By now we’ve all heard “Peaches” starring the singing trio Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar & Giveon. But did you know the role co-producer Shndō played in bringing the song to life?
Rather than give it away ourselves we caught up with the rising producer and asked him how the song came to life and what his role was in turning a song idea from Justin Bieber’s IG into a single on his latest album.
Introducing Shndo.
Let’s start with congrats on co-producing “Peaches” by Justin Bieber, did you know Justin prior to working together?
S: Thank you so much!! I’m so grateful to be a part of this song. I don’t know Justin personally – I met him once at a birthday party for Poo Bear’s son about 2 years ago, but it was a brief “hey nice to meet you sort of thing.” There was catered Chick-Fil-A at that party, I’ll never forget it. So amazing!
So you saw JB’s video on IG and added some layers on Ableton, but how did you get your cut over to Bieber?
S: So on the morning of September 7th, 2020…I was staying at Poo Bear’s penthouse. This was also one week after I had just been dumped by my girlfriend at the time. I was working on a beat and I went to take a quick ear break (when you blast loud music in your ears for a long period of time your ears can become fatigued.) I hopped on Instagram and JB’s post came up on my screen. It was him playing the piano and singing the hook for what we now know as “Peaches.” I really loved the idea he had initially, so I decided to screen record that, throw it into Ableton real quick, and I added a pseudo live drum groove to it. (I really tried to emulate the swing and pocket of an actual drummer) I sped up the original idea to 90bpm because it was much slower. Next, I took the little piano jam Justin did at the end of the Instagram video, used it as the intro, and pitched it down an octave. So with that done, I bounced the idea to an mp3 (I named the file “Peaches” thinking it was just a cool little placeholder fun title) shot it over to Harv to see if he maybe wanted to add some live elements to it (bassline/guitars etc.) I also texted it to Poo Bear as well in case he had any ideas for it. Long story short, Harv and I got the song idea to a presentable state and Harv would then text it to Justin. Justin heard it, loved it and re-cut the hook vocals, did a verse and sent them back over to Harv. We both got in the studio together and produced it out from there!
For those who haven’t gotten a big placement yet, how has this moment changed your life?
S: I’m definitely busier now haha! Other than that, I’m kinda doing the same stuff really – making music, working out, watching Anime, playing PS4, putting DJ sets together. Getting such a huge placement definitely has made me aware that whatever you want in this life is yours…you just have to go and get it. Don’t expect things to just happen to you, take the initiative!
How did you come up with the name Shndo?
S: A few years ago, I was struggling to find a cool producer/artist alias that I really loved. I knew I wanted something really broad and simple. I didn’t want any generic name. I knew I wanted something special and simple enough a child can pronounce it. I was watching a lot of anime at the time, more specifically Naruto and I was obsessed. I thought to myself, “I want a cool Japanese inspired name”. I started typing in random words on google translate and I ended up putting ‘vibrations’ and it came out as “Shindō.” I remember thinking it had a cool ring to it, but then I kept searching for more names and for some reason I just kept coming back to “Shindo.” I called my good friend David and told him about the couple of options I picked out. He even told me that “Shindo” sounded super cool so I rolled with it from there. I eventually took out the “i” because “shndo” looked way cooler. The “h” and “n” just flowed nice from left to right. I love having cool aesthetics in everything haha!
Poo Bear only works with a handful of artists and producers, what has your relationship with him been like?
S: I love Poo Bear! He’s definitely like a big brother to me…he always has me cracking up too. I’m really grateful to have such a legend in my corner. It’s pretty crazy honestly whenever I think about it. I really appreciate him…he’s always checking in and making sure I’m good. Especially whenever I’m visiting LA and before I had my own place here, he would make sure I had a place to stay in. Such a great guy! That’s Poo Beezy!
What was your first major placement?
S: My first major placement was on Lecrae’s Church Clothes 3 project. Shout out to my brother Symbolyc One for giving me the opportunity to work on that! That placement made me feel like I had a real shot in this music stuff for sure, shout out to Lecrae and S for instilling that hope and faith in me!!
JB, Giveon & Daniel Caesar, what a lineup! If you could put any 3 artists together for your next produced single who would it be?
S: Skrillex, Drake, and Alicia Keys. I feel like this would be an insane song!! haha
Whats on the horizon for Shndo?
S: Only god knows! But I definitely am going to be releasing my own songs with my cool ass rockstar friends haha. I have a lot of different songs that touch and blend all kinds of genres and sub genres. I’m just so happy to be able to do music full time, it’s all I’ve wanted since I was a kid. Now I feel like a kid at a candy shop everyday!
Do you plan on releasing more of your own music this year?
S: Absolutely! I have been very busy and blessed with a ton of opportunities around me, so I’ve just been taking full advantage of them. I also felt like I wanted to wait a bit to put out my own original music and on hold until I reached a personal standard. I’m now pretty confident that my sound, both quality wise and sonically, are where I want them to be to start releasing my own music 🙂
How did you get your start in producing, did someone teach you or self-taught?
S: Self taught for the most part. Also, YouTube university and just collaboration with other producers over the course of my career really.
What’s your DAW of choice?
S: When I first started making music, I used Fruity Loops when people called it that haha. Now it’s referred to as FL studio. I eventually switched over to Ableton Live after seeing my bro Nitti Gritti creating with it and witnessing how fast he could execute ideas/manipulate sounds. I knew I needed to hop on that and here I am today using Ableton 11. I often find myself jumping back and forth though just to switch up the workflow and get in a lil nostalgia with FL studio haha. I also have always loved the drum programming on there to this day!
If you could go back and be a part of creating any song in history, what song would that be?
S: That’s a tough one, but I feel like “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley & The Wailers would be the one. I love how it brings so much joy and encouragement to people far and wide. You could put that song on anywhere and it just puts you in the best of moods.
Get used to the name Shndō because we promise you this isn’t the last you will hear from him.
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