WizTheMc’s new EP ‘What About Now’ is wall-to-wall bops. It’s a proper fun in that heart-on-sleeve bedroom pop, should-be-all-over-playlists way. A really lovely time that marks out the Cape Town-born, Germany-raised artist as one with buckets of feel-good musical stardust ready to be sprinkled over any track he lends his hand to. Here, he talks us through his new seven-song collection, track by track.
For A Minute
This one came about from being stuck in quarantine and really working a lot in my studio. It was one of like 20 demos I made in the first two weeks of the lockdown here in Toronto. The song tells the story of a young man who doesn’t seem to have attachment issues and is pretty frank about his intentions with girls he’s attracted to. I sometimes wish I’d be as cool as him. I like writing from perspectives I fantasise about. Wouldn’t have expected this one to go so crazy on the Internet but I’m also not surprised.
All My Friends Are Stoned
‘AMFAS’ must’ve been the fourth or fifth song I ever made with my now (semi) long time friend Jeffrey aka. J. Haze (He actually just goes by Jeff Hazin). He’s a killer when It comes to instruments and production. This one felt like an instant hit once we recorded it. It talks about basically my life in a nutshell. I initially got introduced into rap and hip-hop through weed- who would’ve thought… But yeah, I spent some years stoned in my childhood room writing and recording raps up until I then left to Canada where the other side of the world magically welcomed me. This song resonates more with the adolescent version of myself because now I’m in Toronto and all my day 1 stoner or ex stoner friends are all in Germany. Toronto got really good weed tho- that’s not what I’m trying to say.
WhoWho
I wrote this one pretty fresh on my first long-distance relationship I had last year. I was madly in love, the girl in Canada and I was recording in Germany. I’m a professional romantic to the point where it’s hard for me not to fall in love with the girl first. I mean there have been multiple scenarios where I scared girls off just by my sheer will to commit to them on the third date. So this song really represents my love life and how I’m always the first to fall in love. “Who is you, I fall in love before you do.”
Circles
‘Circles’ is once again about me telling a girl for how I ready I feel to commit to her. In saying “Don’t tell me you ain’t got time, I wanted you for this life” I’m basically displaying my obsession with that person and how I would have a really hard time accepting that they want to spend their time on anything but me. And the “I’m running circles inside” part is about how easily I can get in my head about how much I love someone and overthink everything surrounding interactions with that person. While it being kind of a song about an obsession, it still sounds pretty fun and beachie. I like that. Hugo did a great job on the production.
Lied
With a very simple and self-explanatory chorus, there’s not much to be explained about this one. But to not leave this space empty I would add that this song came out of a place of hindsight – of me coming to the realisation that I actually lied when I told the girl that it’s cool that she goes on with her life and her own path. I actually wanted way more, and something more serious, but the circumstances didn’t allow for that, so I had to lie in the moment to not make it more complicated than it already was.
Say Hi
This one’s really close to my heart. I wrote this one last summer in Berlin with Wolfskind and Bayuk. This was my first try with a more rocky and exciting sound, and I feel like we all did a great job bringing that idea to life. It starts with “Say hi come save my life, I want to stay high, I want to stay alive” which for me represents the yearning for a romantic partner to be close with and ultimately “survive” life with. In the song, I then continue to convince the romantic interest that she doesn’t need anyone else but me, and I even go the point of saying that I want to die in her arms.
I Know
In my opinion, ‘I Know’ is a beautiful song to conclude all of the stories and feelings I talked about above. It basically talks about how love won’t last if you can’t give back- if you are only taking out of a relationship. I’ve been on both sides of the story before and it’s one of those things where you, in the best case, learn from that experience and take what you learned into the next relationship. Love should be teamwork- it should be two people who not only want to feel loved by each other but also want the best for the other’s individual life. That’s what I’ve learned so far. Guess we gonna find out what else I’m gonna learn on the next record….
WizTheMc’s new EP ‘What About Now’ is out now.
