INTERVIEW | LI-LIKEISAID DISCUSSES HIS NEW TRACK ‘MISSED CALLS’

By Rishma • On What is New

In a world where music often serves as an escape, Li-LikeIsaid trans­forms it into a raw, power­ful reflec­tion of life’s chal­lenges. His latest single, “Indigo Kid,” delves deep into per­son­al struggle and resi­li­ence, offer­ing listen­ers a glimpse into his jour­ney of self-dis­cov­ery. Known for blend­ing genres and cre­at­ing atmo­spher­ic sound­scapes, Li-LikeIsaid’s music is as intro­spect­ive as it is uni­ver­sally relat­able. With a unique approach to storytelling, he’s not just an artist — he’s a voice for those nav­ig­at­ing the com­plex­it­ies of men­tal health and per­son­al growth. In this inter­view, we explore the inspir­a­tion behind “Indigo Kid” and what’s next for this rising talent.

Your latest single, “Indigo Kid,” is a deeply intro­spect­ive track. Can you tell us about the inspir­a­tion behind it and what the “Indigo Kid” sym­bol­izes for you personally?

In today’s fast-paced world, soci­et­al pres­sures often silence our per­son­al struggles. Through my own jour­ney, I’ve dis­covered that it’s per­fectly okay to not be okay. Embra­cing hon­esty and vul­ner­ab­il­ity reveals our deep­est, often uncon­scious, strengths. My latest track, “Missed Calls,” is a beacon of hope and unity. It encour­ages us to sup­port each oth­er through tough times. I hope listen­ers find cour­age in my story to share their own. Talk­ing about men­tal health can truly save lives, and I am com­mit­ted to doing everything I can because music has been my lifeline.

You men­tioned that a Trav­is Scott-style beat sparked the cre­ation of “Indigo Kid.” What drew you to that spe­cif­ic instru­ment­al, and how did it help shape the track’s over­all vibe?

Per­son­al chal­lenges were weigh­ing heav­ily on my men­tal health. I faced part­ner struggles and the heart­break of being made redund­ant from a job I loved. Even my pas­sion for pro­fes­sion­al bas­ket­ball in the UK couldn’t lift my spir­its. The com­bined pres­sure and stress plunged me into a dark place where I couldn’t see any light. It was an unpre­ced­en­ted pain and struggle for me. The only solace I found was in writ­ing down my exper­i­ences, which even­tu­ally became the lyr­ics for my song. Through this cre­at­ive out­let, I trans­formed my pain into some­thing mean­ing­ful and powerful.

The song has an atmo­spher­ic, almost psy­che­del­ic feel. How do you achieve that kind of mood in your music, and what role does pro­duc­tion play in cre­at­ing that immers­ive sound?

Their pres­ence pro­foundly shaped my men­tal health jour­ney in ways words can hardly cap­ture. In my darkest moments, their unwaver­ing sup­port was a beacon of light. Every act of kind­ness, every check-in call, nev­er went unnoticed. Des­pite their own ongo­ing battles with men­tal health, they made it a point to reach out to me daily. For that, I owe them my life. Their strength and com­pas­sion provided the torch that guided me through the dark­ness, and I am etern­ally grateful.

You’ve described your­self as a free­thinker and spir­itu­ally inclined — how do those aspects of your iden­tity influ­ence your music, and how do they come through in “Indigo Kid”?

I take immense pride in the ver­sat­il­ity of my music. I refuse to pigeon­hole myself into one genre, always push­ing the bound­ar­ies of where my music can go. My love for a vari­ety of genres fuels my con­stant drive to devel­op and grow in the industry. When I heard the instru­ment­al for “Missed Calls” pro­duced by Saint6, everything just clicked. It was the per­fect sound for a song that’s as real as it gets.

Grow­ing up with a mix of influ­ences like Johnny Cash and Eminem, how do those diverse music­al tastes mani­fest in your sound today, espe­cially in tracks like “Indigo Kid”?

