“I’m not really looking to impress anybody other than myself. I make the music that I want to listen to and I think being authentic is the greatest thing you can do as an artist and as a human being.”
These words from UK-based lofi hip-hop artist Confidential (real name George Wakerley) are as honest as his music. He isn’t your typical lofi artist. Instead of hiding behind anime artwork or grainy photos, the classically-trained guitarist lays himself out for the world to see. His introspective stories about his battles with depression and willingness to give his real identity have led to Planet Singer naming him “the live-action face of LoFi Hip-Hop”.
After releasing 3 albums in under a year with AEC Music (Lawson, Jake Quickenden, Adam Lyons), Confidential is releasing his biggest project yet in 2022, via Sound Noir Records: a 35-track album of instrumental and spoken word beats, showcasing the highs and lows of his journey towards finding an identity, along with his willingness to push the boundaries of the lofi hip-hop genre.
Where are you from?
Originally from Southend, UK, but now based in Brighton.
How long have you been making music?
Since I was 12. I was never interested in playing other people’s music. I always wanted to write and perform my own material and started the instant I got my hands on a guitar.
How many songs /albums have you released to date?
I’ve released 4 albums, and one non-album single. Not bad for 18 months of being a solo artist, eh?
Can you tell us about your latest release and the background and inspirations behind it?
My latest release is called ‘The Search for’, and it’s an expression of my struggles with depression and finding an identity. In April 2019, I had a horrendous time: I quit a band I’d invested 5 years of my life in, a close family member nearly died and I came down with a pretty bad flu all in a single day. It really messed me up and I was spiralling for a while.
I just felt like I had no identity, because all I’d ever done since not long after I started learning guitar was play in bands, but I spent a year trying to set up a new project and kept getting let down by others. I gave up for a short while and pretty much shut down as a person, until July 2020.
At that point, I decided to become a solo artist and releasing music has been a huge part of my therapy and recovery from depression. It’s given me a new identity, meaning and reason to live. It seems like we all spend our lives searching for stuff: identity, love, acceptance, family, cure, anything you can think of. So this album relates to all of that, from my own perspective, and I hope others can identify their own journeys in the music, too.
How have you ended up in the music industry?
Honestly, it was all luck: kind of like falling down the stairs and landing on your feet. I just really enjoyed playing guitar, but started out mostly playing classical music. When I finished school, I chose to study music at college because it was an opportunity to play music all day and form bands and play on stage, which was brilliant. That was where I started to really explore heavy metal music, which is what I thought I’d end up doing.
I did well enough at college that the next step for me was university, so I enrolled at BIMM (British and Irish Modern Music Institute) in Brighton, where I would then discover hip-hop music and started making beats and collaborating with rappers in the local area. After graduating, I kept pursuing opportunities to play guitar both live and in the studio.
I never thought I’d be a solo artist, I love working with others, but the whole thing just kind of fell this way. I have to give a big shoutout to Music Makers, AEC Music, New Level Music and And What? LDN for giving me the confidence to go at it on my own. Without them collectively getting behind me, I definitely wouldn’t be doing this today.
What did you think of the music industry in 2021?
There have been a lot of changes in technology, public interests and culture over the past few years. I think the COVID-19 pandemic has only amplified all these changes. It feels like a lot of artists are slow to keep up or catch up with new changes and business models.
When live shows stopped, there were some who started doing live streams almost instantly. Two of the earliest I can think of are Si Connelly and Daisy Chute. I know for Daisy, it’s been quite lucrative for her and has allowed her to reach new audiences. Chloe McShane started writing and releasing new music more frequently during the lockdowns, which was really great to see. As long as you’re doing something positive, I think it’s productive and can benefit you. But then there have been others who sat and complained the entire time, which accomplishes nothing. It’s the situation we’re all in, and we all have to deal with it.
Platforms like Spotify have also blossomed a fair bit in the past few years. I can’t comment on the Joe Rogan stuff because I know almost nothing about him, and yes I do acknowledge that Spotify pays significantly less compared to other platforms like Apple Music and Tidal. But on the positive side, I can see how Spotify is developing into a more social platform, which is why I think it’s so much more successful than Apple Music. I mean, there are 406million Spotify users, compared to something like 60million Apple Music users, and they’re the two most popular platforms.
Spotify has great social elements like local live show, the yearly Wrapped thing, and public playlists, which I rely on for a lot of my streams. Lately, I’ve seen that artists can sell merch on there, and we can see what other users we follow have been listening to. I wouldn’t be surprised if artists will be able to publicly post on Spotify soon, and treat it like a social media channel.
Who do you think the most influential artist?
For me, The Roots are definitely number one. I was at university, and in my first year we would study a new genre of music each week. One week, we studied hip-hop and the tutor put on this clip of The Roots playing ‘You Got Me’ on the Jools Holland show, back in 1999. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, it was so different to anything I’d heard before: the storytelling, the laid-back drumming, the minimalism and emotion. It was so captivating, I still watch that performance on YouTube from time-to-time and it still has that same effect on me.
Who have you collaborated with so far in your career?
Way before my Confidential days, I played in a lot of rock and metal bands. I was a full-time member of a rock band called Project, but did live sessions for a few metal bands: one of the most prominent being a band called Half Infinity. Those guys were awesome, I’ve got to give a shoutout to Drake Taylor, who’s a solo artist now, and Chippy from Buried by my Heartache. Phenomenal musicians.
After moving to Brighton, I did some studio and live collaborations with an artist named Maria Gardner. She works under the name Miss Disney now, performing all over the UK and appearing on TV. She’s still a good friend of mine, we used to work together a lot in a songwriting capacity when I was in my last band.
As Confidential, I did a collaboration track called ‘Turning Red’ with an artist called Neshy, who’s based in Bristol. That came out around the beginning of last year and I’m super proud of that one. Currently, I’m collaborating with a London-based artist called Lu’Ami on a track that’ll come out later this year. I’ve been a fan of Lu’Ami since about 2014, so it’s been a bit of a dream come true to work with her.
Lastly, I’ve collaborated with this artist Amanda Bourne a few times as Confidential. We did a spoken word track together called ‘Life is Not The Same’, back in 2020. We kept in contact and I really appreciated how hardworking and determined she is, so we agreed to work together again in the future. She appears on 4 spoken word tracks on my new album.
How do you think you differ from other artists?
I think I come from a unique background and had a strange journey to where I am today. I started out as a classical guitarist, which means I don’t use a pick and use a lot of arpeggios and notes rather than chords. After that I was playing in metal bands and getting into the progressive scene, so my playing also has this technical mix in there. I guess my approach to hip-hop is a little different compared to someone who was exposed to it at an early age.
My teacher always encouraged me to think outside the box, so there are a few weird sounds on my new album, including crayons and a ping pong ball. I’ll record sounds I hear in the streets and use them in my music as well: things like bird chirps, puddle splashes and electrical noise.
Dead or alive, who would be your dream collaboration?
Probably Pete Rock. He’s my favourite producer and he did his Petestrumentals 3 album using live musicians. I wish I could have been the guitarist on that record, it would have been so sick!
Perhaps as a dream lineup to do a whole album together would be:
Pete Rock – Production and vocals
Chali 2na – Vocals
Me – Guitar
Hub (R.I.P) – Bass
Questlove – Drums
What was the first album you bought?
Iron Maiden self-titled. Still one of my favourite albums, to this day
What’s your favourite song at the moment?
I’m Housin’ by EPMD
If you had to sell your music collection tomorrow, what album would you leave in your draw?
Could you have asked a tougher question?! I’m gonna go with Vol. 1 by HURT, but I probably would have changed my mind by the time I wake up tomorrow.
What is your favourite saying?
“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”
What other hobbies or interests do you have?
I’m big into extreme sports and anything that’ll give me an adrenaline rush. I used to race dirt bikes when I was a kid, which I thought would be what I’d do with my life, but I crashed way too often. Recently, I got into bouldering and try to go whenever I can, that’s pretty good for scratching the itch.
Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
None. I’d get sleeve tattoos if I could, but I know I’d get bored of the design and want to change it after about a week. My attention span is too short.
Tell us more about your upcoming project or this new project?
My new album, The Search for, was released on February 11 and it’s the longest lofi hip-hop album from an artist (rather than a record label compilation) that I could find. There are 35 tracks: 30 are just me on my own, some using samples, some only live and programmed instruments. One was mixed externally by Lewis Kelly, who’s a producer based in Brighton; and four feature Amanda Bourne doing spoken word, which is a collaboration I’ve been wanting to do for ages.
There’s a huge mix of sounds, moods and arrangements; it’s quite the journey that you’ll experience for just over an hour. I look forward to hearing what everybody thinks of this album, it took me over a year to make it.
What’s in the pipeline after this project?
I haven’t actually told anybody this yet, but this might be the last album I release for a while as I’m planning to submit music for features on record label compilations instead. Anything that doesn’t make it, I’ll set aside for my next album, but I’d like to hope that I’ll be seen on a few compilations in 2022.
Aside from that, I’m currently mixing a collaboration track I did with Lu’Ami. We’ll be releasing it as a single, with a couple of remixes for b-sides as I’d really like to try my hand at doing an EDM and a slow & reverb mix.
Thank you for your time and may you carry on making great, fresh music.
Thank you so much for having me, I really appreciate the opportunity to chat. It was fun!
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