“I Was Building My Fashion Sense Before I Had Ever Written Music”: 54 Ultra On His Refined, ‘70s-Tinged Creative World

Having featured on one of this summer’s defining hits, the Puerto Rican-Dominican artist is setting his sights on his debut album.

It’s been quite the breakout year for 54 Ultra (aka John Anthony Rodriquez). His feature on ANOTR’s synth-infused track “Talk To You” has, at the time of writing, garnered more than 210 million Spotify streams. Meanwhile, the New Jersey native has been on a pretty impressive tour run, taking in major festivals Coachella and Reading & Leeds, with an opening slot on Thundercat’s US tour next on the horizon this autumn.

This breakthrough has been a long time coming for the 25-year-old artist who released his debut single in 2020, and in the years since has cut his teeth behind the scenes as a producer, securing credits on Kali Uchis’ critically acclaimed Sincerely album, among others. In the meantime, he has also been fine-tuning his own penmanship, blending his Latin roots with indie and soul sounds that, married with his buttery-smooth vocals, birthed last year’s debut EP “First Works”. 

This project catapulted the artist into a stellar run of cuts since, including his double single “Turnaround” and “I’m Hooked”, his first offering to be released under a new deal with Interscope Records – home to the likes of Billie Eilish, Elton John and BTS, alongside breakouts of recent years 2hollis and Gracie Abrams. Now he returns with “Tell Me”, a longing yet upbeat track that sees him seamlessly flex between Spanish and English as he soulfully recalls a past heartbreak. 

Sitting down with Man About Town amidst a busy summer tour schedule, he talks his curated world-building, his upcoming album and his number one inspiration from contemporary music. 

How has tour life been treating you so far? What’ve been the ups and downs of this year so far?

Tour life has been treating me well. It’s been fun, and it’s been a great learning experience on how to eat right when you have no access to restaurants. The ups and downs of life are just the same as anybody’s, but in regard to touring, it’s all been up. It’s been a great experience all around, and it’s been growing so much. I’ve toured probably half of the year, and every month that we’ve toured, it’s just felt better than the one before.

You performed at Coachella earlier this year. What was your internal dialogue before getting on that stage?

I just felt ready. I didn't have to talk to myself too much. I just figured we were gonna do what we practised for, and I just hoped people were there. I couldn’t tell if people were gonna be there at all, so in my head I was like, “Alright, whatever happens… whatever.” Thankfully, people did come in. That happened at All Points East a little bit last year. People started to show up towards the end, because of where the stage was positioned between the main stages, and people were walking through and stopping to check us out. 

You have a very refined aesthetic that feels extremely thought-out. What were some of your influences that you think informed that?

I was building my fashion sense before I had ever written music. I was inspired by pictures of my family in different time periods, my uncles, my dad or my grandparents. I just loved that the clothes fit nicer on them than what I see on people in the street. Then I put two and two together and realised it was like the ’70s and ’80s, but normal clothes – not what people think that stuff is, but just what you would buy today, but back then. Like a T-shirt from then or a pair of jeans from then that isn't a caricature, I like that. Michael Jackson was also an influence, him when he was younger with his brothers. Seeing pictures of him and his family was inspiring. While he was younger, his brothers were older, so I would see what a 26-year-old would wear in 1979. Salsa singers too, and merengue singers. Those guys were all young in the ’80s, and they had nice clothes. Everything was more flattering on them. Then I started making music, so by nature it just went hand in hand. If I didn’t do music, I’d still be into clothes.

Musically,  who were some of the most important artists for you growing up, and now as you make work as 54 Ultra?

Around the time when I was really trying to write and become an artist, it was Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, Prince and Jimi Hendrix. I was just into that world. Now, I love Steve Lacy a lot. Blood Orange as well; he's like my number one. It's a real combination of all of that, I guess.

Why do you think it’s important that you sing in both English and Spanish? Is it always something you’ve felt encouraged to do?

I was definitely encouraged because I grew up essentially bilingual. My parents showed me a lot of Spanish music, and they would teach me to sing in Spanish also. My mother used to play the radio and have me guess the genres – she’d test me. She did that a lot. So I grew up understanding the differences in the culture and learning the rhythms by heart. When I felt the need to apply it, I just thought it made sense, and I didn’t hear it very much. Then I heard one of my friends do it, and I was pissed that I didn’t come up with it first. So then I started doing it. I was like, “Oh, I could have just done this the whole time.”

How do you think your writing differs when you’re writing in Spanish as opposed to English?

Ironically, I try to keep it the same. At worst, if I write something in English and it doesn’t hit the same way, then I’ll switch it, and vice versa. If something in Spanish doesn’t really sound cute, I’ll just make it in English. But if I think of something in Spanish, the whole song is gonna stay there. If I think of something in English, it’ll start the same way and finish that way.

Having worked with ANOTR on “Talk To You”, how does it feel to have one of the undeniable songs of the summer? Tell us about the journey of that song, and some of the crazy moments over the summer with it.

I mean, it’s a blessing. I didn’t know that was gonna happen, especially when it felt like there was no standout song of the summer last year. I’m grateful that my voice is the backdrop for a lot of people's good times, and whether they know it’s me or not, I’m like, “I'm in your head, so it's fine.” The way it’s been received is beautiful. We released it in March, and the way it went viral in the spring, almost like preparing for summer, I thought that was really wholesome. So when it came out, [it gained traction] right away, and it hasn’t slowed down at all since. It’s been nice. I performed it in Amsterdam, and I performed it in New York. It’s just fun seeing people love it so much and inspiring other people to remix it and learn the parts and things like that.

Who’s another artist you hope to work with soon?

I like a lot of people, and I feel like I don’t want to ruin anything. I like what I do, and I try to keep it... I don’t know. I like Blood Orange, but I don't want to ruin that. I would like to maybe write with Ravyn Lenae or somebody, or Natanya. I like writing for people and producing when the time makes sense. 

You’re working on your debut album now. Can you tell us anything about what we can expect from it?

I think it’s gonna be familiar, but still a fresh take on what I’ve been doing because I’ve learned a lot since I last released something, and I have a lot more life experience. It’s going to be a very sincere collection of music, of how I felt over the last six months. There’s going to be new palettes and a sonic refresh of what is going on. I think it’s gonna be nice. So don’t get scared, is what I would say to the people – it’s still going to be familiar.