Sept 2021 Vol. 11
BabyJake on 'The Sun Wakes Up Earlier Now'
Interviews from morgxn & SAE
The Art of Style ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Volume 11 September 2021 The Art of Style Editorial BY HAZZE MEDIA www.hazzemedia.com hazzemediainfo@gmail.com
Founder/Editor-in-Chief Ezzah Rafique
Design Director Mohja Filfil
Communications Director Iman Tanzeem
Social Media Director Tequila Helland
Website Director Camila Camacho
Featured BabyJake Trinidad Cardona morgxn & SAE Anastasia Fahertdinova, Anna Gafarova, Krylova Anastasia, Orchee Sorker, Haille Annalese Kern, Jessy Perez Perez, Irina Zargano, Kateryna Pshenychna, Olga Hirschmann, Mode Production, Gabrielle Alexis Bentley, Alice Skachkova, Fatemeh Zarei
HAZZE MEDIA
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A Letter From the Editor It's crazy to think that one year has fully passed since the release of Volume 1. I want to thank every single person involved in growing Hazze Media, the team, the creatives who submitted, people who showed support for each volume, those who supported us through our rebranding transition, and everyone in my life who stood behind me and supported me throughout the process of starting up Hazze all the way to now. I've been able to meet some incredible people through this and I'm beyond blessed to have been able to make so many connections with so many talented people. I would also like to take a second to remember the brave souls from the 9/11 attack in the U.S. Since we're pretty new, we haven't been able to do a whole lot of journalism but in the future, I hope we can expand on that to not only include interviews but also memoirs and short films from historic events. Again, thank you to everyone for the support in us and in this issue, we are emphasizing 'The Art of Style': showcasing the talents and styles of photographers, artists, musicians, etc.
Ezzah Rafique Founder/Editor-in-Chief
@hazzemedia
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Photographer Anastasia Fahertdinova @stasya_fah Makeup Artist Nailya Salyakhova @nailyashaa Model Zatula Poly @p_o_l_i_n_a277 Retoucher Tanya Konovalova @tatiana_konovalova_photo
Thank you so much for taking the time out to sit and do this! Yeah, of course, I'm excited. So how's your day been? Um, that's a great question, actually, that's one of the best interview questions I've ever heard. I'm being totally serious. Nobody ever asked that question. My day's been great. I went to the gym at seven 7:30 and I got home and I had to take care of my dog. I have a puppy that's six months old, so I'm kind of she's still like, you know, growing up and stuff. But but yeah, I went to the gym, I got home, took care of my dog, made a little bit food, showered, relaxed, still haven't had my coffee cup of coffee, but that's OK. And now I'm here. How was the process like creating your debut album, you're about to release? It comes out in September. It was lengthy. I was pulling records from like two years ago and some of the records I was pulling from like we were doing records down to. You know, two months ago, like really, I have records that are two and a half years old and I have records that we made two months ago. You know what I mean? So it's like it was just like it was a little bit all over the place. I decided kind of last-minute that I wanted to do an album. It wasn't last minute. I always had it like in my hopes to do an album. But, you know, I kind of just threw a whole bunch of stuff that I really liked together because I had a whole bunch of records. I have way more records than that that I actually didn't throw on the album because I didn't feel like they fit. But it was kind of like going through the pandemic and all that. I was like, Man, when I come out of this, I got to like, drop a project. I just feel like it's time, you know, I want to start shifting the sound into alt-rock direction and more into the rock and roll space. So I just feel like it was kind of like. A long process, but also a quick process, if that makes sense. At the same time, it was easy, it wasn't like hard, it didn't feel like work. It just felt like we were just making music and also had music that was already made that we just threw together on a project.
