– What’s the story behind your unique stage name coolthekid?
I used to spend so much time trying to think up deep and profound meanings for the stuff I’d make and release, but this time round, I honestly put next to no thought into it lol
“coolthekid” always seemed more like a verbal statement or indirect greeting than a title to me (“cool, the kid”).. it’s kinda that thing you say out aloud when your mate walks in the room or something.. I dunno haha – I think the name is what it is, but the music will define what it means as more gets released
– What inspired you to create your latest single “COOLAID” and what can listeners expect from this project?
COOLAID began to take form lyrically once I was finally ready to unpack the past experiences I had while being signed to a major label on a development deal (under a different name)
And as we talked it all out in the studio session, the idea of “drinking the koolaid” (Jones Town) came up in conversation (suuuper heavy, I know) but the song just started to lean into that concept more and more – buying into empty promises, grass is greener on the other side etc.
So once I knew I was writing with this in mind, it was easy to make connections and comparisons to other types of relationship then.. Be it romantic, professional, whatever.
– The line “it’s a good life in the city” from your lyrics conveys sarcasm and regret. Could you delve deeper into this line’s meaning and significance within the song?
The line for me reflects the frustration I felt after being shelved by the label I was signed to. With them being in this massive city and me, having to fly there for all the studio sessions, A&R meetings etc. it was always this feeling of, I’ll only ever be worth something if I’m there in the city, and everywhere else is irrelevant.
The lyrics are definitely meant to come across as sarcastic too, which was quite a natural knee-jerk reaction I had towards hostility and offense back then. In hindsight, I’m grateful to have still done what I got to do and learned some things moving forward as an artist and person.
Once the song was finished though, it wasn’t so much about my personal meaning behind that line anymore as it was now about the listener interpreting it for themselves and getting to figure out what their own “city” was in this line.
– You’ve mentioned that “COOLAID” has been over ten years in the making. Can you elaborate on the journey and evolution of your sound during this time?
I kinda touched on it with the above question but back when all this stuff happened, I was young and full of passion for making music, but I failed to appreciate just how easy and fast some things were in fact happening for me. And I think my sound back then reflected this.
I was trying really hard to stay refined and polished with my pop melodies and hooks while at the same time, trying to put off this weirdly dark and melancholy vibe with my lyrics. I think it was just part of the process an artist goes through, trying to figure out what their ‘sound’ is actually going to be; but at the time, I just thought it was what the people wanted haha
These days, I write and create my music with the express intent of being proud of the song for what it is and whose it is initially – mine.
There are pop r&b elements coupled with a mix of indie alternative in there somewhere (whatever that even means haha)
I think coolthekid is just the collective result of me coming to the realisation as an artist that I wanna make stuff that’s dope to me first and then sharing those songs with whoever else is keen to hang around and love them for their dopeness with me haha
– Your upcoming EP delves into themes of inner conflicts, fear of irrelevance, and the weight of aging. How did you navigate these complex emotions while working on the music?
I don’t think I’ve ever tried to consciously process anything important in my life without music being present in some form. The feelings of irrelevancy and getting older are normal too, I think. With everyone on social media under the constant pressure of having to appear relevant and completely in control of their life all the freaking time, it gets easy to feel this sort of heaviness and get trapped in a cycle of comparisons. But comparison is a dream killer and I just came to the point where I don’t wanna look left or right anymore.. I just wanna focus on sharing music that I love and staying true to that.. everything else will fall where it may.
The songs that I wrote that are on this EP are like little entries in a journal from different stages of growth. From a kid to an adolescent, to someone a few years on looking back on these things and commenting on them. I’m still relatively young as a man and as a new artist.. but I know that there’s soooo much more music still to come from me and I’m just excited to be finally able to share it all with everyone.
– What are your aspirations for 2024?
I want to release as much music as I can this year.
I also want to play shows as much as I can and get these songs in front of people so we can sing them together.
If I can search coolthekid on spotify this time next year and see more than 5 new songs under my name, I’ll be stoked too haha
Everything else is cream on top
Listen to “COOLAID”:
