Chatting With Vagali Singer And Songwriter Based In London, UK.

Azerbaijani singer-songwriter Vagali based in London chatted with Mid-Day News about his new music.

Your songs have such a lovely essence to them. They are incredibly endearing and are almost pleading for the listener to see, to feel, and to hear the goodness that is in life and love. What do you hope people feel when they hear your music?

I'm hoping that people will feel recognized. I hope that they will see themselves in my songs. I try to write songs from a very honest place, and that means that I write songs about the good things in life but also about the tough things in life.

I write about love but also about longing - and sometimes love and longing co-exist (and it's the same with light and dark). It's about hopes and fears and everything in life. If they feel recognized, my dream has come true, basically.

The track "Look in My Eyes" has been released on all music platforms. This is your 7^thtrack during your incredible journey. How is your feeling now and what can you add more about it?

I've been traveling and touring last two years across by different countries in Europe. Last track "Look in my Eyes" born from my inspiration during my short period time of holiday in London when I went for dating. It was beautiful Christmas time with nice drinks at Winter Wonderland and they way how she looked at me it was special, then I took decision to start and write new lyrics.

I've had time to really dive deep into the process and hopefully, people can hear that.

"Look in My Eyes" is available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4HnEAEANClgkHzIqOk3E6D?si=b796048a3a0f4e37

It is also available on all music platforms.

YouTube full track video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNi62yibNYE

Take us through the creation of "Look in My Eyes" - did it start out as an anthem about universal love or did its message evolve over time and influence the concept of the whole song?

When I wrote "Look in My Eyes" I wanted to write a song about recognition - those magic moments in life when you fall in love…the first time I looked at that girl on dating in the eyes, the moment I'm on stage and the audience and my music kind of collide and you feel that energy at the same time with a lot of other people…I wanted to write about those moments.

Getting struck by lightning in that sense was a beautiful image (for me, at least) and when I did the track I decided with my team that we should basically pay a tribute to all kinds of love even if this was short time.

I think it's important to talk about inclusion, it's important to talk about the importance of diversity and we've all got to fight those old views on what love is because I have many friends, I have close family that doesn't fit into the heteronormative boxes that we have sort of were told is the only way that love could be for many years all over the world, and that is just not true.

Love is beautiful regardless of anything. If two people love each other, I think it's a beautiful thing no matter what.

"Look in My Eyes" has nearly fifteen thousand Spotify streams. What do you attribute that success to?

I think "Look in my Eyes" is a song that people can relate to because anxiety and mental health are huge issues for so many of us. I feel like the world is stressed out and many people feel like they can't keep up. I don't think that ‘drugs and rock and roll' are the biggest problems today with our youth, it's mental health issues.

That's the biggest challenge for the younger generations and even the older, too. I guess there are a lot of people out there like myself who have had to find a way through life, through the anxiety. I'm so glad that people have taken this song into their hearts and that we can share it together.

"I am in the Fire" is another fan favourite, with 105 thousand views on YouTube. It's such a catchy song. What can you tell me about it?

"I am in the Fire" is a favourite of mine. I wrote the song in London, UK and I believed that it had to be on the top.

For me, it's full of student life memories, it's full of memories of me hanging out with my first love, friends in the sun in Kyiv, Ukraine. And then when everything has been changed, immediately it took a whole new meaning for me because those were things that we took for granted before and all of a sudden we couldn't do. My full expression in this song about past life when I was a student.

I hope that people can feel the sense of appreciation I was trying to convey, appreciation for those times when we can see each other and party and hug a stranger and go to festivals and concerts and all the kinds of things that we used to do and are slowly becoming able to do again.

You have such a strong connection with your fans. They adore you and you really show genuine affection toward them as well! What do you attribute that to?

I think I have such a strong connection with my fan base all around the World because I'm basically just who I am. I'm not trying to portray myself as some sort of superhuman. I feel like the fact that I try to just be open about the stuff in life that I find really challenging means that people can relate.

It took a long time for me to build a platform where I can actually make a living out of music, and so I really appreciate my fans, I really appreciate that people show up to my concerts and that they stream my music. I hope that they can feel that I don't take them and my success for granted at all. I feel very grateful every day.

Are there certain types of songs that your fans seem drawn to more than others (hip-hop vs. upbeat, love songs vs. philosophical songs)?

I think different types of songs hold different places in people's lives. I think the songs that people feel the most drawn to are the hip-hop, the more inspirational songs. But I also feel like those tracks have to co-exist with the happier songs as well because that's like life - there is both light and dark. So people can dance and cry and laugh at the same time at my concerts.

Does that affect your songwriting or song selection for all your songs? Or do you follow your creative instincts?

When I'm in my creative space, I listen and follow my inspiration, so I never have the final result in mind when I'm writing a song. I'm just following the flow and new songs are born for my fans.

Sometimes I end up writing happy songs, sometimes I end up writing songs that are not happy at all. That's how I feel it should be. If you try to overthink it, I think that the end result won't be as good.

If there was just one thing you'd want Indian music fans to know about you, what would it be?

The Indian means a lot to me. I always feel a connection with people when I go to there. I'm just hoping that I can meet a lot of you guys this year when I am for huge touring to give my performance in all around India.

To learn more about Vagali, check out his

Website - www.vagali.com

Instagram - https://instagram.com/vagali__?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/VagaliOfficial