Photo by Gabriel Olsen/FilmMagic
iLoveMakonnen and Lil Peep were both close friends and frequent collaborators before the latter’s 2017 passing. In an interview with Billboard, Makonnen explained that when he and Peep met they were both listening to profoundly dark music, and wrote the song “Sunlight On Your Skin” in an effort to uplift both themselves and their fans.
Makonnen explained that the pair met shortly after he came out publicly as gay, and that he was experiencing both support and strong backlash. Initially he and Peep had wanted to make a heavier song, but Makonnen explained they decided to try and elicit a different reaction from their fans. He explained:
The music that we were listening to when we first met was very dark, sad shit. We were like the kings of sadness, like, ‘Who can make a sadder song?’ But then we thought, ‘Let’s do something new. Let’s make some happier songs! Let’s make something celebratory! Let’s make people cry tears of joy!’ you know, rather than tears of sadness. That’s what we were thinking going into making these songs. So, yes these are love songs, and it’s love for each other, but it’s not a sexual thing, even though people could take it to a sexual level with their partner if they want to.
He later said that the joy of creating music with Peep was something that he wanted to translate into “Sunlight On Your Skin”:
It was almost like we wanted to heal our fans. When me and Peep were together, we were healing each other. You know what I’m saying? This was our happiness. It was like, ‘I’m with you, you’re with me, we’re happy and creating and having fun. So let’s do this thing for our fans to help them feel the same kind of happiness that you and me have from being around each other. Let’s put this in the music.’
Breaking down the lyrics on Genius, Makonnen cleared up a common misconception about the lyrics to the track’s chorus, where many heard Peep saying “Ko,” a nickname he had for Makonnen, when he was actually saying “Come.”
Makonnen also addressed the controversy surrounding “Falling Down,” the posthumous collaboration between Peep and Lupa. Some fans were upset, believing Peep may not have wanted to with X if he were still alive due to the assault charges against the rapper, but Makonnen challenged that reaction.
“As for the fans that expressed outrage and backlash, I don’t know man. That’s fans. People are always wanting to have an opinion,” he said. “It’s like, y’all don’t know what they would have done! You don’t know what type of path they were on as humans, that they were trying to grow and learn.”
Makonnen is currently working on Diamonds, his joint project with Peep due out later this year. They recently released “I’ve Been Waiting,” a collaboration with Fall Out Boy.
Genius broke down “I’ve Been Waiting” in the episode of Song Stories below.
Read the full lyrics to “Sunlight On Your Skin” and the rest of Makonnen and Lil Peep’s discographies on Genius now.
