During his recent PLLRS conversation at SoHo Works in Brooklyn, SAINt JHN revealed how some of his best records came from the saddest places. An unreleased song from his upcoming project Fake Tears From A Pop Star ripped tears from his eyes because of its potential for changing his life.

“After I wrote the song, I went into the shower, and I was crying in the shower. The tears I was crying came from me knowing that my life would never be the same. I wasn't sad. It was interesting knowing that nothing was ever going to be the same after this record,” he explained to REVOLT.

In this installment of “Studio Sessions,” the Grammy Award-winning songwriter/artist explains making music with Kanye West and Buju Banton in Jamaica, working on songs for Rihanna at her writing camp and how Zoë Kravitz’s wedding led to a Lenny Kravitz collaboration.

Who was the first major artist you were in the studio with that either made you feel like you made it in this industry or was a huge achievement for you?

I realized things were going and I had momentum when me and Meek [Mill] did a song that didn't even come out. That might be my favorite song that we've ever done. We got a couple of songs at this point, but it was the most seamless session because I was working on Ghetto Lenny's Love Songs. I believe, at the time, Collection One had already come out, and I hadn't had any collaborations yet in any major way. But that happened fast. Me, Chubbie Baby [and] Diana Gordon were in a session because I brought her with me. Simone [King] and Biggs [Burke] were there. We went to meet Meek. The room was filled with people, and he was working on something.

Meek was in the booth. When he came out, I was like, “Yeah, that s**t is crazy.” He was like, “You want to get on that?” So, I went into the booth and did the first thing that I thought of. The song was called “Till I Die.” Then, I had a session with Lenny Kravitz in Paris during Fashion Week. We ran into Lenny at the Chrome Hearts party. Lenny was dancing on the dance floor, and I was like, “Yo Biggs, you gotta go talk to him.” Biggs told him I wanted to connect with him. Lenny was like, “Oh, absolutely.” So, we linked right there on the dance floor. He gave me a big hug. It was big love. It was great energy. I told him I wanted to do this record with him. He told me he heard it. He told me, “My daughter's getting married in Paris that weekend. But if you stay through the weekend, we could do it on Monday.” We told him we would, but we had no plans to stay. We were supposed to leave the next day (laughs).

Around 1 a.m. on Monday, he texted me asking, “You up?” I was dead asleep. I still was like, “Yeah, I'm absolutely up.” He told me to come to the studio. He had just come from a wedding, so I knew his energy was up. So, we just put on some clothes and went to the studio. It happened to be his crib, which was stunning. It was on a hidden street. He maybe had James Brown's pants, Prince's guitar and Muhammad Ali's gloves on the wall. His engineer was downstairs in the basement, inside of this palatial studio I'm sure he designed all the furniture for because Lenny designs furniture. We were working on “Borders” for Ghetto Lenny's Love Songs. He loved it, and he asked me, “What do you want me to do?” I had a second verse that I [had] previously written. I completely scrapped that second verse and made it up on the spot. He went into the booth. He told me, “Tell me what to do, I trust you.” I was giving him the lines one by one. I was making it up as I went along. I didn't have a plan. The plan went out the window, and I just made up the verse on the spot. I trusted my instincts and so did Lenny.

You also spent two months writing songs for Rihanna that weren't used. What was that process like?

I was in a mansion in Malibu, and they were doing a writing camp. They invited me to the camp, and I think I was only supposed to be there for three days or something. My first session was with Deputy, who produced "B**ch Better Have My Money." The first song we did is a song called “Safety.” “I'm not looking for safety. Only I can save me.” I was like, “This is it. She’s gonna do it.” Travis Scott and Quentin Miller were there working. Travis was in there writing. Rihanna was upstairs. The-Dream was over there in the next room down. Everybody who is anybody was there, and it felt like the writing Olympics. I was like, ”I'm about to body this. Watch this.” I'm just going back and forth to this Malibu crib every single day. I'm staying at this hotel in Brentwood and then driving to Malibu or taking an Uber to Malibu and finishing up at 11, 12 or 1 o'clock in the morning. I'm at the Olympics. I’m in the prime of my life. I'm with the elites. I will not leave until I've succeeded. I think the successful part of it was being able to compete. I didn't place any records on that project, but I was competitive, and everybody heard my name. They keep telling me she about to come out with an album in the next six months. I’ve gotten 400 “next six months” updates (laughs).

