An Interview with Saintboy

Saintboy, aka Dawid Pagels, is a rap artist celebrated for his authentic storytelling and fearless approach to music. With a style that connects with visionaries, dreamers, and those on a path of self-discovery, he's setting new standards in the rap game, one verse at a time. We discuss his inspirations, his latest single, as well as more: 

Dami: What was your first introduction to music?

Saintboy: The first memory I have is listening to a polish radio broadcast every friday evening with my mom when I was a lil jit, they had this thing called „golden hits” and they were playing like really good music not just the charts, like bowie and led zeppelin. I feel like that really impacted my music taste and sensitivity. They also had this really iconic host that was curating all the music his voice was like so calming. That’s like the vivid memory I have

Dami: Did this radio broadcast have any influence on you deciding to become an artist?

Saintboy: I feel like it made me fall in love with music and notice all the tiny details that can make or break a song. just boosted my sensitivity. what made me decide to become and artist was a german rapper called „cro” he was my introduction to rap music and I instantly fell in love with it and wanted to rap myself. this was in elementary school.

Dami: How did listening to Cro lead to you becoming an artist?

Saintboy: Well after hearing his flows and vocals the first time I really wanted to replicate his rap and started just flowing and rapping along myself. I was just playing with it not taking it seriously, just falling more and more in love with rap and having it feed deep into me. when I was fourteen my best friend decided to buy a mic and music gear and that was the moment I was like I can actually make my own rap, it felt so liberating and magical. Cro just introduced me to rap and kept me around it all those years until it finally could pay off and I could lay down my own vocals.

Dami: How would you describe your sound now?

Saintboy: My sound is just liberation. I always try to push boundaries and unite all my inspirations into one new thing. my sound is experimental, raw and emotional. but I feel like it’s so versatile that it would be discrediting to put it into a box and label it. every song is a journey into yourself and I want the listener to feel like they are not alone with these deep emotions we sometimes are scared off. I want to shine light on what others don’t dare to see. that’s my sound. Some songs might come off as light some as heavy but every word has a meaning and a reason and you can find your own interpretation in there.

Dami: How hard does the language barrier make it to push these boundaries?

Saintboy: In the beginning, it was really hard. sometimes I wanted to express something but just didn’t know how to put the right words together. the more I write and explore my thoughts and surroundings the easier the words start to fall into place. I started off rapping in german and I always felt like something was missing. I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to rap in english but I was scared that people wouldn’t like it or that I couldn’t make it sound right. two years ago I decided to just do it and it was the best decision. Now I feel like I can express myself more experimentally and interestingly than before therefore giving me the ability to push boundaries.

Dami: How much would you say you’ve grown as an artist since your debut?

Saintboy: I’ve grown exponentially. I started off with free beats on the internet and my homie producing for me. I never could’ve imagined being able to produce my own records and rap in such a way I am doing now. every single song I made just had me grow more and more. with every track I rediscover myself and learn new abilities. but I honestly feel like my true debut hasn’t happened yet. all I’ve been doing was laying down the foundation for what’s about to come. Living in rural poland it was really hard for me to do any kind of networking or promote my art and even finding inspiration was hard. now I just moved to copenhagen and I’m stepping my game up x-fold and feeling incredibly inspired.

Dami: How would you describe this true debut that’s yet to come

Saintboy: In Copenhagen,  I have the connections and resources to step the quality of the next songs up by alot. I will be pushing out music relentlessly and showing my true colors. More visualization, more collaboration, more sounds, more experimentation. A very fresh breeze - or storm in the current soundscape of the industry.

Dami: And would you say you’re getting closer to this true debut?

Saintboy: The songs are written. Beats are in the process right now. We’ll be starting this fall.

Dami: How would you describe your creative process?

Saintboy: There’s two ways for me to get into the creative state.

One is truly being in the moment and getting inspired by what I’m doing. For example I start making a beat and the sound of the beat just inspires me and I start to create a world fitting the sound. This way involves a lot of experimentation and I go in with the intention of discovering something new about myself.

Number two is in integrity with nature and my surroundings. I enter a state of consciousness where I observe and spectate in complete detachment of self and notice things that we would normally filter out which inspires me to write. I have my lyric book always in hands reach so I can write down every intriguing thought that crosses my mind.

Dami: When you want to start working or making a song, where do you grab inspiration from?

Saintboy: It really helps having the lyric book I mentioned where I can always take a peak when I’m not inspired and find an interesting subject I can elaborate on. I can instantly transport myself into the state of mind I was at when writing the note. Sometimes it also helps to consume any type of art, if it’s a movie or going into a gallery you can always find intriguing topics that will spark your inspiration.

Dami: You dropped a single last week titled “Take off your Chains”. Can you tell us more about it?

Saintboy: Take off your chains is a call to action to every listener that is conflicted with self consciousness and other people’s opinions. I want people to shed their chains and let go of all the things holding them back being themselves. The chorus is very rowdy and heavy, I just wanted to scream I’m free and no matter what you throw at me you can’t change that fact, I want every listener to feel the same way. It’s an act of liberation and confrontation of what you’ve been avoiding. I had to make the chorus the way it is so it cuts through all the mediocrity and low vibrations we are being fed day by day. The verse is the act of confrontation that is crucial in letting go. At the end the instrumental beatswitch symbolizes my chains falling off and me reaching my freedom by letting go. At the end the music speaks for itself and my words aren’t needed anymore.

Dami: What inspired this single?

Saintboy: My insecurities that were fed by peoples opinions and their hate. my determination to reaching deeper levels of consciousness by confrontation of my fear. My drive to create something new and undeniable. Lastly I wanted something that I could put on anywhere and just let everything out. I want to see people scream their lungs out when I eventually play this song live. I feel like this song puts me in a state of energy where I could run a marathon or lift 300 pounds. It’s just pure energy.

Dami: What’s next after this single?

Saintboy: As I said, I am already planning a couple of songs although I haven’t decided yet which one is the next. We’re going a different direction, more mesmerizing sounds with a lot of sampling involved. I want to address a number of topics that have been recently promoted by culture, which I am not a fan of. But everything will be revealed soon.

Dami: What kind of topics?

Saintboy: Nightlife, substance use and partying. the loss of deeper meaning.

Dami: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Saintboy: I was always one to aspire big things. I see myself having a fairly large fanbase at least 20-50k monthly listeners. I see myself being able to tour medium sized venues and bringing all the music to life by performing. I see myself being able to live off of music and having various creative endeavors in the fashion industry. In five years I’ll be noticed by the industry and people will be inspired by my sound which by then has evolved to mastery.

Dami: How do you deal with writers block?

Saintboy: Acceptance. If the universe tells me this is not the time to write and there’s no inspiration for you to find I accept and thus can move on. 30 minutes later there might be some small thing that inspires me and suddenly cures the writers block. there’s no need to plot in the moment how to fix your writers block because you will only drive yourself to depression and despair. accept, move on and everything will reveal itself.

Check out his new single as well as socials here