FEATURE:
Spotlight
Powfu
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AN artist who broke through last year…
and was someone who COVID-19, strangely, suited, Canadian lo-fi pioneer Powfu is someone you should know about. The pandemic has not been good for any artist but, able to make music from his bedroom and post it to the world, he became a bit of a role model or inspiration for many others – at a moment when the usual method of recording and promoting music was put on hold. I am going to bring in a few interviews where we get to know more about the incredible Powfu. Before getting to interviews, Sony Music give us a short overview of an artist on the rise:
“After several years of studying and contributing to the lo-fi hip-hop scene on YouTube, emotive songwriter and artist Powfu has emerged from a small town outside of Vancouver and has established himself as an important player in bringing the lo-fi genre into the mainstream.
The 21-year-old artist (born Isaiah Faber) grew up in a musical household and started recording and releasing music in the basement of his home while still in high school. After identifying his image and sound, Powfu steadily released new tracks over the next three years and started drawing millions of streams across multiple platforms.
Throughout his journey, he has connected and collaborated with many other lo-fi artists on the rise such as Rxseboy, Guardin, and Snøw, building an impressive catalogue that now boasts over 60 tracks on Soundcloud that bounce between chill-lo-fi and hype-punk. His unique genre-melding sound stems from”.
Most of the interviews with Powfu are from 2020. There are some from this year but, by and large, most of the press surrounding him came last year. Last month, Powfu released the stunning E.P., tell me your feelings and i won’t tell you mine. In fact, he has been busy with E.P.s this year. In June, he put out drinking under the streetlights. His debut E.P., poems of the past, arrived last year – that was highly anticipated and got a lot of people talking. Last year, The Forty-Five spotlighted a breakout star who was one of the newest stars to find success on TikTok:
“At age 21, Canadian artist Powfu has already firmly grasped the title of one of 2020’s breakout stars, his lo-fi hip-hop tracks hitting over 20 million monthly streams on Spotify. What started out as a bedroom project has become a marker of the importance of social media platforms like TikTok in determining an artist’s success. After sampling Beabadoobee’s bedroom track ‘Coffee’, on his breakout single ‘Death Bed’ (a song about a dying man saying goodbye to his girlfriend) Powfu became the latest artist to find success on TikTok.
To say ‘Death Bed’ went viral would be an understatement – at the time of writing, it has become the soundtrack to over six million videos on the platform. The music video also has over 160 million views on YouTube, it’s certified platinum in five countries, gold in four and a dance challenge has even been created, to a remixed version of the track.
He was surrounded by music from an early age. “I was about 12 when I started writing songs, but that was kinda just for fun. I started taking it seriously when I was 17,” he says. His father, David Faber, is the lead vocalist of “successful Canadian punk band, Faber Drive”, who were first signed to Chad Kroeger’s (of Nickelback) label, 604 Records. It’s no surprise then, that Powfu was heavily influenced by Canadian and American rock growing up, genres that can be heard on his more recent releases, including ‘17 Again’, listening to the likes of Simple Plan and Yellowcard.
Artists such as B.O.B, Eminem and Mac Miller, however, introduced him to what a career in hip-hop could look like, although he also cites Nicholas Sparks movies as an influence too. He achieved the perfect blend of the worlds of American rock and lo-fi hip-hop when Blink-182 agreed to remix ‘Death Bed’. “I’ve been listening to them a lot the past couple years. Not much as a kid,” he says, “I told my label they were the number one people I wanted to work with and they made it happen”.
With success came transitioning to a bigger playing field – he signed with Columbia Records earlier this year, rereleasing ‘Death Bed’ on the label, having independently released his previous tracks. It’s marked an important, welcome change in his career so far, which is still in its infancy. “It’s pretty cool… overall it’s been a good change” he says. “It’s been cool being able to see both sides of it and I’m thankful for everything that’s happening”.
There is a very relaxed attitude to Powfu, in spite of the fact that his music has been hugely praised and he has accrued enormous popularity. That is evident when DORK spoke with him in June last year. I guess, when the pandemic started, many were looking to music for comfort. For that reason, he was able to find a willing and loyal audience:
“Even if you might not have realised you’ll definitely have heard Powfu’s music at some point in the last year. Whether it’s on the smash hit Beabadoobee featuring viral banger ‘Death Bed’, or in the wildly creative online ether of Youtube or TikTok, his very modern hybrid sound has been everywhere. As he speaks to us from his lockdown bedroom retreat in his native Canada, “hanging out with my girlfriend and just playing video games,” Powfu is taking his rise very much in his stride. “I want to have another song blow up like ‘Death Bed’ did, but I don’t feel any pressure,” says the man born Isaiah Faber. “I’m not nervous about it. I’m just chilling and making music like I always do.”
The way he’s always been making music was born from an early introduction. “My dad was in a punk rock band called Faber Drive,” he explains. “So, when I was 2 years old, he taught me to play the drums, and I would practice every day for half an hour. That was my introduction. When I was 11, I got sick of the drums, and I started playing guitar more. About 16 or 17, I started making my own music on the computer. I would just write stupid songs. They were mostly garbage, but I kept working on it and started releasing stuff on SoundCloud, and it went from there.”
