"Although I didn't write this song, it spoke to me in a way that made me feel as if it was my own story,” Brandon said. “I found myself playing it over and over again in my bedroom, remembering situations that I've been through.”
Check out the video for yourself below.
In Zheani’s newest music video, “LAVA”, made in collaboration with her creative partner Mik Shida and premiering today on office, a quote flashes at the bottom of the screen: “Zheani summons a being of light because she is lonely and has no friends”. She is then joined on her fantasy video game "holiday" by a friend with whom she can dance.
Her music videos take place in another realm, where magic and beauty is everywhere and danger lurks. The darkness present in Zheani’s music is accompanied by a glimmer of hope in positivity, wonder, and escapist beats that make you just want to have fun.
Hi Zheani! So tell me a little bit about where you’re from?
Sure! I am from rural Australia... the middle of nowhere. The bush. The scrub. Far away from city folk.
Where are you based now?
Just biding my time in Australia. The government here won’t let anyone leave. I feel very lucky to be based in the beautiful Byron shire, it’s a very special place surrounded by nature and well away from the madness of cities.
What brought you to music?
I had a great urge to start speaking after many years of just being a silent face locked inside my own mind. This was the main motivation behind learning how to make music. It just seemed to be the obvious art medium to utilise during this period of my life. Something interesting to mention is that I have never had a singing/music lesson in my life. Probably that’s not surprising though. My family didn’t have the ability to afford a luxury extracurricular activity like that. Where I grew up music was the kind of thing that kids from nice families got to do as an elective subject. Pay to play. So without the fundamentals I was forced to work with what I had and created music in the spirit of Outsider Art.
Your new EP begins with “LAVA”, a very fantastical and light song, but many of the other songs on it are quite dark. How did this dualism come to be for you?
The Zheani Sparkes EP begins with “LAVA” and ends with a track called “YIPPY KY YAY." I put them at both ends of the project as a spell, a fairy ring. They are there to bind all of the dark memories that live inside the other tracks. It was my intention to demonstrate in a symbolic way that despite how difficult life can be, a person should remain positive and continue striving to improve their life. Mind over matter... Force a smile until it becomes genuine. Eventually it will become genuine.
These tracks both belong to a specific genre that I make, a sound that my fans began to call fairy trap. The purpose behind all of these songs is pure joy and affirmation. They are also there to create balance and harmony with my darker aspect. My shadow self. If they didn’t exist my entire catalogue would be just a pool of pain with me sitting in the middle of it all, reliving my own personal hell for the world to see.
In reference to “LAVA”, you said, “At this point in my life I am happy in my heart, but with the current state of the world, expressing it outwardly feels performative”. Can you expand on this idea of the performativity of happiness and what the act of doing so accomplishes?
Much like its predecessor “LULU” the purpose of “LAVA” and its accompanying videoclip is escapism. I want to give the viewer the chance to escape reality. I want to portray my interpretation of happiness and demonstrate the act of having light hearted fun. I feel like real joy is increasingly lacking in the dystopian future we exist in. It’s all too easy to get bogged down with the constant assault of negativity we are bombarded with though our phones on a daily basis and being ignorant to it is sadly no longer an option for some.
The lyrics of “2002 (The Hook is a Prayer)”, a song off your latest EP, The Zheani Sparkes EP, tell stories of a dark childhood, and many songs on this project discuss your upbringing. Can you speak on this a bit?
The things I spoke about on this project were deeply personal memories that have been the cause of great shame and embarrassment throughout the course of my life. I wanted to transmute that pain into something that would help me transcend the past as I walk into the future. Like shedding another layer that is the human state of fear. The shame and embarrassment can no longer hold me back because I stepped into it and embodied it.
I don’t know of any other female artists who discuss the subjects that I do in this raw, personal and direct manner without resorting to metaphor. Speaking from my own experience this is probably because it is extremely hard to do and very embarrassing. Likewise, a lot of my listeners comment that they don’t know another artist that talks about these things. They relay that my music is deeply healing for them, it makes them feel less alone, it makes them feel heard and represented. That’s powerful feedback for me and makes me proud as this wasn’t the easiest path to walk. But there is meaning to it.
