Today, Woolungah/Wollongong-based artist Charbel shares the playful new single ‘WHO DAT’, alongside it’s Sesame Street-inspired music video. Alongside the release, Charbel also announces the upcoming mixtape GARDENIA AVE, due for release on July 15th via Farmer & The Owl / BMG.
Speaking on the track, Charbel shares; ‘That was an instrumental I got from James (Baldwin), who was one of the main people I worked on the project with. It was one of those things where again, I heard the beat and immediately had the perfect melody for it. This was definitely the track that came together the quickest – as soon as I had that melody, every single lyric just fell into place. It’s such a short song, but it also packs a lot of punch.
‘WHO DAT’ is one of the songs where I feel like anyone I’ve shown it to has immediately been really excited about it. It’s also definitely the most guitar-driven song that I’ve made. You can definitely hear more of a Prince influence on this one in particular.’
Charbel has been sitting on something big. He’s achieved plenty already in his still-blossoming career, including releasing his debut mixtape Passion Fruit while still in high school and linking up with the likes of Urthboy, Kid Pharaoh and Kyoshi on various tracks. He’s established himself as one of the more promising young prospects beneath Australia’s so-called urban music umbrella – a spectrum he facilitates through a multifaceted approach across niche corners of hip-hop and rnb, as showcased on songs like 2019’s ‘River of Neglect’ (boasting nearly 170,000 streams on Spotify alone). Garnering acclaim from the likes of triple j, triple j unearthed, FBi, Triple R and The Edge, 2019 saw Charbel win the triple j Dream Fest competition, as well as the triple j NIDA competition. ‘WHO DAT’ follows ‘WAVY’, Charbel’s first release of 2022, which saw support from triple j, Double J, Life Without Andy and Spotify’s The Local List, The Drip, The hybrid.
