Meet DAZE – the Canadian singer who’s made his debut with his new EP entitled ‘Daydreamer‘ – which was released earlier this month. Working alongside music producer Avius, DAZE re-envisions stories of heartbreak and split ups into a playful and dreamy body of work. The 4-track project also includes a feature with Canadian rapper Jared Anthony on their track ‘Get You.’ Formerly known as YMF, DAZE takes a fresh name and through his music, shows us what he’s really all about.
DAZE gave us an earlier preview of his EP last month, through his track ‘Tamagotchi’ – an ode to the popular late 90’s Japanese digital pet. The single served as a fun introduction to this project as it flaunts Avius’ production skill and DAZE’s quirky charisma. Merged together with bright blue and yellow visuals for the cover, ‘Daydreamer’ lives up to its name as it tells the story of a broken heart dreaming to start a new, as displayed on his track ‘Restart.’
Through an interview with XMPL, DAZE describes the story behind his single ‘Tamagotchi’ and working with Avius on his EP ‘Daydreamer.’
Read the full exclusive interview with DAZE and stream ‘Daydreamer’ below:
You recently went through a name change and shift in direction, what would you say inspired this?
So, with the music I was making before, I didn’t listen to it. So, the music I was making wasn’t me – it wasn’t something I enjoyed making personally. Now, I just listen to Post Malone, Juice WRLD, like Swae Lee type stuff. This is who I am through my music basically, that’s why we went into a new direction.
Who would you say are your music influences?
Post Malone, 100%. Juice WRLD. Sprinkle a bit of Billie Eilish in there.
You recently dropped your new single ‘Tamagotchi’ – tell us the story behind this track.
We were in Avius’ studio and he had a Tamagotchi on a little corkboard, it was on there – in the box. I wanted to write a fun song and he said “why don’t you just write about that?” about what’s in the room in the basically, so I look at the Tamagotchi and “only got three buttons so just call me Tamagotchi” came to my head and I had to write to this. Everything started to come into place, we were bumpin.’ It was totally different from before cause we referenced ‘Mosh Pit’ by Kodak Black with Juice WRLD. That was the song I wanted it to sound like, but it sounds nothing like that. But that’s basically how everything goes. If I show him [Avius] something, it will transform into this beautiful piece. You can hear a bit of it, but it’s its own thing. It was just a fun song.
‘Tamagotchi’ was the first release of your debut EP ‘Daydreamer’ – can you tell us how this project was brought to life?
I’ve known Avius for so long – he’s my cousin’s best friend. I used to see him all the time. He had made this rap group with his friends called “Lil Big Willie” and when I was younger I wanted to hop on a song. So that’s when we made “Saucy Boy” like a long time ago, when I was under YMF still. And then he was like “yo you actually have a good voice” and he wanted to make other stuff so we started making music. When we made the EP, for the songs, like how it all came together – we actually made ‘Restart’ first and we didn’t even think about putting out an EP or anything, we were gonna release them as singles. And then we made ‘Tamagotchi’ and he just kept making beats. I wrote to them and everything fit together because it was the same type of style. And we were just like, “why don’t we just put it into a project?” cause everyone’s been begging me for music. So I’ll give them this whole thing and I won’t have to worry about it for a little bit [laughs].
How did you come up with the title ‘Daydreamer’?
It’s nothing special. We knew the songs were going to be playful, songs about heartbreak and stuff like that. The colors yellow and blue were stuck in Avius’ head for the EP, so when he thought of blue, I thought of the sky and clouds. He came up with ‘Daydreamer’ and that name just stuck with us.
From this project, of the 4 tracks, which one would you say is your favorite?
Restart for sure. You can hear me singing my heart and soul out and it’s the most that I connect with.
Did you face any challenges while executing this project?
The way ‘Restart’ starts now is 100% different. We thought it needed some oomph so we sampled Blink 182. We sampled ‘Feeling This’ and used the melody. We were scared that it wasn’t going to through, because it was a sample. I ended up misspelling the e-mail, which was a pushback [laughs] and then it was just timing basically.
Do you know if we’ll be getting any music videos for ‘Daydreamer’?
I want to do at least one or two for the EP but nothing in the works right now. I eventually want to do at least one.
If given the chance, which five artists – or producers, would you like to work with?
Wow. Post Malone for sure. Juice WRLD. Billie. Murda Beatz, I’d love to work with him. And Travis Scott – that would be wicked. I’d just want to do the writing process with him. That would just be crazy.
What can listeners expect from ‘Daydreamer’?
Well, definitely when you’re listening to the EP, it tells a story about heartbreak, breakups and stuff, which is ironic cause I’ve never been through any of that. I wanted to make music that people can connect to. One day, maybe I can connect to my own music [laughs]. Each song tells a story, so if you can connect with it, that’d be cool.
