Who are Samurai Champs? We chatted with the Canadian-based duo about their new track ‘BAE’

Hey Samurai Champs, your new track ‘Bae’ came out last week, can you tell us more about the inspiration behind the song?

BAE Is one of the main singles released from our upcoming album ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’. BAE represents all the feels you get when you are in the beginning stages of falling in love with someone. It’s the best and most memorable time of any relationship. Wanting to be down for all the good and the bad. We wanted people to experience that in this record. Plus our last single “Still Mine” was a sad one, so we wanted to give some positive vibes.

I know your heritage is Southeast Asian but you live in Canada? How have those different places inspired you?

Being from Canada allows us to see and understand diversity in a unique way. Although we each grew up with our own experiences as Merv xx Gotti was born in Canada and Jeah was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. Seeing the places we’ve come from help us not waste the position we’ve been lucky to have, regardless of the environment we’ve been placed in for the music we make. Our inspiration and influences from those places allowed us to really give focus and vision to what we want. Just because a lot of them would not be given the same opportunities as we’ve had.

You’ve given hints that you’ll be releasing your debut full-length album this year How have you found the process of writing and recording a longer body of work like that?

We’ve been in the studio a lot piecing the songs that we want to reflect us in this album. The recording process felt unified and fresh, the conversation we have in this album we’ve recently walked away from or we are currently going through. So the writing came natural, really tapping into the raw emotions in each song made it a lot easier to say the things we wanted to. We’ve spent a lot of time recording with good friend Walter Ernest at Blue Door Recording Studio so it felt comfortable breathing life into these songs in the studio. “Bae” was recorded and mixed by Walter Ernest, and mastered by Drake’s Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer, Chris Athens.

The production of ‘Bae’ is a really interesting blend of stylistic influences, are there any particular songs or artists that inspire you sonically?

A lot of our stylistic influences of bae come from Toronto’s OVO label and the soulful feels of L.A.’s Soulection. We wanted to draw a raw blend of rhythm and melody. Finding the right balance of rap with hints of soulful singing through the entire record.

Who are 3 of your most-played artists right now?

Travis Scott, Joji, and Drake

Stream ‘Bae’ Here