powfu — MUSIC — Unclear Magazine

intro by madden levin

interview by cami liberty

Powfu, a young musician from Canada, already has made a name for himself. With a single already cresting #23 on the Billboard Hot 100, Powfu can only go up from here. We were excited to get an exclusive interview with Powfu, where we discussed his NEW single, “when the hospital was my home,” featuring Rxseboy, and the emotion behind creating such a story within the video. After you are done hearing what he has to say, make sure to listen and watch the new video, along with following Powfu on social media! Enjoy one of our favorite new songs!

You just released the video for your new single “when the hospital was my home” featuring Rxseboy. Can you tell us a little about the song, and the inspiration behind the video?

Powfu: “A lot of this song was inspired from the movie Five Feet Apart. That movie helped me paint a picture from the perspective of someone who’s sick and stuck in the hospital. The video [is] about a boy and his mother, but you’ll have to watch it to see the rest!”

You mentioned before that when you played the song for your dad he broke down crying. Did that surprise you and how did you initially feel when this happened?

P: “Yes, I was kind of surprised and it made me think this song is something really special.”

You also just released your EP some boring love stories pt. 5. What can listeners expect from this project?

P: “This is my favorite EP that I've ever recorded. My favorite song on this EP is called ‘the fire in your eyes keeps me warm.’ It has my sister, sleep.ing, singing harmonies and I also sampled her vocal in the intro and outro. On the song called ‘throw it all away’ my good friend Jomie is featured. He lives in Florida and I want to visit him soon because it’s cold and rainy here in Vancouver, but warm and sunny in Florida. There are some beautiful slow songs but there’s also some fun, fast, classic Powfu songs about skipping class and running away.”

How would you sum up the EP as a whole in three words?

P: “Boring love stories.”

Can we expect anything else from you in the near future?

P: “I'm working on another single for early 2021 (featuring one of my favorite all time artists) and then an EP in early spring!”

Official video for "when the hospital was my home" by Powfu ft. Rxseboy. "Happy we got to make a video for this with the little amount of time we had. Hope y...

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by abby samuelson

photo courtesy of powfu, sarcastic sounds, and rxseboy

One mundane, boring night turned into music-making that led to feed the thriving lo-fi music scene. Powfu, Sarcastic Sounds, and Rxseboy all joined together with Italian producer Sista Prod to create “Eyes Blue Like The Atlantic Part 2.” Their collaboration helped us remember to appreciate the little victories, recognize and connect with those who can relate with you, and continue working with the people who helped you get to where you are today. Our interview with the talents digs deeper into the obstacles of songwriting and the lessons learned while growing in the music industry.

What inspired your most recent collaboration?

Rxseboy: “I was bored one night, so I called up Sarcastic and he sent me an early version of the Eyes Blue Pt. 2 beat. We then worked on it for another six hours and realized we had a great start to an awesome song.”

Powfu: “Just listening to what Sarcastic and Rxseboy had on it made me hyped to record.”

Sarcastic Sounds: “The label wanted to make a lofi version of the song and they sent it to my publisher, and asked me to take a stab at it. I made the beat pretty quickly, and thought it was sick but wasn't sure what was happening with it. Then Rxseboy called me that night at like 3am saying he was bored, so we stayed up until 10am just messing around and working on the song.”

How were you able to determine which artist would be best for this piece?

Rxseboy: “Sarcastic had been hit up to help make the beat for a lofi version of Eyes Blue. He then sent it to Powfu and I since both of us had made tons of lofi songs in the past.”

Powfu: “I didn’t really decide at all. I thought we all killed it.”

Sarcastic Sounds: “Me, Rxseboy, and Powfu are all friends and collaborate together, so it was a no brainer, and then when we heard Alec was going to be on it, we thought it was perfect.”

Powfu, your song Death Bed received over 570 million streams on Spotify as of July 2020. Wow! How does it feel to be heard by so many people?

Powfu: “It’s one of the biggest blessings I’ve ever had. Super thankful for all the support and hope to keep making music that connects with people.”

RXSEBOY, as a growing hip hop rapper, what has been something you’ve had to show yourself self-discipline in order to reach your goals?

Rxseboy: “When I first started college I told myself I was going to be cool and go to parties. Because of this, I almost completely stopped working on music. I then found myself getting bored of going out every weekend, so I decided to stop doing that altogether to focus in on making music again. Although I lost a lot of 'friends' from not socializing, I met a ton of awesome artists online from posting music on SoundCloud.”

Sarcastic Sounds, what’s your favorite part about collaborating with other talents?

Sarcastic Sounds: “The best part about collaborating with other talents is just vibing and making a personal connection together. I've also had the opportunity to work with some people that I've been a fan of since I was a kid, and that's been very gratifying too.”

What were some hardships or obstacles that came with the collab that you needed to work through?

Rxseboy: “I think the biggest obstacle we had to overcome was finding times to work on the song where everyone was awake.”

Powfu: “It was pretty easy to write to it for me probably because the beat was so epic.”

Sarcastic Sounds: “There were a lot of little tweaks that we had to make to the production before it came out, and deciding on the perfect version was tricky.”

Explain what each of you do when you hit writer’s block and how you overcome it.

RXSEBOY: “When I get writer's block I normally just go for a walk. To be honest, the walk doesn't help at all, but hey, at least I'm getting some exercise.”

Powfu: “I’ll either take a break or work on a different song then come back to it later.”

Sarcastic Sounds: “I really just try to come up with and finish ideas even if they're bad, because otherwise it's easy to get stuck in a cycle of not making music because you feel blocked.”

What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned in the music industry?

Rxseboy: “As fun as it is to move up the ladder and work with bigger artists, you should always continue working with the people who helped you get to where you are today.”

Powfu: “Definitely a lot of things. Maybe how many kids there are that relate to the same things as me.”

Listen to Eyes Blue Like The Atlantic, Pt. 2 (feat. Powfu, Alec Benjamin & Rxseboy) on Spotify. Sista Prod · Single · 2020 · 2 songs.

Sarcastic Sounds: “To appreciate the little victories, because it's a slow process, and there's always going to be a bigger goal you're striving for. It's really easy to lose motivation if you only focus on the next goal.”

If you could collab with anyone else, who would it be and why?

Rxseboy: “Definitely Ashe. Her song 'Moral of the Story' is one of my all-time favorites.”

Powfu: “Yellowcard or Kanye West because I grew up listening to Yellowcard and Kanye is just a legend.”

Sarcastic Sounds: “I'd love to collaborate with Dave.”

Where will each of you go from here? Do you see another collab in the future together?

Rxseboy: “Definitely more projects and collabs in the future.”

Powfu: “Yes, I expect we will collaborate a hundred more times, and I’m not sure what to expect. I’m just living life and seeing what comes my way. Hopefully touring.”

Sarcastic Sounds: “Definitely.”