Artist Profile: Royel Otis on Chemistry, Whimsy, and Rising Fame

Australian pop band Royel Otis will always back each other up. In an interview with The Harvard Crimson, Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic’s authentic chemistry was clear — the duo even finished one another’s sentences, instinctively collaborating far beyond the four walls of their recording studio.

Royel Otis creates indie pop music for fans around the world, garnering tens of millions of streams on Spotify and Apple Music. Now, they’re headlining their debut tours in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. Though the band formed in 2019, the pair have known each other for far longer.

“We were family friends that knew each other, but never really hung out as kids,” Otis said.

Royel interrupted, laughing. “I feel like that smashes the romantic thought that a lot of people have of us as a couple of young scrappers in the garage belting out some songs as kids,” he said.

The two ultimately began making music together six years ago, while passing some time in a sunroom.

“We were just hanging out and talking music, and started trying to make some tunes together,” Otis said. “It’s like what Royel said — just young scrappers.”

The bandmates have a highly collaborative music-making process, where both of them often come together with demos or voice memos for potential new songs.

“We’ll just be like, ‘This section from you works well with this section that I have,’” Royel said.

Otis chimed in. “We combine them.”

The two began making music together six years ago, while passing some time in a sunroom. By Courtesy of Alex Wall

The musicians attributed their strong collaborative bond to the fact that they always back each other up, first and foremost.

“Even if I hate what Otis is saying, or if he hates what I’m saying, we back each other in front of others. And then we sort it out later,” Royel said. He paused, with a wry smile. “In the car park!”

The pair laughed. “But no, we just make sure we’re backing each other first and foremost before everyone else,” Royel said. “I think all young bands, old bands, everyone — I think that’s a really good technique to make sure you stay a team and be the entity against everyone else.”

“Yeah, what Royel said,” Otis said, fittingly.

Royel Otis’s trademark sense of whimsy was not always so effortless for the pair to access. When the musicians recorded their first EP, the process, though fun, “took quite a while,” according to Otis. But when they recorded two of their most popular songs — “Oysters In My Pocket” and “Bull Breed” — they experienced what Royel called an “awakening.”

“We were trying some things out and taking it real serious,” Royel said.

But during the recording process for “Bull Breed,” the duo’s approach changed as they began to embrace spontaneity and even failure.

“We just went like, ‘Fuck it. Let’s just play this. If we fuck this bit up, just keep playing and leave it in there, chuck this in there, shout about whatever, then we’ll make up lyrics that mean something afterwards. And they don’t have to be that poetic. Just have fun with it,’” Royel said.

The pair hasn’t looked back since.

“It just got more fun. And it turned into less of the job, less strenuous getting stuck on small things and just go,” Royel said. “You know, those mistakes are alright. Let them fly! There’s beauty in imperfections, you know?”

The bandmates have a highly collaborative music-making process, where both come together with demos or voice memos for potential new songs. By Courtesy of Georges Antoni

The result of their now-finely-tuned authentic collaboration is a nostalgic sound reminiscent of many of the band’s cited inspirations such as The Smiths, The Cure, and The Velvet Underground. Many outside of Australia first got a taste of this nostalgic sound in February, when Royel Otis’s cover of “Murder On The Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor went viral on YouTube and TikTok.

“It’s funny too, because we’ve never wanted to do any covers at all, just because we didn’t feel confident in doing any cover,” Royel said, “I think the artist usually nails it, so why try to fix something that ain’t broken?”

Regardless of their intentions, the timing of the cover’s virality coincided with their latest album release, skyrocketing the band’s popularity.

“My friend was at an ice hockey game at Madison Square Garden. And during the halftime or whatever — I don’t even know, I’m not that much of a sports connoisseur — our song was playing over the speakers during the break. And that, to me is crazy, getting pumped at Madison Square Garden,” Royel said. “After ‘Murder on the Dancefloor,’ we definitely reached much more of an audience. Which is amazing, but it’s bittersweet in a way. Why wasn’t it one of our songs?”

Ever since this rise to fame, the band has been busy nonstop, creating more music and preparing for their North American tour, which will conclude at Boston Calling on May 26.

The band has been busy nonstop, creating more music and preparing for their tour. By Courtesy of Tyrson Burraston

Although the band is appreciative of their rapid growth, they regret that they haven’t had any time to reflect on what this audience reception means to them yet.

“We see some numbers climb, like followers or monthly listeners and stuff, but we’ve been so busy,” Otis said. “We haven’t really gotten to just go, ‘Oh, that’s actually really good. We should be proud of ourselves.’ Or if not, ‘That’s actually really shit. We should try better.’”

It is far more likely that the former sentiment applies, as the band’s nostalgic sound and charismatic connection earns Royel Otis every right to be proud. Regardless, as the two continue to develop and reflect on their performance, they are certain to kill — on and off the dancefloor.

—Staff writer Stella A. Gilbert can be reached at stella.gilbert@thecrimson.com.