Cre­at­ing music has always been my pas­sion. For me, music is the heart­beat of the world, and I can’t ima­gine life without it. I make music that I love, and I’ve always believed in aim­ing for the next step, wheth­er it’s radio play or some­thing else. These incred­ible accol­ades have taught me the value of patience and resi­li­ence. If you keep work­ing hard and believ­ing in your craft, as I do at every level, your moment will come. Just be ready when the oppor­tun­ity presents itself.

You’ve had suc­cess on plat­forms like iTunes and GRM Daily. How has your rise in the UK hip-hop scene shaped your music, and what does hit­ting mile­stones like #6 on the iTunes Hip Hop charts mean to you?

Music is in my opin­ion the most power­ful phe­nomen­on in the world. Without music, a lot of oth­er indus­tries essen­tially can­not thrive.

There is noth­ing like it in the world. Music can bring love, Music can end wars, Music is make people laugh and also make people cry. Music has the power to bring out every emo­tion that a human can feel and have the influ­ence to give someone the determ­in­a­tion to get through their day, work harder, do that extra rep in the gym or sing with your friends in the car.

To me music is everything and will always be everything. Without music I would not be sit­ting here today with the determ­in­a­tion and mind­set that I carry in everything I do.

You handle writ­ing, mix­ing, and mas­ter­ing your own music. What does that cre­at­ive inde­pend­ence mean to you, and how does it affect the final product of songs like “Indigo Kid”?

I believe it’s mind­set and determ­in­a­tion. There are mil­lions of artists in the world so by the law of aver­ages, to be noticed or at least acknow­ledged you have to be as con­sist­ent as you can so that your name is ringing in the industry. The first time or second time your name may sweep under the radar but the more con­sist­ent you are the more the industry hears your name and that’s the pos­i­tion you want to be in. You still have to main­tain a sol­id level of qual­ity that you are put­ting out so it’s a bal­ance of con­sist­ency and qual­ity and togeth­er this enables evol­u­tion and growth in your statue and qual­ity of art.

Your music blends vari­ous genres, from hip-hop and rap to indie and pop. How do you approach genre-blend­ing in your cre­at­ive pro­cess, and what can listen­ers expect from you as you evolve musically?

Win­ning the Kenny All­star first ever VOTS chal­lenge and being a res­id­ent of BBC intro­du­cing, 1Xtra and KISS have giv­en me the determ­in­a­tion and desire to keep push­ing for more suc­cess and growth in the industry. Greats like Kenny All­star noti­cing my tal­ent through thou­sands of oth­ers and being on Nation­al radio con­stantly are achieve­ments I will always be proud of. I’m inspired and striv­ing for more and I know I can achieve these by focus­ing on what’s needed to get to that next level

With “Indigo Kid,” you’ve cre­ated a track that feels very per­son­al. How do you bal­ance mak­ing music that’s intro­spect­ive while still appeal­ing to a broad audience?

Each col­lab­or­a­tion, espe­cially with names like Queen Millz, BEMZ & Yxng Dave help my ver­sat­il­ity with­in in my music grow. Each have very unique but dif­fer­ent styles and this chal­lenges me to learn from them all and adapt my own to cre­ate the best music pos­sible. I con­tin­ue to col­lab­or­ate with great artists and by doing this should take my music career to the next level.

Look­ing ahead, what can we expect from Yxng Malone’s future pro­jects? Are there any themes, sounds, or col­lab­or­a­tions you’re excited to explore after “Indigo Kid”?

I am so excited for what’s to come in the world of Li-Likeisaid. 2025 is look­ing like an action packed by very very excit­ing year for me. I have 2 pro­jects I am work­ing on which I think is going to kick the doors off the music industry. Expect more story telling, more hard hit­ting lyr­ics and more inter­est­ing col­lab­or­a­tions. I want to be on fest­iv­al stages next year and I think 2025 will be the begin­ning of Li-Likeisaid’s time.

Listen HERE to Indigo Kid

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Rishma

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voiceless.

About Rishma

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless.