By Jennifer Lynn

“The tube was leaving and I literally wanted to smash the window and jump in,” says Joel Compass, when we question his latest tweet about losing his phone on the London Underground. “The door closes and suddenly that realisation sinks in… I could see it sitting on the seat!”

As animated as we remembered from his time as an MTV Brand New For 2014 artist earlier this year, singer and producer Joel manages to crack us up before even officially beginning our interview, which is always a good sign.

However, it’s soon time for business, as we settle down to hear all about his new single, ‘Girlfriends’.

MTV UK: Tell us about the story behind your new song, ‘Girlfriends’…

Joel Compass: Basically I wrote this song from a different place than I ever have before; I thought I’d try writing it from a girl’s perspective. I know how that might sound! I’m in touch [laughs].

The original song title was ‘Dolphins’, because I watched a David Attenborough thing, and he said female dolphins all stick together. Then I realised no one would understand why I called it ‘Dolphins’ unless I made the video about dolphins and I didn’t want to do that.

It’s kind of like a call and response. I’m calling to say that I’m here and that they’re going to have as much fun with me as they do with their girlfriends.

MTV UK: We love the dolphins thing! If you were going to tap into any famous girl’s brain, who would it be, and why?

Joel: It would be a model, because I can imagine they’ve been everywhere, just travelled everywhere and seen everything. It’s kind of cliché actually, but I’d probably want to be Cara, though not for too long [laughs]! She’d definitely my best bet.

MTV UK: In the video for ‘Girlfriends’ you look so naturally at ease with the girls – are they your friends in real life?

Joel: Now more so, I’ve kept in touch with some of them, but I had never met them before that. I was pretty lucky they were so cool. I just kept in mind that they were comfortable with the whole thing so I could be comfortable. I don’t really worry about many things like that.

MTV UK: Where did you film the video?

Joel: We filmed it in Kentish Town in London, at Rankin’s studio – it looks like we’re out and about, but it was just Rankin doing a really good job. I met him at a party a while back and he loved one of the songs – Vanilla - from my mixtape I had out at the time. He wanted to do a video for it, which I was so up for, but we pushed the boat out a little and got him to do the single instead.

I really wanted a fashion photographer to do it all along, and I never thought I could get Rankin, but I did. Their thing, for me, is that they just make an image look so beautiful. You can literally watch it on mute and still get the story.

MTV UK: How is work on your album going?

Joel: Really well, I’ve moved on to working with a thing called Ableton for the production, and suddenly I’m getting the sounds I really want. It’s so unlimiting. All the ideas I have come out exactly the way I want them to. Shift K3Y told me to use it.

I’ve tried to make the album feature as broad a spectrum of genres as possible, because I don’t want producers to hear it and want to work with me as an artist, I want artists to hear it and want to work with me as a producer. Both would be great, but I want to produce and write for people.

The album’s due out early next year and it’s called ‘Science’, based on the other field I was going to go into, and that I’m still going to go into at some point.

MTV UK: We saw on your Twitter that you’ve made the Radio 1 playlist, which is awesome, but do you think radio play is still as important as ever?

Joel: Definitely, like, you need it. For me, SoundCloud and the internet is obviously a huge place of discovery, whereas the radio opens you up to a whole audience that almost need you to be put in front of them. It’s a bit like if I was going to support One Direction on tour – we have different fans initially, but if I’m put in front of their fans, they might start to like me too.

MTV UK: Your session with Rudimental and MNEK was amazing, but who else is on your list of artists to work with?

Joel: At some point I really want to work with Aphex Twin. I might try to get something on the album. I tweeted about it and got a little favourite, so now I know that they know, we’ll see. I’d love to work with Drake, a lot of people in America, Frank Ocean. There are hardly any US artists I wouldn’t want to produce for, but I’d also love to feature on a track with Drake, that’d be sick.

MTV UK: We’ve noticed you’re a fan of a backwards cap. Is that going to be your ‘thing’ now?

Joel: [Laughs] I think it looks like it’s my thing because I’m doing it quite visually and posting pictures of myself with backwards caps on. Maybe I’m just the one in the music field doing it!

MTV UK: Other than the new single, what else should we look out for from you until the end of the year?

Joel: I’m going to do a few live shows, because I had to cancel shows earlier in the year, with my tonsils being bad. It was a huge blow, because I make music to play it live, and I couldn’t.

We’ll look forward to those shows. Hope your phone comes back to you, Joel!

‘Girlfriends’ is available to download from iTunes now