, that moment, is something I’ll never forget. We both felt it and the rest is history.

You described the song as the embodiment of early romantic tension. How did you translate that energy into the production and sound design?

The kick and snare patterns were designed to feel like a push and pull, like a heavy, pulsing heartbeat. The percussion carries an ebb and flow, shifting subtly through each section of the song, mirroring the way my imagination races and then settles.
To me, the synths that weave through the track are like that little voice in your head, soft, ethereal, almost like an angelic choir.

The lyrics walk a fine line between lust and respect. Was that balance something you were conscious of from the start?

Absolutely. In these kinds of mutual situations, there’s often a shared sense of lust that keeps things charming, cheeky, and lighthearted. But it’s so important to prioritise consent, especially in the early stages, when humour, boundaries, and potential trigger points haven’t fully been established yet.
As a man, I believe it’s crucial to make your date or partner feel safe, secure, and respected, especially when things begin to progress.
I want to emphasise the idea of charm, seduction, and playful romantic tension, but only when it’s consensual. Because those moments, when mutual desire and respect align, are pure euphoria.

You’ve said the percussion and synths were almost impossible to recreate. Can you take us inside that studio session and what made this track so technically unique?

Daunt, my producer and Andy, a close friend who was also in the studio with us, really wanted to push the boundaries of how percussion and synths are traditionally created through MIDI, where you’re just punching sounds onto a grid.
So, we took all the percussion we had and ran it through a granular synthesiser called Portal by Output. This plugin essentially reshapes sounds at their core, warping them into entirely new textures while still preserving the integrity of the original transients. We recorded the output from Portal using FL Studio’s audio capture, then ran that recording back through Portal again to generate an even more unique sound. We repeated the same process with the synths and that’s what you hear in the final version of the song.
Daunt is incredible in the studio. He’s always chasing something fresh and distinct, which is something I deeply admire.

How does “Make You Breathe” reflect where you are right now emotionally or artistically, especially compared to earlier releases like your album “MOOD”?

Artistically, there are still some familiar elements in my music, especially the catchy melodies, but emotionally, I’m in a very different place. Since dating my girlfriend, I’ve been in the best place I’ve ever been in my love life.
MOOD was a conceptual album that chronicled the timeline of my first relationship. Looking back, that experience was foundational. It taught me so much about who I am as a partner and deeply influenced how I want to shape my sound moving forward.
Sonically, I’ve always been drawn to big, cinematic sounds, the kind that feel larger than life and that’s something that’s even more prominent in my upcoming work. My goal is to immerse listeners fully, to transport them into my world.
Make You Breathe is the gateway into this new era of my music, one that feels incredibly personal. Love songs come naturally right now because of where I’m at emotionally, but I also want to go deeper. I want to offer my audience a window into my life: my mental health, the ups and downs, the growth, and the challenges I’ve faced over the past year.
This next chapter will be darker, grittier, and more powerful. It’ll reveal a more vulnerable side of me and it’s also going to bring soaring guitar as a core part of my sound.

You’ve supported GO JO and toured internationally. Do you find that experiences on the road influence the kind of music you're making now, particularly a track like this?

Definitely. I didn’t see it at the time because I just wasn’t in the headspace to create. My father had passed away earlier that year, and so much was happening around me that I never gave myself space to process, let alone make music. Two months after he passed, I went on a national tour. After that, I spent time with family in Portugal, then launched straight into an international tour with Go-Jo, a song release, and a festival run, all within the span of six months.
My mind was constantly occupied, being a guitarist, promoting a release, managing grief, and dealing with serious family matters. At the time, I didn’t fully register what I was going through. But in 2024, everything finally caught up to me. I was able to feel it all, and that emotional clarity started shaping my songwriting and the themes in my new music.
Sonically, I was also deeply influenced by watching Tash Sultana’s set every night while on tour. The massive crowds, the soaring lights, the giant reverbed vocals and spacey soundscapes, it felt like being pulled into another dimension. For that hour, you were completely transcended from reality. It was thrilling, inspiring, and it made me want to craft a live show that feels like a universe of its own.
Whenever I start writing a new song, I visualise how it will play out live. That vision guides everything: the lights, the energy, the crowd singing back the lyrics, the moments of pause, the escape from reality I want to create for everyone in the room.
There’s a real craving in me to stand out and make an impact in such an oversaturated space. The themes of the songs tend to come naturally when they’re ready. Make You Breathe, for example, came together lyrically in an instant after I met Liliana. But the drive behind the production, the way it sounds and feels comes from this deeper desire to cut through the noise and offer something immersive, something unforgettable.