Los Angeles-based artist SMILEZ is no stranger to standing out in the crowd with his vibrant presence. He is the missing link between grungy punk catharsis and unrestrained hip-hop bravado, with the artist stating, “I like to put my DNA into everything I do which is why it feels so personal.”
His new single, “Self Sabotage,” produced by Digital Nas (Kanye West, Playboi Carti) is a blend of hip-hop and punk rock. Speaking on the story behind the track, SMILEZ shares, “I found myself reflecting a lot and saw that I had a tendency to self-sabotage and wanted to explore that.” With both the lyrics and music complementing each other, “Self Sabotage” emits a chaotic and contagious energy, emphasized by throbbing beats and clashing percussion elements, as the artist chants, “I over complicate it with bells and whistles // Turn something good to something bad cause I’m the saboteur.”
SMILEZ met Digital Nas last year at a party he threw and the two became friends and started working on what would become SMILEZ’s new project, Saboteur, coming later this Spring.
SMILEZ has emerged as a rare disruptor in the new RAGE space. He had multiple successful tours, opening for the likes of Trippie Redd, Wiz Khalifa, and JuiceWRLD. In 2021, he released a string of singles, including the track “HAPPY,” which hit #1 on the SoundCloud charts, racking up more than 7 million streams. With his notable brand making waves in the industry, he ended 2022 with a deeply emotional track in honor of his late brother titled “Sit Back & Relax”, which serves as a PSA to the fentanyl epidemic. In 2023 SMILEZ started the year with a Genius ‘Open Mic’ Performance and released his debut project Ur in My World. 2024 is set to see SMILEZ take his music to the next level, kicking off with “Self Sabotage.”
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