What is your average day look like when you're working compared to like when you have it off? I work, I try to work every day, so I don't really like it's not work for me. It's like it is work and some of it sucks, but. Most of it, I enjoy. So I try to work every day when I can, maybe like two days a week, I take off for one day and I couldn't tell you what that day looks like. It changes, you know? I recently got in a relationship, so a lot of my free time I've been spending with my girlfriend...I mean, I'm kind of I'm kind of a boring guy when it comes outside of music, you know,
For some of the people who maybe haven't listened to your songs before, you had a pretty big song 'Cigarettes on Patios' that came out in 2019. I want to touch on that really, really fast. What was your reaction like seeing it climb viral on charts? It was great, it was amazing at the time, it was the best feeling in the world my whole life. All I wanted to do was be on my whole life. But like a majority of my life, all I wanted to do was get to the point where, like, I had a hit song, you know, and now I look at it and like, it's always like at the moment you really, really respect it and you're like, Oh my god, this is going, holy shit. This is like, you know, a hit record. But now I'm like, Now I look at it and I'm like, Man, I wish it was that. I wish I had a record that was doing five hundred million streams versus a million a hundred million streams, you know, so it's like there's always in the moment it feels great, but then you keep focusing on the future, you know, it's important to I've kind of learned. I don't think that I appreciated the present enough in that kind of like I wasn't really in the state of mind to appreciate it enough. I just wanted to keep going and going and going. I feel like now if I had that record, I appreciate it more than I did, but I still it was still an amazing feeling. You know, it was still like one of the greatest feelings in the world to have family members and friends call you and be like songs. I mean, it still happens. You know, it's like the record has been out for, what, three years, two and a half years now. And like, it still happens all the time. When friends call me, they're like, Oh, it's playing in the bar or whatever, you know, friends from Florida and stuff. So it's a pretty cool feeling. I mean, I never thought I would be here in a million years, so I cannot complain now.
Did COVID affect your process in creating the album like when it came to adding new songs? What affected me in COVID is I got really sick, I actually got COVID and then. After I got I wasn't sick from COVID, I was sick for like two days and three days, but it sparked an autoimmune disorder in me that I didn't know I had at the time. So I got really, really sick for like three or four months, and that shifted my entire change in music to like. I started thinking about why I'm doing this, why I got into music in the first place and why I'm doing it. So it wasn't like COVID, really. The pandemic and the isolation stuff didn't really make that big of an impact on me. It was more like being sick and being like it was the first time in a while that I felt like life is not abundant. It's not like you're not going to live forever because you get on this like you get signed as an artist. I was working so hard to get signed as an artist, and then I have like a little bit of success and I'm like on a high horse. And you think you kind of forget you're living in a world that does have a due date eventually. So that's really what made me kind of dive in and be like, OK, what do I want to do? F*ck what everybody else wants to do. F*ck but every manager label, whatever else is telling me to do, what do I want to do? Thankfully, I have a pretty supportive label and management situation, so there hasn't been too many bumps in the road, maybe a couple.
That's nice. Was there any time in the process of creating the album where you felt like maybe you not couldn't get through it, but like what helped you get through any tough time you had while creating this? I never felt like I had a tough time creating it. I think I just if I did, I mean, I'm the type of person that's like if if something bothered me about a record and I couldn't get it right, I would just cut the record. I would just say, All right, fuck it. Let's move on to the next record. That's it. You know, that's writing and. Yeah. I mean, like I've written so much music in my life, there's you have no idea there's probably 50 songs that are in my Dropbox right now that are fully like mixed out records that just probably will never come out. So like for me, it's I've been doing it so long and writing so many records that I'm like, OK, this isn't working out perfectly cool. We cut it. Go to the next one. Maybe the next one works out perfectly and maybe even better for this particular project, you know? So I was never really like stressed. The only time that I was stressed is whenever we were mixing and mastering it and the label's like, OK, we have a due date. We need it done by here needs to be done like that's when it gets a little stressed. Ok, we need the photoshoot done right. It's all the other shit. Making the music is the easy part. The photoshoots, the videos, the due dates, the social media, like all that stuff, is that's where the work is. And being an artist, it's not really making the music-making. Well, at least for me, making the music is the joyful part, you know?
Is there like a specific song on the album that you have like a really strong connection to? Or maybe that like you have a memory that's really close to you? Well, there's two when you talk about a memory that's really close to me, a numbers game, which is a record on the album is all about me being sick and me being like, I don't even want to look at myself because I'm disgusted and like, who I am. So that's a deep, definitely a deep, meaningful song. I mean, the lyrics are just totally about that. And then as far as a song that's like my favorite and that I really enjoyed writing and that I enjoy [the] performance. 'Daddy's Coming Home' is probably... my favorite to perform and my most favorite record. But I think the most meaningful one and the one that has the most meaning is numbers.
Do you have a favorite song on the album? Yeah, I'd say it's 'Daddy's Coming Home'. Um, I like 'numbers game', I mean, I like them all. There's like, I really enjoy them all. But I think 'Daddy's Coming Home' to my favorite just because, like, I'm a rock and roll head, and that's the one that is closest to where I want the sound to go. So, yeah.
