Artist Spotlight: Day1
I had the opportunity to sit down with Day1, the Brisbane star racking up millions of streams, and putting his city’s scene on the map. With hits like ‘BOSS’, and the endlessly replayable ‘Mbappe’, we wanted to pick the artists brain, to understand the process behind his music, as well as talk a little about his connections to the UK scene.
His hard trap beats, and in your face flows make him a standout in Australia’s constantly evolving musical landscape. ‘Me, Myself & I’, his new single, is out now, and shows the spitter take over the streets of London with his energetic raps, posted on GRM Daily to help further tap into the UK market.
Whilst he continues to surge in popularity, garnering attention from the likes of Aitch, and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, what better time to catch the Brissy emcee before he makes his mark on global charts. Day1 is not taking anything for granted, and seems certain this is only just the beginning for him…
How long have you been making music?
I would say probably like 10 years now? Yeah, a long time.
A lot of people listening to /reading this are likely in London, and the UK, so what would you say to those people that might not know about you yet? Why should people listen to you?
For people that don’t know me already, I think I’m probably the best up and comer to come from Australia, and I’m trying bridge myself worldwide, and get on a global scale. I’m trying to get Australia respected, and on the scene, compared to other scenes. Day1’s the movement, that’s what it is.
So, just last week you dropped a new single, ‘Me, Myself & I’ – what’s the reception for it been like so far?
Yeah, it’s been good, it’s a very different song, and not many Australians get the opportunity to be on GRM Daily. I’m also trying to get that exposure from the UK audience which has been going well. Everyone’s been respecting it.
So how did that connection with GRM Daily come about?
Yeah, we linked with the person who did the video, Kaylum. He messed with our people, we messed with his people, so he just wanted to do it for us. Yeah, really good guy.
He’s done videos for like Stormzy and stuff before, hasn’t he?
Yeah, yeah, he does the whole UK scene pretty much, he’s got that patterned down.
So the songs got a crazy trap beat, and you’re really flowing, so what influenced the creation of that song?
It’s just basically me, myself, and I all the time. I was chilling in the studio by myself, and created the track on how I felt, like I’m not a social guy, I don’t really like going out, I’d rather just be on my own really, like me, myself, and I, so yeah, and I heard the beat and I just started flowing with it.
I’m a big fan of ‘Mbappe’ too, I literally can’t get the hook out of my head, I woke up this morning and it was still in my head. How did you write that song? Did you go into it thinking like ‘this is a hit’?
I have been listening to a lot of Latin stuff, stuff that is not even in English, I enjoy the sound. It’s a little bit big in the Latin market in Brisbane, where I’m from, and yeah just walking past places and they’re playing it, I just wanted to give it a shot, and I gave it a shot.
What can you tell us about The Area Movement?
The Area Movement is basically just like everyone representing where they come from, whether it be music, sport, or whatever. It’s giving people chances and stuff like that.
And did you start that in Australia with people you grew up with?
My manager Zig started that, so he gave me the whole rundown of what it is, and yeah I really mess with it, and I’ve been supporting it ever since. Most Australians have been supporting it ever since, because we want our culture. We want our team to be respected, so The Area Movement is just basically where it’s at.
You’ve obviously done well on YouTube and Soundcloud, but you’ve also managed to get quite a few big Spotify playlist placements, and now you’re sitting at nearly 500,000 monthly listeners, with your biggest track nearly at 30,000,000 streams. How does that feel? Did you ever think you’d be in this position?
I mean, I always thought I would be in this position, but when it actually happens compared to when you’re thinking about it it’s a whole other story. It’s definitely a dream come true, it definitely doesn’t feel real, but I just take it and I move it and I just wanna even do better for myself, even though I’ve gotten to this point.
What can you tell us about your biggest song ‘BOSS’, what does that track mean to you?
I recorded that when I was like, literally pretty much no one, and I was just talking about what was going on basically, and how I felt as a human during that time period. So yeah, everyone was messing with us in the area and was really behind what we were tryna do, and see the difference I was tryna make, so everyone just hopped on board, so that song for me was very special because, yeah, it felt like we were all becoming something, and that’s when I knew that this is it, you know what I mean?
Yeah, definitely. Obviously, because of it, and other singles, you’re quite a big presence in Australia, but now we’re hearing a bit more about you in the UK. Obviously, there’s artists like Kid Laroi, and Iggy Azalea, but do you think there’s potential for you to be one of the first Australian rappers to break into European, American, and global audiences?
100%, I feel like yeah there’s no doubt in my mind that it will happen one day, if I just keep at it, and then keep doing my thing, and keep moving correctly with my team. Yeah, there’s no doubt that I could do it, if Kid Laroi did it, and Iggy did it, then yeah 100% I can do it.
Do you see yourself working with Kid Laroi, or even Iggy Azalea?
I mean, yeah, if it happens, 100%, you know? I’m all about Australia, I’m all about the movement, I’m all about bringing us up, so yeah, of course.
So yeah, I definitely think going global is possible given the amount of streams and exposure you’ve got recently. Obviously some artists in Australia have started branching out and featuring people from the States, and people from the UK, do you have any plans for branching out to any British or American artists as features?
