Inside The World Of Hivemind

For the last couple of years, Hivemind has grown to become one of the most influential music pages on YouTube. Through their bracket games and artist guest appearances, Riley Savage and Graydon Weaver have built a community that highlights loving music above everything else. Spending time with them off camera has made it abundantly clear that their videos are not a performance; Hivemind is who they are inside and out.

Earlier this summer, I got to discuss with the duo what their lives have been like out of the studio and got to check in on what they've been up to. Riley found himself at a Demi Lovato concert, very different from the intimate small venues that we both expressed how much we love, but he described her performance as “top-tier," adding that if any performer is built for arenas like that, it's definitely Demi. Graydon, on the other hand, had spent the week indoors recovering from allergies; it seems as though they constantly flip-flop between one going out and one staying in when they’re not filming.

Even away from the camera, they consume the same kind of media that long-time viewers of them would expect: recent listening habits including Finn Wolfhard, art school girlfriend, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and a lot of classic rock. Their all-time favorites give an even clearer depiction of their taste, while Riley’s top artists include Teenage Fan Club, Oasis, and George Harrison; Graydon leans more towards Modest Mouse, underscores, and Citizen.

Their relationship with music is what defines the channel. We discussed the difference between stadium concerts and club shows, agreeing that we prefer smaller venues with more memorable and intimate experiences, though sometimes a spectacle of a performance is what an audience deserves.

The more that they've immersed themselves in music, whether that be meeting with artists or attending shows, the harder it's become to dismiss a genre. In their lives, not liking a genre is almost considered “uncool.” To them, the challenge isn't deciding whether a genre (rock, rap, country, etc) is good or bad; the challenge is finding a song that will change how you look at the genre as a whole. We took the example of country music, something that's almost memed on at this point for liking or not liking, and we all agree that though some songs are iffy, it's been having quite a resurgence this year, especially with Ella Langley's new album and her hit song “Choosing Texas.” Her recent rise illustrates how quickly social media reshapes the musical landscape; a song can go from practically unheard of to an unavoidable hit overnight.

The recent conversations have centered more around underground rap and how the term has evolved; to them, underground isn't obscure; it more refers to the musicians outside of the mainstream with more cult-like audiences, following more Slayworld-adjacent projects with artists like Lucy Bedroque, and the growing influence of emo and punk on modern “underground” music. Instead of existing in two separate worlds, these genres are constantly influencing one another, creating new sounds that reflect the current era of musical history that we’re in.

Funny enough, the channel Hivemind was born out of limitations. Both Riley and Graydon were living together during the pandemic and finishing off college when they started it, unable to collaborate with the artists in the ways that they had originally intended for their channel. Instead, they flipped the camera onto themselves and recorded basically what they would do in their day-to-day lives, just this time it was in a studio. The friendship that the two have continued to be the channel's greatest strength. While their banter and reactions may be entertaining, viewers stay for them and their chemistry. The duo, along with everyone else who works behind the scenes, is truly what keeps Hivemind alive; the constant laughter creates a relationship between the viewer and the channel: you're not turning on a show, you're hanging out with your friends.

At the end of it all, it's their dynamic that makes them stand out in music media today; rather than being critical and exclusive, Riley and Graydon create a space of curiosity where it's okay to have the popular opinion and crack a joke every 30 seconds. Hivemind as a channel is not just about discovering new music; it is about discovering new ways to appreciate it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLlTf-9ioYc