Your upcoming single, 'My Anxiety', comes on September 3rd. Do you have like, in your words, how would you describe the song to somebody who's like listening to it for the first time? I would describe it as upbeat, but kind of sad if you listen to lyrics, I think most people don't really listen like maybe not most people, but there's definitely a percentage of people that don't listen to lyrics. They just listen to like the movement of the actual song and the instrumental. It might even be listening to lyrics, but they're not understanding what they mean like of those people. Yeah, if you're one of those people, you're going to be like, Oh great, this song is sick. It's like, it's like a mid-tempo, upbeat, like dance like kind of alt-rock dance record. But if you listen to the lyrics, it's really a sad song. It's me talking about my anxiety and like addiction problems I've had in the past and stuff like that. So there's kind of two sides to it. It's like, I think for the first time listening to it, some people might feel really amazing and feel like it's, Oh, wow, this is a great song, has a really good feeling to it. But then like on second, listen, if you listen to the lyrics, you're like, Man, he's kind of sad. You know, it's almost like the song itself and the way it sounds doesn't really present this sad. But when you listen to lyrics, it's a little bit more intense and emotional. Would you say that song's also like when you're really looking forward to perform live? Oh, yeah, totally. I mean, I've already performed it live to like a small crowd in Venice, California, for like this weekend thing and when I hit that one. It just people feel it immediately because I'm like at the top of my register, I'm pushing my voice as much as I can. The band feels the band feels that it's very like it's kind of a little bit of a sloppy record when you take the pieces apart, but it just feels really good, you know? And lastly, I want to ask, is there an artist who this could be an artist who is dead or alive, who would you most want to collaborate with? Uh, the Rolling Stones back when they could actually like, I don't know how those dudes sound anymore, you know and rest in peace, Charlie Watts just died yesterday. The drummer, that guy was a legend, so rest in peace. But the Rolling Stones Janis Joplin would have been really cool to collaborate with. She's she's dead. Also, rest in peace. Bob Marley. Sister Nancy, like I'm into a lot of old school reggae stuff, even like some salsa artists like, I want to start when I start doing like rock and roll and also introducing different languages and different styles of music like salsa or merengue or things like that into my albums. I think that's really cool. But yeah, I think the biggest one would be Rolling Stones. I really look up to those guys, and I really appreciated what they did for four rock and roll.
Where is my Dr. House? Photographer Anastasia Fahertdinova @stasya_fah Makeup Artist Nailya Salyakhova @nailyashaa Retoucher Tanya Konovalova @tatiana_konovalova_photo Model Kate Kashurnikova @Focus @kat.echka_
Sports Can Be Different
Wardrobe Stylist Krylova Anastasia @_nastya_krylowa Makeup Artist Ermakova Alena @oh_alena_mua Photographer Mitrofanova Anastasia @mitrofanova_ph Model Tikhonova Julia @tikhonovajuly
Photographer Orchee Sorker @orchees_photos Model Allison Miller @AMAX Agency @allison_g_miller
Model Ashley Inman @ashleyiinman Model Kasey Umana @kasey Photographer Haille Annalese Kern @byhkern Model Nicole Faris @nikkie.af Model Mary Rinehart @mary_rinehart
déjà vu Model/ Photography/ Styling Jessy Perez Perez @byjessyperezperez
Little Italy in Moscow Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist Darya Akulova @akulova.makeup Model Svetlana Kolpakova @kolpakovasvetas Stylist/Wardrobe Stylist Kseniya Akulova @kseniya_akulova Photographer Irina Zargano @irina_zargano
Model Liubovi Vacari @liubovivacari Photographer Kateryna Pshenychna @__pshenyaaphoto__
Hi! Thanks for taking the time out to do this interview! The music video for your new single 'DON'T THINK ABOUT IT' was recently released a few days ago, how was the process like putting the video together? I met the cake god thejonnycakes on the internet and he does the craziest cake reveals. I’m really obsessed with questioning the binaries we grow up learning about and at first, I thought it would be funny to be a groomsman at a wedding but then see a cake and just steal it and run off into the sunset and ruin the wedding party. but I didn’t think it packed enough commentary into it. then I met with potential directors for the song and Neta was a new mother of a beautiful baby, and she had also been thinking about these same binaries and her idea was to do the gender reveal cake. I felt like there was something synchronistic about the cake journey and then it just became about finding a cast that would act distraught but then let loose and let us throw paint cannons in the air all day long. I’m so proud of what we made. What is the backstory to 'DON'T THINK ABOUT IT'? The song came just as my relationship with my former label was ending. They wanted me to do and say things that just didn’t feel authentic to me and at the end of the day, I felt like they just needed me to be a puppet for their own enjoyment. I thought this song was going to start the whole journey but it ended up being what started volume 2 - and I love that it has entered me into this next chapter of my life. fully independent. getting to say and do what is really coming from me. it feels nice not to have to hide parts that I was told I needed to hide before For DON'T THINK ABOUT IT,' what was the process like for you when it came to writing and creating the song itself? I