sobhhï has had an impressive ascent in the ever-saturated R&B space, winning over fans with his gentle-yet-evocative vocals and self-stylized “Trapsoul Nocturnal” production. Having only released his first song in 2018, sobhhï has quickly secured his status as the top-streamed R&B artist in Dubai and is one of the most promising contemporary artists to emerge from the Middle East in recent memory.
From an early age, sobhhï has always seemed to be a step ahead. At age 7 he composed his first song, at age 16 he graduated high school, and by age 21 he was enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Chicago studying applied mathematics at the doctoral level. Despite his academic prowess, music was always sobhhï’s passion and he stepped away from his studies a couple years back to pursue a career as an artist full-time, bouncing back and forth between the US and the Middle East.
The singer and producer has just released a new visual accompaniment for his latest project: RED III EP, the final installment of the RED EP Series. The EP is a unique blend of R&B and bedroom soul, leaning on a foundation of gentle, acoustic instrumentation paired with resounding 808s. It’s a lonely cry for a distant love, something many of us can empathize with right now.
sobhhï shot and directed the extended music video in Dubai during the period of extended lockdowns over the summer, it’s an eerily empty peak into the city.
Where are you these days? How have you been holding up throughout the year?
Currently I’m in the bay area. It’s been a crazy, crazy year. There were many ups and downs with adjusting to this new way of life. Ultimately, I think we’re learning how to hold things down for as long as it takes for life to resume at its regular pace.
Where did the idea of the RED EP Series originate from and what would you say are the more prominent themes of the RED III EP in particular?
The whole color concept comes from the fact that I feel genres are too coarse and limiting to categorize music. You might listen to alternative rock followed by some techno followed by a rap song when you’re feeling motivated or in the gym. Clearly the genres don’t necessarily line up with how we feel, which to me, is the most important aspect of music.
So I decided, fuck a genre. I’ll use colors for the mood that the music channels. PURPLE is confidence and superiority, usually with a hip-hop influence. WHITE is a nostalgic, vintage bedroom soul with a house influence. BLACK is raw and dark trapsoul. And RED, is a melancholic and vulnerable sound with more of an alternative R&B influence.
Despite all the variety, these are all still R&B and that just underscores the limitations of a genre.
How has the pandemic affected your creativity and the music making process for you?
Given that I have built my own studio and that I’m self-sufficient as far as the creative process goes (writing, producing, and mixing my own songs), the music-making process has remained the same. However, the creative process is so closely tied to my mental well-being. So it’s had just as many ups and downs as I have.
Doing your own music video directing/shooting and song mixing/mastering must be extremely time consuming, on top of making the songs themselves. Can you talk a little about your workflow and how you’re able to juggle these activities?
That’s a fair assessment and I do sometimes envy the artists that can just go to the studio, flip through some beats, and get straight to it. But at the same time, I need full creative control—from instrumental to the lyrics to the mixing to the album cover to the videos—in order to really express the ideas I want to express. Every bit of the process is extremely detail-oriented for me and I plant lots of subliminal links and connections between the different stages of the creative chain.
As for workflow, after doing this for so long, you start to learn ways to become more efficient. After mixing so many of my own records, I know exactly what kind of approach I want to use to get the sound in my head. And for video, I have a similar sort of familiarity with the tools I have available, be they models or diffusion filters or whatever, to effectively paint the picture I want to paint.
It’s definitely a big upfront investment to learn these things, but I actually believe that in the long run it’s a net positive for time savings. The reason is that people in this industry are quite flaky. You can lose whole weeks waiting for someone to just answer an email. The more you can take things into your own hands, the more you can really keep your foot on the pedal.
It’s no small feat that you graduated high school early and went on to study at the University of Chicago, studying in a field as tough as applied mathematics no less. At what point did you shift and know that music was the path you wanted to take?
Well, while at Berkeley doing research, I met this guy named Fred. Fred had just finished his PhD and was a postdoctoral student in the same laboratory. One day at Peet’s coffee, he told me, “You know, your PhD is going to be there later, but now is your only chance to really do you before life catches up to you, like it did to me.” He kept saying that to me every weekend when we’d congregate to make progress on our research paper. He saw something in me that reminded him of himself and he wanted to help me. I ended up taking his advice: This is my chance.
Computational math is just as important to me as music is and it's still part of the plan, but the more time that passes, the more I really believe what Fred taught me.
Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?
I have many, but the most formative moment in my music influence was when I heard NOSTALGIA ULTRA by Frank. That remains a top 3 album for me and bottles a kind of feeling that I revisit often.
Aside from that, Tribe Called Quest, James Fauntleroy, Drake, Jeremih, Joaoa Gilberto, 90’s Amr Diab, and many, many others.
What are some personal goals that you have set for yourself in music? And what do you expect to achieve in the coming year?
I have so many goals, it’s hard to keep track of what I’m actually doing sometimes. If I were to summarize though, I’d say that my goal for this year is less breadth and more depth. I want to slow down and lean deeper into what I’m creating.
2021 is the year sobhhï and NUIT SANS FIN become part of “the conversation” in music.
Check out sobhhi’s RED III EP video recap HERE.
RED III Tracklist
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