Often in music, and as an artist it is easy to grow stagnant. Whether with style, production, or in the roles that make up a great record, the comfort of a linear journey through music can be tempting. That linearity always leaves the possibility of the process feeling unfulfilled and flat. Galaxy Francis and his music don’t fit that description.

Galaxy Francis. It is a truly fitting name as Francis is not just an artist but a producer, engineer, and president of the Chicago based studio and growing creative community space, Studio Shapes, his music and persona reaching far and wide. From that variety of roles has come expansive, infectious grooves, really fun, well crafted bars, and melodies that transport you through the cosmos.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that Galaxy has had hands in a number of Chicago records over the last couple of years. He has readily showcased his rhymes, contagious hooks, and production including on his own 2024 album, “METAL GEAR FRANCIS.” To keep expanding and at the same time remain aligned, Francis and his upcoming, “sweetest day in space,” EP will be much more RnB focused. Another move that will surely shine a light on the planets that call Galaxy Francis home.

In this Q+A between me and Galaxy Francis, we discuss alignment, space, dive into Francis’s musical background and what has shaped him, RnB & much more.

For those not familiar with your artistic journey what got you started making music?

Music has always been a genuine passion and love. I started writing through poetry in grade school, then eventually fell in love with the classic rappers, Wayne, Jay, Lupe (my fave). Putting words together was like building a structure no one could ever tear down. My own lil safe place. Not just rap either, some of my earliest favorite songs were by Usher, The Jacksons, Avant, and New Edition (Candy Girl and Cool It Now). So the first opportunity I got to make my own, I jumped at it. Before I found Lupe, I was just writing to be clever. Lupe inspired to write with purpose, connection, while being clever. And if we being honest, the act of singing helped me cope with trauma too. So I think there’s some psychosomatic shit going on there too.

We heard your upcoming music is gonna be much more R&B focused, what inspired traveling in that musical direction?

Most artists, I think, spend a lot of time trying to find THEIR voice. R&B feels like a place where my music is 100% my voice. I’ve experimented a lot with rapping, and honestly I feel more like a lover boy than a rapper fr. Less ego for me to perform thru as a singer. I LOVE vocal arrangement and different tonalities. Even when I rap, I try to incorporate R&B elements. I don’t wanna shy away from that anymore.

Besides the R&B direction, what would you say is different about your upcoming music compared to past releases like 2024's, METAL GEAR FRANCIS?

Less Autotune, more my natural tone. Kinda like what people heard at the beginning of Nah FR or on 4Real Interlude. it’s very Yearn. Dale Yearnhardt. I’m talking a lot more explicitly about love and vulnerability. Oh and falsetto Francis. Yall ain’t heard him yet. Not this project, but i got songs im sounding like Frankie Lyman. Total 180 from Metal Gear.

What have you been most proud of from 2025 as an artist, StudioShapes president or just in general?

I’m proud of the man I’m becoming more than anything. Less people pleasing, more in tune with my emotions and go to articulate them daily. I’ve made a lot of personal progress in therapy. This year I’ve probably written the least amount of new music in my life. I’m working on a lot of other people’s music as a producer and arranger.

To put it in perspective, I wrote Metal Gear in about three months in 2023. In context, from 2020 - 2024, I recorded and produced eight full projects. six of my own (three that will release at some point following this R&B project), and two collabs with Kenny Bureaux (K&G Vol. 1 which came out late 2024, was only like ⅓ of the songs we made). Metal Gear was actually the most recent full joint of them all that I decided to release. I made a “prequel” to Metal Gear called Forever that may or may not ever see the light of day. I produced those five or so tracks on Kayo’s Domino in like two weeks in 2024 and we had made even more than what came out.

This year? I’ve made maybe like three or four new songs total lbs. Including, “Lock U Down” and “Kuwait (G-Mix)”. Earth Juan & Fire on Sweetest Day is from 2021. Cuban Link is from 2022-ish. Here I Go is from last year. Things come together when they’re supposed to. I’m just proud I’m still here, still getting better.

That’s super impressive. Has working with other artists music as a producer and arranger impacted your own musical moves? Have outside factors like therapy done the same too?

Great question. It just sharpens my skill set. Being a songwriter, and producer, you begin to understand some songs require certain voices. Sometimes that voice isn’t mine. It has made me so much more confident in what I do and the unique perspective I bring as Galaxy Francis the artist. It makes my sound more recognizable to audiences that may not know Galaxy directly but know Kayo, Moyana, Recoe, or Rich Robbins, etc. Therapy for sure informs the depth of how I’m able to express my emotions in music. There was a session during a time I was struggling with self-harm/depression where my therapist suggested to me to make some music as if I’d never put it out, like it’s only for me, a journal entry so to speak. The next song I made after that was so vulnerable. Idk if I’ll put it out because I made depression and derealization sound fun and alluring, lbs. Because of therapy though, 2025 was the first time in a long time I looked in the mirror and said “Man I’m genuinely not depressed anymore, I’m happy, and I did the work to make it that way”. Now there’s so much more room for love in my music.

What's your favorite planet, and if you had to choose a planet to represent the new EP, “the sweetest day in space,” which would it be?

Outside of earth, my favorite planet has always been Jupiter. Its size, the moons. Did you know that it too has rings? And that it rains diamonds because of the atmospheric pressure? I really do this space shit. Don’t me started on the quantum realm and relativity. Anyway, this EP feels like Venus. That’s the planet associated with love, also the planet associated with my sign Taurus.

As far as moving forward, is an R&B based sound something you're looking to focus more on?

Absolutely. More melodic songwriting based arrangements in general. I think I’m reserving my raps for a more specific thing that I’m not 100% sure of yet. I just don’t resonate with rap as much as I do R&B right now. Rapping is too wordy for me sometimes. And I feel like I’ve expressed it from an egoist place that I’m not as much in anymore. Rap felt like a mask I was wearing cause I was good at it and i got applause for it (literally got my a bulk of my fanbase from doing open mics across the state). If I do come back rapping, it’s gone sound more like my NFO cypher than anything else honestly. Whether someone claps for me or not, ima do my r&b thing. I have been but only a few people have been hearing it. I’m excited to share it with the world tho.

Galaxy Francis Keeps Expanding