met and wrote the song with Jen Decilveo on the same day. it was a thunderstorm of a session. kind of in and I think we maybe talked for 10 minutes before she started playing the bass line at the top of the song and it just poured out. I have a voice memo where she asks “do you usually write this fast". I kind of just let the song write itself What would you want fans to take away from the 'DON'T THINK ABOUT IT' music video? Explore the binaries in your life. ask questions of the systems in place - ask if they are designed for everyone. question if the structures in place are helping or hindering growth. I almost don’t need to say how I feel about the gender binary - proof is in the cake :) Do you have a favorite song off of 'MERIDIAN: vol What's your favorite line from 'DON'T THINK 2'? A song that possibly means the most to you or one ABOUT IT'? that you're most excited to perform live? you make things wrong so you can still be right” — I I think that I have a favorite but it’s not the one I’m most think this is the best example of how people establish excited to perform live. BURDEN was the last song I and maintain control of people. they make it seem like wrote in the last days of 2019. I was exhausted. I knew who they are is wrong and then proceed to my life was about to shift but I didn’t realize how much it demonstrate how they can find the right way. it’s a would change for the whole world. in the last hours of control tactic I’ve been trapped in before. and a 2019, I wrote this song. I had a hunch that my friends in society/relationship built on control is not where I Now Now would know where to take it and I’m just so want to be proud of that song and collaboration. Your upcoming EP, 'MERIDIAN: vol 2' releases I know you're not currently with a label right now, on October 22. How was the process like for you how has that impacted you? when it came to creating it? has changed except I don’t have the same budgets inherit in the name is change. I have been so afraid no nothing to make things. hopefully, my fans see my heart and hear one would hear this (listen to WONDER for the lyric the love that went into it - and that’s what matters to me. reference) and volume 1 and 2 of MERIDIAN have kept me going creating something I am very proud of. Lastly, for those who were huge fans of 'MERIDIAN: especially in this pandemic but also independently vol 1,' what can we expect from 'MERIDIAN: vol 2'? building and growing this project. these songs were a resolution to some of the aching questions from volume singing to me and I hope they reverberate for a long 1 I think are within volume 2. time. Photo by: Nolan Knight
Assistant Efim Bespalov @spatial_disorented Photographer Olga Hirschmann @growthunose Model Arina Schur @sshur_ochka
model agency FP model agency @fp_model_agency_rus Stylist Valeria Ivanova @vaarlen Model Elizaveta Ryabova @FP Models @lizaryabovaa Makeup Artist Oksana Geisler @oksana_geisler Photographer Natalia Zakamulina @nata_ph
Who is SAE? What do you want to share about your upcoming projects? SAE is my new Alias. SAE is my sort of alter-ego, I guess you could say (or “sae” haha.) I really tapped into this alter ego this past year, I had a lot of life changing moments this past year and it really really helped me discover this other side of myself, the side of myself which I labeled as “SAE.” My debut EP is coming out very very soon! So definitely be on the lookout for that! I have a lot of new music coming end of Summer to mid-fall.
Photo by: Naomi Lovescu
What’s the name of your EP, and what inspired that to be the representation of the songs you’re releasing? The EP is called “Narratives.” I actually had an entirely different EP and name/theme for the EP, and right before I flew out to LA to record it, I ended up changing the whole thing. I started over pretty much from scratch, and now listening back to all of these songs I know that I made the right choice. I relate to these songs so heavily. It kind of scared me at times because of how vulnerable I was being, but it was liberating. “Narratives” felt appropriate, I’ve never really been just one “thing.” I’ve never liked to box myself in and so I feel like I can fit into a lot of different categories or in this case; narratives. SAE is a collective of all my various narratives and this EP is going to show a glimpse into all the different narratives I feel as though I land in or have landed in, in the past. If you could use one word to describe the energy of the EP and upcoming songs, what would it be? Bittersweet What inspired you to make such a versatile group of songs? Was it hard working on such a wide variety of sounds? How were you able to perfect them all? I never want to box myself in, and the whole idea of the EP was all these different narratives, so I wrote all of the songs from various perspectives of my life. It was hard at times, I had to really sit down with myself with each of these songs and ask myself “what is it that you’re feeling?” along with “how are you wanting others to receive this when they listen to it?” I wanted to make an EP that was for anyone and everyone. I didn’t rush it, I stayed with it, I rearranged it, tried different things sonically, I experimented a lot within this. What are you most excited for? Are there any music videos we should expect? Super excited to say that there are quite a few music videos I’ll be releasing once the EP is out. I’m most excited for everyone to hear this EP because It’s the most “me” I’ve ever been in any of my music and in my life. I’m super stoked to release the videos, bringing my ideas to life visually is so fun for me. I’m a very visual person so I’m doing a lot of creative direction in these videos which is really fun.
