PARIS TEXAS for Glamcult #142 the ANIMA issue

Louie Pastel stumbles into the Google Meet call with the urgency of someone who’s just woken up — because he has. His camera flicks on, revealing a dimly lit room, a tousled head, and the unmistakable grogginess of a man who has barely been conscious for thirty seconds. It’s like I’ve been transported into his LA apartment, perched awkwardly on his couch with my notebook, despite being thousands of miles away in the UK.

“Oh, did I miss it?” he blurts [referring to the Glamcult interview], voice still catching up to reality.

Felix, the other half of Compton-based rap duo Paris Texas, grins from his corner of the screen. “No, Louie, you’re only eight minutes late. The interview’s still on. Just waking up?” His tone is all mock sympathy; the rhetorical question met with a resigned exhale from Louie, who pulls the duvet back over himself, settling into a posture that suggests this interview could, at any moment, dissolve into a nap.

This is Paris Texas, in a nutshell: half chaos, half chill, both halves giving the impression they don’t particularly care if you get it or not because they are doing it authentically. Their name — a nod to the 1984 film Paris, Texas — feels intentional until you learn that Felix still hasn’t seen the movie.

Since their 2021 debut with BOY ANONYMOUS, Paris Texas have carved out their lane in music — a chaotic mix of punk, rap, and whatever else they feel like throwing in. At first, it confused people. A producer even once called it a “jumbled mess.” Their response? “‘Ok, well… this is what we’re doing.’” Three years later, that jumbled mess is a cult favourite (…with over 40 million Spotify streams). Tracks like HEAVY METAL soon became underground, then overground anthems. So when their 2023 album Mid Air turned that initial chaos into something sharper and stranger, they became impossible to ignore.

Their appeal isn’t just in the music — it’s in the attitude. The duo operates in a space of controlled unpredictability, where they’re both the architects and wrecking crew of their sound. Their music sounds like a late-night drive when everything outside the window feels slightly unreal. It’s unpredictable but cohesive, unpolished but deliberate. They don’t fit into the industry’s pre-cut shapes, which is exactly why their fans love them.

Now, in 2025, they’re on to their next evolution. Two new EPs are on the way, and, true to form, they weren’t exactly planned. “It just kind of split naturally into two different vibes,” Louie explains, still half-buried in his pillow. “One felt like it needed its own space, while the other seemed like a continuation — or maybe a response.” He says this with the calm of someone describing a minor wardrobe change rather than an unconventional release strategy. Paris Texas moves at its own pace, driven more by instinct than industry expectations.

Felix nods assuredly. “We decided to split it into two parts of the same world.” This, it turns out, is how they approach everything: not as a checklist to complete but as a space to explore. No rush, no pressure — just letting things take shape. The same approach makes their music feel so fluid like it could expand in any direction at any moment. The split, rather than being a marketing gimmick, is an organic response to the way they create.

That looseness, though, is balanced by a very real sense of perfectionism. “At some point, you just gotta drop it,” Felix admits. “If we let the perfectionist take over, we’d never release anything.” The way he says it, I worry there are probably entire vaults of unreleased Paris Texas songs buried under an endless loop of tweaking and second-guessing. “You’ve gotta put it out, or else you’re just sitting on a hard drive full of songs that no one ever hears.”

Felix laughs. “Sometimes, artists can get in their own way. But if you don’t let go, it just gets buried in the process.” The tension between their meticulous approach and their need to move forward is an ongoing fight: the urge to perfect vs. the need to release. But in the end, they let me know if a song sits for too long, it stops being alive. It loses the urgency, the rough edges that make it interesting. For a band like Paris Texas, that rawness is part of the magic.

Eventually, we circle back to the question they always get asked: what makes them so ‘genre-defying’?

Felix and Louis smirked in unison. “People name a lot of genres, then describe us as ‘genre-defying,’ huh?” He’s got a point. “People say ‘genre-defying’ because they don’t know what else to call it. When they can’t just say, ‘Oh, they’re the new [insert artist],’ so they use this term.” “Categories make things comfortable. But we embraced the idea of not knowing exactly who or what we are”. Hence their debut album name, I guess: BOY ANONYMOUS.

In other words, Paris Texas isn’t trying to escape categorisation. They’re just doing what feels right, and if that means blurring lines, so be it. Even as they gain traction, their DIY ethos remains intact. However, “It’s different now,” Felix admits, with a touch of nostalgia. “But originally, there was no one else to pass it on to. If we didn’t do it, it wouldn’t have been done.”

So, was it hard to accept outside help after years of self-reliance?
Louie exhales, thinking it over. ‘Yeah, but at the same time, you gotta let go. Otherwise, you’re not moving forward.’ That thought lingers — Paris, Texas, hoarding an endless stash of unreleased tracks, guarding them. But even ~ genre-defying ~ vaults have to be opened eventually.

Then there’s the other side of the industry: social media. I almost hesitate to bring it up with the duo, cringing for reasons I can’t quite place. But five minutes on their Instagram quickly gives you a clear sense of their tone, process, and aesthetic. Their post announcing MidAirOuTnow is a perfect example: “wow wow wow crazy very sexy time. insane how much love went into this album. not just from us but from our team as well, mike jimmy and sal, give it up for the boys fr for believing in us and this project. go check the pronouns they/ really them for real for real.” The caption reads like an offhand diary entry, one of many spaced out about six months apart. While many fall at the feet of Zuckerberg’s mysterious ‘shadow banning’ and post only to stay visible, Paris Texas don’t submit to the algorithm’s demands. Instead, they treat Instagram like a scrapbook. It’s less about feeding the social media beast and more about dropping in when the mood strikes. “It’s part of it now,” Felix shrugs, and again, I wish I never asked.

“Why does your stuff end up in fashion media?” I ask. Louie raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know. We make things we think are cool, and, somehow, it gets picked up by these people.” “We just get clothes and wear them”, Felix adds simplistically.

Their style? Quietly cool. Collaborations with 032c, Document, Hypebeast, and Glamcult have inevitably boosted their fashion profile, but Felix’s response is: “That’s not a goal. It’s just what happens.”

As we wrap up, it’s obvious Paris Texas aren’t slowing down: two new EPs, a growing fanbase, and the CHROMAKOPIA tour with Lil’ Yachty and Tyler The Creator. They’re doing their own thing, and it’s anything but predictable. Whatever comes next, it’s safe to say it won’t be boring.

So, while the industry tries to package chaos, Paris Texas, just lets it run wild — groggy, unscripted, and entirely on their own terms. No gimmicks, no formula. And that’s exactly why they can’t be ignored.