Everyone has problems. For SonReal, he has learned to openly speak on his issues and give advice to those attempting to jump over those same hurdles. The Vancouver upstart’s new video “Problems” highlights all of the turbulence that nearly curtailed his music career.
“I got off my last tour and I was doing VIP tickets, getting to know my fans more so than on previous tours. I started realizing that my fans aren’t with me because I make funny videos or because I rap the best; they use my music to pick them up,” SonReal explains to Billboard regarding the inspiration behind “Problems.”
After losing his father, leaving Capitol Records and undergoing depression, SonReal found refuge in his music to combat his demons. “They would say things like, ‘Your music saved my life,’ or, ‘I was in a deep depression and it was [this song] that made me work through it,'” he says. “Last year I had a tough year. I lost my father, and I leaned on music to get through it. The world needs to hear that things aren’t perfect all the time, that everyone is human and goes through things all the time. At the end of the day, you aren’t alone.”
The visual for “Problems” finds SonReal sitting comfortably on a sofa, symbolizing the times he slept on a friends couch for four months to record his EP.
“The line: ‘I would wake up on my homie’s sofa/ weight on all my shoulders,’ is the most memorable one, according to my fans. It’s real. I quit my job and slept on my friends’ couch for 4 months to record an EP,” says SonReal. “There was no plan B, it was just music. We couldn’t fit a whole sofa onto the back of a truck so we used a Laz-Y-Boy instead. The rest of the video included B-roll scenes from tour, from Nebraska from Halifax.”
On Aug. 11, SonReal will be able to fully oust all of his doubts with his forthcoming project One Long Dream. Check out “Problems’ below.