What has been the most challenging part of this process? The vulnerability was really hard for me. There was one song in specific off the EP that I hadn’t written yet and my producers were waiting on me to send in just a rough draft and I literally had nothing haha. I had just flown into LA and I’m not even kidding, that same night I woke up at around 2 AM and stayed up until about 4:30 AM writing this song. The idea came to me as I was sleeping and woke me up, and once I started writing I couldn’t stop, that wasn’t the challenging part though, the challenging part was recording it, there were quite a few times where I was starting to get emotional while recording. I poured a lot of myself into this music and that’s why it’s so special to me. I was figuring out a lot about myself in the midst of the making of this EP and I feel like that goes to show once you hear the songs. How long did it take you to compose the songs? Did any road bumps come your way? How did you overcome them? Well I was only in LA for about two weeks, so our time for recording and producing was quite limited, but thankfully we got everything recorded while I was out there! I feel like the only “bump” I had was the limited time I had to record and not wanting to rush the process but everything worked out really well in the end and we got everything we needed! How has the pandemic affected the progress of your EP? Is there any advice you want to give to young artists who may be struggling with getting creative throughout this time? I honestly feel like the pandemic really helped me in terms of songwriting. I had so much free time and it gave me the time to work on music constantly, there was no pressure of releasing this music but it was practice. You never stop practicing, even when you think you’ve gotten good at something, you still practice. Practice makes perfect, not the other way around. Everything has been kept very private and we are all very excited to learn more. Are there any hints you want to give for what we can expect? I want everyone to know me on a more personal level so I will be giving them a view into how SAE came to be and what the process of becoming SAE looked like so there will be a video… or two coming soon.
I have heard the EP is going to be different than your previous music, what makes these songs so special? What sets them apart from your previous music? How have you crafted them to fit your style more? Very different. I tapped into parts of my old self, my current self, and my future self for these songs. These songs consist of many things I’ve felt or said at one point or another, and I feel like because of that honesty, they’re my most relatable songs. I can see how much my songwriting has improved as well, I took time away for a while to really work on getting honest with myself which then led me to being more honest with music. I learned how to have fun with this new music too. I can honestly say this is the first project I’m truly proud of releasing.
The Kids Are Alright
Photographer/Retoucher/Creative Director Celeste Reeves Photography @celestialphotographync Model Gabrielle Alexis Bentley @gabbybentleyy
SAINA
model agency FP model agency @fp_model_agency_rus Makeup Artist Alexandra Sveshnikova @sveshnikovaalexandra Stylist Valeria Ivanova @vaarlen production Mode Production @mode.production Photographer Ksenia Belaya @ph.lastseenever Model Sleptsova Saina @FP Modelsm@sainka_bentik
COLOUR Model Ivan Kuznetsov @tele_loover Assistant Anna Shestakova @anna.makesphoto Photographer Alice Skachkova @non.sensss
MONA LISA ALONE Photographer/Retoucher: Fatemeh Zarei @fatemeh_zarei21 Model/Makeup Artist: Mahsaazare @mahsaazare
IN MOTION MAKEUP ARTIST @BETTYMAKE_UP ASSISTANT @NAD_YABURGOS FEMALE MODEL @MGRACE.MARIE PHOTOGRAPHER/RETOUCHER @CALVINFIX
ELAN Photographer Ezzah Rafique @ezzahphotography Model Tazmeen Rizvi @tazmeen.rizvi Model Pooja Jayasekera @@pooja.jayasekera Videographer Leila Saidane @leila.film Makeup Artist Alanna Castro @alannacastromua
Anna Hair Stylist Olesya Dmitrieva @lady.blue.salon Photographer Ekaterina Obukhova @obuhova_foto Makeup Artist Anna Pashyan @ann_pashyan Model Anna Gafarova @anna_gafarova