Producer-Songwriter Sebastian Torres on Working with Kiiara

The music industry is a notoriously tough business, but the cream of the crop rises to the top, and for producers, successful tracks with big artists can lead to lots more work down the road. 

Music producer and songwriter Sebastian Torres has already worked with some massive industry names like Naïka, Riela, and Lita, and he's currently working on some upcoming tracks with NCT-127, Marco Mares, and Samantha Sanchez. 

But one of his biggest collabs so far has been with international dance pop star Kiiara. Kiiara has had some major hits, including multiple tracks that have gained hundreds of millions of listens. 

Torres worked with Kiiara and her team on the song "Don't Get Confused," and we wanted to pick his brain about the process and how he sees the song now.

It also sounds like Torres might be working on some other songs for Kiiara in the near future, but for now, let's see what he had to say about "Don't Get Confused" and Kiiara.   

Were you familiar with Kiiara's music before you started working with her? 

Torres: Yes. Kiiara had a massive hit. She made quite the introduction with her single "Gold." The song has currently more than half a billion streams on Spotify alone. You also have to take into account that the song came out at a time when the streaming platform wasn't as popular as it is today. I'm sure if it had, the song would've been even bigger. 

Apart from "Gold," Kiiara has constantly been present in the music scene. She was featured in the song "Heavy" along with Linkin Park, a song that racked up more than three hundred million listens across all streaming platforms. Kiiara made herself pretty hard to miss when it came to pop music.

So you worked on the track "Don't Get Confused." Were you involved in other aspects of this album, lil kiiwi? 

Torres: I was fortunate to be a part of the album with the song "Don't Get Confused." Putting an album together can be a long and meticulous process. Usually, the artist has many more songs recorded and finalized than the number that make it into the album. If the album has twelve songs, there were probably around thirty songs to pick from. 

The artist and their team have to go through a long process of narrowing down all the songs that have been recorded and nominated to be in the album. Having "Don't Get Confused" be one of the songs that actually made it into the album from a much larger song count was a great confirmation of how strong the song was. 

Apart from producing the song, I wrote it with my co-writer, Christina Galligan. We definitely knew the song was very strong the moment we wrote it, and the fact that it beat many other songs proved that.

Who were some of the other producers and songwriters that worked on this album? 

Torres: Some of music's heavy hitters were part of this album, including Ian Kirkpatrick (Dua Lipa, Selena Gomez), Sasha Sloan (Camila Cabello, Katy Perry), Justin Tranter (Justin Bieber, Imagine Dragons), Ali Tamposi (Shawn Mendes, Cardi B, BTS), Jason Evigan (Maroon 5, Madonna, Dua Lipa), and many more. 

Together, the songs they've been a part of have accumulated more than ten billion streams. It was a pleasure to be included in a list with so many legends of the industry. 

Having these industry powerhouses involved in the project is evidence of how much of a dent Kiiara has made in the music industry. Together the mentioned producers and writers have also accumulated more than twenty-five entries in the Billboard Hot 100. As a writer and producer, it's certainly very encouraging to be among them.

What's different about writing/producing for Kiiara specifically? 

Torres: Kiiara is an artist who knows what she wants but likes to experiment. There were sounds and parts of the songs that I made with her specifically in mind. There were aspects of the songs that were very back and forth between me and Kiiara and her team. Since they knew what kind of sonic theme and overall sound the album had to have, they were very persistent in making sure the final product was exactly how they wanted it. 

I really respected this way of working and loved the process. It shows that the team and the artist really care about the work and the craft.

Where were you working on this album from? Was this remote work or were you in the studio with Kiiara and the team? 

Torres: This was mostly done remotely. The final stages of the song unfortunately coincided with the pandemic. That forced us to adapt to the circumstances. However, nowadays working remotely can be incredibly efficient. How it worked was mainly through Zoom sessions and sending files and demos back and forth. 

It's a trial and error method. Although it wasn't the ideal way of going about things, we adapted and made it all work. Thank god for technology!

Did you have to change your process in any way when working on this project? 

Torres: A bit. Depending on how involved the artist and their team are in the song, I tend to adapt to whatever they want the final song to sound like. There have been many artist collaborations where I have the freedom to do pretty much what I like. I loved the balance of freedom and sense of direction that I had while working with Kiiara and her team. 

Based on their requests, I did some things that I maybe wouldn't have done, which in the end turned out great! As a producer, it is incredibly important to have the right balance of feedback and freedom. There are artists who don't give you a sense of direction, and there are other artists who don't give you the freedom you need to deliver the best product. 

At the end of the day, a song/album/EP is a group effort. There has to be trust between the parties involved and I'm just happy that it worked out that way.

Are there any plans to work with Kiiara more in the future? 

Torres: Yes. I'm in close contact with her team at Atlantic and we are always discussing whether there are any songs I could do that could fit her project. She is a great artist and my experience being a part of this album was very pleasant. So obviously I would love to be involved in her future projects. I am constantly sent briefs of what she's looking for, so I'm sure it'll happen again and fairly soon!