Three-time Olympic triple jumper and platinum-certified recording artist, Will Claye recently debuted his highly anticipated singles “ME & MINES” and “Put You On Top.” Claye released a string of singles leading up to his debut album in August 2023.
Claye is also a talented athlete, recently winning the silver medal in the men’s triple jump at the 2023 USA Track & Field Championships.
Claye spoke with rolling out about his music career and also being an athlete.
What is the feeling like when you’re releasing your music?
As an artist, you sit with records for so long, and you listen to them over and over. You love them yourself, but when it gets to the point where the world gets to hear it, you feel like you’re giving a gift to the world.
I love it, and it feels like it’s meant for the world to receive. At that point, I just let it off my hands, and let it do what it does. It could touch five people, or it can touch five million people, and that’s a beautiful thing, to be able to create something that can go out and be received by people and they can do whatever they want with it. They can have whatever type of experiences they want with it, and that’s something that they can tie to a certain period. To me, it’s just dope to be able to do that.
How has track and field helped you in your music career?
It has given me a balance. With everything you have to have a balance, and I think it’s allowed me to escape the monotony of training and just that rhythm and cycle that I usually get into when it comes to like, waking up and watching film, constantly over and over and over. I think I’ve been able to break that up since I have a studio at the house, and I can work on a record to be able to get off whatever it is that I have on my mind or whatever it may be, or just have fun with it.
I feel like everybody has chapters in their life, and I feel like the way that I felt with track at the beginning is how I’m feeling about music now and how it’s coming so easily. It’s flowing more and things are coming into a state of [being] a well-oiled machine when it comes to my craft and it’s just speaking to me and telling me that I need to get into it and dive into it more. I think that I’m in a good space right now when it comes to the music and what’s coming. I feel like I’m still scratching the surface of what’s coming with the music and what I’m going to be able to do with the music.
