When you hear the word blue, what do you think of?

Perhaps you think of the color. A vast ocean meeting the horizon. The sky on a sunny day. Or maybe the mood comes to mind—a feeling of sadness or being low. You may think of the type of music, blues. For Justin Clancy, blue is all of these things and much, much more.

His new album, The Color Blue, is based around blue as a musical concept rather than a literal one. What resulted was a debut album featuring a mix of hip-hop and pop that’s sure to put him in the spotlight. On the album, Justin takes the listener through his interpretations of the color blue and through that, the highs and lows of life, as evident in lyrics such as “Look inside / It’s not too late / Nirvana always comes from pain,” off of “Nirvana” and “Life is like a maze and I finally found my way / But it wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t feel pain,” off of “Work in Progress.”

We sat down with Justin to talk about his album, what it means to him, and the importance of personal connections with fans.

Allston Pudding: Where are you from and how did you get into music?

Justin Clancy: I’m from the North Shore. I got involved in music when I was really young—I always had a thing for music. I wrote my first rap poem thing when I was eight and from there I used that as an outlet. If I was having a bad day I would write about it as poems or as raps or as songs.

AP: When did you start creating music seriously?

JC: I was thirteen I think. I used to have a little karaoke microphone and I would put it in between two speakers because it was only a one-shot type of thing when I recorded myself, and I would just make songs for my friends when they came over. Or I’d bring it to my high school and burn CDs and show people. I got clowned for years and years, but it’s something I’ve been doing forever.

AP: Let’s talk about the concept of your album, The Color Blue.

JC: The concept behind the album itself was to try and capture the color blue sonically rather than literally. Each song on the album represents a different shade of blue to me and my producer. We both have synesthesia, which is when sounds resonate as colors and things like that. So throughout the making of the project we tried our hardest to capture that. If you think about blue as a whole, it’s a whole mood, vibe, it’s the only color that is an adjective. Plus it has its own genre of music. That’s how prominent it is.

AP: Why else is this project special to you?

JC: This album is special to me because over the course of its creation I feel like I went through so much and grew tremendously as a person and an artist.

AP: When you were making the album were you feeling blue at all?

JC: Different blues. When I was sad I would feel a deep blue. When I was light and happy I would feel a light blue or baby powder blue. I would try to capture that with each song.

AP: Tell me a bit about the producer you worked with and how you started working with them.

JC: So Nox Beatz, he’s like a super-producer, he’s the guy that all the local guys to go. He’s really the go-to guy when it comes to capturing what you’re looking for. For me, we clicked right away. I’ve known Nox since 2012 or 2011, and he’s probably one of the only people in the music scene that have seen me not doing so good. We met forever ago and reconnected a few years ago and created “TV Dinner” the first time we hung out. And from there it’s just been consistent, [we’re] on the same level playing field.

AP: In the future is there an artist you would love to collaborate with?

JC: In the future I would love to collaborate with someone like Kanye West or Rihanna. I feel as though I could write very well for them. As for a collaboration on my music, there’s no telling who I would pick. It all depends on the vibe. I like to do everything organic, whatever comes up comes out.

AP: So you have an upcoming show on July 13. Are you excited?

JC: I’m extremely excited.

AP: And you’ve performed lived before?

JC: Yeah, I love it. It’s my favorite thing in the whole entire world. I’ve been doing it forever. Even when I was a kid. I would do plays and stuff like that so I’m used to performing.

AP: Anything else you want to tell our readers?

JC: Yeah, I already have three videos out for the singles that I already released. They did very well.

AP: Let’s talk about those. You have a video for “TV Dinner” and a few others?

JC: Yeah and “The Bottom Line” and “Work in Progress.” Those were directed by Project 2 Studios, but I did all of the art direction in a sense of treatment and what I wanted.

I also hand-deliver tickets and physical CDs to my fans. I do it with every show. For weeks I drive all around New England and hand deliver tickets to the fans at no extra cost.

AP: That’s really cool that you do that – you then remember fans at shows and say hi to them.

JC: Yeah I try to build a personal relationship with all of them. I feel like it’s the corniest sh*t ever when rappers act more famous than they really are. Like I’ll drive up in my Honda Accord no problem and kick it. There’s nothing to hide—I’m not going to hide myself at all and it’s not like I roll up with a giant posse. It’s just me.

AP: I think that’s really important because people can be as friendly on social media as they want but then face-to-face is what really matters to fans. People can be so impersonal.

JC: Yeah, exactly. I just try to be as personal as possible. The music can only be so good, but if you’re a sh*tty person nobody’s going to f*ck with you. That’s what it boils down to.

Don’t miss Justin’s album release show on July 13 at Sonia in Cambridge, and be sure to watch Justin’s music videos for “TV Dinner”, “The Bottom Line”, and “Work in Progress.”