Helium

“‘Helium’ \[sounds like\] ‘healing him, kind of a play on words,’” veteran Oakland-bred rapper G-Eazy tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “This is the lightness of love—how lifting it can be, how euphoric. It’s not just love in terms of romantic relationships, it’s love and lust for life, and how fleeting that can feel sometimes too. A week later, that balloon looks less sexy—all crumpled up, barely floating.” Collaborating with producer Rodaidh McDonald helped G-Eazy open up for raw, revealing moments. In the past, he had worked with multiple producers on his projects, but McDonald’s elite résumé—which includes work with The xx, Adele, and A$AP Ferg—made G-Eazy ready to get “locked in” with him and have “some honest conversations” about how to make his eighth album special. “That’s where the greatness comes from—under that uncomfortability,” he says. “There was one day in a session where I was trying to sing this part, and he said, ‘G, I know you want to sing. You’ve taken vocal lessons. You’ve been trying. We don’t want to hear you sing. Not on this one.’” G-Eazy’s more mature outlook on life and respect for McDonald meant that instead of fighting back, he took the criticism. The producer then suggested that he take a cue from the late Canadian bard Leonard Cohen—an inspiration of G-Eazy’s—and drop his voice into his lower register. That kind of “tough love,” says G-Eazy, helped make the record better. “When a song comes together, it’s the most euphoric high that I’ve ever had, out of all the things I’ve tried,” he says. “Watching an idea come together \[can be\] excruciating when that stream of flow suddenly shuts. But then, when it opens again and the idea comes back to life—and then, that ride home, playing it in the car. Oh, my god! That feels so good.”