Interview by Simon Kelesidis.

Following the COVID lockdown, up and coming singer/producer shlin. wondered about the future of music, mainly what it would sound like. Predicting a heavy basis on technological sound that was overstimulating yet empty, he set to work to carve out his brand.

Fast forward to today and his prediction ended up coming true, with hyperpop becoming the newest trendy genre, spearheaded by Charli XCX’s brat. Around the same time, shlin. began to release his own music; an EP entitled the_man_who_downloaded_the_world and two singles: Radio Wrong and a collaboration with fellow Japanese artist utanomayu on Story Of Us.

As the world turns a new page to 2025, shlin. is writing a new chapter in his musical story, an energised pop extravaganza called Feels Like. I got the opportunity to sit down with shlin. to discuss his origins, his musical journey so far and discuss what 2025 has in store for the Naarm musician.

FMM: What inspired you to start making music?

shlin.: I think music has always been a part of my life. Growing up, my Dad was making music, so it was always there, but also seeing bands, listening to music, and watching music videos. Green Day, when I was younger, was a big inspiration, so seeing those artists making music and them expressing themselves was definitely something that I was drawn to.

FMM: Who are some of the people that you look up to that you aspire to be like in your career?

shlin.: I think it’s always changing. As I said, Green Day was a huge influence on me and growing up, Eminem was really big. A lot of those emo bands I love as well, but recently, music has really changed. I feel like we’re leaving this live setting and we’re going into more of this internet type of online music, which is really weird. Now, I love bands like The 1975; I think they’re great, and artists like Charli XCX and Porter Robinson. It’s a very hybrid music with electronic and acoustic instruments.

FMM: Interesting. That seems like a really good niche to be in. You've got some really good beats to work with, but you've also got the nostalgic kind of throwback guitars that throws you back to 2000s rock. It's becoming really referential. A lot of music now will reference this beat from the 80s or this guitar from the 90s, and it all comes together. For any new fans, what would be the hallmarks of shlin. song?

shlin.: Good question. I would say I'm going for this bedroom pop sound. I feel like that is where the future of music is heading. Like, everyone's a producer, anyone can be a producer, so I wanted something that you would listen to while you scroll your newsfeed. It's not something that's going to be played live. It doesn't mean it can't be, but it's something that’s fitting for an internet-style audience. I wanted something that sounds technological but human, a kind of hybrid connection.

FMM: What's the process behind making a song for you? Do you start lyrics first or instrumental?

shlin.: I think it’s whichever. It seems like ideas can come from anywhere. It could be as simple as a drum beat or a chord progression or it could be a lyric you really feel. I think if you can feel it, I think you know it's going to be a good idea and you run with that. So, generally I will take a certain idea and expand it probably on guitar. I'm a guitarist for most, which is kind of ironic being just like completely computer based. I think most great ideas come organically, so I want to get something that’s like connecting with the guitar, connecting with the human body and then put that onto the computer and kind of computerise it. That's kind of my style to do things now.

FMM: You mentioned that the style is sort of bedroom pop. Does that mean that you actually record the stuff in your room rather than a studio?

shlin.: Yes, I have to, just for cost purposes as well. It’s also about having control. I think prices now for making music in studios is ridiculous. It’s staggeringly high. I think the initial reason was, I was always working with other people to make my music and the outcome was always something that was never quite what I wanted. I still don't have the exact ideal skills that I would like to make my music, but every song is a step up, so hopefully one day it'll be good enough to be able to make any idea that comes to me and I'll be able to express that through technology.

FMM: Usually artists release droplet singles before dropping an EP, however, you've kind of done the opposite. Were you thinking to sort of buck the trend or was this just a happy accident?

shlin.: I think you want to have a kind of backbone of songs that people can listen to before. Like, even if you release singles, it's like you only have one song to listen to. I think if you have an EP, you use these singles to kind of get new fans. If you've already got an EP released, I think it's a good way to keep your listeners or give them something else to work with. I've also always been someone who loves listening to albums and the collection of songs and creating that world is so fascinating, not just to listen to, but like as an artist, creating that and creating that world is something that really fascinates me and it. It kind of drives my passion to make music, so I've always been more inspired to make an album or make a collection of music rather than just one song.

