Ultra Singapore 2018: Backstage With RL Grime

What’s the highlight of your Ultra Singapore 2018 experience? Getting glitter-bombed in the face? Or sipping Haagen Daz ice cream cocktails at DJ Snake’s set?

For us, it was hanging out backstage with RL Grime over at the Worldwide stage. And I managed to capture every moment, with just a phone no less!

I was super tired from lugging around my entire camera gear from the first day, because have you ever tried raving with a 2.5kg camera around your neck? It’s VERY leychey (uncomfortable). So when a friend asked me, “Why isn’t your phone’s camera good enough?”, I decided to take on Ultra Singapore Day 2 armed with just a phone.

I had a LG G7+ ThinQ, LG’s latest phone, lying around on my desk, and the phone was supposed to be optimised for low light photography. Sounds like Ultra Singapore would be the perfect place to test it out! If it can handle the crazy lights and visuals at a music festival, then I’ll be darned cos I’ve been toting around my DSLR unnecessarily.

Here’s a lil peek at the interview tent backstage as I head over to the artist lounge to say hi to RL Grime.

Meeting RL Grime, who headlined Ultra Singapore 2018 on the Worldwide Stage!

Hilariously, the first thing he asked me was about the fighter jets and if it was a normal weekend to have jets flying past. Just like the rest of us at Ultra, he was distracted by the NDP rehearsals because his hotel room had a view of the Float.

RL Grime has been headlining the Ultra Worldwide stage in Miami and all over the world, and this is his first time here in Singapore!

But if you asked him, RL Grime’s most memorable show still has to be the first ever set he played in Ultra Miami 2015. He recounted, “I got rained out halfway through my set. The Worldwide Stage is a huge arc with the crowd in the middle, and there’s like a screen hanging over the crowd. There was a thunderstorm and they thought it was going to break off, so I had to stop my set. I had to go on the mic and tell everyone I couldn’t continue.”

I had to find out what happened, so I asked.

“And yeah it ended up dropping. That was definitely an interesting Ultra experience!”

I also found out that RL Grime’s a tequila kind of guy.

With 20 minutes to showtime, we head over to the Worldwide backstage.

Patiently waiting for Andrew Rayel’s set to end.

Still waiting….

And it’s showtime!

RL Grime even dropped a couple of tracks from his new album, NOVA, that will be released on 27 July! Aren’t we lucky?

All that I could get him to share was that, “The new album has more of a purple/ light blue feeling to it. It’s more epic-sounding, and I’m super stoked for it!”

Definitely the best way to end Ultra Singapore 2018!

Thanks again for having me at your show, RL Grime!

Follow RL Grime on Spotify, Facebook and Instagram

RL Grime will be dropping his next album, NOVA, on July 27

Photos taken on the LG G7+ ThinQ 

The LG G7 ThinQ, $1,198, is now available at all authorised retailers. Head to lg.com for more details and specs.