Growing pains
SonaOne on tackling adulthood on his new album and possibly working with Jay Park.
“PAYING bills!” SonaOne says with a laugh when asked about the least favourite thing he has to do as an adult. “Who loves paying bills?”
The local hip- hop artiste, whose real name is Mikael Adam Lozach, released his debut full- length album, Growing Up Sucks, two weeks ago, which deals with the often uncomfortable transition many face as they step into adulthood.
Contrary to what the album title suggests, SonaOne says the album encourages listeners to accept and embrace adulthood and everything that comes with it.
“As much as it sucks that you cannot go back in time and relive your moments as a teen or a young adult, the positive thing is you are growing up, you’ll become an adult and there are so many great things to look forward to in adult life.”
SonaOne, who turns 28 this year, says, personally, while he has embraced this new phase in life wholeheartedly, he still holds on to his inner child.
“Adulthood has hit me hard. I’m not so far away from 30. In my mind, I’m an adult, I have responsibilities to live up to. At the same time, that kid inside me is never going to go away.
“That means I can approach my life from two perspectives – as an adult and a younger person with less worries,” he shares.
Fans of SonaOne may notice that he is sporting a crew cut now, having shaved off his ponytail undercut at the end of last year.
“That was like a pre- release symbol of Growing Up Sucks. Part of growing up means you’ve got to change the way you look. And I got bored of the ponytail, it’s getting a bit old,” he says of his new look.
SonaOne’s single No More, also included in the album, made history in 2014 when it became the first English Song to win Best Song at the Anugerah Industri Muzik.
Asked if he expects to scoop up any awards for the new album, the singer responds: “If I were to get any nominations from any upcoming awards, I’d be so happy. But the truth is, with this album, I just wanted to create the best possible music I could create with my own abilities.”
When Star2 spoke to SonaOne last April, a few months after his historic win, he shared he had thrown out a number of songs he originally had in mind and wrote new songs for the album.
“I’m excited with what I have. We have a good blend of old and new songs that all kind of fit into the same theme of the album,” he says of the new album. “Even the old songs that I had, Firefly and the title track which were written in 2010 and 2011, were reworked, with added backing vocals and guitars to give it a higher quality and have them gel with the newer songs on the album.”
SonaOne also talks about his move to release Growing Up Sucks digitally: “We sold physical CDs at the launch as a limited edition thing, but essentially the album is only available on digital platforms.
“It was important because that’s also part of me growing up and realising what the realities of today is. Physical CDs are not really ( flying off the shelves). We are looking at the future and the future of record sales is in digital sales. So I’m going in head first, ( putting) 100% into marketing my music online,” he says.
Social media postings last year saw the homegrown artiste posing for a photo with Korean- American rapper Jay Park, fuelling rumours of a collaboration between the two.
“We’ve become good friends. We keep in contact. Whenever he’s in KL, we hang out. Whenever I’m in South Korea, we hang out,” he shares. His manager had introduced SonaOne to Park and the two hit it off.
“There are definitely plans to work on some music together in the future. As of right now, I’m just focused on promoting this album. He’s a really talented guy and I would love to collaborate with him in the future.”