In this episode of our Behind The Mic series, we checked in with artist, producer and sound engineer Tobiah Frei.
Tobi started his music journey being inspired by music icons like The Weeknd, particularly his seminal album ‘House of Balloons’. He then developed a desire to craft his own sound as an artist and ventured out into Afro-beats inspired sounds.
In this episode we discuss that music journey and why he made that move from more traditional US R&B to African-influenced music, stage anxiety and how he is trying to overcome it and get back into live performance.
We also discuss the musical process he has gone on to love himself, music perfectionism culture, the impatience that some young artists have and music production burnout.
For Tobi’s mental health journey, we discuss the impact that the death of his childhood friend had on him in 2014 and that period of grief which led to a mental health breakdown in 2017 and in his words his world collapsing.
We finish by discussing how he came out of that dark period of his mental health, how he’s embraced himself and become confident about opening up about his mental health for the first time on this podcast.
As always, #itsokaytovent
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Music: Patawawa – Strange
Outro: Director Dzi x Tobiah Frei x THC – The Way You Do
