Nashville-based R&B group Rookie Season are the perfect flavor to kick start your day. The duo, comprised of Sanders Bohlke and Brad Odum, had been playing music separately for years before finally deciding to combine their talents into a full-fledged dynamic force. And best of all, their unwavering ethos in forming Rookie Season was to make music they liked. “You have to make it for you first,” says the band, and we respect that all the way. Check out their new video for “Backtalker,” directed by claymation artist Azod Abedikichi. The track comes off their debut album The Collide, which dropped earlier this year, and it’s smooth buttery feel fits the vibe perfectly. –Maya Eslami

WHAT YOUTH: Tell me about the video. Who came up with the concept? 

ROOKIE SEASON: Azod is a good friend of ours, and we’ve worked together on different projects over the years. We sent him some early mixes of the first two singles and he loved them. He immediately wanted to make a video. The concept was all him. We talked about it for months, and he kept coming up with these brilliant ideas and then changing them. He finally landed on this one, and we were all in. There was actually a casting call for the barbies. He was so meticulous in his search for the right ones. That’s what makes him so good–the attention to detail. We’re excited that it’s finally getting out there.

What was it like working with him? 

There’s nobody like him. He’s freakishly talented and very driven. We used to hoop on Thursdays around 6 in the morning, and he would show up having not slept because he was up all night animating. He’s a beast. He makes you want to be a better artist. The dude is seriously one of kind. The process of working with him is pretty simple–just let him do his thing.

I read that Rookie Season has been ten years in the making. How did everything unfold? 

We’ve been playing music together for 10 years in different capacities, but never like this. We just decided it was worth a shot to see if we could write together. Eventually the writing took the shape of R&B. That’s what we both love, so we went with it. We just kept going, and now we have an album that we’re super proud of, and a dope video by one of our friends. We’re stoked.

And what can we expect from you guys on the new album?

When we made The Collide we had zero expectations. We didn’t care if anybody liked it. I feel like that’s the key. You have to make it for you first. So, we’ll try and stick with that, but we’re definitely experimenting with new sounds and stuff. We’ve been working with a few different producers and co-writers, and we’re really liking what’s happening.