PartyOf2 Explain It All On Their New EP

Recording artists often compare making music to therapy. For the members of PartyOf2, it literally was — and still is.

The duo started out as a quartet in 2019 called Grouptherapy, made up of former child actors who came together to make music informed by their experiences — some very traumatic — in the entertainment industry.

However, two of the group’s founding members departed: Rhea (Elijah Rhea Johnson, formerly of the teen boy band Mindless Behavior) in 2020 and TJOnline (also known as Tyrel Jackson Williams, the younger brother of Abbott Elementary star Tyler James Williams) in 2024. So, the remaining members — Swim (Coy Stewart, who got his start in the TV version of Are We There Yet? and appearing in roles for Marvel and Nickelodeon) and Jadagrace (Jadagrace Gordy-Nash, who appeared in Terminator Salvation and was signed to Epic Records when she was just nine years old) — decided it was time for a rebrand.

On March 14, the duo released their first EP since the name change, We Owe You An Explanation. It’s a short but compelling collection of songs in which they wrangle with the internal turmoil that led to TJOnline’s departure from the group, and the sense that, while Grouptherapy may be over, PartyOf2 still needs the benefits the group provided through its camaraderie and the catharsis of music.

Over burgers and fries at Fairfax hotspot Trophies Burger Club in Los Angeles, the two born performers — who still take auditions to this day — got into the nitty gritty of their new dynamic, the pitfalls of the entertainment business, and why, despite their EP’s title, they really don’t owe anyone a thing.

You guys were Grouptherapy before. Now you’re a PartyOf2. You don’t have to get into the messy details and pull out all your guts or anything, but how did you guys get to this new configuration, and what was the adjustment like for you?

Swim: It was very quick for us. To put it plainly, being in a group is hard because there are multiple people with multiple opinions and goals and dreams, and all of those things aren’t going to all line up all the time. So, I think we reached a point where goals and dreams and visions were going in different directions. When we realized we got to that point, I think me and [Jada] hit a place where we were like, because of how it was a refuge for us, “Do we even want to still do this?”

Jada: Is it still going to feel right and feel good? We don’t want to just keep going because we’ll feel like we failed or whatever. It’s like, do we want to keep going? Are we going to be happy?

Swim: Are we going to be happy? Do we still love this? And I think what we circled back to again was how therapeutic it is for us. Because that change was very difficult, we just went straight to the music, we locked ourselves in the studio, and very quickly, we realized that if we were going to continue, it only felt right to re-brand and give this new life because of what we built with Grouptherapy as a trio. We wanted to honor that and we wanted to start a new chapter. So, PartyOf2 was born.

Jada: When thinking about continuing this as Grouptherapy, it felt like there was always going to be something that felt wrong in our hearts about it, just because Grouptherapy was what it was, and this is a totally different dynamic. This is something totally new and we just wanted to honor that, and also let the fans know, obviously with this project coming out, how much we still love the therapy and do it in a way where it’s not abandoning it, but just honoring it and moving forward with some new energy.

I like that segue because I wanted to ask… titles are portentous. Obviously, you guys feel like there’s stuff you have to explain. Why is it so important to you to explain this? Because really, if we’re getting into it with us in the entertainment business, we don’t owe people that. So, what was so important to you guys about getting that out there, and what do you want people to learn about you guys?

Swim: It’s interesting because I think the feeling that we owe people an explanation is more specific to people who are like us and look like us and enjoyed our music and were true core fans of us from the beginning. With Grouptherapy, we were so transparent, and we showed people it was okay to be transparent and be yourselves and be different and look like this. To go through such a crazy change like that and not say anything felt wrong.

Jada: It also felt not only we owed it to the Grouptherapy fans, but more so to ourselves, because you’re right, we don’t owe. If we don’t want to talk about something, we won’t. We’ll move on. But it didn’t feel right, because it’s genuinely what we were going through and what was on our hearts at that time. So, just being true to ourselves and trying to be authentic in our music, it’s like, “We’re going to talk about what we’re going through and this is it, and we happen to go through it publicly.” So everybody wants to know, but it’s not to feed into it or to make it a whole thing. It’s just because that’s how we’re feeling right now.