FMM: Absolutely. So mentioning the EP you dropped last year, you described it as a social commentary inspired by the life of hikikomori. What exactly is this?

shlin.: So hikikomori in Japanese, basically just means being a hermit; someone who just lives inside, and never goes outside. So as I was saying before, like this concept of making music that is inspired by and created for the Internet or for online audiences. It's kind of that idea that the hikikomori will stay inside, only lives inside; so these experiences are kind of just contained by your own kind of house or room or whatever. I think that was really very relatable for what happened in Covid. Our experiences just kind of got confined. We all went through our hermit era, so I wanted to make something that was a response to that.

FMM: Are you the type of artist that pulls from personal experience to write from or do other people or events around you also inspire you?

shlin.: I'd say it's very like personalised. I was playing in bands a lot in Melbourne and when I started my solo project, I wanted to make it more personal. In a band you can't really go too personal because there are different perspectives in the bands and you don’t want to feel like you’re overshadowing. I felt with a solo project, I could get as personal as I possibly could. There’s still a lot I would like to talk about and would like to include in the songs, so while the sound of ‘the man who downloaded the world,’ I thought to be mellow and reflective.

FMM: Your recent two singles, which were Radio Wrong and Feels Like, they've been very upbeat and lively in anticipation. Is this a sign of what direction you're steering with for your next project?

shlin.: I think. Yeah, I definitely want to keep the listeners surprised or keep myself surprised as well. ‘the man who downloaded the world’ was very low key. It had acoustic elements to it over the hip hop beats. The two new ones were more energised, but I’m also a producer, so I’m exploring my styles as well of what would work best. But, always I want to do something new and unexpected within that world, within the shlin. I would still like to experiment with that kind of more energised sound, more chill sound and we'll see what else we've got in store for that.

FMM: Looking at your recent release, Feels Like, what would you say the song is about and what was the experience putting it all together?

shlin.: So the song for me is kind of about people using infatuation to escape their own depression. I feel a lot of people use attachment to kind of escape that. The song is about existential dread, but then using infatuation or love or whatever to blockade that and distract from that. The song itself, was originally written for more of a band project, but I wanted to give it a remix, so I put it into the computer and started adding electronic drums. It ended up being this kind of hyper pop thing, which is cool because I've been getting into that. I think that's really represents the Internet kind of sound as well.

FMM: Your releases after your EP have elements of Japanese heritage. There was the collab that you did with utanomayu and the single covers of Radio Wrong and Feels Like have Japanese style characters. How important is identity to you in the world of music?

shlin.: Well, I studied Japanese language and I moved. I was living in Japan for about three years and I love like J-Pop music is also a huge influence on me. My reason originally, I moved to Japan, I wanted to do music there, so I played in bands in Japan and I collaborated with Japanese artists as well. That's kind of became a part of my identity in a way through studying the language and living in the culture, and I wanted to express that through the music as well. I think the West, we're starting to touch base a little bit with it. K-Pop’s obviously huge and I think we can adapt Western music and we should definitely be adapting these ideas. I definitely would like to do that with the project of shlin. and stuff like that would be an interesting kind of unique standpoint.

FMM: What does the rest of 2025 look like for you? Are we going to be getting some more droplets, another EP, potential tour dates? Because you did say while it's not technically designed to be performed live, it doesn't mean it can't be, so what does the rest of the year looks like for you?

shlin.: I'm hoping this year will be the biggest one yet for this project. I've been working on another single collaboration with Utamayu as well. There's going to to be a new song coming out hopefully this year. I've got another two singles coming out. I want to add one more to make it a trilogy, and then I would like to start working on another episode. In terms of live, I've been talking to my friend who's a DJ about possibly getting together, doing some collab kind of live sets, seeing if we can add together, the two artists and do some live performances. Preparing for that would be a really fun thing to do at this time. We'll see what happens.