The eleventh hour is a moment of reckoning, a final opportunity to change course before time runs out. For , however, it carries a more personal meaning: a chance to reflect on where he has been and what lies ahead. Best known as one half of Atlanta duo , the artist embraces this new chapter with , a debut solo album shaped by questions of faith, love and the importance of making room for joy.
Made with the guidance of executive producer , the project finds Johnny exploring the different dimensions of being human from the vulnerability of longing to the uncertainty that can accompany love. Its spiritual undertones are particularly striking with the voices of women who helped raise him opening the album and a deeply personal reflection on faith bringing it to a close. Together, these moments give ‘THE 11TH HOUR’ a sense of reflection grounding Johnny’s next chapter in the experiences and relationships that have shaped him.
After years of creating alongside his EARTHGANG counterpart, is stepping forward with a renewed understanding of his own creative instincts. Speaking to Clash, he reflects on the making of ‘THE 11TH HOUR’, the lessons he has drawn from love and the importance of learning to enjoy the life he has worked so hard to build.
You’ve spent years building your identity as part of EARTHGANG. What made this the right moment to give Johnny Venus its own space and begin this solo chapter?
I think life motivated me. Life began to unfold in new and exciting ways, and I needed to honour that transformation and progression. I thought the best way to do that was through art, music and storytelling, in a way that felt true to who I am and who I’m becoming.
You’re from Atlanta, a city that has shaped so many different sides of hip-hop and R&B. How did growing up there influence your own voice as an artist?
Growing up in Atlanta taught me that everybody has their own voice. I think that’s the beautiful thing about the city. Nobody silences anybody or tells you that because you’re from a certain part of the city, you don’t have anything to say, or that because you look a certain way, you can’t represent yourself and others.That’s especially important growing up in Atlanta as a Black person. We get to see the different sides of who we can become. There isn’t one monolithic version of what being Black means. We’re all worthy, we all count, and we’re all beautiful.
The title ‘The 11th Hour’ feels very intentional. How did the idea begin to take shape, and what made it the right title for this project?
The title started taking shape around March or April. In November of last year, during one of our recording sessions, I told The-Dream, who executively produced the project that I wanted 11 songs on the album. He asked me why, and I said I thought it was a dope number. I didn’t want to add a bunch of fillers just to say I had 19 tracks. Less is more and 11 felt like the sweet spot. It’s also a spiritual number. A master number in numerology associated with balance, transformation and duality. We decided to use that as our foundation. As the project developed, my career progressed, and the things I needed to learn and prepare for started coming at me faster. The title, The 11th Hour revealed itself.
The 11th hour is that moment when you get a chance to make a difference. If you haven’t done it before, this is your opportunity. It’s your overtime, your stoppage time, your extra time to make a significant shift and change the future as you enter a new era. A lot of the records reflect that: enjoying the moments I’m in, looking back on them and asking myself what I want to carry into the future.
You mentioned working with The-Dream. What was that experience like, and what did you learn from him throughout the process?
Working with The-Dream was really dope. It’s like being around somebody with so much knowledge who’s still curious about music, humanity and life. I could talk to him about records he’d written for Beyoncé and Rihanna, his own music, and the styles he grew up listening to. He’s lived a very interesting and full life, and being able to draw from that experience was invaluable. I also got to see how somebody keeps music at the centre of their life and how that benefits everything. Serving the art really benefits everything. The creativity was always high and we had a lot of fun but we were also very decisive and intentional about what each of us contributed. I learned to question every addition: What is this part doing? Why are you adding it? Does it make sense? How can you bring it into something more beautiful?
There are different expressions of love across the album, from the joy of finding someone to the uncertainty that comes with a relationship. What was it like exploring those different sides of yourself?
I don’t know if anybody is good at loving. People talk about it as though it’s something you’re either good at or not, but I don’t know anybody who came out of the womb being the perfect partner. Learning how to interact with people, figuring out which parts of yourself you want to keep and which parts you’re willing to compromise to help a relationship grow and flourish is difficult. It’s not easy at all. But you have to focus on the good times, the joy and the goodness, rather than getting lost in the difficulties.
With songs like ‘So Beautiful’, ‘Serotonin’ and ‘Porsche 911’, I wanted to highlight the beautiful moments of love: the ecstasy, joy, laughter, appreciation and adoration. Those feelings are super important. They’re why we’re attracted to people in the first place. ‘American Dream’, in particular, is about finding something you thought was rare, something you didn’t think existed. Then you have songs like ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘Feng Shui’, or moments of reflection on ‘Can You Pray for Me’, where you’re looking at yourself and asking what you might need to change to move into the next phase of your life.
’11:00′ opens the album with a spiritual, reflective atmosphere bringing together a choir and a brief monologue. Why did you want to begin the project that way?
Those are the sounds I grew up listening to. Aside from Ogi, who’s an incredible artist, the other women singing on the track are women who helped raise me.My mum is on there too. They’re my aunties. They braided my hair when I was eight, nine and ten years old, and some of them even changed my diapers.I wanted them to be part of the project because they’ve been a guiding light for me, and I’m so appreciative of everything they’ve given me. I wanted the beginning to reflect that. It feels spiritual, loving and considerate, but it’s also powerful.The monologue is there for a reason. Sometimes that voice is your own, sometimes it’s someone calling to check on you, an elder who loves you or even a dream. It gives you a chance to pause and ask yourself, “Am I ready for this next challenge? Am I ready for this next thing?” Then you get to find out. You get to do it.
