Prince Ivan Exclusive Interview – “Back to the Boogie”

On Wednesday afternoon, 6 September 2017, this author had the privilege of doing a Facebook live interview with two of the members of the dynamic group, Prince Ivan. It was my pleasure to chat with Brydon Brett and Aaron Ellsworth. The third member of the trio, Garon Brett, was at school at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He is studying commercial music.

When I first watched Prince Ivan’s new music video “Back to the Boogie” featuring the gospel group Voices of Glory, the one word that came to mind was “unity” – “Back to the Boogie” – with all that is going on in the world today, it is time that we all become unified again.

So, how did “Back to the Boogie” come to be? About seven years ago, Brydon had the idea for a song called “Bring the Boogie Back” or something like that and wrote it down in his hook book. The guys are fans of Earth Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang, and the Disco Funk era, so Brydon thought the song would work somehow, eventually. Two years ago, the group wrote a version of the song for their live show and performed it, but the version that has just been released has had a different life span and has evolved differently over the past six months.

The musical concept for “Back to the Boogie” was started about four or five years ago. Aaron wanted to try and write a fast song and the song gradually grew from there. In March 2017, the group took the song to their producer. Two hours into the recording session, the producer asked the musicians to leave the room so that he could talk to the members of Prince Ivan privately. He told the trio that he “wasn’t feeling it.” Having already put their money into the project, and believing that the track was going to be the next big thing for them, they were now left wondering if the song was any good.

Brydon and Aaron said that the group did a lot of soul-searching about the song and received inspiration from the Lord about how to move forward. Over the next week or two following the defeat in the recording studio, they came up with most of the major hooks that the listener now hears, as well as, the choir section, the bridge with the electronic dance section, and the signature horn line during the chorus.

So, what about the group – Voices of Glory – that appears in the video? The Voices of Glory were top five finalists on America’s Got Talent in 2008. The trio is comprised of Michael, Nadia, and Avery Cole. The guys of Prince Ivan became good friends with them and have always wanted to do a collaboration with them. Michael, Nadia, and Avery are originally from Poughkeepsie, New York but have since moved to Branson, Missouri. Aaron was the first to catch the vision of adding a “Heavenly chorus” to the song to give it a little different flavor, so Voices of Glory was contacted.

With all the recent world events, Prince Ivan feels that this is the right time to release a song that is upbeat, uplifting, and inspiring to give people a sense of hope. The overarching theme of “unity” flows throughout the video as we see of different ethnicities, cultures, backgrounds, and religious beliefs dancing together and getting “Back to the Boogie.” The video also represents a core part of Prince Ivan’s mission to use their music to help build bridges between peoples of all races, religions, and nationalities. Brydon commented, “The feeling of unity on the set and the joy was very authentic. There was nothing contrived about it.”

Brydon further commented, “At the end of the day, doctrinal differences, this that or the other, we all have a lot more in common than all of our differences. We all love the Lord, and we ought to come together and work together. When Christians fight against one another, the devil wins.”

Brydon and Aaron want to thank all their amazing fans for their support. They also want fans to know that “Back to the Boogie” is their first release in over two years but that is not going to be the norm. Over the next year, Prince Ivan plans to release new music every couple of months. There is already a new video scheduled for release in October or November that was filmed in Utah. Aaron also wants to remind everyone to share the video especially with those who may have never heard of Prince Ivan, and he also appreciates fans helping Prince Ivan reach their goal of 100,000 views of “Back to the Boogie.”