What is your writing process like?
Therapy.
I love your fantasy fairy imagery. Your videos created in collaboration with Mik Shida all seem to take place in a completely foreign realm. What are your inspirations visually?
To answer that question I need you to visualise the process of making a videoclip completely by yourself. It’s just me and my creative partner Mik Shida handling absolutely every element that is needed for completion. That process is all consuming. So often I choose subject matter that we can both enjoy and escape into. A holiday in our minds while we work hard to complete a visual concept. So for “LAVA” I decided to go visit my friend, ride a horse to reconnect with my childhood and play with goats to help me laugh. I think there are some nostalgic elements to the visuals. Holding onto elements of childhood wonder is a way to capture innocence and the ability to play. We are eternal creatures and “growing up” and away from that wonderment is a societal pressure that an artist should reject.
What’s next for you this year?
That’s not really up to me. I will continue to be flexible and adapt. This world has a sickness and I hope it gets better soon.
Congratulations on your recent singles, “Switched Up” & “Helen”! You have a debut EP coming out soon? What can you tell us about it?
The EP consists of 8 songs written and produced by me which are a compilation of the favorite songs I’ve made over the past couple of years. They take influence and inspiration from many different places—it’s a very diverse project & I’d say I see the EP as a documentation of my progression and growth in my own artistry. Me finding my sound. The root of the Oliver Malcolm world, sonically.
What led you to music?
I think ultimately music found me. I feel like it went the opposite way around. My grandma tells me stories about how I was 2 years old on the airplane and listening to music on my walkman the entire plane ride. I can’t remember a time in my life when I haven’t been fascinated by music.
Why was it production and then becoming an artist yourself, in that order?
I didn’t think I could sing before. I never believed that I could sing. I saw producing as the closest thing to an artist and so to start with I was happy with that. I felt close enough to the process at that point, but as fate does with everything, I believe that I just became a producer so that I could understand how to be an artist. I always wanted to be an artist subconsciously, I just never had the confidence to do it. I built that confidence in the studio with my beats and then realized I could use my vocals to take things to the next level that I wanted them to be at. You can take a song to a whole new place with vocals. I thought let me try this wild thing called singing and be myself. I believe true artistry is getting as close to one’s self and one’s soul as possible.
What musicians did you look up to growing up?
Eminem. Dr. Dre. 50 Cent. That was the start of everything for me.
How did you go from teaching yourself how to spin records at age 12 to working with artists such as Aluna George, Joey Bada$$, MF Doom, Tinashe, and more?
YouTube. Honestly I learned to make beats off of YouTube. Describe your move to L.A. I’ve read that it was truly game changing, coming from a small town in the English countryside, and I’d like to hear more from you about it! Yeah so when I was 16 I finished high school and two weeks later my parents told me we’re moving to LA. As a kid who grew up listening to west coast hip hop it was unreal. People would be driving down the street playing snoop Dogg or Dr. Dre and I just remember that being so cool. I also remember having my mind blown turning on the radio and hearing that there was a station dedicated entirely to hip hop. As a 16-year-old beat making kid who grew up on west coast hip hop it was the dream.
What is it like to work with such big names?
Especially for the time it was really cool because it felt like validation for all the hard work I had put in. For me it was just like now if someone asked what I’d been working on I could actually show them and feel like I could be taken seriously.
What are you bringing to the music industry that wasn’t there before?
Myself.
How does fashion add to your art?
Fashion is just another form of expression. What’s cool to me is that music is just sound waves and fashion is a physical 3-D form of expression. What I’m wearing can influence how I want to perform on a record. If I’m wearing a suit I’ll want to perform differently than if I’m wearing sweats. If I’m wearing sweats I’ll want to perform differently than if I’m naked. And that has happened before. And it was a good result.
What sort of factors determine the outfit you put on in the morning?
The weather. The music I listen to. The way I feel. How much energy I have.
How have you been spending lockdown?