I wanted to ask you guys what your process is like now. How has it changed? How do you guys come up with the ideas? What are you listening to when you’re getting inspired? I’m a big fan of the back-and-forth flow: “I’m going to take four bars, I’m going to take four bars and then bounce off.” And you guys did that to perfection. And only, I think, once or twice have I ever heard it for the man-and-woman dynamic.

Jada: Being a duo now, there’s just naturally more room for both of us to shine individually, and we just honestly have a lot of fun going back and forth. Sometimes, to be honest, we’ll write a whole song and just record it, or Swim will write some demos and stuff, and we’ll just listen to it in full. And then we’ll be like, “Honestly, you should be saying this part, I should be saying this part.” So sometimes we’ll switch because it just feels right. But yeah, our process is very unique and it has changed since becoming a duo. We’ve been producing a little more. I feel like we are always trying to do something that we haven’t touched yet.

Swim: The studio still feels like the only place that I can actually be my truest self. Creatively, I think this year, we’ve been really pushing ourselves to be as raw and vulnerable as we possibly can. On the album before, when we were a trio, I would never step into the booth without having my entire verse completely written. And now, we literally will put something on that inspires us and I will lock myself in the booth and just say sh*t. I try to remove that right side of my brain that’s trying to judge everything.

I want to do something fun. Jada, what’s your favorite thing about Swim?

Jada: Creatively?

Just as a person.

Swim: I would love to know.

Jada: I would say he’s the most determined person I’ve ever met in my life. It don’t matter how many obstacles you put in front of this man, he will knock them down. It don’t matter if he’s bleeding on the floor. He will clean up his own blood and he will get up and make it happen. It just feels like we can never fail. He’s always pushing us forward.

Swim, same question

Swim: Jada is probably the most genuine and pure person I’ve ever met in my life. And your heart is always so open and so in the right place that it scares me sometimes. I don’t understand how you’ve been through the things that you’ve been through and you haven’t let any of it poison you or darken your heart at all. I feel like the balance that we have is, yeah, I am very determined, but I think sometimes with that determination, you can lose some of your humanity in being so focused on the goal. So she brings me back to center a lot when I’m bleeding too much and trying to get back up too much. But that’s the balance we have. You blow my mind the things that we’ve been through and how you’ve just been like, “It’s okay, it’s fine. It’s going to be okay.”

Next year, if we decide to make this a tradition — Trophies, burgers and fries, and just hang out and talk — and you say, “Aaron, this last year was crazy. This, we did this, we did that, we did this.” What’s the answer to that question?

Jada: It’s the simple things for me. Just putting out a project with just the two of us is going to be so filling to me because we’ve been working so hard. The moment we found out that we were going to be a duo, I felt like I just couldn’t see it for a second. If you would’ve told me that we would make an album, sign, tour, and all that, I just would be like, “How?” So the fact that we’re going to do it and I know we’re going to do it successfully, I will be happy. And also, we’ve never done a headline tour, not even as Grouptherapy. So to do a headline tour, just the two of us.

Swim: See the fans. I think it’s interesting: We experienced so much as children, so many things. Very life-changing things. I think it made me a little bit jaded to the idea of success, and maybe not in a negative way, but just that there aren’t really a lot of things that can happen in terms of material success that affect me anymore because I’ve been through so many different things, and it’s still very exciting. Of course, I want a Grammy one day.

And I want to buy my mom a house and all these amazing things. But I think I’ve got to the point now where it’s like, in a year, bro, I hope I’m happy still. And I hope that I can look back at the project we made and just be proud of it. I’ve never been proud of a project more than this EP because I was really able to take my heart and put it on that canvas in the most honest way I’ve ever been able to do it, and now I’m addicted to that. So, I’m just hoping that we do it again and can continue to do it.

We Owe You An Explanation is out now via Def Jam Recordings. Find more info here.