Rostam
The artist-songwriter-producer reveals why he had to finish working with Clairo and Haim before he could finish his own anticipated second solo album.
Growing up, Rostam Batmanglij recalls printing out interviews with producers he looked up to. “I always knew this was what I wanted to do,” he says, adding he got his first multi-track recorder at 14. By his mid-20s, he scored his first No. 1 album as both an artist and producer with Vampire Weekend’s
Contra.
Now, at 37, Rostam’s career as a band member, solo artist and songwriter-producer is flourishing. He’s worked with artists ranging from Frank Ocean to Charli XCX to Wet, and says to this day he’s never had a song placed with an artist without direct collaboration. “I like to work in such a way that creates a bond with the artists,” he says. “I’m picky about who I work with, and really feel like when we're making an album it's a high artistic statement. It's about the collaboration serving that statement.”