Of the collab, Ant Saunders said: “VanJess sent me their first demo and used their phones singing over the instrumentals and I fell in love with what they had. Their voices sounded so cool over the instrumentals and I knew they were going to kill it when they recorded it. It was weird with quarantine. I wish we could’ve met. I messaged them on Instagram and they were super nice. We were sending stuff back and forth to each other. They’d send me recordings, and I’d like everything they sent over. Originally, I was gonna do the intro and then realized it would be cool if they took over and they did. I also told them to do their thing with the chorus with adlibs and background vocals. I let them do their thing and that’s how we got IHALS.”
VanJess stated: „Ant reached out to us during the early times of quarantine, so it was a nice escape writing our verse for such a feel-good record. We loved the soulful positive vibes of ants music in general and we’re so happy he included us on this song.“
2020 kickstarted with the release of Ant’s debut EP, Bubble, via RCA Records UK. Ant was confirmed to perform as support for GRAMMY Award-nominated, multi-platinum and chart-topping singer/songwriter, Camila Cabello, on her Romance Tour which was slated for this fall.
A full DIY effort, the entire Bubble EP was written, recorded and produced by Ant Saunders. The impressive collection of songs includes viral hit, “Yellow Hearts,” which was created in his bedroom and released on the day of his high school graduation. The track is now certified gold in the U.S., with over 400 million streams, and landed a position on the Billboard Hot 100. Ant’s Genius Verified video for “Yellow Hearts’ has just about 1.5 million views. He was also profiled in Virgil Abloh’s RSVP Gallery website, wearing pieces from Off-White, Stone Island and Raf Simons. Emanating a nostalgic and intimate tone, the EP features lead single, “MISCOMMUNICATIONS” with accompanying video, and a soul-stirring, gospel-inspired track titled “It’s Over.” The EP showcases Ant’s prodigious abilities as an artist, in both his vocal performance and songwriting.