Foto-© Malin Lautenschläger
Wir trafen Tkay Maidza im November 2023 vor ihrer Berlin-Show, kurz nach der Veröffentlichung ihres aktuellen Albums Sweet Justice. Wir sprachen mit ihr wie es zur Veröffentlichung kam, wie Tyler, the creator eines ihrer Musikvideos beeinflusste und warum sie sich als Graßhüpfer bezeichnet.
Hello and thanks for taking the time.
Thanks for having me.
I want to speak about your music making in general with you and also about your latest album Sweet Justice. As far as I know, you were born in Zimbabwe, grew up in Australia and now live in the states, right?
Yeah.
Yeah. And how did these different parts influence your music making?
I feel like the cities don’t really influenced me because I’m such a good internet kid. So I just like what I like. But living in Australia, there’s obviously the stuff that’s popular there. So when I was living there I was and probably still am learning more about and doing indie music. And I realized, I really like this and I want to do more of the alternative, old girl singing kind of stuff and actually alternative rap is pretty big in Australia, but it’s still not like that popular either. There’s a lot of really cool kids that listen and kind of sound like Brockhampton and just have like a different way of like seeing productions. So I think that also helped my taste. And when I moved to L.A., I think it’s more rap focused. I just feel like I’m always around rappers and there’s just a different level of quality that you have to be, especially friendship groups and everything. So if anything, it’s just like gauging what everyone else likes, and then I just learn more about what I like. I just learn more and then I’m thinking, how to make my projects better.
That’s cool. In your Instagram bio it says “Young Grasshopper” and you also have a song with the same name. Is it something about you jumping from place to place or how did this term come about?
It’s funny because the song’s called Grasshopper, but I never say the word in the song. I don’t know, in a lot of my songs the title has nothing to with what I say in the song, but it’s just the energy of it. And if you think of something that continuously comes back from the dead or just jumps people’s expectations and stuff, that’s almost like a grasshopper. It just jumps when you don’t expect it to. And the other reason why I named myself “Young Grasshopper” is because in karate movies, it’s always like the kid in training. So that’s kind of how I picked it up, because in a way it’s modest, but at the same time it’s not and I always feel like I’m learning.
Oh yes, constantly. Otherwise we wouldn’t grow into the individuals that we are. Sometimes nicknames are just very obvious but this one wasn’t at all, so thanks for explaining and also teaching me something about karate. Your album Sweet Justice came out recently, how does it feel?
I feel great. I feel like when I finished the album, I felt like I did what I needed to do. And it was a “I did my best” kind of thing. And it’s been really cool seeing the reception because I feel like everyone can see me the way I see myself. My goal was to further cement doing house music and alternative rap and I still do alternative pop in the way that I like to do it. So it was a gift for people that know me. And then hopefully it would be cool for it to spread to new people, but then they have so much like “Last Year Was Weird” to look at as well and it gives it more context. So I feel like I have a good foundation now as Tkay.
Totally, it’s really cool. Personally, I also like to discover artists and listen to what they’ve put out recently and then compare it to the journey they’ve been through. All the different eras. And I think sometimes, even if there’s not that much time in between like EP’s and albums, you can still witness so much change.
Yes and you can see where it came from. I think it’s important to build your discography because you can have that one big song. But like you said, if people go back and listen to everything else that is different or it doesn’t make sense, they’ll probably only like that one song.
100 percent. On another note, I watched the video for Woke Up and Chose Violence. And the visuals were insane. I looked at it earlier today and it blew my mind. Where you creative directing on that one as well?
We originally had someone else making a music video and then it didn’t work out, so I still wanted to do something that was low budget and quick and simple. So I was thinking like a black and white video, almost like Yonkers by Tyler, the creator. But we’re going to make it fashion, kind of like Berlin, like Tyler, the creator but Berlin.
You saying it being low budget is crazy, as it’s such a fantastic video, especially the close ups in between.
I mean, we just got a really, really good camera, did cool styling and that was the concept really. Cut away with me doing weird things.
When you were posting something about your latest album, you said one phrase along the lines of it being a diary whilst on a journey back to self. As in that being the whole music making process of this project. Do you wanna elaborate on what it was exactly, that you were going through?
When I moved to L.A., I feel like when people move to new cities, there’s the first year where everything’s really cool. You have your friends, you’re still trying to figure things out. And then the second year it just seems like everything falls apart because you’re becoming a new person. And that kind of happened to me like everyone that I was friends with before, when I first was in L.A. and before I moved to L.A., They’re just not my friends anymore. I just have a different perspective of who I want to spend time with. And it was also like a big crossroads because I felt like the people I worked with then they had a certain perception of me and I was like, I want to do house music and do stuff that I really like. And there was always a conflict between two sides where it’s like this, what I want to do, And then someone’s like, No, but that’s what WE want you to do. So I decided to just break away from all of that. It was funny because I was in Berlin like twice last year for about six months in total because I lost my passport twice basically.So I had to come here to get it fix each time as it was the quickest way to do it. Because no other people were coming here to get Australian passports. I was living here during the summer. It was amazing. But that was the divine timing moment for me because I was away from everyone. I didn’t know anyone here. I stayed at a hotel and I had moments where I could cry, have fun, make new plans and have new realizations. And I just came back to this idea of why do I do music. That was the big lesson and what helped me continue making the album now, that moment where I was like, I’m supposed to be having fun. I can’t be waking up every day and have drama with someone about music when I’m not even making any music. It’s taking me away from what is actually important. So I just had to refocus and when I came back to L.A. from Berlin, I wrote like a lot of the songs really quickly and it just came out. There was no need to overthink anything, and I was really happy with it.
