Sakima

Fusing rnb, pop and electronica, SAKIMA interweaves a refreshing LGBTQ+ narrative into his work. With an aim to bring better representation of gay sexuality into the pop world, his lyrics present the listener with an honest and unfiltered account of what it's like to be a gay man in the 21st century. He expressed his mission for queer people to be fairly represented and supported in popular music in his 2017 interview with Billboard, saying: "...We need to just dispel the myth that being an independent artist in the age of the internet is ******* magical because it's not. It's just as hard as ever. If anything, it's harder because it’s way more saturated. You really do still rely on those labels and publishers, they definitely have to make sure that kind of work is published and that they put money in to get that work exposed." SAKIMA taught himself the piano at the age of 8, followed swiftly by exploring songwriting and then eventually self-teaching music production at 14 years old. Even though SAKIMA writes, produces and sings almost all of his songs, he still has a slew of collaborations including, Danny L Harle, Ryan Hemsworth, Eric Nam, Alizzz, OBESON and AOBeats (with whom he has a duo called SWIMS). His debut EP Facsimile (May, 2017) was released via online label Moving Castle.