Raleigh singer-songwriter, Safi, is the epitome of the fusion of modern pop and traditional R&B movements. Discovering his talents at the early age of 13, he decided to embark on a journey towards becoming an artist, and since then has honed his skills and drive to fulfill those ambitions and visions. Safi’s inspiration stems from core passions and personal encounters of life experiences. Being true to his name which means “pure,” Safi strives to display authenticity in both his original lyrics and style. He aims to captivate the hearts, minds, and souls of fans and first-time listeners alike. With 12 singles cued for release, Safi is ready to flood the shelves and take the industry by storm.
Safi’s vocals on his latest track “Ride With Me” fall into the softly soulful side of things, fusing a hint of pop/soul with a mellow RnB aura, his silky voice weaves its way through the dedication and loyalty at the heart of the song, working as hard as the words embrace the listener. While there’s a certain simplicity to the set-up, Safi makes the most out of the moment with a performance that sounds authentic. There’s a genuine lightness in the tone and a sense of love and appreciation in the way he handles the melody throughout “Ride With Me”. Flashy effects and multiple instrumental layers are not needed because Safi’s natural confidence and skill result in an expressive delivery that more than carries the sentiments through in a believable and open way. Safi presents “Ride With Me” with emotion and this is all that’s needed to let the song connect and leave its mark. Things are heading in a strong direction. Hopefully, there’s plenty more music on the way from Safi.
Listen to “Ride With Me” here and read more with the artist Safi below!
Hey Safi! Welcome to BuzzMusic! How did you originally get started making music?
So I've actually always had an affinity for music and singing, specifically. Growing up with two parents who never pursued it professionally but were amazingly talented, nonetheless, really inspired my love for being a vocalist, so the love for music was always there, however I never really pursued it as a viable career choice until the summer of 2009. I was sitting with my cousins around a small white radio they had just listening to music when a particular song really caught my attention. It was Down by Jay Sean. I really fell in love with the song, the vocals, chord structure, just everything was perfect. A few weeks later I find out the artist Jay Sean was a British Indian. The more important part for me was that he was Indian, because even though I was born in the US, I am also of Indian background and there really was never any representation in the Mainstream music industry before this of anyone that looked like me and when I learned of this, it gave me hope that this really can be something that I can pursue and thus I began to dream. It wasn't a few years later that I began going to NC State University and while I was attending as a student, they had just finished construction of their first ever music production booths that we students could checkout and utilize to create our own music. So, naturally, having the dream that I did, I began to utilize these studios to produce my own beats, record my own vocals and develop my own music. This eventually led me to building my own studio which is where I produce all of my music today! :)
We’re loving your next release “Ride With Me”! Can you dive into some of the lyrics and the meaning of the song?
So "Ride With Me" is a very interesting song, because its really an anthem, more than a song, that speaks to the way it feels when you're finally seeing the results of all the hard work and countless hours you have put in to achieve your dreams no matter all the doubt and hardships you faced getting there. We all have naysayers and haters in our life that would rather see us crash and burn, than see us succeed, but the feeling you get when you can rise above all of that and really enjoy the work you do and attain the success you desire, that's the feeling this song tries to capture. Some of my favorite lyrics in this song that I wrote are in the prechorus where I sing "We don't need no speed limit, All we need is some music, 'cus we about to ride for life" This verse really locks down on the feeling of freedom from all the worries of life and all the doubters and hatred. It really hones in on the fact that we don't need anyone to slow us down 'cus we are doing what we love and we enjoy it. Another interesting verse that might catch many listeners off guard is in the chorus where I go "No one can put me down now 'cus I don't die." What I mean by not dying is rather than referring to my self physically, I refer to my impact and influence. I've always had this goal of changing the world in such a great way that people will remember me for generations and this is explicitly mentioned in the beginning of the second verse where I go "No I don't die, I live on forever, all up in your mind." So this song really tackles the idea that you should keep doing what you love, and good things will come. My main message that I want my listeners to take from this is that haters will always hate, but the feeling you get from doing what you love anyways and seeing the results is priceless :)
How have you honed your vocal style over time, and did it take a while to find your vibe, or did it come naturally?
So over the course of these past two years, which is the time frame in which I've been professionally producing music, I've worked with about 6 different beat producers on more than 15 beats, each one having their own unique style and sound. Being a vocalist I had to adapt my voice to each one of them allowing me to really push the limits of my voice and discover what my voice is truly capable of. This helped in establishing my own style which is pretty consistent in all of my songs allowing listeners to distinguish me from other artists, but this didn't come easy. Sometimes my flow on a beat came naturally and sometimes it just didn't and I would have to work really hard to get my voice to be where it needed to be for a particular song. There was one song I was recording over that was produced by one of the beat producers I worked with and it was by far one of the most frustrating projects I had ever worked on, mostly because it was a very different style and I couldn't find a way to adapt to it in a way that would sound good. At one point, working on this project, I was recording to this beat late into the night for hours, without any real progress, and my roommate comes into the room and kindly asks me if I could continue recording the next day because he had to wake up for work in the morning. At that moment, I literally dropped to my knees and started crying out of frustration, because I really felt like I just couldn't get this song to work with my voice. It truly did feel like failure and that night I went to sleep feeling like this would be my limit as an artist and I would never improve but nonetheless I knew I had to try one last time. That next day, I got back behind the mic once again, hoping for the best, and I don't know what it was, but my voice just connected with the beat and I recorded the entire song within a few of hours, where as before I was recording without any real progress for days. That song turned out to be one of my most successful projects to this day. It is not released yet, but you all will definitely be hearing it very soon :) Now I am at a point where I do understand my vibe and my style a lot better, but it definitely came with time.
What are the main values you want to bring to the music world?
I would like to bring the value of authenticity to the music world. I want to introduce the idea that you don't have to sacrifice who you are or your core values for fame. The fame and fortune can definitely coexist and coincide with your authentic and organic self, and I want to bring this to the music world as a new culture because a lot of famous musicians suffer from depression and anxiety and I truly believe it is because they are not allowed to be themselves and are forced to believe that they some how have to pretend to be someone they are not in order to maintain their status and success. I want to change that starting with attaining my own success while being completely authentic in order to show people that it is possible to have both authenticity and success :)
What’s next for you through the end of 2019?
So starting back in June and until now, I have released 3 singles on Spotify and other streaming platforms, released one music video, and have performed at a couple venues. I have 9 more singles cued for release up until March 2020, so I spend the rest of this year continuing to build my social media presence, releasing a few more songs, along with lyric videos and other related content, and seeking out and successfully attaining new performing opportunities at music festivals, and other events, developing my brand even further and getting it more exposure.
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