For Canning Town-born musician, tendai, all of the stars are aligning.
The London-raised R&B singer has had a whirlwind of a music career thus far. Raised in a musical Seventh-Day Adventist family, tendai’s passion for music evolved into something more during his two years at music college, before the COVID-19 pandemic pushed him into isolation. This forced seclusion let the singer-songwriter create both the physical and mental spaces needed for experimentation, allowing him to dabble in different sounds and cadences, and the time needed to improve his piano playing abilities. Since then, tendai’s career has only progressed.
Releasing his first official single, ‘Not Around’, in 2021, tendai’s rapid music ascendancy appears lightyears ahead of the time he’s spent in the spotlight so far. “This is something that people forget,” tendai tells Hypebeast, “they forget it because the music sounds a lot further along, it sounds established, like it knows who it is. It has an identity.”
This sense of humble confidence and self-belief has been with tendai since the start of his journey in the music industry. So much so that he’s already landed collaborations with the likes of Stormzy, Potter Payper, Justin Beiber, and Masego, to name a few,all of whom have utilized his soft-spoken singing voice and future-facing approach to R&B to add new dimensions to their material.
Now, with a flawless collection of singles and collaborations under his belt – cite Stormzy’s “Need You” and his solo smash “I Deserve it” – tendai’s career has takenhim up to his latest release – a 10-track project entitled ‘The Rain.’
Out now, ‘The Rain’ was recorded in tendai’s new remote warehouse location in London. Titled ‘The Raido Room,’ tendai opened the warehouse studio to create the perfect environment for his latest and most ambitious project.
“I want the space to be a hub of music, creativity, culture, and maybe fashion, too,” tendai comments. “But most importantly, I think it’s going to be a platform of community. It’s about bringing people that see and understand what I do into the space.”
Hypebeast caught up with tendai to discuss his new project, ‘The Raido Room,’ and his crazy journey thus far. Check out our conversation below.
Talk to us about the new project, The Rain.
It’s different from other music I’ve made before, which is funny because it wasn’t intended to be. I feel the music is more sparse, in terms of production and the vocals, too. It was important for me to set a foundation with this one. I have been releasing music for two or three years, but I’ve never had the opportunity to release a project — I guess that’s because I wasn’t ready. But for this project, I must say this is who I am at a building block level. Then, with the projects that come after that, I can expand on who I am. But yeah, it was important to keep things minimal in this project, it’s a key theme, and London culture is also a theme.
I’ve always been a London boy but in this project, it was important for me to stick a pin in my music in that sense. When you hear the music across the tape, it’s going to feel more London and a lot more piano-heavy. That’s how I started making music, so going to the point of foundations, it’s important to highlight that. I wanted to show more about myself too. I was with a friend when I was in the early phases of making this record and he told me that he wanted to hear a song about me. Yes, I’ve made more personal records in the past, but they may have been through another perspective, so I’ve made sure I have painted a picture of who I am in its purest form.
Do you think that the UK is lacking real musicians, instrument-playing musicians?
Yeah and no. There are actually millions across the world who are creating real, beautiful music. But, the annoying thing is that importance in the public eye isn’t really on proper musicianship, especially in the mainstream. There are a lot of incredible musicians but they’re not going to be as big as they would have been in say, 2017 – it’s a different climate. I think it’s a good and a bad thing because if you are part of that ilk where you can play an instrument, you can sing live properly, it allows you to exist on a slightly different playing field if you can communicate it in the right way.
That’s what we’ve done across this rollout, we haven’t hammered it home in the craziest ways, but we’ve tried our best to show different sides of what’s going on. It’s about creating music that I can perform live, then add keys – it’s about adding dynamism to it. I think if you can add musicianship to the music you record in the studio, then you really add legs to it. I found out about the importance of that when I was with a friend of mine, Masego, he took me to a writing camp in Jamaica. He can do it all, and he explained that the way he has communicated his music in a live setting is what’s made him a part of that ilk.
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In the grand scheme of things, you’ve not been releasing music for that long.
That’s the thing! This is something that people forget. They forget it because the music sounds a lot further along, it sounds established like it knows who it is. It has an identity. It feels like it’s been around for a minute, but really it’s only been around since the end of 2021 – it makes it ample time to release a project, but now’s the time.
How have you managed to navigate the music industry since you entered it a couple of years ago?
My ambition has always been that I see these incredible artists – even before I entered the realm of the music business – as peers. I think that has allowed me to, even at an energy level, make it seem like I am one of them when I’m around them. If you say Stormzy, Justin Beiber, Masego… They’re all artists that have reached out to me. My point is, that because I’ve always seen them as peers, I have always moved around them like I’m a part of that ilk. Time will tell the story that I am a part of that ilk. I’ve always felt included like I knew who all of these people were before I met them, it was never not attainable – you’re always two links from anyone.
“It’s about creating music that I can perform live, then add keys – it’s about adding dynamism to it.”
You recently created ‘The Raido Room’ studio space – what does that entail?
[Laughs] It was really a response to the fact that I wanted to write the album by myself. But I also wanted to own a space where people could come and everyone could get involved in the creative process to a certain extent. I just wanted it to be free. I didn’t like that I’ve been at a studio for the last two or three years creating music, there’s a way that you have to work. Not even laws or rules, but there’s just a certain way you have to move when you’re working in a studio. I didn’t want that for the latest record at all, I wanted to go somewhere where no creative concept exists. We picked an empty warehouse because that’s what the music felt like – I wanted the music to reflect where we were creating it, and I wanted the music to look like the place we were in. I wanted to be able to look around and feel industrial. We brought a couple of people who are in my world, artists, producers, and creatives that I know and love. Then we did it again and I brought my fans, and we’re going to keep doing that.
I want the space to be a hub of music, creativity, culture, and maybe fashion, too. But most importantly, I think it’s going to be a platform of community. It’s about bringing people that see and understand what I do into the space. Also, I found out that a lot of the people who listen to my music are creatives themselves – they want to create cool content and send it to me… You’re seeing culture happen right in front of your eyes.
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It’s the case of being a product of the environment you’re in right? If you surround yourself with like-minded people, it’s only going to enhance your own creativity…
Of course! Even when people see the way in which I’ve been rolling stuff out and the abundance of black-and-white pictures… All of that has just come from people seeing what I’m doing, enjoying it, and wanting to get involved. It’s kind of been an accident, but a beautiful one.
What’s next for you?
Well, the tape will be out, I’ll let it live for a bit… We’ll do a show – the show is crazy! We’ll do some other Raido Rooms, and continue to build it into a thing that people understand more. Then, we’re going to keep making music. I don’t want to be one of those people that creates a project and then disappears. I’m in the studio and we’re doing mixes for the tape. I’m thinking about constant communication with people, constant communication with fans, more press. The next couple of months just look like more communication and constant communication. There’s a lot of cool things going on, that’s for sure.
