Prior to being a Canadian, I'm also Middle Eastern.
I like my 1980s music. That's why I would bring that back, in a new kind of way, for the people of today. Those are my inspirations.
Trying to make your own sound is hard. When I was producing for other artists, I could just produce and write songs as a normal songwriter, and almost make them generic. The artists themselves, whoever is singing that song, can put their own twist on it. When it came to my own material, I had to really dig deep, because I was just writing generic stuff. It sounded like everybody else, like Justin Timberlake, like Usher. I never wanted to sound like someone, that's when you know it's not going to work.
I try to put my culture in all my music, as much as I can.
Canadian artists in Canada, if you're not doing something big internationally, they definitely don't give us super big respect right away. You have to really earn it. In my opinion, that's what makes us Canadian artists stronger. By the time we are out on the world stage, we are so prepared.
I grew up in Dubai, all my friends are there and I'm so used to it. It's such an over-the-top kind of place. It's really fun to perform there.
