One of my favourite up-and-comers of 2017, Brampton artist Ziyaad Luceō recently released his latest single titled “Lost In Translation (What Happened to Us?)”.
The track was produced by THEMPeople, and serves as Ziyaad’s own personal commentary on what it means to get “Lost In Translation.” This track takes us through what happens when you part ways from someone, miss them, want to tell them you miss them, but struggle to find the right way to articulate your feels.
Ziyaad penned this track a few years ago about his high school crush. He realized that he would eventually have to part ways with this girl, and she realized it, too. So the two of them gradually drifted apart from one another in order to avoid getting hurt.
But the track is more than just a storytelling of lost love. It’s also an exploration of nostalgia, putting words to emotions, and drifting away from friendships and relationships. Listen to “Lost In Translation (What Happened to Us?),” and scope our Q&A with Ziyaad below.
Q&A: Ziyaad Luceō
HipHopCanada: Start off by telling me what this song means to you on a personal level.
Ziyaad Luceō: “Lost in Translation” was written two or three years ago but only recorded this year. When I wrote this song, it spoke to me on different levels. The song can be interpreted in so many ways. That’s why it’s so special to me. The record’s theme is obviously about loving someone. But it doesn’t necessarily mean romantically. I feel that it can be about the end of a friendship, the honesty of lovers, or someone looking back on their life and reminiscing about old times. “Lost in Translation” is the communication of the raw emotion of missing someone you care about and not being able to share your feelings fluently.
HipHopCanada: Tell me about the female and the situation you’re singing about on here.
Ziyaad Luceō: It was a time where I was still figuring out who I was as a person and as an artist. It was hard for me (like a lot of people around this age) to really share [my] true feelings to others, even when I wanted to. The girl I’m talking about in this song in particular was my high school crush and we were very close friends. I never expected for us to end up together because she was an extremely studious person and valued her education over anything. In our senior year, she was accepted early to Waterloo and I was going to be staying in my hometown for post-secondary. It was evident that eventually that we were going to drift apart and we kinda isolated ourselves from each other to avoid hurting our feelings. We drifted so far from each other that our friendship was just a memory and left me asking “What happened to us? We used to be so perfect”.
HipHopCanada: Talk to me about this idea of being “Lost In Translation” and how that plays into relationships falling about.
Ziyaad Luceō: That’s interesting that you’d bring that up, because I last-second changed the title from “What Happened to Us?” to “Lost in Translation (What Happened to Us?)”. I felt that the atmospheric, mysterious vocals really translated the subject matter. When you’re trying to share your feelings for someone you care a great deal for, sometimes the way you expected things to transpire isn’t the way things will actually happen. Communication is a funny thing. We all know how to hold a conversation but can we really share what’s in our heart and mind fluently directly to the person who these feelings are for? Our raw feelings are always lost in translation.
HipHopCanada: I think we’ve talked about this before… but despite the sad nature of a lot of your music, there’s usually this hopeful undertone underneath the music. And I feel that on this track, too. Thoughts?
Ziyaad Luceō: Yeah! most definitely! Even through a relationship ending and two people drift apart, life still goes on and happiness is still out there to be found. Just knowing that she’s happy is the only closure I need. In a thankful nature I appreciate the times we had and it made me the person I am today.
HipHopCanada: How did the collaboration with THEMPeople come about for this?
Ziyaad Luceō: I’ve been a fan of their work since they collabed with Chance the Rapper. I talked to one of the artists apart of the group (Sean Deaux) briefly a few years back about music and collaboration. I had the beat for years but didn’t make a final master to the song for it. It sucks that they’re Chicago natives because I’d love to get into the studio with them all to work on a song from scratch.
Interview conducted by Sarah Jay for HipHopCanada
