Who Is?/Official Hype

Published on October 29th, 2019 | by Guest Contributor

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Who Is BENJII?

BENJII is the multi-textural moniker of Vancouver Canada-based singer/songwriter, and guitarist Benji Klassen. With an enigmatic means to see color in sound alongside a taste for moody atmospheres, Klassen wades within the boundaries of neon-drenched alt-pop, and brooding R&B.

With his debut and sophomore singles – ‘California’ and ‘BOA’ – catching the eyes of large publications like EARMILK, Indie88 Toronto and Buzz Music LA, BENJII has warmed the stage for his third single of 2019, ‘I Won’t Die For You’ out now.

What makes ‘I Won’t Die For You’ different from your past work?

I think having some darker lyrical content, and encompassing that with the pulsating synths, layered vocals, and these weird reversed bell samples really pulled the song together, and gave it it’s own space from ‘California’ and ‘BOA’ (the first two singles that released this year). It also brings in some cool alternative/R&B vibes I’ve been really into lately, while not straying too far away from my alt-pop roots. I’m incredibly proud of the music that I’ve put out this year, but there’s something a little deeper about IWDFY, and I think it only worked because of the build up from the first two tracks. It’s not one of those songs you just come straight out of the gate with.

Can you describe the concept behind the track?

It’s funny, I’ve had a few people now automatically assume the track is about a love interest or something and be like “awh hell yeah, fuh that bish!” but the song is actually meant to take place in the mind of someone struggling with mental health issues and/or addiction. Whenever you get into those weird, dark states of mind, you feel like you’re completely emmersed by some sort of storm cloud, and that’s where the inspiration for this whole thing came from. After that, it branched into something a little more empowering, where the thought moves into breaking free from these thoughts and saying “I finally see what’s happening and what you’re doing to me – I’m not going to die for you”. Or I mean, fuh that bish, whatever works.

How would you describe your artistic evolution throughout your career so far?

I think pop music has always been at the core of my “musical existence” coming from a rural town in the prairies of Canada where all we could listen to was Top 40 and country on the radio, but once I had moved to Vancouver after graduating is when my eyes opened to alternative music. At that point, I like immediately joined an indie / math rock band and began writing, recording and touring all around North America. That was a cool project because it was a really technical group of guys and we were doing a lot of stuff in like 13/8 time sigs, lots of “turkey” guitar tapping, the odd break-down here and there – it was all great. Really pushed me out of my comfy pop bubble, and expanded my guitar chops.

After that project, I basically went into 2 years of writing and finding a new sound I could roll with for this new BENJII project. I really got into acts like The 1975 and The Neighbourhood which has influenced these first few songs this year, but as we speak I’ve really been into R&B, and I think that will play a heavy role on the stuff I’m working on right now.

What’s been the biggest change in your life over the past year?

If I look back at where I was exactly a year ago, I was just getting these first tracks ready to go for the studio, and was both excited and terrified to introduce myself to the world. At that time, I had no idea what to expect when the project launched since this was the first time I solely had the reigns, and I wasn’t sure how myself or my music would be perceived. And then as everything slowly came to fruition it was clear to me how difficult it was going to be to build this thing up. Don’t get me wrong, this year has been amazing and incredibly humbling to see how many amazing and supportive friends, family, and new fans have my back going forwards, but MAN it’s hard to break into the industry when you’re the new guy.

But yeah, to answer the question, I think my expectations and visions for this project are the biggest things to change in my life at this point. My vision is clearer, I’ve recalibrated, and I’m ready for chapter 2.

What song by another artist do you wish you had written?

I’m literally imploding right now and have typed out about 100 different answers/songs and can’t decide. I think it might be ‘fallingforyou’ by the 1975 – one of those super-deep cuts on their deluxe self-titled album. It wasn’t a single, or some big radio smash, but it’s a song that instantly connects with a huge room of people, and leaves an impression.

And finally, where can readers keep up with what you are doing?

I’m most active on IG 1000%, with Facebook being a somewhat close second. I’d highly recommend following me on those platforms to keep up to date on everything I’ve got going on. The website (www.benjii.ca) is a great resource too as it’s got all the music, articles/press, etc on there with an opt in for the newsletter!2019 isn’t over for me yet, and next year is going to be epic, so it’d be amazing to see this little community keep growing!



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