I was spending it partially in LA making music and partially in the UK chillin.
What does the future hold for you and what are some of your goals for this year?
Goals for this year are to create a healthy work/life balance. And what the future holds, only God knows.
When Raider Klan dissolved in the mid-2010s, former members Eddy Baker, Chris Travis, and Xavier Wulf [fka Ethul Wulf] teamed up with Bones to form SESHOLLOWATERBOYZ (TeamSESH + Hollow Squad + Water Boyz + Healthy Boyz). Healthy Boyz was always a glaringly ironic name for Eddy Baker’s sub-sect, given their leader’s heavyset frame and destructive lifestyle. Now that he’s been reborn, Eddy wants to make Healthy Boyz healthy for real.
office spoke with Eddy to get a better understanding of his newfound spirituality and what it means for his rap career.
Tell me about the moment you found God.
It started with a bad acid trip. While I was on it, I realized there were a lot of questions that I'd never asked myself. Like why am I here? What is my purpose? It’s always been "get money,” but I never really thought about these things existentially. So, I got deep into all this science shit trying to find out where we come from, and from a scientific standpoint, there is no reason why we're here. Yeah, we're here from a big bang, but if there's no afterlife, there’s no reason for life in general, and that’s be a sad fucking existence. So this made me depressed, and I’d never been depressed in my life.
When was this?
This was while I was on tour with Xavier Wulf. Every day we’re selling out shows, making thousands of dollars, I’m popping, I got a girlfriend with big tits and a fat ass, I got everything I want, but I'm fucking sad right now. I couldn’t even find any solace in my favorite gangster movies. Weed was fucking me up. I didn't even want to listen to music. So I wondered, is it because of the acid? Why am I not happy anymore? By the last two or three days of tour, I was still depressed, and saying to my friend every day, “What is this shit for? It's all worthless, pointless.” I wondered what my mother and grandmother would tell me to do. They’d probably tell me to pray.
So I prayed, and it made me feel a little better. It was like I was talking to somebody. Then I started looking up different pastors and preachers, and I was like damn these motherfuckers are good! One day T.D. Jakes was all like “I'm speaking the words of God through me.” Then I realized that everything he was saying was from the Bible, so I started studying it like crazy.
Which story from the Bible impacted you the most?
Jesus’ resurrection. It’s the only story we have where somebody dies and returns from the grave. So, it's the only hope that we have that after you die, there’s something after this. If you put your faith in that, life becomes a little easier. [Death] doesn't have to be in the back of your mind any more. Because if you lose somebody, and they have faith in Christ, you'll see them after. Then I realized that's why my grandmother had peace, my mama too.
Do you see yourself in anyone from the Bible?
Paul, the apostle, used to be one of Jesus' main prosecutors. He was killing his disciples, just the worst motherfucker ever. So Jesus blinds Paul, and then has a disciple un-blind him later on. Then Paul is like, “oh fuck, I believe,” and becomes one of Jesus’ biggest disciples.
So maybe my purpose is to get to this point, build this cult fan base with this evil-ass music, and get all the fucking bad, depressed, hopeless kids together in one place, and then hit ‘em with a new message. Like if we’re all going to die anyway and none of this shit matters, why not just take a listen to God and see what he's about? It'll change your life.
How’s converting people going so far?
I've saved so many kids, at least 20 by now. They were depressed, fucked up. We have fucked up fans, but I love all of them. And now they text me Bible verses.
What was your relationship with religion like as a kid?
I was raised Christian, so I've always had God in my life, but I never really studied Christianity. I know that’s true for a lot of people. You just do whatever your parents tell you to do, then when you get to a certain age, and you’re not forced into it any more, you just kind of rush off. But once I realized what being spiritual is, what believing God and Jesus is, it just made my head clear up. I had to go through that little fucking dark place to get me to find God.
What have your friends said about your rebirth?
The other day I was trying to minister to my friend and he said he’ll get into God when he’s older and closer to death. And I'm like motherfucker you don't know when you're gon’ fucking die! None of us know! But most of my friends have been receiving it. I haven't been shoving it down everybody's mouth, but I've definitely been very vocal about my paradigm shift. They're open to it, too.