Powfu has come up in a time when it’s never been easier for all manner of different artists to find an audience and use different platforms to forge a community. In this case, Youtube and Soundcloud have allowed Powfu to experiment and hone his craft and his sound while growing a hugely loyal audience. The music that he makes fits the homegrown nature of this operation. “I make lo-fi hip hop with a punkish element,” he says. “I’m mixing punk music with hip-hop. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of punk rock – Simple Plan, Yellowcard, Blink 182. Those are my two favourite genres. I’m blessed to be able to do that. I just try and do whatever sounds good. I just think if I were to listen to this, I would hope other people would listen to it.”
His approach is a magpie-like sensibility to spot a beat or a sound or a melody and run with it, forging it into something beautifully simple but hugely effective. That’s what he did with ‘Death Bed’. A song that was around a long time before he found the Beabadoobee sample, which became the secret sauce to take it to the next level. “It’s pretty crazy to me. It’s awesome seeing it blow up,” he says. The song is so different from what most other people are making and it’s kind of the definition of lo-fi hip-hop for me. It’s cool seeing it blow up because more people are going to listen to lo-fi. It’s an intro to the genre. It’s inspiring”.
I found a review of the poems of the past E.P. from The New York Times. Even though most (of the EP.’s) songs talk about fractured relationships, he can do so in a varied and really interesting way:
“Mostly he writes about fractured relationships, or ones that get fractured before they can even form. He has said “A World of Chaos” is based on his parents’ relationship struggles, and the desire to persevere through challenges. (In one interview, he said he watches Nicholas Sparks movies for inspiration.) There are echoes of the early years of Slug, of the foundational emo-rap outfit Atmosphere, and maybe even more directly, a piercing, sighing vocal tone that recalls Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba and Saves the Day’s Chris Conley.
That’s especially true on “Im Used to It,” which begins with a harmony of coos and oohs and zzzzs, and unfolds into a lovelorn tale about not feeling good enough about yourself except for when one special person pays attention. “I didn’t want to ask you out, ’cause I’m not who you talk about,” Powfu raps just before the chorus, at which point he turns to pained nasal singing: “Your boyfriend’s a douche that thinks he’s cool/And doesn’t deserve a girl like you.”
That dynamic also shapes “Popular Girl, Typical Boy,” which is a “You Belong With Me” for socially reluctant e-boys. The song begins with an off-kilter ukulele-esque figure that’s slow and wobbly, adding to the awkward tentativeness with which Powfu talk-raps his anxieties: “Quiet kid but when I see you do my best to misbehave/Yeah, because I saw once in a movie/These hot girls thought the mean guys were groovy.”
And then there’s “Death Bed,” a seamless blend of melancholy and certainty. What’s most absorbing is how the verses and choruses function in tension with each other — singing the hook, Beabadoobee (the Dido to his Eminem here) sounds reluctant and a little distant, but the lyrics teem with sweetness.
Rapping the verses, Powfu is confident and steady, but his lyrics are somewhere beyond worrisome, as if he’s rapping to his love from death’s doorstep: “I hope I go to heaven so I see you once again/My life was kinda short, but I got so many blessings/Happy you were mine, it sucks that it’s all ending”.
Prior to getting to the final interview, there is a review from DARKUS for the exceptional drinking under the streetlights. It is another amazing release from an artist who is among the most consistent and inventive around:
“Continuing his consistent music releases, lo-fi hit-maker Powfu has released his brand-new EP drinking under the streetlights today. With the release, he has also dropped the official video for “future diary” ft. Jomie and Skinny Atlas, which is Powfu’s personal favorite track on the EP. Also included on the new 4-track collection is new single “mario kart” ft. Travis Barker, who previously collaborated with Powfu on the “death bed” remix. Stay tuned for more from them soon.
The new EP comes hot on the heels of Powfu winning Best New Alt/Rock Artist at the iHeartRadio Music Awards last week. He’s also been nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at Canada’s Juno Awards which take place this weekend.
drinking under the streetlights arrives as the follow up to his November 2020 EP some boring love stories pt. 5 and his May 2020 EP poems of the past, which The New York Times named to their Best Albums of 2020. Each new release showcases Powfu’s evolving sonic palate and stays true to the signature relatable storytelling of his lyrics. His massive double Platinum hit song “death bed (coffee for your head)” continues to stream around the world with over 2 Billion streams to date. The addictive song blasted Powfu to the forefront of the music scene last year, positioning him as one of the pioneers bringing the lo-fi genre to the mainstream”.
I am going to close up with an interview from somewhere. They asked some quick-fire questions this year that, I feel, give us more details and insights into the Canadian artist:
“How have you been doing during these past couple of months?
Really good. Started couples counselling and filming lots
Do you think that the pandemic had a positive or negative influence on your creativity?
Bit of both I guess. It sucked to not see people but it was also a cool experience to live through something so crazy
Could you introduce Powfu to our audience?
Hi im Powfu and I write songs and jesus loves u
You’re just releasing a new single, could you tell us more about it?
Its a mix of hiphop and punk music and sounds friggin epic. its about leaving a relationship cuz you feel like your dragging the other person down.
How would you describe your music?
Relatable, chill, lyrical, lofi
When you’re making your songs, do you listen to other music? Have you discovered any exciting musicians recently?
Sometimes. If there’s a new sound im chasing ill listen to songs sometimes to get inspired but usually I don’t”.
Follow and support Powfu if you have not already done so. Someone who is putting out so much great work, he may well have E.P.s lined up for this/next year. It is definitely worth keeping an eye out and seeing what arrives next. I am not sure if he is planning anything live or is going to travel outside of Canada. He has a fanbase here in the U.K., so let’s hope that he…
COMES over here soon.
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