He may be from the other side of the planet, but Sydney songwriter and producer BOY SODA has a sound that seamlessly slots into the fruitful world of Western alternative music. 

With BIG, his latest single and visual directed by Bailey Watts, BOY SODA brides the gap between the otherworldly and the emotional, with a dystopian Dune-inspired video augmenting the vibrant soundscape that the artist’s expressive delivery meanders through. Born from a wish to remain situationally present whilst being self-aware, the song’s lyricism is intelligent and introspective in its reflective and wistful nature. 

To be simultaneously highly marketable and copiously creative is a rare feat. A feat that the hotly-tipped Australian amasses with aplomb. I caught up with the latest featured star in our 1 2 Watch series to discuss his new single and video, his unique style, and how he plans on standing out from the masses. 

Who is influencing you lately?

My relationship with listening to music changes when I’m creating a lot. So I haven’t been absorbing projects top to bottom or ingesting a lot in general. 

In saying that, I’ve been rinsing Mac Ayres for the last year, IDK, Lucky Daye, Summer Walker and have really loved Yebba as of late.

How would you define your music to someone who has never heard of you?

It’s very honest and self-aware. It’s orange and baby blue.  It’s R&B, it’s hip-hop, it’s soul, it’s Boy Soda. And it will evolve and change as I deliver new parts of myself and reveal layers of the world I’m creating through this art. I’m a hopeless romantic so that tends to bleed across the catalogue too haha. 

Your new single is a belter! What is the main themes and ideas behind the track?

Thank you!  Big revolves around ideas of perspective and purpose. I wanted to look at my existence in the context of the entire universe, and zoom in really close at the same time. As a listener it makes you feel so closely aligned with the way I think, whilst also encouraging you to ponder your place in the world. Zooming in and out of the macro/micro perspectives like that is something I do often and it can be really healthy and detrimental at the same time.  Big is all about finding that balance.

What was the recording process like?

Fun as fuck!!!! Club Angel and I had done a few sessions and cowrites before but this was the first fully fleshed out idea we’d created together. His taste in production is immaculate and I always feel very giddy watching him make the choices he does when building a song. We made it mostly in one session and we both knew we had something really special when the chorus came out. The percussive, almost nonchalant delivery in the verses created this expectation for a hip-hop centric hook, maybe something chanty and crowd-like? But choosing to let it breathe and explode at the same time with a hook that is lyrically simple whilst still being commanding, is something that felt right to both of us when we landed on it.

What’s the story behind the video?

This idea that the character is trying to get back to somewhere is a feeling I get if I’m disassociating in real life - that pursuit of escapism and neglecting reality at the same time.  

We wanted to create this dystopian environment in order to establish the ‘other-worldly’ energy. You can’t see them very well in the vid, but I have fake gills on my neck, green eye contacts in and that’s also why chose to have the big planet in the sky. The costume designer, Dexter Lola, created the fit inspired by the l fit that Tilda Swinton wears in the movie Constantine as Gabriel.  Having such an elevated, sophisticated and androgynous look really completed the visual and the world that we were building around the song.

How do you plan on standing out in such a saturated market? What’s to come next from you?

Imma stay in my lane! I try not to look in my peripherals too much in regards to what other people are making. Of course, I am inspired by other artists every day, but I know how much I have to offer and I find a lot of confidence in knowing that no one else is more equipped to make my music than me. I will live in many genres and moods and colours throughout my career and I think as humans, we always want to categorise things or put them in boxes to make them more digestible. It doesn’t bother me, because it changes nothing about the way I create, and I know that I'm a 1 of 1 which is a liberating realisation to live in.