There ain't nothing bad about God. Look at Ned Flanders, he's the happiest motherfucker ever. His wife dies and he still finds a way to be happy. And we relate more to Homer Simpson and all them, but why wouldn’t we want to be Ned? I've been from the lowlife perspective, the gangster, drug-dealer perspective, and it’s a lot of misery. We try to be hard through the hard times, we just kind of thug it out, but with God, he'd take a bad situation and turn into a lesson.
Are your parents hyped on your newfound spirituality?
Hell yeah. They were like, “[We]’ve been praying for this for hella long,” Because I've been a heathen most of my life, even from Raider Klan. That’s why I liked them, it was dark. I've always liked the darkness. But you don't realize that you lose your moral code. Like when I first found out who God was, I was scared. I was like damn, I'm a bad motherfucker, I done did some bad shit. But then I realized what God's grace is. He gon' judge you, but he loves you.
In your opinion, what role does religion play in modern underground rap?
There’s so much satanic shit. But if you believe in Satan, you have to believe in God, because even Satan believes in God! The SoundCloud wave is just all about depression. That’s when I started realizing I've been on the wrong wave this whole time.
Will you be dropping Christian music from now on?
I've tried to do a Christian song, and I don't like it per se, because it's not as catchy as my regular music, but it's got the message. I've been praying about that too. Like whatever God wants me to do, I feel he'll put in me. It might not always come out in a Christian song, like I could give reverence on a trap song, you know? Some people will like it, some people will hate it, but I know what I'm living for now.
When Mase found God, Cam'ron said it was a front. When Kanye found God, his fans called bullshit. It seems like every time a rapper is reborn, people suspect ulterior motives. What do you make of that phenomenon?
It makes no sense! I'm just trying to save some souls! And I'm not saying I'm not into a lot of bad shit. I'm still on Instagram, I see the bad bitches on there. You commit adultery every time you look at a woman with lust, but I look at Instagram every day. It's a struggle, but a necessary struggle.
In your new Blunt Talk podcast with Chilly Sosa, you dropped a Christian-rap gem. You say, "you can't sip lean without drinking water." What did you mean by that?
Everything must have balance. If you do too much bad, bad shit's going to happen. Everything in life is like that. You need balance or you're going to die.
Why did you decide to start a podcast?
I felt like I had to get something out. When I was first coming back from the acid trip, coming back into myself, then coming down depression, I knew God wanted me to do something. Like Drake says, it's God's plan.
Speaking of Drake, do you think his "Life Is Good" video copied your "LooseScrew" video?
Heck yeah, he copied me. Shoutout to Drake for copying me, and shoutout to The Weeknd too, for copying my song “Nightrider.” Everybody's copying the whole 80s wave, that's really me and [Yung] Cortex.
You and Bones also made one of the pioneering country-rap songs, “KeepItInTheFamily.” How did you get the idea for it?
Bones and I were listening to some corny pop-country shit, and we were like let's make a song like this, but make it about fucking your sister. When me and Bones go into the studio, we bump a lot of old-ass music, only shit from the 60s to the 80s. Our song “CemeteryWaltz,” that's inspired by some Type O Negative shit Bones put me onto.
There are so many different sides of yourself that you've shown the public. There's gangster Eddy Baker, goofball Eddy Baker, country Eddy Baker, 80s Eddy Baker, and now born-again Christian Eddy Baker. Are you worried that people won’t take your rebirth seriously?
If they think I'm trolling, let 'em think I'm trolling. I don't give a fuck. That's one thing that I'm keeping through all this – I still don't give a fuck. Just because I'm saved it don't mean I won't smack the fuck out of a n*gga. It don't mean you can't get smoked. And I still might have those days where I make a song and I'm turnt the fuck up. I'm human. I'm not saying I'm holier than thou, or that I'm about to turn into a pope, or that I won’t fuck a bitch again, I’m just giving reverence to something higher than me. Like now, I try to be good, and when I do sin, it's like fuck.
