There’s more to Midwxst’s music than what meets the ears. The 18-year-old Indiana-native artist is thriving to utilize his creative output to the maximum. Being in the mindset of hyper pop and hip-hop, Midwxst looks past genres and stereotypes with a pure heart and fresh perspective that tunes into his own language. Released on Sept 22, Back In Action is a clear vision of his evolving music taste and what his music could be. Coiled in electronics and hip-hop with a touch of post-modernistic noise, the album has its own quirkiness while taps into the most vulnerable, intense, diverse experiences. Back In Action is a work of art that makes you don’t want to put it into any box.
Being authentic and generic with his feelings and creative process. The artist approaches music-making with a personality that embraces who he is. As an 18-year-old, Midwxst is surprisingly mature when it comes to accepting the flaws and darkness that make him human. With the intention to express, connect, and impact those who have gone through or are going through a similar experience, Midwxst does not hold back. “Talking about these experiences first hand and how they shaped me to be who I am is a key part of healing and growing as a person,” he said.
Revolving around the struggles and mentality as an ever-evolving person learning more about the world and himself, Back In Action is a micro reflection of a collective experience in the current society. Almost never intentional, the album preserves the voice of truth that deserves more recognition.
There are so many things you could see in the 18-year-old artist, but one thing you could count on is for him to create something of artistic and humanitarian value. Currently a college student at Belmont University for audio engineering technology, the artist is working on his craft and tuning into his creative calling. “To me, the label is really dumb for artists in a way because it really limits what people see them at, and sometimes it even affects the way they see themselves. they go back to the same formula and the song and the beat. Instead of making the music and the beat they want to be,” said Midwxst.
Written by Katrina Yang
Photo credit: @smdickenson
Press Q&A with Midwxst
Q (RISING ARTISTS BLOG): When it comes to writing about mental health, what are some challenges you faced?
MIDWXST: Being open about my near encounters with very very triggering ones like suicidal thoughts. There are some points in my life I felt as if I couldn’t live up to any standard or anything anybody ever promised except that I could do it. I never saw the result myself. I set the bar so high for myself to the point that I couldn’t even reach it. It was always just hard to consolate. I got diagnosed with ADHD in 4th or 5th grade. I was always moving around and focusing on the topic I love but never on the stuff I needed to learn. When people told me, “hey, you need to calm down” and stuff like this, while I was trying my hardest, it made it really difficult for me to express myself. It’s even like that when I was put on ADHD medication. It never made me feel like myself. I was always feeling like my shallow self. Talking about these experiences first hand and how they shaped me to be who I am is a key part of healing and growing as a person but at the same time it’s just challenging to talk about the very traumatic events that have occurred, but that’s all it is for me. As long as somebody can relate to it, I don’t care how it is to me. If I could save somebody’s life by the fact that they listened to my music and heard something that they can resonate with and stick with and realized they’re not alone with the stuff they have to deal with, I’m perfectly fine with putting myself out there.
Q: When it comes to your creative process, do you have a specific routine?
MIDWXST: It really just happens whenever. I literally went to bed one night and had something popped up in my dream, which I had to climb out of bed trying to execute before I go to school the next day. It’s just if I have something I want to do, I’ll do it the best way I can, but if I don’t, sure I’ll get to it eventually because I have a bad habit of starting songs and concepts without finishing it — starting another one but never finish it. It’s kinda bad, but at the same time, it’s just cool and fun to do. I know I’ll do it eventually. It’s just going to keep eating me if I don’t.
Q (FOR THE PUNKS): What does creating music mean to you?
MIDWXST: Just being able to put out the thoughts and the conversations I can’t have with a lot of people into music because it’s a really great medium to express how you’re feeling, especially when you don’t want to concerns others that care for you bringing that out. And also have other people to relate to you. It’s really helpful when people say like, they understand what you’re feeling. It helps them cope with life. That’s a really big part for me. For me, my family, and my friends, at the end of the day it’s just for me and the people who like it to listen to it. If someone listens to it or likes it, there’s one more person whom my music had impacted their lives of some sort, minor or major. It’s so much fun to do it. I’d rather make the type of music and get shoot off for it than I never get to do it at all. Like the hyper pop/rapper mindstate — yes, I’m that but at the same time, I’m so many other things as well. If people really do like my music and support me, they’re going to love whatever stuff I put out.
Q (HIP HOP INDIE): How do you balance school with being an artist?
MIDWXST: I really like to keep it low-key in school. I always give them my Snapchat and never my Instagram because as soon as I do that and people see the blue check, it shifts their mindset. I’m still a cool dude regardless. I came to college before the music. I’m a student. I’m just like everybody else. Sometimes the feeling of being able to have that privacy is super nice. Some people think I’m warranted like you didn’t ask for that and now you’re a celebrity (I’m not gonna say I’m a celebrity) but I’m never gonna walk around and rob my blue check, all my verification, and articles, and all these things happening to me on people’s faces because that’s not how I was raised. If people found out about his side of me that’s cool. They don’t do me any different. They don’t treat me as Midwxst, the superstar. It’s nice to be natural sometimes.
Q: How do you write your music?
MIDWXST: I like the beat a lot. I don’t write, I just go in on the beat. If I’m feeling a certain way someday, I write in pieces. I never wrote a song in full. I usually just squish the bunch of stuff I write over a range of time and squish them together. but most of the time it’s just freestyling. Just having fun and playing around it. And show off that I’m a hip-hop head.
Q: Who is your favorite rapper at all times?
MIDWXST: To me is J Cole cause he got me into music heavily. But at the same time, I was fighting to say FX Doom. The wordplay and rhyme scheme is the art itself. I’d say it’s Cole. I have his 2014’s Forest Hills Drive Vinyl in my room. His concert was the second concert I ever went to. It was super cool.
Q (FORGOTTEN MAG): In the world of the rising artists, who separates you from the others?
MIDWXST: I’d say just the fact that I’m willing to make any type of genre regardless of whatever people give me. I’ll go for making Ken Carson to the next day full-length funk-pop song like Calvin Harris. It’s just how I’m feeling and what I’d like to do. It’s just easy for me to not get boxed to an extend. To me, the label is really dumb for artists in a way because it really limits what people see them at, and sometimes it even affects the way they see themselves. they go back to the same formula and the song and the beat. Instead of making the music and the beat they want to be.
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