Bakar's Genre-Bending Artistry Makes Him the Newest Force in London's Budding Music Scene
The city of London has done it again. With recent successes of London based artists such as slowthai, Skepta, Beabadoobee, and Loyle Carner, the music scene of the city continues to flourish with the attention of its newest star, Bakar.
In 2019, the young genre-bending artist has released singles "Hell N Back," "Chill," and "Sold Your Soul," all vastly different tracks that perfectly summarize the versatility of Bakar. These releases follow his widely praised 2018 album Badkid, which quickly burst Bakar onto the scene and the radar of some of the biggest names in music, even including Elton John.
After all of the success, one would think that music was the future Bakar saw for himself from the beginning. However, it all just fell right into his lap. In an interview with Pigeons and Planes, Bakar made it clear that his musical beginning was nothing much more than a spur of the moment experiment. He explains how "he found himself home alone, and bored. He [then] found an old Bombay Bicycle Club demo, put a guitar riff on loop, sang over it, and then put it on SoundCloud under a completely anonymous pseudonym - something along the line of user12756789."
The world should be vastly grateful that the young man chose to stay in that evening. The music that has been birthed from that one SoundCloud release ranges greatly from riveting punk rock to calming and romantic R&B. When attempting to find comparisons for Bakar, one would have to stick to a song by song basis because his Badkid album catches the listener off guard with each track, in a refreshing and delightful way. Songs such as "Unhealthy" could easily find themselves on any indie playlist, while the punk roots on the track "Big Dreams" could draw a variety of early 2000s punk comparisons.
Recently, Bakar debuted a music video for his most recent single, "Hell n Back," a carefree take on a once disastrous and now budding relationship. On an overcast afternoon, Bakar finds himself on the beach joyfully singing to his heart's content with what may be his best melody to date.
His songwriting on this track displays his playful ability as he explains, "she had green eyes like mountain dew," juxtaposing his politically heavy discography. This is a testament to the artistry that composes Bakar as he is not only vastly talented but capable of adapting his work to be excellent in any genre.
Now with a substantive amount of music out for consumption, Bakar is set for a massive ending of 2019 as he prepares for shows in Los Angeles and London. As long as Bakar follows his trend of challenging the norm and creating music that has no limitations, it is only a matter of time before we have another British sensation.
