10 Questions With Shahiem

In this week’s 10 Questions we get to know Shahiem, an indie artist from Cape Town, South Africa.

Their song ‘Runaway‘ is currently featured on the NAS Spotify playlists

You can follow Shahiem on Instagram

1. Tell us a little about where you are from.

My name is Shahiem, and I’m a 24 year old independent artist/ law student who resides in Cape Town, South Africa. Balancing the life of an academic scholar and musician, can be quite challenging, if I had to say to myself. However, my passion for music is too immense, to stop myself from creating music.

2. What inspired Shahiem to start playing and making music?

As a kid, I always found myself wanted to be a rockstar, because rockstars just looks so cool. Ideally, for me to become a rockstar, I would need to learn how to play the guitar lol. When I turned 11 years old, one of my friends taught me how to play the acoustic guitar and ever since then, my dream of becoming a musician started to take flight. Through the years, I learnt how to play piano, drums, bass & electric guitar. After graduating high school, I found myself in quite a difficult period in my life, and also struggled to express myself through words. It was then, that songwriting became an outlet for me, and I slowly started to compose my own music. I guess you could say that, music is my way of sharing my heart and mind with the world.

When I turned 11 years old, one of my friends taught me how to play the acoustic guitar and ever since then, my dream of becoming a musician started to take flight.

3. Who are Shahiem’s biggest musical influences?

Biggest musical influence? Well, I’d probably have to say, Michael Jackson. I grew up listening to a lot of Michael Jackson, as my family had always been massive fans. This influence has allowed me to adopt a pop-like tone to my style of music. I guess you could say, pop music is my preference as well lol.

4. What are your goals in the music industry or as an artist?

My goal regarding music, would probably have to be, getting to reach an audience that gravitates towards the message of love, that I spread in the words of my songs. I have always found it to be quite powerful, when one can relate to words of a song. If I happen to perform in front of a major crowd, ie Wembley Stadium, then that would simply be a bonus to what I wish to achieve in music.

5. Tell us about your creative process.

When I first started making music, the songs would always simply be acoustic. I’d compose a chord sequence on the guitar and then the songwriting process would follow. However, as of recently, I’ve started to get into digital sounds, and now produce an entire instrumental, with organic instruments included in the beat, and then the songwriting would follow. Whenever I find myself struggling to write a song, I would find myself mumbling a few melodies, and then write words to that melody. Oh, and I always write about “love”, as I feel like it’s very important to spread positivity, and show people that there are things that we can be happy about.

6. What is your all-time favorite song by another artist and why?

All time favourite song, that’s quite a hard ask. Well, I don’t really have an all time favourite, but i do love the song “Human Nature” by Michael Jackson. The unorthodox style of musical composition that Quincy Jones did on that song, was phenomenal. It’s not your type chord progression, and that’s probably why I love that song so much.

Well, I don’t really have an all time favourite, but i do love the song “Human Nature” by Michael Jackson.

7. What is the best advice you have either given or received in terms of music?

The best advice I was given, in relation to music, is to not waste my talent. I believe, when someone has a gift, he/she should make use of it and also cherish it, as it’s not everyone who is fortunate enough to possess an amazing talent. And the advice that I always give people, whether they’re in the music scene or simply just the creative one, it is to always be consistent with your efforts. Not seeing instant results, can be discouraging sometimes, but the only time failure is absolute, is when you stop trying. So keep being consistent, and eventually you’ll start to see your hardwork pay off.

8. What is your proudest accomplishment?

The thing that I’m most proud of, would have to be the fact that I’m still able to do what I love. I enjoy making music and simply being able to share it with my girlfriend, friends and family, is what an accomplishment that I’m most proud of. Just seeing their reactions, are priceless. One day, I’ll have more to show and greater things to be proud of, but as of now, I’m simply content with the support and acknowledgement I get from them.

I enjoy making music and simply being able to share it with my girlfriend, friends and family, is what an accomplishment that I’m most proud of.

9. What’s been your most embarrassing moment so far?

Most embarrassing lol. Well, I wouldn’t say I made a fool of myself, but there was this one time I performed at my high school, and I felt quite shy that everyone was screaming my name. The only embarrassing aspect of it, was that I suffered technical difficulty, so it took a few minutes before I could start performing, as the mic wasn’t working lol. Eventually, it all went well haha.

10. Tell us about your lowest and highest points in music so far.

The lowest point musically, has been when I uploaded my first song “Low” on the internet. Seeing it get zero traction, was super discouraging, as I believed that I was simply wasting my time sharing my music with the world, but as I got that idea out of my head, my mindset became a lot better. Highest point, has been when I started seeing growth in my music and simply having people discover my songs. When I get DM’s on Instagram from people saying that my song makes them happy, or a comment on Youtube, that my song brings them joy, those are feelings that I can’t express. So I would say, those are probably the highest points, thus far in music for me.