Genesis Owusu announces sophomore record “STRUGGLER” (Big Room Performance)
"It's a crazy, crazy journey that I'm grateful to be on." - Genesis Owusu
The following is a transcript of Genesis Owusu’s appearance in the CD 92.9 FM Big Room on May 8th, 2023. It has been edited mildly, for length and readability.
Watch the performance here, as Genesis Owusu performs “Get Inspired”, “Don’t Need You”, and “Leaving the Light”, after which, our interview begins.
Grayson Kelly: Thanks for being here today to play us a few songs. What can you tell us about the new full-length coming out this year?
Genesis Owusu: Yes, [that first song is] a new version of the first single from my sophomore album titled STRUGGLER. It’s a whole almost-literary world that I’ve been building, and this is kind of the opener to it — the opening chapter of this rich world that I’m building. I’m very keen to unleash it upon the world.
We’re very excited to hear it. For anybody that’s not familiar with the first record that’s out right now, it has you covered in in bandages on the front, but with like, a grill on — it’s a juxtaposition of like, some damage, and some things that are meant to fix that. When you talked to Anthony Fantano a few years ago, you mentioned how you see artists in their different eras, and wanted to have your own — in this world that you’ve built for STRUGGLER, are you working towards a transition there? What’s your vision going in?
I feel like I kind of came to it almost as if like a like I was writing a fiction, like a short story, rather than like me documenting my life. So I kind of feel like it’s a world that lives on its own. I separated myself from it, and in doing that, I can make it as fantastical and as literary and otherworldly as possible. So that’s kind of where I was going.
We’re very excited to see it all when it’s time, as for now, we’ll get excited for the show in a handful of weeks with Paramore and Bloc Party. You’re no stranger to playing with big names like Tame Impala, but does this feel different?
Yeah, it’s insane. It is absolutely insane. Paramore was never a name that I thought my name would be next to, especially when I was like, in fifth grade or whatever and Misery Business was going crazy, the Twilight Soundtrack… We’re doing a lot of great shows, and the first — Madison Square Garden in New York — will be insane. It’s just a crazy, crazy journey that I’m very grateful to be on.
It’s well-deserved. You mentioned the fifth grade — can we walk it back to your upbringing? You grew up in Canberra, Australia, immigrated from Ghana when you were two, can I ask what kind of a sonic background that lends itself to within your household growing up?
Yeah, definitely. So as you said, we immigrated from Ghana, so there was a lot of Ghanaian Highlife Life music. My mom was the leader of the church’s gospel choir, so there was a whole lot of gospel music in the house.
My older brother, of five years, he started making music before me and he was really into — super into the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Like, obsessed with them. So I knew every Red Hot Chili Peppers lyric involuntarily. And then he started rapping.
My dad was was more into visual arts, so he would just buy albums with interesting album covers that he liked. He would have no idea what the what the music would actually be like, but he’d just buy it for like, two dollars, and just spin it around the house.
And I was the youngest in the house, and the converging point for all these different musical points. And I guess, here I am now.
I think that kind of melting pot of influences comes across, in a very authentic way, on the record that’s out now, Smiling With No Teeth. It’s very inventive and exciting, you never really know what to expect around any corner. I’m curious, because I can’t seem to pin down any of those influences when I’m listening. It’s all just like, me projecting what I know onto what you already know.
What goes through your mind when you’re jamming with the band? I heard that these are like, ten-hour days of just playing. Are you thinking about artists that you admire and kind of replicating any of that, or not?
You know, not a whole lot going through my mind, to be honest. Just vibes.
I was gonna say, vibes alone.
Straight vibes in that room. Vibes and sweat.
Would you ever consider putting out like a full day’s work, like Mac Demarco?
[laughs] Yeah, maybe. I go back and listen to those jams every once in a while, and they’re pretty crazy. So maybe one day.I’d look forward to that. Definitely looking forward to the raucous show at the Schottenstein Center, quite unlike the Big Room today… as these are a bit more toned down. I’m grateful at least that we don’t have to worry about the floor caving in. Can you tell us about the time the floor caved in?
There’s actually two times the floor caved in. I’m amassing quite a reputation.
The second one was the really big one. It was a it was our first show back post-COVID. Back in Australia, we have a pretty iconic venue known as the Enmore Theatre in Sydney. First show back in nine months.
I remember we went two songs in and the crowd was heavin’. Energy was electric. I remember seeing a circle, starting right near the back of the theater, and I was like, “Okay, wow, second song and they’re starting a mosh pit already, this is crazy.”
And I hear in my in-ear monitors: “Hold the song! Hold the song!”
And me and the band from Australia, we do a lot of jamming. So I thought he was saying like, “Keep it going!” Yeah, we’ll keep it going. He’s like, “Hold the song!” I’m like, “I’m holding it man!”
And he’s like, “There’s a hole. There’s a hole, There’s a hole in the floor.” So Touch Sensitive, he went and told everyone to stop the music. He told me that he thought I was doing, like, a James Brown “stop the track!” thing, but no.
