I had a great time sitting down virtually with Melbourne, Australia artist Fedi to discuss his first single of 2024, “Shoreline”. After talking with Fedi, it's safe to say this artist brings a refreshing positive aura to the music scene. But who exactly is Fedi? He is an (almost) 26 year old Lebanese musician from Melbourne, Australia. Fedi is his actual name with a slight pronunciation change due to the region he is from as well as classmates in preschool mispronouncing his name. I'm sure plenty of us with unique names can relate. Fedi has been sharing full length albums of his music on SoundCloud since the age of 13.
One self-proclaimed crucial aspect to his music is his authenticity. But this isn't something that has always come easy to Fedi. Growing up, he thought he had to portray himself in the same way as his favorite artists growing up (Eminem, 50 Cent, Drake, Akon). He dealt with an internal battle between who he thought he needed to be and who he actually was. Fedi's goal is to reach a place in his music where he feels content and is representing who he truly is.
"True art requires vulnerability, and that's what I aim to deliver."
Now let's dive into his latest single "Shoreline". The tranquil song infused with hip hop, R&B, jazz, and funk is accompanied by chill cover art created by Melbourne graphic designer Blake D.E. Luxford. The song is produced by Fedi's friend and longtime collaborator, Ryan Reents. Their musical relationship began when Fedi would post videos of himself rapping over popular beats. Ryan Reents, who is a guitarist and producer, took notice and reached out by sending Fedi some of his own beats. Ryan's talent in beat production really stood out and they decided to collaborate on 1 song together. 1 song turned to 2 songs and the rest is history.
"Shoreline" was written during the early stages of a situationship. "Everything felt fresh, new, and hopeful. Even though she had her walls up, I could see us going the distance and felt
compelled to write about it" -Fedi. Although this relationship is now over, Fedi feels that this song is a good representation of the feelings you experience during a new situationship.
"I'm an artist, I'm in my feelings."
When discussing his creative process around making "Shoreline", Fedi found inspiration from T-Pain's Twitch stream advice. He writes his songs by taking the beat and fitting the lyrics in like a puzzle. Fedi says this forces him to be in the moment and not overthink his song writing. This hasn't always been his method of writing though. Fedi was transparent in discussing having OCD which makes his thinking very rigid. He used to structure his songs like he was writing an essay! This is partly due to him feeling that he was a "student of the school of Eminem" and his interest in wordplay and rhyming schemes. Fedi is a huge Eminem fan in general with his favorite songs being "Not Afraid" & "So Bad". He obviously realized though how limiting writing lyrics in paragraphs was for his creative process.
Now, I know what you all have been dying to know: is Australia really as dangerous as it seems?
"You would have to drive an hour and a half to encounter any wild a** animals."
Yes, it's true. Australia isn't just crocodiles and poisonous scorpions. Fedi actually had a lot of positive things to say about Melbourne. Even though he's had the opportunity to travel to different places, Melbourne, AU is still his favorite city. Fedi loves the city's versatility due to the heavy Asian and Southeast Asian migrant culture that's present. He also speaks to how Americanized the city is. Melbourne offers hip-hop and r&b clubs and so much more. To Fedi, Melbourne "is just home".
"Shoreline" is Fedi's first single of 2024 so we are all curious to know if this means we have an album to look forward to in the near future. Fedi has his own opinions about albums though. "I've done albums in the past but I don't really see the value of dropping an album" -Fedi. Albums are pretty standard practice for artists but Fedi has learned that whatever rigid rules we've been told to follow are simply not true. We do have more collaborations with producer and guitarist Ryan Reents to look forward to as Fedi is currently in his "collaboration bag". Until then, give his newest single "Shoreline" a listen below and let us know what you think!
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