2020K IS BACK

Interview conducted by Emma Riva

When I most recently saw 2020k perform, he said he was “holding the pop scene in Pittsburgh together with duct tape.” While the city has a lot of experimental grungy music, the electronic or pop element of the scene gets less exposure. 2020k, the stage name of artist and educator RJ Kozain, has always shown that emotional depth is not mutually exclusive with making pop bangers.

Kozain’s stage name takes inspiration from the idea of “taking up auditory space from 20Hz all the way to 20kHz.” And after ten years of not making music, 2020k is back with two new singles, “Interactive” and “Acting Up Acting Out,” ready to take up auditory space again. I talked with Kozain about the new single, why they took a break, and what these new singles mean to them.

Petrichor: What made now the right time to release this music?

2020k: This point in history is too dire not to put out 2020k songs and I think if I were on my death bed I’d find a way to start releasing this music. The songs coming out have been written anywhere from 2013-2026 and you’d think that the world would be in a different place than it was when I crafted something like “Interactive,” but the messages in my music have only grown more poignant as we navigate a new news crisis every day.

“Interactive” feels very sensual and romantic. Can you talk about what you meant by the chorus refrain – “This is love and it’s interactive”? 

2020k: I wrote “Interactive” before marriage equality was passed in the United States and finished it right after. I was dating someone at the time who didn’t see the event’s significance. While marriage equality was and is not the final frontier of LGBTQIA+ equality, it felt like a significant win, yet the person I was with couldn’t have cared less. We’d already been having problems, so this was my way of trying to wrangle the beast of emotions and express the depth of love that I had for him amidst the chaos.

I reference Matthew Shepard in the song as an acknowledgement of the violence Queer people have endured, juxtaposed against the feeling of a community that just wants to be supported and loved, and how that friction can manifest inside of a Queer relationship. This is love – interact with it!!

The use of the word interactive is also a call back to technology and how “interacting” can mean all sorts of things, from hookup apps and forums, to real world sex, arguing, talking, what have you. All the complicated relationship stuff. I suppose engagement is the new buzzword online. I’m getting married next month. Maybe I’ll write a song called engagement.

I reference Matthew Shepard in the song as an acknowledgement of the violence Queer people have endured, juxtaposed against the feeling of a community that just wants to be supported and loved, and how that friction can manifest inside of a Queer relationship. This is love – interact with it!

How do “Interactive” and “Acting Up Acting Out” relate to each other?

2020k: I think that they’re both a call to action in their own ways. They’re both calling the government into question (“what would you say if we could break the law // It don’t pass as equality, no, it don’t make me all I can be”), but I guess “Acting Up, Acting” Out feels like a more like triumphant call to liberation whereas “Interactive” is rooted in, for better or worse, romance and community. They’re both advocacy calls rooted in my lived experience and experiences shared with me through the years.

In the time since your last release in 2016, how has your musicianship evolved?

2020k: I’m overall more confident in what I do now. When I was performing in the early 2010’s I was scared shitless every time I stepped on a stage, but now I’m very comfortable there and am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone during shows. I like challenging myself. I created a little jingle for a Hellbender Vinyl ad and, while listening to a lot of Susumu Yokota, wondered how I could evolve my sound to be lighter and more melodic. 2020k is pretty dark. I’ve been challenging myself to see different sides. 

It’s easy for me to sit down and make a song about what’s bothering me. It’s hard for me to create out of joy. Seeing Madame Dolores create her NAEMA album series made me realize that. I’m trying to explore parts of me that don’t feel like they’re in a pressure cooker. 

How have your experiences with health and mortality shaped the release? 

2020k: When I released Burst Mode I had a concussion that took two years to recover from. “Interactive” was supposed to come out in autumn 2025, but I was diagnosed with an early stage of cancer and had to undergo surgery. I’m in remission and expect to stay there, but those were the two scariest situations of my life and they both strangely aligned with releasing larger music projects. Health got in the way to the point where I thought that anytime I would release something the cosmos were going to punish me for it.

If the emotion is coming across, it’s time to put it out. And if the cosmos don’t like it, well, too bad. It’s time.

I’m very much a perfectionist when it comes to my music. Every single sound, word, and mixing choice is deliberate with me. Facing mortality made me look at a lot of my music and go “you know what, no. If the emotion is coming across, it’s time to put it out.” And if the cosmos don’t like it, well, too bad. It’s time.

“Interactive” and “Acting Up Acting Out” are live Friday 5/21 on Bandcamp. 2020k’s next single drops 6/5 as part of a tiered release of the new album Will Not False My Identity.