How did a bedroom producer from Manchester come to step in the studio with the likes of T.I., Travis Scott and Young Thug? The whirlwind success of July 7’s story is grounded in hard graft. But it doesn’t end there – after entering the game making beats for superstars, he’s stepped out from behind the boards to become a solo artist in his own right, racking up millions of streams worldwide. Treading the same path as his heroes Pharrell and The Neptunes, July 7 has built his own sonic world that sets him apart from his peers. An early and steadfast determination to learn how to do things himself has meant he now does all the vocals, producing, mixing and mastering himself. The number seven, after all, is the number of perfection. “I can create whatever the fuck I wanna create!” he says. “I can be like, ‘Fuck it, lemme just play some guitar!’ It’s definitely a challenge, but it comes with a lot more freedom.” In this hyper-connected age where help is easily at hand, July 7 is taking self-sufficiency to another level. Never content to stay quiet, July 7 is in the midst of releasing a steady stream of new music. Drawing on tropes from genres like rock and death metal, he promises his next output is stuff that “absolutely messes your head up”. With July 7, you really never know what you’re going to get next. “I’m always chasing a new level,” he says, “I‘m always gonna keep refreshing my sound.”