Interview: Listening to Music with Ladi6

photo: Robin Smith

Germans love to travel. In fact, they are known to be “Reiseweltmeister”, the world champions of travelling (maybe because Germany is so boring?). With people under the age of 30, there seems to be one country which is extremely popular: New Zealand. When I was there, I could hear people speaking German in literally every hostel I stayed at. Everywhere I met 19-year-olds on a trip after their “Abitur”. For a good reason they picked New Zealand, which actually is one of the most interesting and beautiful countries in the world.

Musically, there is something going on in the country on the other end of the world as well: there is Lorde, Fat Freddy’s Drop – and Ladi6, who is a big star in her home country already. The singer based in Christchurch with Samoan roots combines influences of Soul, Hip Hop, Funk and R&B in her music. Her third album Automatic was published in Germany in August. In our interview we talked about music by The Supremes, Salt N Pepa, Fat Freddy’s Drop and Wu-Tang Clan. More after the jump.

The Supremes Come See About Me

This song reminds me if my Mother. We would often clean the house to the supremes, as a child I idolised the Supremes due to my mothers love of their music.

Salt N Pepa Let’s Talk About Sex

I had a girl in my class when I was 11, she was from a very strict Baha’i faith and only knew how to play this song on piano. She was obsessed with sex. She would play this song all the time at school.

Fat Freddy’s Drop Clean The House

Anything Fat Freddys reminds me of this band and their music that I absolutely adore. Also the connections, relationships and experiences I have had with the individual members of this band over the years, and how proud I am to have been a part (no matter how small) of their story.

Wu-Tang Clan Triumph

The Wu remind me of both my sister and my best friend. My sister introduced me to the Wu-Tang Clan back in my teenage years, and my besty is their biggest fan! She knows every word to every song – really embracing the wu philosophy. It’s completely nuts and totally amazing!

Ladi6 Ikarus

Ikarus is a song about a girl wanting her lover. This song reminds me of the night/morning Parks and I wrote it. We were in the studio, it was 3am and we were high, and we felt like it was the best song we had ever written. Like a eureka moment, together.

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<a href="https://www.iheartberlin.de/author/jens/" target="_self">Jens</a>

Jens

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