SEBASTIAN MIKAEL

Photographer: Tyler Henry Creative Director + Stylist: Paco Lampecinado Grooming: RuthieWeems Stylist Assistant: Demetrius Simms

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Sebastian Mikael

Your mother is ethiopian, Did you go to Ethiopia often? What can youtell us about your experience there? The culture, people, etc.

I’ve been to Ethiopia once as a kid when I was 9 and then I went to Eritreawhen I was 15.

The people are warm and have a genuine happiness that’s not based on material things or money. It was also the first time I had seen poverty on that level. I met some of my cousins who had completely different lives than me. It made me appreciate what I had and I realized how privileged I was.

How many instruments do you play and which ones?

I play two instruments, keys and guitar. I’m trying to learn bass,too.

The culture is very rich and full of history. Ethiopia has one of the oldest African cultures so it was fascinating to see the monuments that date back to BC. As a kid I didn’t really appreciate it as much as I do now, so I’m dying to go back again and really soak all of it up.

When making music, how do you feel the musicalinstruments that are used connect with the vocals and theoverall story being told?

Over the years, you’ve truly evolved and grown as an artist. Can you speak to your creative journey both aesthetically and sonically?

My creative journey has been about me morphing into who I am as an artist and human.

I took a two year hiatus just tapping into me, and the more I embraced what I genuinely loved- my sound just came together.

When I make music my only focus is making a dope song, so it all has to feel connected sonically. I thrive off of being creative overall and not just singing. I look at myself as a producer before a singer and I use my voice as an instrument so tone wise, it has to connect with everything else in the song.

You were introduced to art through painting (before music). Can you tell us about the correlation between sounds and colors as you see and/or hear it?

Sonically, I went back to my first love- which is soul music. When I was first starting out, before I put any music out, my sound was leaning more towards neo soul. I didn’t think I was musically inclined enough to pull it off and I thought labels wouldn’t get it, so I chose to go the label route following a direction they had for me. Now I’ve grown enough as an artist to go full throttle on what I love and believe in.

Yes, before I started doing music I wanted to be a painter; I was actually better at painting than music! But later on in life music just became more and more intriguing. Music, painting, film and fashion have always gone hand in hand for me. I see colors when I think of visuals for my music and the style of songs I create can come from the way I dress. For example, a 70’s silhouette shot on expired film can shape my sound.

One thing about me, I’ve never been a one-dimensional artist. I incorporateso many different elements that make up who I am. Therefore, I call mymusic “alternative soul”.

One of my favorite songs of yours is “Mission.” What isyour overall mission?

2020 has been an unprecedented year. What has your experiencebeen like during the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial unrest/call forjustice?

My mission is to inspire and uplift the youth by telling my story about the things that I went through, like the injustice I experienced by the color of my skin, losing my best friend to gun violence and battling mental health. I believe God gave me this gift for that purpose, so that lives can be changed.

Since COVID hit it’s been very challenging for me to find inspiration to create. I draw a lot of my inspiration from people and just everyday life shit so it was hard not having that. I think I took a lot of stuff for granted before the pandemic.

Can you speak to your latest release “Exit” and theinspiration/meaning behind it?

Since the pandemic I’ve had a few losses in my family that hit us really hard and the desire to work was gone for a couple of months. On top of that we were seeing black people being killed for no reason at all and that took a toll on my mental.

“Exit” is about a breakup I went through two years ago. I was feeling really lonely and felt like I had dropped the ball by leaving so I was destined to get my shit together so I could give her what she deserved. We ended up getting back together.

Your relationship with music began with you picking up the guitar.How did that come about and when did you figure out that you couldgo full fledge and sing as well?

Can you tell us about any upcoming projects or plans?

I’m getting ready to release my third EP with “Exit” being thefirst single. It’s currently being mixed and mastered

Drums was actually my first instrument and then I picked up the guitar around twelve or thirteen. Singing came in way later for me. I didn’t start until I was a senior in high school, but never took it seriously until I was about twenty-three.

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