We broke a massive hole in one of Sydney’s most iconic buildings. Pretty incredible.
What was the first time?
The first time was at a festival, actually, kind of more baffling. It was one of the smaller stages and it was it was on New Year’s Day. I was getting a little bit rowdy the night before, so my voice was getting a little bit scratchy.
As an apology to the crowd for only being able to deliver 99.9% of 100%, I just jumped into the crowd, got rowdy with them and broke the floor. I have a picture, they let us hold the massive steel beam.
So that’s two, so… maybe… [presses foot down on the stage]
The very sturdy Big Room today, as I knock on wood here that the stage holds up. We’re glad to have you here, hope we’re making you feel at home, sorry we forgot the Symphony Orchestra.
[laughs] Ah, that’s ok.
Yeah, It slipped our minds there. But for real, I don’t mean to jest about something that’s so beautiful and culturally significant as performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, headlining the Sydney Opera House. That’s incredible.
Yeah, that was very surreal. We broke one of Sydney’s most iconic venues and then they invited us into the next most iconic venue, which was nice of them.
It sold out in about three hours, which was incredible. It really is a career highlight for sure, not even to mention being backed by a 40-piece orchestra. Some of the most incredible legacy musicians in the world, and transposing my music that we made out of our sweaty little den in those 10-hour days, it was a really, really beautiful moment.
The juxtaposition of that is really beautiful, too. Like the kind of chaotic, jammy energy that you find on some of the recordings compared to, like, the most rigid, sheet music, raising-their-instruments-at-the-same-time sort of thing. How much did they let you challenge? How much did you want to challenge?
Most of the collaborations were between me and the string arranger, whose name is Alex Turley. We went back and forth for a while, kind of like, how aggressive do we want this to be? And how Disney on Ice do we want us to be?
Then the orchestra are just such professionals. So once that’s written up, like, they get what’s in front of them and that’s what they play. Like, I can’t mess it up. They play what’s in front of them, they don’t deviate, they don’t take a left then take a right… They play it, and they’re playing it right.
Me and Alex, the string arranger, went back and forth — but with the orchestra, I think we rehearsed each song like, once, and it just happened.
What a cool experience. It’s a really awesome watch.
Before we cut you loose, I always like to run a quick Lightning Round. Are you ready?
I think so.
Coffee or tea?
Tea.
Where did you put your award for Young Australian of the Year?
It’s in my it’s on my parents’ bookshelf.
Oh, very nice gift. Is that also where you keep your ARIA award for Album of the year?
It is.
That’s incredible. Congrats on all the accolades, by the way.
Thank you.
If you got on Hot Ones, and I think you will, are you going to struggle with the last set of wings? Or are you confident with the spice level?
I think about two or three years ago, my girlfriend bought me all of the sauces. So I’ve probably done it about nine times now. Just waiting for Sean Evans to try me.
You heard it here first, Sean Evans. When you see this later, in your intense research, he’s confident. Pull the clip. You have our permission.
February of 2016, you tweeted “RED ONION IS PURPLE. WAKE UP SHEEP.” Do you stand by that statement seven years later?
With my entire chest.
I love it. This is one that I like to ask everybody: what do you consider to be the prettiest American state in terms of its geographical outline alone? What state has the best shape to you?
Look, I’m going to be honest. I’ve been here, like, twice, okay?
They’ve both been in a very jet lagged haze. I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you which state looks like what, but you know what? You’ve got a great general outline.
Oh, thank you, that’s a very nice take!
This is the very last question that I’d like to send you off on today: considering you’re an artist that has broken a lot of barriers, creating new pockets within genres and become a global name, all of it out of Canberra, Australia, where we don’t see quite as many global acts kind of taking the forefront.
I see a little bit of similarity in your home and in ours, in the sense that we’re probably talking — right now — to a lot of kids that kind of feel like they’re outside of the typical places where successful artists tend to come from. To those kids that are maybe making music in their garage or in their basement, what advice would you give them?
I think as an artist, and just as a person in general, knowing yourself is one of the most important things. Knowing why you do the things you do, why you want to do the things you do.
If music makes you happy, that’s amazing. If you want to pursue it as a career, think about why. Like, what that actually means to you. And then try and research the realities of what that really is — whether that’s going to change your relationship with music or not.
If you do decide to keep going down that path, try to figure out what success means to you early on, because success is a very ambiguous term that means a lot of different things to different people. Having someone else impose their definition of success, that can be very detrimental.
Like, if you make music out of the genuineness and the uniqueness and just the internal need that comes from your heart, and you want to have fun and you go with that fun, that’s a very valid goal.
And if you end up winning a Grammy but you stop having fun with it, you haven’t succeeded. And vice versa: if you want to win the Grammy and that’s your goal, that’s just as valid.
But I think just knowing what your definition of success is will really aid you.
Genesis Owusu returns to Columbus on June 10th, 2023, with Paramore and Bloc Party. Get tickets here.
Revisit the three-song Big Room Performance on YouTube, and consider subscribing for free. It helps a lot of people out around here.