Definitely, I feel like for me, I feel like UK kinda relates to like our story, and our come up as well like. We never really had like a scene, and now the UK is like really getting respected at the moment, and that’s what I’m tryna do, so I feel like, for me, I wanna branch out to the UK first cause I feel like they’ll understand that, and once I’m like comfortable with that, then yeah definitely move on to America and stuff, yeah. Tryna really take it global, tryna really do the best I can with my career.
Are you a big fan of the hip hop scene in the UK at all?
Ah, yeah, definitely, definitely.
Who are some sort of favourites that you like in the UK?
My favourites is like D Block Europe, Fredo, Dave, Central Cee, M Huncho, pretty much, yeah, a lot of the main characters, yeah definitely my favourites, like I understand them and I see where they’re coming from in their lyrics and I can relate to them with a lot of stuff, so yeah, I’m a really big fan of their work.
What about the American scene – obviously in your sound there’s a bit of influence from American trap music, so who are your favourites from America, and some you might consider influences in your sound?
I don’t think he’s from America, but Drake is definitely a big influence for me. I would say… Lil Baby as well, yeah, Lil Baby’s crazy. Yeah, like I kinda just listen to UK, but if I’m listening to America then it’s usually like Lil Baby, or Drake, or Future, stuff like that.
Whilst we’re talking about influences, if you could make music with any musicians, who would they be? Dream collaborations… Top three maybe.
Drake, definitely Drake. D Block Europe, definitely. Uhh, probably… Central Cee I’d say.
And what about producers? If you could get a beat from anyone.
Young Metro like, most of the American producers are crazy, like Tay Keith, Metro Boomin, DJ Mustard, people like that.
Dream festival to perform at? It could be anywhere in the world, now that you’re sort of branching out.
Definitely like Rolling Loud or Coachella. 100%. Wireless as well would be crazy.
Oh yeah, Wireless is great. On that topic then, you’re touring with Dave East soon, are you looking forward to that?
Yeah, it’s gonna be good. It’s definitely a different crowd than what I’m used to, but we’re gonna show them what we can do in Australia. That was my main point in taking that opportunity, just wanted to show America that we’re not just the country of Kangaroos, do you know what I mean? We really got a scene out here, we really got people that are interested, and stuff like that. We got stories out here, so yeah, tryna just build that bridge also into New York as well.
Can we expect any live dates from you in the UK over the next year maybe?
Not at the moment, I don’t have anything that I could announce right now, but yeah definitely wanna do that when I get a chance to.
Obviously drill has been blowing up quite a bit in Australia, do you ever see yourself making drill, or are you comfortable with the sounds you already delve into?
I’m always changing my sound, I’m very versatile, but yeah definitely I would do drill but in the sense of like, I wouldn’t really wanna talk about what people usually talk about in drill, cause I don’t feel like anyone’s really interested in that as much as they were.
So you’re Maori and Australian, based in South Brisbane, how do you think your background affects how you make music, or affects your process?
I mean, most like New Zealanders or people of Pacific Islander backgrounds, some of them come from like the same kind of struggle of like where they come from sort of thing, so I feel like that kinda has a big input in my music like emotionally wise, and like how dedicated I am towards it, and the movement that everyone wants to follow because they feel apart of it, even though I’m a New Zealander but we’re tryna like do the most, you know what I mean?
What’s Brisbane like as a city, both growing up, and in terms of the music scene?
Brisbane’s alright… Like it’s just very, very chill, it’s a good city, it’s got its ups and it's got its downs, but I feel like that’s everywhere. It’s a good city, it’s where I’m from, it’s what I represent, so yeah, can’t complain.
Where do you think has the best music scene in Australia?
I feel like Sydney at the moment, Sydney has a lot of artists coming out of their city, so Sydney at the moment, but Australia as a whole soon.
Are there any Australian musicians you think people should know about, if they don’t already?
Yeah definitely, KAHUKX, Hooligan Hefs, there’s a lot, there’s a lot of people doing their thing, there’s a lot of talented musicians out here. Gold Fang as well, I just got to hear him, I heard about him recently and yeah he’s very, very talented on the Afro side of things, but yeah definitely, anyone should really tap into the Australian music scene, cause we definitely got a lot of talent out here.
Yeah, there’s a lot of interesting stuff coming out of Australia right now. So, in terms of these recent singles, is this part of a bigger rollout? Is this gonna lead to an album maybe, is there anything we can look forward to?
This is me just keeping consistent and just dropping versatile tracks that are completely different to each other, to show that I’m not playing around, I’m really here tryna make a statement, I’m really here showing that I out work anyone and everyone to get this dream that I have secured.
And whilst you’ve been building your profile, building buzz through these singles, showing your versatility, who's been the craziest co-sign you’ve had so far? Whose shouted you out that you didn’t expect to?
Just recently Aitch shouted us out, that was definitely random, I just got a text from my manager early in the morning and like, that’s crazy if they’re listening to that. It was that ‘Mbappe’ track so yeah, that was definitely a cool moment.
So, what's your biggest goal right now? What do you want to achieve in the next year, next three years even? What’s next for Day1?
I wanna get to the stage of where I’m like up with these big names, definitely. I definitely wanna put my city officially on the map, where like everyone wants to go there sorta thing, and just see like what I’m talking about, so yeah I definitely wanna do a lot for my own city, a lot for the youth programs in my city, for people that didn’t have chances like I did. And just yeah, really just help the city community wise, and music wise I wanna reach as far as I possibly can.