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INTERVIEW: Kwabs in Dubai

Published

7 years ago

May 13, 2015

It’s been a crazy year for Kwabs. The 25-year-old YouTube star has come a long way since uploading his fist cover song. His soulful vocals are the theme tune for Fifa 15, as well as being the soundtrack for the recent general election in the UK.

Ahead of his gig at The Act’s second birthday party on May 17, we sat down with Kwabs to talk soup, social work and the success of his hit single, “Walk”.

Hi Kwabs! How would you describe your music to someone who had never heard it before?
I guess music that throws back and throws forward…has something of the past and something of the future about it at the same time.We were surprised to hear that you studied Jazz. Is that where your musical passion comes from?
Not really…I studied music pretty intensely later on in my life but my first connection with music really came from singing as a child. I can’t really tell you how or why I started to sing. I just know it was my first way of expressing myself as a kid and I think it’s just stuck with me ever since. I’ll try out all sorts of genres of music while I’m still alive and open-eared! But singing is will always be where the passion comes from.We read that Walk was used as the soundtrack to FIFA 15 and the UK general election. Which are you more proud of?
Definitely that it’s on the FIFA soundtrack! I don’t really play computer games myself but I know lots of people who play FIFA and told me they heard the track on the game. That’s pretty cool really isn’t it?

It sure is! What else would people be surprised to learn about you?
I love the music of Phil Collins.We love your Twitter bio: “I sing. I am brown. I have a slightly wonky face. I like soup.” If your music was a soup, what soup would it be?
Spicy Goat soup made by my Auntie… It’s a complex mix of flavours, might have have some unexpected bits in it and will probably make you take a sharp intake of breath!If you weren’t a singer, what would you be doing?
Probably social work with fostered children… one way or the other I know I want to positively affect people’s lives.

Which track influenced your career in music?
“One Evening” by Feist.