Music for Everyone: BSMNTPRTY
Ever had that experience when the conversation at a great party suddenly fizzled out when it came to music? The rap lovers had nothing to say to the fans of disco, and neither bunch could see eye to eye with the jazz aficionados… You probably found yourself thinking, “Why can’t people appreciate music without getting hung up on what genre it is?” Turns out you’re not alone: BSMNTPRTY, the creative community, was created for people just like you.
Bursting onto the cultural scene like a refreshing lungful of air, BSMNTPRTY describes itself as a social experiment, a creative collective and a multi-sensory experience all rolled into one, defined by its core principle of a genre-neutral™ lifestyle. BSMNTPRTY is already generating quite a buzz, with its promise of distinctive music and art that escape being pigeon-holed by genres, and its range of high-quality collectible merchandise.
Recently, BSMNTPRTY marked its musical debut with the release of a single, ‘Just For One Night’, featuring J-pop star Crystal Kay and rising rapster Niko Brim. Irresistibly catchy with a, ‘Beegees meets MJ’ fusion of instrumental and vocal styles that blend surprisingly seamlessly with its NY-flavored East Coast rap, the track bathes you in the golden warmth of the disco era even as your spine tingles to the gritty, inner-city cadence of modern-day rapping.
With the highly danceable ‘Just For One Night’ still zinging through our systems, we seized the opportunity to catch up with BSMNTPRTY’s innovative co-founders, husband-wife duo Chris Liggio and Kat Simonova-Liggio. Here, we share with our readers some snippets of the thought-provoking conversation about BSMNTPRTY and what it offers music lovers in this age of hyper-nichified art and music. (Edited for clarity and conciseness, the comments and observations of the BSMNTPRTY founders are tagged below with ‘BP’):
Q: Chris, what inspired you to launch BSMNTPRTY? Can you tell us a bit about the journey behind that?
BP: BSMNTPRTY was born out of my desire to flex musically and collaborate in new ways with some of the amazing talent I’ve been working with. The new producer alias offers a certain freedom to experiment and explore in ways that might be unexpected for people who know me in my DJ avatar on the NY club scene, or are familiar with my recent work organizing exclusive events, or have been following Lipstick Gypsy, which I co-founded with singer and songwriter, John Thomas.
Q: How about you, Kat? What made you decide to get involved with BSMNTPRTY?
BP: Given my background in fashion, with CREEM, as well as my engagement with socially responsible, eco-luxe brands like EVOLVh and MŪN, working on BSMNTPRTY was the logical next step – a culmination of all the things I’ve gotten to do in my career thus far. BSMNTPRTY, for me, is the chance to experiment and play with content, marketing, production, and beyond…
Q: Amazing. You guys released your first music single a while ago. Tell us more about the track, ‘Just For One Night’ – what’s the story behind that?
BP: Well, BSMNTPRTY is the realization of our conviction that music should be as timeless as it is personal… we really stand behind BSMNTPRTY’s commitment to deliver creative content that’s not boxed in by categories and definitions.
In that sense, ‘Just For One Night’ is the perfect first look at BSMNTPRTY’s music ethos, with the vocals just as much as the instrumentation… On the track, we’ve got this unique combination of Crystal Kay and Niko Brim for the vocals—one’s a J-pop icon who’s topped the Oricon charts, the other’s a rising rap star who’s known as much for his social activism as for his rap collaborations.
And that’s really a reflection of how we see BSMNTPRTY, as an amalgam of musical genres, cultural styles, fashion eras, all in one harmonious listening experience.
Q: Right on the button with the “harmonious listening experience”… I can’t remember a track that combined such diverse genres more smoothly or enjoyably. What’s next for BSMTPRTY in terms of music?
BP: We’re thrilled with the incredible response we’ve seen so far to ‘Just For One Night’, which has been featured on numerous Spotify playlists and is being streamed in huge numbers, already. All of this has really pushed us to get our second single, ‘Candy’, ready for release…
Q: That’s cool. Any teasers about what to expect from ‘Candy’?
BP: Sure… we’re really excited about dropping ‘Candy’, which features an awesome array of musicians – we’ve got Michael Leonhart’s horn arrangements and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax… Michael’s one of the youngest Grammy awardees in history, and Ian, of course, plays with The Roots on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show. Besides them, we’ve got Jonathan Maron on the electric bass, guitarist Bob Lanzetti and Josh Giunta on drums. Jonathan has a Grammy-nominated album, Josh won a Grammy for his amazing sound engineering with GSI, and Bob you know from Snarky Puppy. And then, of course, there’s Lipstick Gypsy coming together once again on this track.
Q: Wow, that’s some star line-up! ‘Candy’ is bound to knock our socks off, acoustically… do you have a video planned, as well?
BP: You guessed it… we’ve actually been putting together the visuals for ‘Candy’ as well. Kat’s been directing the visuals, working with Michael Donovan, who’s done beautiful stuff with classic brands, from Vogue to Harper’s Bazaar, from Givenchy to Gap.
Q: That clearly means we can really expect ‘Candy’ to blow us away, then. What’s on the cards for BSMNTPRTY, other than music?
BP: Good question. With the rave response we’ve been getting for the concept that BSMNTPRTY embodies, we’re happy and proud to share that our growing community of like-minded artists and supporters will soon be able to access merchandise that reflects our all-embracing creative spirit and philosophy of non-judgmental giving and receiving.
One of the highlights of our soon-to-be-dropped line of merch is that Adam Ballheim, our Creative Director, not only shares our belief in what BSMNTPRTY stands for, his infallible eye and genius for styling, combined with his experience working with international figures from the likes of Padma Lakshmi to Machine Gun Kelly make us confident that we’ll be bringing to our fans and supporters all that they expect, and more.
Q: Great, we’re looking forward to seeing much more from BSMNTPRTY’s creative studios. Do you have a message you’d like your audience, fans and followers to hear?
BP: Our message is for all those individuals out there who’ve felt the same sense of wanting to break free of the bonds of constraining definitions and limiting perspectives… We see BSMNTPRTY being this ‘safe haven’ where all barriers melt away and creativity is the only guiding force. Our emphasis on a genre-neutral™ lifestyle encompasses overall wellness for creatives, including physical and mental health, which we believe is truly essential for original, creative output.
So, welcome to BSMNTPRTY, where everyone can be seen, be heard and be free.
Check out our website, or you can follow us on Insta… and, of course, don’t forget to bump our tracks on Spotify!
Seeing how BSMNTPRTY is fast becoming the buzzword for artistic expression and creative freedom, we look forward to an abundance of good things—great music, amazing art, and collectibles worth cherishing, from this one-of-a-kind collaborative endeavor.
About the Author
Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.
