If you've been a fan of Canberra local hip hop name Kirklandd in the past, you'll know he's traipsed the classic hip hop route pretty diligently, however on his newest cut Feel Alive, Kirklandd's playing with some of the punk influences that are slowly rising to prominence in the hip hop/trap world.
Like blink-182 meets Machine Gun Kelly, the song feels more like what Travis Barker or blackbear has been creating with a myriad of rappers and popstars recently, melding the genres in a way that makes sense for a generation that grew up on the pop punk of the late 2000s and are now hip hop fans.
It's dark but hopeful, with Kirklandd's vocals even feeling distinctly Mark Hoppus-y. He explains, “Feel Alive captures the moment where I realised I had feelings for someone, and the fear I felt of committing to a relationship again. The track explores this euphoria and simultaneous fear of commitment, as I try to navigate why I was feeling that way throughout the song.”
“Feel Alive was the quickest track I’ve made, and it was produced over Zoom one night with my producer Cam. The morning after we made the beat, I woke up suddenly at 5am and wrote the track in 20 minutes. This really sudden but pure emotion channelled while I was writing it, and I went straight into Kay’s studio that morning to record it. The melodies embodied a lot of fear and anxiety, and when I was delivering them I tapped into a deep punk influence I wasn’t totally aware of. When I was much younger, I was really into blink-182, Sum 41 and Linkin Park, and the more aggressive tone in these punk songs are what I channelled to vividly capture the growing fear of commitment you hear in the track.”
It's a solid turn of genre from Kirklandd that has paid off hugely - we're really keen to see what the Canberran upstart comes up with next. The good news is that it's not far off, with Kirklandd announcing his next project The Love Divide will be with us shortly.
read more: Why You Should Pay Attention To Canberra's Hip Hop Scene
