Discover... SZWÉ
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Photo Credit: @wkingap
Corona. The Black Lives Matter resurgence. 2020 has really given us a lot to think about. On the latter, artists everywhere have felt the need to share their story of police brutality and how unacceptable it is.
Welsh-based rapper and singer: SZWÉ is no different. Having fallen onto the radar of WFA in August 2019 with his track “Impulses”, this young artist has put out multiple projects and doesn’t seem to be slowing down as yet.
His 2020 single: NO JUSTICE NO PEACE and its accompanying video capture the depths of emotion of being a Black person and constantly seeing reminders of the world not valuing Black life.
Read more below as we chat about this song and much more.
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I think first of all, we just need to have a little exhale and to check in on how you’ve been dealing with the events of the year so far.
I’ve mostly spent it trying to keep up with it! Honestly, it’s been a pretty crazy year. It’s really been one of those moments in life where you spend a lot of your time educating yourself to become a better person and learn about how to put some positive energy back into the world. I’ve been mostly focused on music and bettering my craft.
Your most recent song “No Justice No Peace” is something which really captures the emotions people are going through at this time; why did you feel it was important for you to add your artistic voice to everything happening?
Thank you so much! I’m glad you think that! I found Blackout Tuesday, for music, was really a time to be vocal and use my platform to communicate how I felt as a young black man in the U.K., reflecting on the events taking place in the world but also reflecting on my own feelings about the U.K.
As a musician, especially one with an audience around the country and with listeners abroad too, it was really important that I wasn’t silent for a single second about the plight of the black community in modern society. If anything, it really was a moment where people would be listening, and “No Justice No Peace” was a song that really communicated that for me.
I wanted people to really understand that what they were seeing around the world was a community tired of being patient, and wanting to see action. I always felt scared to talk about my struggle being black in the U.K., due to most of the people around me and involved in my life being White and knowing that around me, there isn’t much education on racism in the U.K. and enough done to tackle it. I felt like it was about time I swallowed that fear, and was vocally proud to love my skin, regardless of what struggles I’ve faced because of it, and support my community by using my platform.
The BBC really helped get it further out by playing me on Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, thanks to BBC Introducing, Adam Walton and Sian Eleri.
During Quarantine, have you found it more or less difficult to remain creative?
To be honest, it’s really been a combination of both. I’ve been trying to explore other sounds and artists, to inspire the next wave of my music. I felt like this was really my chance to discover myself as an artist and find a sound that was my own. The hardest part has really been figuring out what direction to take for my next album. The last one “Scorpion Grass” was mostly an RnB album with a fusion of Grime and HipHop, pretty much an introduction to singing and more lyrically orientated rapping.
What have you done to help calm your mind down?
A lot of yoga, meditation, walking, singing and speaking to people! I think focusing on my growth as a person and musician kept me sane and mentally healthy over lockdown. Luckily, I live a two minute walk from an incredibly beautiful beach in West Wales, I’ve been really lucky!
Onto something more happier, the first single we heard from you was “Impulses” last summer, a song where you show your singing but also rapping ability. How does it make you feel knowing that this song has reached so many listeners? (Having first featured on Spotify’s Soultronic playlist last August).
Is that how long ago it was?! It’s crazy, I remember saying to my best friend, the day I sent it off: “If this song doesn’t launch my career, I’m giving up”. It was the first song I’ve ever really worked that hard on in terms of vocals, singing and lyrics. It really felt like it was the song that would showcase as much of my musical ability as possible, so it meant a lot to me when I realised that it was doing so well! I can only really say thank you to everyone who supported me from the start of my career and continue to do so now. Fun fact; I never knew I was added to a Spotify Editorial Playlist for at least two weeks! I checked the stats out of nerves (I honestly never feel like I’m going to do well) and noticed that I had 5,000 in a month! Almost a year later and I’ve just hit 120,000!
As an artist based in South Wales, tell us more about the music scene where you are.
There isn’t really much in terms of hip hop and grime. There are a lot of people trying to make one and launch careers but very rarely make it out of their town, I’m insanely lucky to have done as well as I have. Good friends of mine, Lloyd Lewis and Gareth Betts introduced me to a guy named Aron Clarke who had a music studio in his back garden, knew how to mix/master and produce and the rest was history!
What would you like to see more of?
There’s a heap of talented people sat in Wales that I feel would benefit the R&B, grime and hip hop scene. I think the issue here is that there isn’t anywhere or anyone that is helping them find distributors, A&Rs or even help them record their demos. If half of them had the chance I did with Aron, Wales would be a strong contender for urban music in the U.K. That’s kind of what my mission is right now, I’m trying to make it and trying to get a come up big enough that I can send the elevator back down for every other artist like Lloyd, Gary and I. The three of us were given a chance a lot of teens and young adults in Wales would thrive off of and were incredibly lucky to find someone who believed in us enough to use their time and record us weekly (sometimes daily) to help us get demos out there.
What keeps you motivated to create?
People like my mum. She’s 52, beat cancer twice and is still out here doing more than a lot of people my age. A lot of my persistence and commitment to my craft comes from how I was brought up and who I surrounded myself with. My friends and family have always been incredibly supportive and are always willing to be my test audience before I release anything! Their constant belief in me and my music is second to none. Seeing the love and support really inspires and motivates me.
Are there any Welsh artists you’d like to collaborate with?
I’d love to work with Kizzy Crawford. Her sound is absolutely amazing and I’d love to try and incorporate some Welsh language into my songs. She’s awesome.
Lastly, what does success mean to you?
Happiness. It sounds like a cliché but I just want my music to make people happy as well as making me happy too. I’d love to see the black community thrive and produce more music in Wales too. Even if I inspire just one person to keep creating, keep pushing till they get to where they want to be, that’ll be a success for me.
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