So, you don't know if you will get a placement on her next album?

I might. I'm praying, man. I hope she's like, “Yo, this n**ga be talking about this s**t so much. I gotta give him an adlib or something.” Let my dream come true. Let me have this win.

At your PLLRS chat with Simone King, you spoke about the loneliness and the anxiety you expressed in the song “Body On Me.” Are there any songs that you've written or recorded that have made you emotional while you were creating them?

I have a song called “Pray to God.” I was on the brink of tears recording it. I didn't write it. It just sort of wrote itself. I turned the music on, and every single word that was in the song came out as naturally as possible. I didn't think about it before. I didn't rehearse it. I didn't script it. I didn't write it. I never considered it. I didn't conceive it. I didn't have a plan that morning. You can hear I'm at the edge of my voice, and I'm a footstep away from tears, and I'm holding it back because I would have had to stop recording if I was crying. That'll be on my next collection, Fake Tears From A Pop Star. I also remember writing another song. After I wrote the song, I went into the shower, and I was crying in the shower. The tears I was crying came from me knowing that my life would never be the same. I wasn't sad. It was interesting knowing that nothing was ever going to be the same after this record.

Also, during your PLLRS chat, you and Simone were very open and honest about balancing family life and music ambitions. Are there any songs or musical achievements that came as a direct result of prioritizing music over going to a family event, for example, or making sacrifices in your personal life?

That would be like talking to a war veteran and asking them about the most impactful or most important or the most damaging moment that has impacted them during a war. Yeah, at some point, it just becomes normal, and I don't notice that there's something more significant than the other because I come from a torn family. All I've known is sacrifice. I haven't been to a birthday party. I went to Billions’ first birthday party, and that might have been the first one that I'd gone to for a child in 20 years. I miss my mom's birthdays a lot of times, I miss Christmas. I don't even answer my phone on my birthday. I don't know if it comes from the guilt of knowing that I've missed others, and I just accept the sacrifice. All I feel is a constant degree of sacrifice, and it's just become the norm. So much so that it doesn't even feel like sacrifice. It just feels like a habit of what it takes for me to continue to be able to give myself to the planet.

When you were making FESTIVAL SEASON, what was the first song you recorded where you knew you were making the album?

“Body On Me” changed everything. Actually, “Body on Me” and “Stones” changed everything. “Body On Me” was the centerpiece of this collection because it has a romantic rage. It's so animated, it's so urgent, it's so angsty, but it's also so romantic, heartfelt and transparent. It's a place I hadn't really ever been creatively, and I knew where it belonged. I knew it deserved to be listened to. I knew the arena that it should be performed in and played in. And I built everything around that. I arranged everything around that.

I have to ask: What ever happened during that session with Buju Banton and Kanye West years ago?

Me and Ye went to Jamaica to link with Buju. This is crazy because when we got there, he was, like, “Yo, us three should do an album together.” I'm looking to the left, then to the right of me. I'm like, “This n**ga is out of his f**king mind.” We started recording immediately. He was looking at land, and he wanted to record, and he wanted to build a school, and Buju was with whatever. We recorded a bunch of records. I don't know if they're under lock and key. I think one of the records ended up with French Montana. I think another one became “Lord I Need You” from DONDA.

What do you have coming for the rest of the year?

Another tour is coming. This is a super working year. After another tour, me and Jeymes [Samuel] gonna do another movie. Coachella is around the corner. I really want to design a sneaker this year, so I'm hoping I can lock that in. There are a couple of different partners that are on the table.