Practicing social distancing, we interviewed ONR on Zoom!
Please share while we are #togetherathome 🏠
ONR is singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and self-taught producer born Robert Shields who was raised in rural isolation on a sheep farm in the Scottish Highlands. Despite that – or, even, because of it – his songs have an instant, deep, wide-ranging and international connectivity. Big voice, big melodies, big emotional impact, all created by an artist who, growing up, had little to distract him other than his own imagination and aspirations.
Inspired – not to mention bored on the farm – Shields began writing and performing his own songs aged 12 or 13, encouraged by his parents, who recognized and embraced his musicality.
While still at school he had his first break: he won a songwriting competition, judged by Coldplay’s Chris Martin which opened a lot of doors. He was offered a place at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, founded by Sir Paul McCartney, which he turned down. Soon after, he caught the attention of a Scottish manager part-based in Los Angeles. He loved what he heard and invited the youngster over to California. “I was 16 or 17 when I flew to LA. I’d never been out of the country. It was equal parts thrilling and terrifying.” While there, Shields received some label offers, which he turned down. “I wasn’t ready, not personally, not musically.” He wanted to push on with his own music.
Away from touring, he wrote for film and TV, wrote and produced for other local artists, and wrote for himself. Finally, in 2016, he was ready for the next step. Shields had, after many roads and miles, figured out who he was as a songwriter. Making music that was, at last, true to him, of which he was proud, felt like an honor. So, he became ONR.
He got back in touch with his music manager acquaintance and played him some of his new songs. They released two of them, “Jericho” and “American Gods”, and not long after, he signed a deal with Warner Records. They had fallen instantly and hard for the singer-songwriter’s latest batch of songs, notably “Must Stop.”
“Production has been a means to an end. It’s nothing I was that interested in, but as I’ve gone on, I’ve found it’s easier to do it myself,” he admits. “It means I can most accurately get over what I want to do, whether on piano, guitar, bass, or drums.” Still, when he plays live, he does so with a full band – as it happens, the former band of former fellow Dumfriesshire resident Calvin Harris.
The title track, “Must Stop”, is an undeniably infectious midtempo ballad, Shield’s rich, soulful vocals declaring how he “must stop falling in love with every girl who fucks me…” – a perfect pop pause – “up.
“Human Enough” was a collaboration, co-written in Los Angeles with Dave Bassett (Bishop Briggs, Rachel Platten) and Sam Hollander (One Direction, Katy Perry). To further drive home the song’s pop credentials he partnered with producer Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag’N’Bone Man) in the south London studio he co-owns with Bastille frontman Dan Smith – a connection further underlined when ONR supported the London four-piece on their 2018 UK arena tour.
After an isolated childhood, then a young adulthood spent refining his songwriting, ONR is firmly on a roll. He understands the heat of success – he’s turned it down more than once. Now, finally, with the Must Stop EP, he might not have any choice. Success is coming for him.
We want to hear from you! Please email YT@BringinitBackwards.com
