Behind The Scenes Of Hoosh's Reflective 'Missed Takes'
Miami-based, Sudanese artist Hoosh is taking this year by storm; each gem that he has released thus far is a testament to his sonic versatility and songwriting prowess. His latest offering, ‘Missed Takes’ (pun fully intended), is an introspective and bittersweet take on losing out on a good thing because you were dodging commitment. The songs minimal, guitar driven-track creates a cozy, reflective pocket for his emotion-filled, raspy vocals to captivate you.
We caught up with the fast-rising star to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse on the creation of ‘Missed Takes’.
Who is Hoosh?
I’m a singer/songwriter originally from Sudan but based in Miami. These two places are important because one built an unbreakable foundation, and the other made me a man. I grew up living quite a nomadic lifestyle, never really settling in one place. My family often moved from east to west, overseas, and back. The lifestyle forced me to encounter so many different cultures and ways of thinking. It was rough growing up. You always have to make new friends, and reassimilate but you get used to it. Eventually this ability to move past cultural boundaries became my greatest asset.
What’s the story behind ‘Missed Takes’?
Missed-takes. Hard to stop them before it’s too late. I met a girl a couple years back that changed my life. For the first time ever, I truly considered slowing down for someone other than myself. Things didn’t start like that though.. not at all. Let me tell you a little story that affirms the saying, “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone”
When we first hooked up I was dodging all commitment. I couldn’t fathom locking it down with one person. This sentiment, a gang of trust issues, and life’s circumstances created a combustive concoction. I knew I was going to fuck this up.. I self sabotaged everything from dinners to phone calls in an effort to remove myself from the situation. In all honesty, until this day I have no idea what I was running from. I was so depressed then, that just the idea of chilling with people made me anxious. To cope I did the only thing I knew how to: smoke and make music. But I still thought about her.
Friends kept telling me I was fucking up, even my brother thought she was good for me but I was to anxious to commit. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, my father had a near death experience halfway across the world. I flew out the next day and ended up spending months in Qatar helping him recover. Seeing him barely conscious and breathing through machines really impacted me. I still don’t know if I fully processed that situation. By the time I got back to the States it was too late: she moved on. You know that feeling when you realize your relationship with someone has changed? It’s shattering. The roles slowly shift until suddenly you’re the one sending unanswered texts.. you’re the one who wants what they can’t have. And she reveled in it. Rightfully so though.. It was payback time. The most sobering part in all this was acknowledging my faults. There was no one to blame for this mishap but myself.
The conception of this song symbolizes acceptance: a coming to terms. If I could say something to her now after all this it would be sorry. Sorry I wasn’t ready for you and sorry I thought the world of you but didn’t show it. Just know through it all, I wish you the best.
What/who was your inspiration whilst creating this song?
My biggest inspiration whilst creating “missed takes” was the girl I wrote it about. She held me down at a time where I had little self love. Although I fucked things up, the entirety of this experience made a huge impact on me. It gave me a more in-depth understanding on the importance of gratitude, and the dangers of overthinking. Another inspiration I drew from heavily was the team that assisted me in the song’s creation. If i gave you the full background on how the tune came about, you would realize how many coincidences had to take place for the track to come together. From the producer and engineer Stevie to my manager Mido, to my good friend Jensen who set the session up and my brother Basil who crafted the artwork, you are all very appreciated. All these chess pieces combined to create the perfect record.
What are you hoping that people will feel when listening to ‘Missed Takes’?
That’s a tough question. I would never want to tell the listener what or how to feel when listening to my music. Rather,I just want them to feel. Music allows me to share my experiences, trials and tribulations with the world at large not to judge, preach to, or critique others, but more so to offer a platform to relate to.
Who did you work with?
On my day to days and career at large, I work mostly with my manager and business partner Mido. Between us we’ve successfully built an efficient machine that handles both the business and creative sides of music. In the span of just a couple years, our collective has managed to break into the international music scene in a major way. With millions of views and listeners, and growing media placements, these two kids from Africa managed to do the unthinkable.
What a lot of people don’t know is we’re practically family. We first linked up in Doha, Qatar back in 2009 through mutual friends. At the time him and I were a mere fraction of the men we are today. If you would’ve asked one of us in those days if our futures were embedded in creating timeless music the answer would’ve been no. The cultures we came up in did not look to fondly among music and entertainment industry professionals. Matter of fact, making such a commitment usually ostracized you from your community.
But being as stubborn as we both were/are, no could not be taken as an answer. What originally made us click was our ability to look past culture, ethnicity, race, and gender in search of a bigger picture. Knowing we were destined for greatness, it was only a matter of time until we fell back into our passion: music. The rest is history.
If I gave you the full background on how the tune came about, you would realize how many coincidences had to take place for the track to come together. From the producer and engineer Stevie Marcs to my manager Mido, to my good friend Jensen Hasir who set the session up and my brother Basil “Ba6ix” Abdelmonim who crafted the artwork, you are all very appreciated. All these chess pieces combined to create the perfect record.
Are you working on anything else that we should be looking forward to?
Absolutely. Got a whole bunch of singles dropping and possibly an EP in the near future. In my opinion, these songs are the best I’ve made yet. These last couple months have seen so much growth. I can’t wait for you all to hear it.
When you’re not making music, what are you doing?
When I’m not doing music, I’m either kicking it with some people I love or working on my health and wellness. I like to live an active lifestyle, exercise frequently and eat as healthy as possible. Matter of fact if I go a couple days without these routines I start to feel weird. I don’t do these things cause I have to… I truly enjoy it all. I’m not sure if this attitude towards exercise and eating healthy developed through repetition but after some time, the combination became a much needed stress reliever.
Keep up with Hoosh via his socials and stream ‘Missed Takes’ here.
