"Hamburgers, quizzes and craft beers" - it sounds like a recipe for killing time in quarantine, and to make the recipe more successful, listening to songs by Miki Solus could be added. The increasingly popular Croatian singer-songwriter under that title released a new album and in these gloomy times brought a refreshing dose of humor and fun that some critics compared to the works of Rambo Amadeus. The musician from Zagreb says that the coronavirus pandemic did not affect his creativity, except that he had to record at home, but there was no shortage of inspiration, and the audience now has an album of 11 songs, which Miki talked about for "Vijesti", as well as his participation in the recently released film "Zagreb Equinox", his generation and other topics.
How would you say this album differs from the previous one?
I had enough inspiration because if we look at the whole world, somehow things are much more negative and therefore more interesting in the last year, two, than say five years ago. So this album, unlike the last one, is somewhat socially engaged, the atmosphere of this period can be read in it. Also, I think this album has a lot more head and tail style than the last one which was more like a collection of singles. This one is a more compact unit.
So there is a motive, an idea that connects all the songs, what would it be?
In the last song, I list a lot of things, let's say the album is called "Hamburgers, quizzes and craft beers", they suddenly became popular, everything is much more expensive, and we eat and drink it more and more... To me, it's all a kind of consumerism which has been getting stronger in recent years and I don't like it at all.
You are known for the humor in your songs, how hard is it to find humor in this situation that has befallen the world and do we need now more than ever to deal with this mentally?
I think it is always needed, and especially in this situation, when people are surrounded every day by bad news, by counting the infected and the dead. Yes, I have a lot of humor in my songs, but it's not targeted humor. I have never been guided by the fact that I have to write something funny, some joke, but I simply give it my own view of life and the world and it turns out that way, it is my handwriting, a feature of my style, that the described experiences are somewhat funny, humorous. .. It's just the way it is, that's the way I am.
Your nonchalance is quite attractive to the audience, as some critics have described it. Do you think it's no longer fun to be serious and immerse yourself in the role of a rock star?
Yes, it's definitely not cool... Actually, when I think about it - it is, because if it wasn't, then I'd be more popular than those who are serious about it. But it's not like I have a lot of audience now, because I also betrayed fans in the meantime, so I think people still prefer that kind of theatrical approach - I'm a rock star, now I'm going to tell you some truths about life.
However, it could be said that there is a certain cynicism and irony towards this in your generation, and that is why the audience likes performers like you and Vojko V, who twist those classic forms and stories, play jokingly with them?
Well, yes, that was perhaps the only logical direction for the lyrics of the newer generation of artists, after that "surge" of the new wave that left the strongest impression in these areas, and that legacy - those are some serious messages, nothing ironic, everything is somehow too serious , grandiose. And then when you have so much music, it kind of becomes funny. Let's say I have the song "Mrtav je Johnny" which is somewhat ironic. It was created because of the impression left on me by the fact that in Zagreb, in the Student Dormitory, only Azra, Azra, Azra and Johnny play every day. It's a great band, but when it's pushed and pushed so much, it all becomes a caricature. That's why I think now is an ironic time. Although, the timing is always somewhat ironic. For example, the other day I was listening to Arsen Dedić's CDs and on one album from the 70s there is the song "Vrijeme ironije" and he sings about what it was like in those years, and it is probably connected with the punk that appeared at that time, everything became a bit sad, there was a time of irony, no more singing about real emotions and such. These are things that, I understand, change every 10-15 years. Sometimes times are more, sometimes less ironic, more emotional and honest in a way. But now yes, now is such a time of cynicism in general.
Why is there such cynicism?
From a Croatian perspective, that means I was born in 90 when the country fell apart and you grow up in that environment where you are constantly waiting for a better time, you are constantly promised that it will arrive soon, it is around the corner, and you should to go to high school, to finish college and everything will get better, everyone will have jobs, everything will be great... And then the years actually come when everything should be great and you realize that it was all a fraud. When you grow up and mature, you realize that everyone cheats and everyone steals, the prime minister ends up in prison, all those values that are being propagated are not true, they are not honest, nothing good has happened. And maybe some way of fighting against that is some ironic departure, making fun of it all, when you don't have any excessive power to do something and change on the social level, but you actually see the caricature that was created from all that. With that comes that ironic spirit. It comes to him as a defense mechanism.
Your generation is also in the focus of the film "Zagreb Equinox", you participated in the work on it, in what way?
That cooperation came about very spontaneously. I met the director Svebor Mihaela Jelić a long time ago at a concert when he suggested cooperation, since he plays the violin. Of course, I called him within a month or two, we recorded the song "Life is a Pancake", then over time we became friends, he played for me at a couple of concerts and then in a few years he came up with the idea of making a film and asked me to write a song which would close the film in a way. And to play myself in a couple of frames. And that's it, I wrote the song in a week, I spent one day on the set, the film was released and it was well received by both the audience and the critics, which makes me really happy.
I do not agree to the dictatorship of YouTube
In an era when videos are the most important for the promotion of releases, do you have any more screen adaptations planned, even though this situation makes planning difficult?
There will be a music video for the song "Fontane" since it entered the Zagreb Festival, as well as the song that opens the album, "Dečko s periferieje", which should be released in the spring. But I have to admit that I don't enjoy shooting music videos at all. That whole concept with videos, that you have to have as many as possible, is totally stupid to me, it was imposed by YouTube. What really makes me happy is this recent popularization of streaming services, because you can finally listen to someone's album without having anything visual in front of you. So I think that in the future I will make fewer videos, because I think that with the popularization of these digital services, the demand for videos will decrease a little, and the popularity of YouTube and that way of consuming music in general will decrease.
Bonus video:
