While most Australian musicians struggled with the restrictions imposed by the pandemic – being unable to tour, go overseas or perform regularly – one Aussie artist managed to essentially launch his international music career.
Masked Wolf – known to friends and family as Harry Michael – is the man behind the global hit 'Astronaut In The Ocean'.The track hit a billion streams last year, garnered five ARIA Award nominations, blew up on Shazam and TikTok, and landed Michael performances on shows like Jimmy Fallon.
While "performing in general" has been a highlight of Michael's success, it was the Shazam factor that really blew him away.
"I always say to people that the Shazam thing to me is massive because it tells me that people got their phones out, to be like I need to know what this song is right now," Harry says.
"You can be on TikTok and you can be on Instagram and doing reels and stuff, and you can swipe and it's that song; but when you, out of your own will, go 'I need to know what the hell this is because it stands out to everything else'.
"That was the biggest standout for me, because it just told me that what I was making was good music, you know what I mean?"
Michael returned from performing overseas in December, and has since been working on new music. Touring during the pandemic was a different beast, and meant Michael missed his first regional festival due to quarantine.
"I was going to perform in Mackay then unfortunately – well, not unfortunately, and yes unfortunately at the same time – I went to Egypt, Dubai and Abu Dhabi to perform and then because of the government restrictions I wasn't allowed to come to Mackay," he says.
"I had to be in quarantine for two weeks after returning internationally, so that was a bit of a bummer."
Harry will be heading out on the Groovin The Moo tour next month (visiting Maitland, Canberra and Bendigo), and although he's keen to meet headliners like Hilltop Hoods, they haven't really influenced his career.
"I think because I was trying to get that international sound, it was very hard for me to be accepted into Australian rap – I'm talking ten years ago.
"I still looked up to people like Hilltop Hoods, Bliss N Eso, 360, like I still wanted to be where they were at," he says.
"But for me on a personal note, I couldn't listen to Australian rap because it wasn't my sound; it wasn't what I felt emotion from.
"I got emotion from Kanye 'Jesus Walks' and 'Gold Digger', and the progression in his songs; and G-Unit and how they sort of had swag and energy, so that's just what I listened to, it's what I enjoyed."
The Australian fan base is a different story altogether. "I know how loyal the Australian crowd is, that's one thing I love," Michael says.
"I mean I went to a Bliss N Eso concert the other day, just to say hi and stuff, and man, loyalty is a big Australian thing."
Michael says fans can expect to see "the most fit fattest person" they've ever seen on stage when he hits it.
"I know that's hard to understand, but I'm not a small guy and I'm not obese – I'm just a stocky dude and when I run across the stage you're like, 'how is he not tired and still rapping?', he laughs.
"That's the most amazing part, about what you're going to see from Masked Wolf: high energy, high crowd interaction and live verses."
Michael puts his seemingly overnight success down to 'Astronaut In The Ocean' being about mental health "and feeling like you're on the opposite side of where you want to be".
"I think that resonated and connected," he says, "but at the same time, a lot of people didn't even know what it was about, they were just like, 'What the hell is this?'.
"You know, this drop into singing: 'What you know about rolling down in the deep', and then as you dive deeper into it you're like, 'Oh my God, it's actually about this', and you just keep listening."
Michael describes his success as "surreal" because he spent so long working at it – he started writing music aged 13.
"I had some great experiences with Auto-Tune, as everyone did," he laughs, "and I started religious rapping, actually – I went to church and one of my friends, who had a studio, his dad owned the church.
"We randomly started making music together and I started off religious rapping. At that time I was also listening to Drake, Kanye, G-Unit, all that type of stuff."
Although he believes it's "pointless to write about things that don't connect with you", Michael occasionally releases something like the feel-good 'Galaxy Garden'.
"For me, generally there has to be a storyline in the song. There has to be a topic," he says. "I'll rarely if ever just rap to rap. To me, if you're not rapping about something you care about, then where's the passion?"
Harry's passion has led him to make friends with the likes of Steve Aoki, who is in Australia now for Ultra Music Festival.
"I'm doing some special performances at Ultra Music Festival, Aoki's going to be there," he says. "Crooked Colours are going to be there as well. Great Australian band. And same as Afrojack."
Festival audiences might get a taste of some of the new music Michael has been working on, which includes a collaboration with a big international rock band. "You'll definitely hear snippets of it," he says.
"I can't say the confirmed release date, but it is very soon and it's with a big rock band – a very big rock band. I'm still working with people in LA and some young up and coming Australian artists as well.
"But yeah, I'm keen to get into the festivals where it's going to be a big crowd and not be social distancing."
Groovin The Moo 2022 Tour Dates
Sat 23 Apr - Maitland Showground (Hunter Valley)Sun 24 Apr - Exhibition Park In Canberra
Sat 30 Apr - Prince Of Wales Showgrounds (Bendigo)
Groovin The Moo 2022 Line-up
Alice IvyBroods
Chaii
grentperez
Hilltop Hoods
Hockey Dad
Hope D
Jesswar
JK-47
Lime Cordiale
Mashd N Kutcher
Masked Wolf
Middle Kids
Montaigne
Peking Duk
Polaris
RedHook
Riton
Shouse
Snakehips
Spiderbait
Sycco
Thomas Headon
Wolf Alice
With hosts Dijok & Jawbreakers
Plus triple j Unearthed, Fresh Produce artists, Welcome To Country and community programmes
