Deacon Phillippe Talks Making His Debut Album in His College Dorm: 'One of the Most Challenging Things' (Exclusive)

The son of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe released his first album in April

When Deacon Phillippe was putting together his debut album earlier this year, he wasn't working in a traditional recording studio. He was in his dorm room at New York University.

"That was one of the most challenging things I ever did," he tells PEOPLE exclusively at the launch party for H&M x Rabanne in New York City on Nov. 8. "Recorded it all in there with my friends, my roommates, while going to school."

The 12-track album, A New Earth, was released in April amid Phillippe's first year studying music at NYU. The 20-year-old son of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe admits that while music is his greatest love, doing it while attending class is a lot harder than he anticipated.

"[Fitting everything in is] the hardest part, but I think that if you're doing what you love, it's worth the sacrifice of being stressed out sometimes," he says. "I try to create routines. I have a daily schedule and I try to relax in certain times and then go hard in others."

Related: Reese Witherspoon Enjoys Dance Session to Son Deacon's New Song: 'On Repeat Over Here'

Phillippe's love of music goes back to his childhood, when he said he used to ride around in the car with his dad listening to tunes. It was Drake who put him on the track to producing.

"I heard this beat and I was like, 'That's what I really feel — the production of that,'" he says. From there, he started teaching himself how to use the various tools and programs to make music and started writing songs of his own.

"That's how I got here," he shares, ahead of his gig DJing the launch party for H&M's newest designer collaboration. "I love it more than anything."

Phillippe has had the support of his parents the whole way through — one scroll of his Instagram and you'll see a wealth of comments from Witherspoon championing her son. She even made a dance video to Phillippe's first single back in 2020 and posted it to social media.

“When your kid has his first single... you gotta dance! 🎶” she wrote alongside the hilarious clip, as he replied, “Hahahahah I love you🤣.”

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Now that Phillippe has gotten his first year at NYU out of the way, though, he's no longer living in the dorms. Just this week, the second-year student showed off his New York City apartment on TikTok, complete with spiral staircase and a wall of vinyl.

Phillippe even shared his bedroom and his studio setup.

“I sing and play a little bit of keyboard, but I mostly make music on my computer,” Phillippe explained, before playing a short sample for viewers.

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