Sebastian Mikael Drops New Heat ‘Exit’
One of our absolute favorites Sebastian Mikael has returned with some new heat, entitled “Exit” via Slip N Slide.
UB helped roll-out the young star when he debuted in 2012. When he released his debut project in 2014, he spoke with UB First!
Sebastian is currently enjoying the success of his current EP “I C U U C ME PART II.”
Mikael wasn’t looking for success when his “Beautiful Life” went viral in 2012. It just kind of happened. “It was never meant to be a song that we were gonna push,” he explains. “We just did a street performance. It was real. People passing by, stopped and watched. It was a natural, organic video,” he said. He immediately inked a deal with Slip-N-Slide Records and before he knew it, he landed on the radar of industry vet Sylvia Rhone. A label deal with Epic Records was secured and Mikael was quickly put into sessions with producers and writers like Jim Jonsin, Rico Love and Salaam Remi.
UB asked Sebastian who he was inspired by in our 2014 Interview; “Marvin Gaye, he’s been one of my biggest inspirations. Babyface is one of my biggest inspirations too. Lenny Kravitz, Michael Jackson, D’Angelo. Also, India.Arie, Pharrell Williams, Coldplay, Bob Marley I can’t forget he has definitely been one of my biggest inspirations. A lot of different genres, I’ve always listened to everything. I think that also explains why I never really wanted to have one sound, like everything is going to sound like this. Obviously I want to sound like myself and I believe that I have but I always wanted to try to find a way to still be versatile. Do different types of styles and elements. It’s so much out there and so much that I love.”
Looking back, it was too much too fast. “I was thrown into the fire a little too quick.” He needed creative autonomy. “We then decided to do it independently.” He left the deal and released Speechless in 2014, which featured the Top-10 “Last Night” (featuring Wale). “From there, I kinda just grew. I wasn’t writing my own music [before]. It was other people dictating what my direction should be.”
