Cover Story- PAUSE Meets: Bazzi

Yeah, I mean I suppose that’s what you always aspire to. I think a big part about growing up is realising that you want a lot of what you wanted when you were 10. I think you lose that a little bit along the way, and then later on in life maybe you discover that’s what you’ve searched for all along, that kind of innocent understanding of what you always wanted to be. 

Totally. 

I mean, I’ll definitely be checking out the podcast!

It’s very interesting how these days the right information is available but there’s just so much sh*t and so much garbage that like, to find that and then connect with it is so difficult because everything is just attacking our opinion, everything is attacking our interests. It’s interesting though because the right information is out there, you know? It’s available, it’s just a needle in a haystack.

It’s sifting through everything else that’s bombarding us. I guess that’s the positive and negative of being online a lot. Getting into your journey, I believe you grew up in Michigan? 

Yes sir!

Do you think it was somewhere you considered home? I know you’ve long had a passion for music, so did you feel like that love would always take you away into a bigger city?

Yeah, you know, I always definitely did feel like in my heart and in my dreams that I wanted to see things and explore. I wanted to see where and what I could be capable of, but yeah, it (Michigan) felt like home, for sure. I think so much of who I am and the way I feel, the way I act, and the way I treat people comes from where I came from, but yeah I was definitely an ambitious kid. I think that’s the good thing about growing up somewhere that isn’t necessarily ideal for what you do or what you want to do, because it makes it very obvious about where you want to go. Sometimes, what most people struggle with in life is just a sense of direction in the first place, you know? Just wanting something in the first place. I think it’s a good environment to put yourself in, you want to be clear about what you’re looking for. 

Yeah! I guess that space can kind of help you have some clarity about what you want and where you want to end up. I’ve given a listen to the album over the past couple of days and I loved it. Looking at a lot of critical reviews, they’re all positive. Based on my first listen, I took this overarching sense of ascension and growth, kind of like a Phoenix narrative. Would you say that’s fair? And how would you summarise your feelings towards the record now that it’s out and you’ve given it away to the people?

Thank you, that’s very kind. I would definitely agree in a sense. It’s interesting, I wouldn’t consider it like ‘figuring it out’, I would consider it more like unwiring and untangling the headphones of my mind… really getting back to the core of why I make music in the first place, you know? I think it’s interesting being in a position like mine because you compete with people who… if you compete with people who don’t care about the same stuff as you, people will just by realm of nature assume that you feel the same way about your craft as those people. Being in pop music, and I guess at some point going for a certain type of commercial success, I think some people maybe see me in that way. What’s important to me and what I really care about is making music that I like and pushing barriers with my sound and keeping it fun and exciting. In a lot of ways, this album was about growth and a return home to why I even do this in the first place.

A full circle type moment… I definitely felt that. As I was saying, reviews have been rave. Eclectic, raw, and open are some of the words I’ve seen describing the record. Where do you feel most love as a musician? Do official reviews do anything for you? Or is it mainly when you hit that stage?

I think that there are two main places, and I think one of them is in the studio. Being in the studio and just creating, getting to be present in watching some of these stories unfold and seeing some of these songs happen, that’s like my favourite part of the job. It’s just about being a vessel for creativity and not having a plan for how I want a record to go or how I want the drums to hit. Walking the path and seeing how things happen, I think that’s one of the most magical parts. I don’t really care much for putting it out to be honest, like, that part for me is whatever, you know? That’s kind of like being a business man and thinking about a product… I guess maybe if I saw it that way it would help me in some aspects, but I don’t really care for that. So yeah, making it and then getting to perform it are probably tied for first place… it’s pretty much the present part. Music these days feels like it’s ninety-five percent of the business and bullsh*t and five percent about the music. I’m not a pessimist, I do think things can return to that state if we just change our morals and what’s important to us as people in society. I think it should be the opposite, like maybe ten percent promotion and making sure people hear it but then let the rest of it be about what it means or what it sounds and looks like, you know? Because we’re kind of losing that man, it’s kind of scary when you lose that. 

You had a meteoric rise to fame with ‘Mine’ and I know you quickly got signed after that, you blew up on Vine as well. Being a success story on the internet, where do you stand on labels pushing for artists to produce TikTok-friendly music or internet-friendly music? Do you think artistic integrity is at risk there? 

Yeah, I think artist’s integrity is a little bit at risk, but I also think we just need more leaders. It’s not the label’s fault necessarily. If nobody is challenging them and nobody is having these conversations, who is going to differ from what’s working? Who is going to differ from what’s safe or predictable or analytical? Especially on the business side. I don’t know, I do feel a little bit of that responsibility to at least have some of these conversations of what’s important because it’s not anybody’s one fault; we’re all kind of feeding into this. I think it’s going to take someone, not saying it’s me, who is strong. I feel like as humans we really just need a conversation in the air to be like, “Oh, I identify with that.” Most people that want to sit and articulate the way they feel about things just want to point a finger and be like, “Yeah, that’s it.” I just think we need better conversations in the business and to know that not everything is a race on the charts. What does it mean? How many people come to your shows? How many people did it touch? What did it inspire? Kind of changing the qualifications of success. 

