As the tide in Australian music culture shifts, a collective of emerging local artists are shaping a contemporary sound on our shores. Central Coast bred, Eora based artist BOY SODA is an undisputed leader in this new school of thought, utilising R&B and intricately crafted pop music to captivate his swiftly growing audience nationwide.
BOY SODA aka Brae Luafalealo has been on the rise since 2019, where his early singles and signature styles had him hand selected as a part of Converse’s All Stars program. Those early original pieces of work were scattered vignettes into the flourishing creative mind of Luafalealo. As his sonic footprint began to grow, the world stopped due to the great pause. Rather than halting alongside it, he utilised the time to create his debut EP THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THINKING AND FEELING, a conceptual wonderland of love, lust, self reflection, wrapped in a glaze of sugary pop melodies, grandiose production and a truly singular style that is impossible to pigeonhole, but perfect to listen to. THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THINKING AND FEELING saw BOY SODA make his definitive mark on the musical world, with a conceptually tight debut project that is well beyond his songwriting years.
The project began a momentum tidal wave, with editorial support from Notion Magazine, Spingle Mag, Revamp, Complex, Rolling Stone, NME, Acclaim and Purple Sneakers, all culminating in a sold out hometown show at The Lansdowne Hotel.
Despite the momentum that was brewing for BOY SODA, he instantly decided to break his comfort zone to seek new inspiration. Following his debut EP took a career changing writing trip to London, which caused a period of reflection which led to career ambition. Inspired by London’s bustling culture and cross-pollination of music culture and taste, Brae began to rekindle his endless and inspiring pursuit of being a creative artist.
“I was hoping to go to London and be divinely inspired. I came back and was refreshed. I was in a new place and was reminded that Australia is very far away.”
As a project based, conceptually driven artist, his head turned towards creating an album, with the ambition of creating his debut body of work that was not constituted by traditional, structured single rollouts at this stage of his career. Despite the inner workings of his emotions, he’s now utilising a collection of music that is soon to be packaged together as a trio of mixtapes to be released by the end of this year.
“The idea of dropping three mixtapes in a row is radical enough for me to enjoy it and it’s refreshing in general as well. I want to leave a legendary sonic trilogy.”
The projects’ showcase BOY SODA’s natural tendency to drift away from traditional genre structures, compacted in a format without strict sonic expectations. A signifier of this is the first taste of his new direction, Willy Shakespeare, a musically expansive exposé in what makes the BOY SODA project so captivating. Golden falsettos glide gorgeously over blown out trap inspired 808s as he ponders over broken love with distinct self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Where Willy Shakespeare excels in an arena that Brae knows he can dominate, he promises to not rest on his laurels, challenging his own ability with his most ambitious music to date.
The new chapter will begin with mixtape HOTEL NOON, driven by distinct musicality across every genre it covers. Soulful brass driven jams, traditional pop-infused R&B cuts and four to the floor funk and house inspired numbers blend together gorgeously across its tracklist, glued seamlessly together by BOY SODA’s evocative lyrical excellence. Its goal is to provide musical moments, manifesting in 8 bar bridges, unique song structures driven by self-discipline in songwriting. While branded as a mixtape, HOTEL NOON is a considered body of work, providing a range of pockets for fans of all music types to begin to fall in love with BOY SODA.
On HOTEL NOON, Brae deeply explores his love for hip-hop, flaunting his class through a range of contemporary rap cuts. Take 3 Little Piggies alongside Charbel, a glitchy, percussion driven instrumental lay the perfect platform for Brae to experiment vocally, drifting between quick witted bars, roleplay driven dialogue and a range of vocal effects. On the flipside of his palette sits a downtempo, bedroom worthy slow burner Body. Rather than relying on vocal effects, Brae showcases his glowing full vocal range, crooning over a trippy, synthy contemporary R&B number.
Now he turns to his biggest tour and live performances to date, supporting legacy Australian hip hop act Seth Sentry across their 10th anniversary tour. He’ll make his debut at iconic Australian live music venues including The Triffid in Brisbane, The Northcote Theatre at the Cambridge Hotel and The Metro Theatre in Sydney.