‘I Want You Back’ introduces a particularly vulnerable side of the album. What made that song the right introduction to this chapter of your career?
We chose ‘I Want You Back’ because it was drastically different from what we were hearing on the airwaves and in the R&B space. It’s downtempo and minimalist so there aren’t a lot of different sounds, and the production isn’t trying to carry the track. What carries it is the writing and the delivery. There’s an honesty and vulnerability in the words, so shout out to Baby Tate who wrote the record. Then there’s the passion and feeling in my delivery. It’s about being honest enough to say, “This is my last chance. This is my shot right here.” I think we sometimes believe music needs bells and whistles to make something shine. But you don’t need to dress something up to make it meaningful. It’s the essence that stands out and stands the test of time.
‘Porsche 911’ has a much more playful energy, while ‘Nightmares’ explores the anxiety that can come with love. Do you see those songs as two sides of the same story?
Wow, that’s beautiful. You’re going to make me go back and listen to the project in a whole different way. ‘Nightmares’ is about that anxiety of overthinking or becoming your own worst enemy. You start wondering, “Is this too good to be true? Something has to go wrong because there’s no way this can be this good.” You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. ‘Porsche 911’, on the other hand, is about making the most of the moment you have and enjoying it instead of thinking so hard about everything. So, yes, they’re two opposite sides of the same coin.
With ‘Porsche 911’, you also bring a sense of playfulness to love. Why was it important to make room for that kind of joy on the album?
We need joy. We need playfulness, and everybody needs love. Coming from the South, from Atlanta, the 808s, samples and that sense of fun have always been part of our music. From crunk and trap to dance and snap music, playfulness has always been part of our sound. I wanted to bring that into the album and explore it through love. Let’s make love fun. Let’s make it playful. Let’s make it the joyride it should be. You can dance to the song, twerk to it or sing it at the top of your lungs. That’s the feeling we wanted to deliver.
‘So Beautiful’, featuring 6LACK, has a warm, soulful quality. How did that collaboration come together, and why did you feel he was the right person for the song?
That song came out of a Spillage Village camp. 6LACK was there, I was there, the producer Cam Herring was there, and Mereba was there, too. It was late at night, probably around 3 a.m., on the third or fourth day of the camp. Everybody was tired, and when they played the beat, I thought it was perfect for that moment. We were exhausted and needed something sweet, comforting and relaxing. I went in and wrote it on the spot.
I wanted to bring out that feeling of cherishing and admiring someone, recognising a quality that makes them exceptional. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about their physical appearance; it can be something about who they are.Then 6LACK came into the room and said he had to get on the song. I already knew he was going to do it justice. He doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do, so if he wants to be part of something, you can be sure he’ll give it his all.
‘Can You Pray For Me’ closes the album on a deeply personal and spiritual note. What made you want to share that part of yourself with listeners?
It’s funny because that was actually the fourth or fifth song I made for the album. It wasn’t intended to be the final track. I was going through a really difficult time in my life, and I felt I needed to put those feelings out there. I couldn’t keep carrying them any longer. It was challenging to express those feelings let alone make them rhyme or turn them into something cohesive, but I think it was necessary. As songwriters, there’s something we don’t say enough: the more personal you are, the more people you can connect with. If you’re vague, a few people might understand you, but when you’re deeply personal and honest about who you are and what you’re going through, you can reach so many more people.A lot of people have told me how much they connect with that record, and I’m just thankful. That’s really beautiful to me.
The first and last songs are connected. The intro and outro speak to each other, so if you put the project on repeat, “Can Somebody Pray for Me” leads you back to that opening question: Is your heart open? Are you ready for this next moment, or do you want to repeat a cycle?For me, that spiritual space can be a church, a mosque or simply those moments when life stands still and you feel connected to something bigger than yourself. It’s about finding that connection so you don’t feel alone.
After spending so much time creating music with EARTHGANG, what has making this solo body of work taught you about your own creative instincts?
I’ve learned a lot, and I’m still learning. Creation has always been a collaborative effort for me. Even though this is my solo project and the beginning of my solo career, none of the songs on the album were made entirely by me. Every track has some collaborative element that helped shape what it became.But the process has also challenged me to recognise that I have the ability to make the final decision. It’s mine, so I can decide where I stand, justify that decision and say, “This is where I am, this is how I’m feeling, and that’s okay.”
Was there anything else you discovered about yourself while making The 11th Hour?
Hell yeah. I learned that I’m a very passionate person, and I need to experience more joy in my life. I learned to lean into the ease of life, to go with the flow and embrace the happy moments. A song like “American Dream” helped me understand that it’s okay to feel joyful about something. A lot of my life as a recording artist has been spent processing difficult experiences. I’m used to making songs about struggle, liberation and political injustice. That’s familiar territory for me.But when I was given the opportunity to talk about something more joyful, I started asking myself, “Have I lived? Have I experienced the fullness of life?”
When you think about civil rights activists and leaders, for example, they spent so much time fighting for freedom. But are they enjoying life, too? I wish they could take a vacation! You weren’t born to constantly fight. Eat well, smile, live well and love well. Enjoy the things you’re fighting for.
When people finish listening to ‘The 11th Hour’, what do you hope they understand about Johnny Venus that they might not have understood before?
I hope it makes me seem more human. I hope people understand the full range of who I am and see how much I’m enjoying, loving and living this life, too. I want to be seen as somebody who’s like them who experiences things in the same way they do and who is fully present in this life.
‘The 11th Hour’ is out now.
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