That feeds into your earlier point about coming full circle and getting back to that. I feel like at the moment in music we’re definitely in the middle of that and I agree with you in that music definitely needs that line of communication a bit more. I know it’s been a long time since you released a full body of work, so what has this past three to four years looked like for you spiritually? Where and what do you look back on and see growth in that time? Personally or musically.

Well, there are so many aspects… but I’d say that one is that there’s obviously a lot of excitement about putting out the album, but I also just felt like ‘do it for me.’ I’ve been sitting on so much great music and sharing it is like a responsibility, you know? As much as that part isn’t something that I obsess over too much, sharing it is a responsibility and just putting it out, letting it be what it will be, and letting it find who it will find. I think with growth, even with the genre-based growth, I love a lot of the music on Soul Searching and I’ve always made the music I’ve loved to listen to, and I think Soul Searching was a great project, but it wasn’t my natural authentic voice or sound. Some of the record definitely was, but I think it’s more about getting back to that authentic voice and I think Infinite Dream was a step in that direction. 

I definitely felt a lot of you come through on that record. Speaking on the album and a sense of self-reflection, many in popular music reflect on their experiences, but I feel like you definitely rank as somebody who is quite proficient at it and it comes across as natural. Do you think that skill comes from actively working through traumatic experiences and general life? Or were you always a good storyteller? 

It’s definitely a skill and a muscle you work on. Once again, I’m so grateful for songwriting and I’m grateful for having this weird and ambitious mind that saw me wanting to write all of my music and tell my own stories. My writing sessions have been therapy since I was eighteen-years old. Being really empathetic and introspective, really looking at yourself and observing situations and why they happened the way that they happened, all in the name of putting it into song, is incredibly helpful and eye-opening when looking at yourself. But yeah, definitely… that’s a muscle. Sometimes it’s a disadvantage because I can read people too easily or I can see through something too clearly, and I guess in the long run I’ll see that as a good thing but sometimes young people, and I see it in my peers, we want to be able to believe in something stupid just for a little bit. That’s tough for me at my age, relating with my peers about that, because from looking at things so much and trying to take the heart, the pulse, and the emotion of that, you become really observant as an artist, you know, writing music. Even when I miss, my goal has always been to take that core and true feeling and put it into songs. 

Going off of my first listen of Infinite Dream, there’s a very bass-heavy exit from the album opener into a plucky guitar in the next track. It immediately put forward this sense of atmosphere for me and I saw this run throughout the entirety of the record. Did you aim to cover this many bases sonically? Or was that just a natural occurrence after spending a fair bit of time away? 

It was definitely a natural occurrence. I don’t like to use the term ADD, but it’s more creative ADD, so I never feel too much of a responsibility to commit to one thing and I just have fun. It’s about making whatever it was that was on my heart that day or make it sound however I wanted it to sound that day, and not trying to manipulate and morph it into one thing so it’s easier for other people to understand. But, it definitely wasn’t an intention by any means to have so many different sounds, it’s just what happened. Pretty much any time I make music, people ask me about my process and my process is just what happened that day. Of course we’ll go back in and try make it hit harder or replace sounds and give it the exact feeling we want, but the core and heart of the song is definitely very present all the time. 

Yeah! I think that’s something that is evident throughout. I read that music is kind of all you’ve ever known and I know you came into the industry very young. I can imagine it must’ve been quite hard to find your feet considering the pace of the music world. What are some techniques that you implement to keep yourself grounded in such a tumultuous environment?

You know what, I’m 25 years old and I’m still figuring that out. There really is no rule book and the scary thing is that even the ones that think that they have it figured out don’t really have it figured it out, and it kind of looks self-destructive from every angle from the outside looking in. I’m somebody who’s also trying to protect myself and my best interests while trying to pursue such an ambitious thing, so I’m still figuring that out. What I realise is that a lot of it is just about self-value and knowing that I get to decide what I find important, that I get to decide what’s in my control and out of my control. It’s kind of about setting my own rules and I actually do feel a responsibility. Popular music in general feels so separate and so isolated, and I think anybody that does this job is brave and anyone who tries at this I respect, because it’s not easy. It’s not easy to promote yourself and think about yourself all the time, or pick up the phone everyday… you don’t get to escape it. So, I respect anyone that does this and I do feel a responsibility. Once I figure it out more, if I can create an environment where things are healthier, more creative or are better on the people who want to be here, I’ll definitely encourage that.