Eurovision star Luke Black is back with new single “I’m So Happy”, inspired by Lily Allen. Find out below along with our interview with the artist.
In May, Black represented his native Serbia at the Song Festival with the political, cyberpunk, sci-fi and video game-inspired song “Samo Mi Se Spava” (also known as “Sleep Forever”). Now, the London artist is back with a new single, inspired by the landscape, culture and music of his surroundings.
“‘I’m So Happy’ was the first song I created when I moved to London to study music,” Black explained to NME. “I created it at my university with just a piano. I would go around with my friend and we wouldn’t stop joking about how strange it was to ask someone at school or on the street how they were doing here and they said: ‘ Good! , everything is going well!
“Culturally, in my country, when you ask someone how they are, they start letting off steam! Everyone here is very calm. I wanted to learn my feelings and not be too burdened by everything person. Who cares? I tried to learn to say. : ‘I am very happy and life is good’, although I was really falling!”
As for the music, Black explained how he “used the sound of London”.
“I was very inspired by Lily Allen’s song ‘LDN’,” she explains, “I was walking in an environment similar to her video clip and seeing the beauty and flaws. Kate Nash also has a song called ‘ Merry Happy’ and I. I wanted my little piano to bounce like that. It’s basically the sound, but on steroids.”
“I wanted to create a slightly off-key and messy electric guitar sound, especially near the end when I was banging my head. It goes from Kate Nash to Nirvana. I’m a big fan of the band Soft Play, formerly known as Slaves. I wanted to be inspired by them for the sound of the guitar and the madness at the end”.
Speaking about life after Eurovision, Black spoke of his pride in his growing fan base – particularly on his Discord server, which has grown in users and fans by the thousands.
“When I was very young, I imagined my fans exactly as they are now: the same hairstyle, the same expression and the same kind of humor, and that’s the most important thing,” he admits, ” I am often misunderstood. , especially in my country People look at me strangely, but my fans have the same sense of humor and are all very creative.
“I met some of them at concerts in London, some of them are also struggling musicians, so it’s really nice to be there for them. My Discord channel has been amazing and already has over 4,000 people on it, and many of them met together.Players: unite and become friends!
On his dedication to Discord, Black said his original vision was to “have a place for people to send me letters about how they feel”.
“It was time for me to answer all the letters sent to me anonymously and help some people,” he explains, “and understand that when you feel lonely, there is someone out there, who is not particularly important with him that makes music, Who gave his time to you. It’s a nice feeling.”
“I posted the link on Twitter and suddenly there were 2,000 people posting different types of content – some inappropriate and some inappropriate – and it was a blast. Tons of fans picked it up, modded it and made it the best site in the world. people gather through to come to my concerts I see people coming from Ukraine, Sweden, France and Israel to my concerts in London.
And he says: “There are times that I speak, like now, for years without thinking. They understand it and find comfort in it. I did not think that I was going to be so emotionally connected to the fans, but I really. want to be there for them. Everything came up naturally after the Eurovision. I saw myself reflected in them. If they have a good time and feel comfortable, I’ll keep doing it.”
As for what’s to come, Black is looking forward to releasing a new EP later in 2023, along the lines of what you’ll hear on “I’m So Happy.”
“I tend to stick to the same level of composition: a lot of small harmonics that are related to my homeland, but infused with a lot of British sounds,” he says. “The next thing will have that same stream of consciousness. I’m very interested in the search for happiness and sudden feelings of sadness at the same time. The sound and the lyrics show that a lot.”
“I have an EP coming out that covers all of this. Even my Eurovision song ‘Codladh go Deo’ was about mental health and a range of emotions. I want it to be really honest and confessional, but I don’t want to throw it all into one pop canvas”.
Fans will be able to get a taste of what awaits them at his next concert in London, which the singer said will be a “small venue show”. Having teamed up with Vasso Vu, Furmaan Ahmed and Marija Iva Gocic – who have worked with the likes of Ashnikko, Caroline Polachek and PC Music – for their Eurovision show, an equally ambitious live experience is in the works.
“When I was performing across the Balkans and some European countries, I would design a pop show with some theatrical elements, lots of costume changes throughout the show, and different sets and scenes during the concert,” he explains.
“I’ve worked really hard over the summer to put on a show that I can take everywhere and pretend it’s an arena show. I just want to have fun. It’s a piece of theater and pop, but it’s also rock. It’s set in an abandoned theater and it’s quite strange. The show itself has a lot of energy and power.”
Beyond that, Black has high hopes for more releases and dreams of further forays into the world of video games.
“I have so much in the musical vault and now Eurovision has opened the door for me to bring my songs to life,” he said. “At the moment I’m making sense of things. I’ve never been so much a fan. It’s not too big, I think it’s something that should have happened sooner but slower, but I’m sure are not going to disappoint them or the new. fans”.
He added: “Also, before entering Eurovision I was dreaming of being a Fortnite skin. I hope we can achieve that next year!
Luke Black will be playing at The Lower Third in London on Wednesday 13 September. Visit this link to purchase tickets and learn more.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘440680384427371’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