It’s funny because I think every creative, not only musicians, can relate with this at least once in their career. We all just circulate around the same topic about refocusing because I feel like we’re often so pressured into just making it right for everyone and then we forget about why we even started in the first place.
Yeah, for me It got to a point where I could not write any music, so what am I doing? What am i doing it for, this isn’t even fun. I would write two words and was like, no, that’s not it. And I just kept writing the same two words differently. So I went to do something else, which was just not the way to do it.
You just end up doing things that would pay the bills but aren’t fulfilling your passion necessarily.
Exactly. I would do a lot of studio sessions and come out with songs that I was not connected to at all. Other people just saw the fact that I went in and made a song with a really big producer, but to me, I often didn’t even like the song. I’m grateful for the opportunities, but it feels like I wasted my days, where I could have just spent them by myself doing exactly what I really wanted to do.It’s more rewarding and fulfilling.
It’s just this weird conception that people have about working with certain people and even putting the value of some people over other people. Worth is just being defined by numbers these days.
It’s the perception that people have but then I came to the realization that the reason why people like me is because I was literally writing songs in my bedroom and then everything changed because of that. So I was asking myself, why do I need to change so drastically? I just had to go back to my bedroom.
I feel like, that’s why then a lot of artists will sound the same or do the same things because it’s all molding into whatever is already there. But I mean, the purpose of art is to create something new and unique to you. Compared to ur first album TKAY in 2017, in what ways was the approach and journey of Sweet Justice different?
I think I set intentions and I feel like I have the confidence to execute what I want to and what I feel like I can do. At the point in time doing “TKAY”, I felt like I was just trying things out and I didn’t feel ready to make an album. What I wanted to be is what I am now. But I had to finish album anyway, and I was kind of thinking, I just want my first album to be on purpose. It didn’t feel on purpose for me, though. So I took the five, six years, found new people to work with. Before I wanted to do things, but didn’t have anyone to execute it, whereas now I have a whole network, a whole library of things people sent me in the last few years. Also knowing when to say no and kind of just understanding myself better and how to manage my time. I wasn’t doing that before. I was just trying to do everything and anything all at once. Just kind of what I got lost in to like a year ago as well. But then realizing again, that I do have control. When I did the first album, I just didn’t feel like I have any control.
Speaking of working with others, you’ve got collaborations with Kaytranada, Flume, Duckwrth, just to name a few, on your latest album. How have they all come together?
All of them have been on my dream collaborator list. They’re all people I at some point would have dreamt of like even met. So it seems like after “Last Year Was Weird”, I was able to meet these people. I was seeing them at parties like friends of friends kind of thing. So it just seemed natural and nothing was forced, which was the good thing. I just wanted it to feel like I was working with people that I would hang out with every day. Because that takes that pressure off of thinking the song has to be finished now and it has to be the best thing ever. Everyone was in the mood for just making something cool, whether it comes out in three weeks, in a year or never. Overall, they were all super nice and that was the most important thing. Just personalities. I think they would all work with each other as well, you know, I mean it’s just a certain circle of people, which is cool.
Kind of like working with your friends. Do you have any other artists that you would love to collaborate with in the future?
Definitely Pharrell. Pink Pantheress could be really exciting, aswell. Smino, Saba, the list goes on forever.
I would see you and Denzel Curry do something together.
That would be cool. He’s really dope.
Is there any track on Sweet Justice that speaks best for the project as a whole?
I think Love again, I don’t think sound wise. I think just the lyrics, because I started writing it before I came to Berlin, but I just feel like I hadn’t come to terms with what was going on. And the whole premise of the song is me accepting that like the old me, this person that was once my friend is not my friend anymore. And looking back in hindsight, being like, damn, that was like, cool. It just crashed and burned and I think it sounds like the cover, as it’s fiery and it’s a statue. Like something that’s leaving, but it’s also just there forever. And that’s what the song sounds like to me. Like a timeless, fluid kind of piece. The song sounds like a painting to me.
That’s sweet. In general, I think that art or creation is obviously always a way about expressing yourself. What do you want to bring across or try to express with your art to others?
I try to express freedom and hope. I just want to encourage people to be themselves, but also don’t be afraid to lean into whatever feeling or emotion that you’re feeling. Whether I’m being mad or having fun, you can really tell on the song. I really try to make sure that every song has a resolution that’s positive as well. It’s like about empowering yourself really.
As the conversation of course has been navigated by me asking questions, I always like to conclude interviews by asking if there’s anything you’d like add or express, no matter the topic?
I guess I want everyone to know that I’m doing everything on purpose now.
Any last advice to someone who’s starting out as a musician?
Honestly, do what excites you. Do what’s fun and do what you would listen to. Because if you’re not going to listen to it, then why do you expect anyone else to?
