QSC Aspiring Interview: Boy Soda On ‘Lil’ Obsession’ and recording in the New South Wales Mountains

Broadcasting the combined sounds of soul, jazz, contemporary R&B and pop to the world from Sydney, Australia, Boy Soda is on a stunning upward trajectory. After self-releasing his music since 2019, he recently signed to Warner Australia. And having dropped some huge singles in 2024, he chats to Headliner about his epic new track Lil’ Obsession, with triumphant backing vocals and horn section.

“Music was always something that I was very drawn to,” Boy Soda says. He joins the Zoom call from Sydney, with management and press staff from Warner Australia on the call on mute – usually a sure sign a major label sees a lot of promise in an artist. 

“I always loved singing and being musical. My parents were great for supporting that love and that inclination to do musical things throughout my life.

“I was very lucky to be doing some singing and songwriting lessons out of a studio with some country music mentors. I learned a lot about songwriting, song structure, and working with other people in rooms. And then I moved to Sydney when I wanted to start taking it more seriously.”

Release-wise, it all started in 2019 with the self-released, self-produced Time For That, featuring Boy Soda’s sister, singer Mahni. It’s a much more rap-inspired song than what was to come, before the soul influences would take a stronger hold.

“That was the second song I ever put out,” he says. “I've pulled down a lot of early music, but I have to leave that one on, because my mum and dad would kill me if I took it down. That's me and my sister. I’d just learned how to produce, and was figuring out how to put it out myself and learning what distro companies were. I was super green to the industry. 

"That song is a really nice reminder of where it all began and how much everything has changed; how it’s evolved to be at this place where I'm now releasing music and projects with a big team behind me. It's nice to see the journey.”

Even with the next single, See Someone, the progression is deeply tangible, as Boy Soda’s vocals and lyrics come to the fore, as he sings over a bed of guitar, hip-hop beats and backing vocals and ad-libs. Besides that early single, Boy Soda has also been part of Converse’s All Stars programme since 2019, giving him the opportunity to be mentored by superstars such as Tyler The Creator.

“I've had an amazing relationship with Converse through the programme for the past five years now, and they've been very gracious to me in terms of opportunities and spaces they've put me in,” he shares. 

“The Tyler thing was awesome, because they flew me out to L.A. in 2019 and now we had this full circle moment where he was in Australia and they were doing a Sydney experience. I got the opportunity to ask him a question, and to be in the same room as someone who's such an expressive creator — it was a beautiful thing.”

The next set of singles, LoveU2Bits and Welcome To The Glow Up, saw Boy Soda having little choice but to keep the momentum going by making and releasing songs during the Covid lockdowns.

He explains that he felt he didn't really have a choice – “on an internal level. I think I had so much to put out and so much time to get better at it,” he explains. “And even if none of that music came out, I'm someone that likes to be practising the craft of songwriting and making music at all times, irrespective of that stuff. 

"I think we went into lockdown just after I got signed and I was also navigating everything: the rise of TikTok, short form content, while still wanting to deliver longer visuals to go with my music. It's been a turbulent but exciting ride. I always believe everything happens for a reason. So, yeah Covid had its downs, and I also had a lot of positives on an internal and creative level. You just keep it moving, you know?”

2024 saw Boy Soda releasing some huge singles as he cemented a brilliant, more mature sound, while his vocal ability has blossomed. Merlot sees him showing off his vocal range and jumping to falsetto with ease, over an instrumental with buckets of funk and soul. On Company, he sings, “If you need some company I swear I won’t move,” over a bed of ‘70s style guitar and high piano chords.

With regards to the new single Lil’ Obsession, it was a case of figuring out what his sound is. “I think it's this character arc that I've been on since I started making music. This feels like things have finally aligned. I've left the world of replicating sounds – I love to find my own version of them. That happened to be in a very live space, in a very musical space. 

"It was also the result of coming to Sydney and being around people that had chops and come from jazz and music conservatoire backgrounds – just being around people who meet my tastes and who are extremely musical. I’m getting to experience the euphoria of making something original for the first time.”

Lil’ Obsession is something of an instant classic, with shades of Stevie Wonder. The opening chords announce the track in the boldest way imaginable. It’s undoubtedly Boy Soda’s biggest track yet, with a huge backing choir. Throw in the brass players and a hit chorus, and the result is a song that really could announce this artist to the world outside Australia.

To record the song, Boy Soda went down the tried and tested route of getting away from the city and all its distractions, opting for a studio in the mountains in New South Wales. The song would appear to show he got the right level of headspace to bring his vision to life.

“We went to the Blue Mountains, an hour and a half out of Sydney,” he recalls. “Just mountain ranges where you find your peace and can sit near running water, the air feels cleaner, all of that. There's a lot of space to think and kind of arrive at a neutral place, which is perfect when you're trying to make music. 

"I think it's allowing yourself to leave a very hectic city scene and be in nature and be in the quiet. It's a very spiritual experience to go out there and make music, and hear an echo literally through the valleys, and look out the studio window and see fog. It's like a fantasy R&B film or something. It's crazy up there.”

Another wonderful thing about Lil’ Obsession is the cathartic role it has served for Boy Soda — originally written about a breakup, it also revealed something deeper and helped him do some internal emotional work.

“Catharsis is definitely the word,” he says. “It was the result of a relationship not working out, and going through what felt like an irreparable rupture. When I wrote it, it was directed to someone saying, ‘Let's let this little obsession go. I don't want to talk to you, la, la, la.’ But ironically, I think it's a message to me more than anything. 

"That I need to let the little obsession go in many ways, and finding routes to do that. Routes that arrive through love and accountability, and not wanting to hold on to any anger or resentment. That's why I love making music because the lyrics often aren’t what I thought about at first. It ended up being quite a reflective song for me.”

In terms of what the phrase ‘play out loud’ means to Boy Soda and his music, he says, “Things that should be expressed and not hidden inside our souls and our bodies. I think everyone, even non-creative people, have little bits of light that they need to share with the world in whatever output that arrives and they shouldn't keep their sound inside.”

We appear to be witnessing Boy Soda become a man both musically and spiritually — where that takes his career and how his sound continues to evolve will be fascinating to watch. “I'm the most prepared I've ever been to deliver my art to the world. It's a nice feeling to have songs in the chamber, and to have them all feeling very aligned and living in the same world.”