Following his highly-anticipated second EP, ‘Weatherman’, we caught up with Eddie to discuss dreams of owning a record label and collaborating with Alessia Cara.

Eddie Benjamin was never your typical teen. Choosing to hone his talents over house-partying, his career was pretty much written out from the get-go – the term prodigy springing to mind. He’s 21 now, only just legal to knock back a celebratory drink after ‘Weatherman’’s release, and has already been on a sold-out arena tour – before his debut album even dropped, might I add – written songs for Shawn Mendes, and been dubbed by pal Justin Bieber, “the next generation”. How many people can say that? 

 

Possessing a maturity far beyond his two decades, it’s clear that Eddie was destined for the limelight. From his earliest years, he was surrounded by abundant creativity, his mother, a dance choreographer and his father, a touring drummer. Aged 11, he first gravitated to the guitar, until a clip of Prince playing the bass live found itself in front of Eddie’s eager eyes. Immediately, he knew the rich textures and endless versatility of the bass was where his passion lay. 

 

He’d hardly had chance to hit pause on Prince’s dreamy performance before ending up on the stages of various jazz clubs around Sydney. Up next, following a brief stint in band Haze Trio, several songwriting camps, and a relocation to LA, Eddie landed an offer from Sony Music. And, by 16, he was co-writing alongside names like Meghan Trainor, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Ryan Tedder.

 

Four years on, it seems there’s still no sign of slowing down. He’s since been taken under the well-travelled wings of Justin Bieber and Sia, had and ended a public relationship with Maddie Ziegler, completed a world tour with Beebs, and has just released his sophomore project, ‘Weatherman’. With no ceasing in sight, we caught up with Eddie to discuss dreams of owning a record label, teenage journeys, and obsession.

 

 

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Let’s kick off with the latest EP. Congrats on ‘Weatherman’ – for a little bit of context, could you talk us through where you drew inspiration for that project, and maybe what was going on in your life at the time of writing it? 

I’m on a musical journey that will consist of multiple albums that will be the vehicle for what I want to achieve sonically, but I think my life was the inspiration. This album consists of core experiences, or as my generation calls them, ‘cannon events’ [laughs]. I can sit and talk about my musical influences all day, but I think I draw from so many, and it’s ever-changing. I made this group of songs when I was 19, so the struggles and the amazing aspects of the human experience were the inspiration for these songs.

The EP feels like a real mix of influences, with some R&B, jazz and even house qualities, alongside elements of pop. When you started pulling the project together, were you sure of what direction you wanted to take with the sound, or was it more of a natural process? 

We were pretty sure before we started. We had intention and a vision of what we wanted the project to sound like, and what we wanted to achieve in terms of the dynamic range and the sonic range of all the constituent pieces. I hate all this mania for categorisation, white corporate people like to define everything and have their neat little categories for art. I don’t know what my music is, I don’t make it to fit into some convenient little slot.

And you’ve recently brought out some of the music videos for the tracks, taking a surrealist approach to visuals. How much do you take ownership over the visual creative side and, more generally, how important is that side of creating to you? 

It’s important to me, and I’m still developing a relationship with visual language, but I think the surrealist way of representing the world is just quite accurate for the way I see things and the way my mind works. I think reality is so beautiful and what you can capture that way, but, at this time in my life, I am just obsessed with bending reality. And I will go through lots of phases but right now it’s extremely important. The “Weatherman” video, in particular, I was really specific about that direction, and I am honoured to have worked with really great directors to bring the vision to life. At the moment I am in a phase of surrealism. I’m obsessed with it not only in painting and visual forms but written and literature forms.

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Looking back to ‘Emotional’, how do you think the ‘Weatherman’ EP marks an evolution or change from that original project?

The EP was not me at my fullest artistic level, it was a kind of introduction. I’m not trying to show everything at once. These are teenage journeys; this is teenage music I have made. I was 17 years old when making ‘Emotional’ and I was 19 when I finished ‘Weatherman’. You can hear the end goal in ‘Weatherman’ for the first time, but it’s certainly not all the way there.

You worked with Alessia Cara in the track, “Only You”. How did that process play out, and what was it like to work with her?

I love Alessia, she’s such great energy and such a great vibe! She’s been supportive of me from the beginning, and she started following me on Instagram when I had only like 10k followers. One day I got stuck in Mexico with my manager after this Italy trip with YSL and we were wondering who would be an amazing feature. I thought Alessia would be one of the only people whose voice and tone could sit with mine in the space of a slow R&B piano song. So I literally rang her and she said, “Fuck yeah!” and that was kind of that. She sounds amazing on the song; it worked out great.

Continuing on collaboration, you’ve worked with some huge artists – including Earth, Wind & Fire among others – but, looking forward, which artists would you love to work with in the future? 

Yeat and Michael Jackson.

Your music has this undeniably retro feel, where do you think that came from? Which musical artists were you listening to growing up that you feel had some sort of impact on your sound?

Bach, Miles Davis, Hendrix, Prince, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stevie Wonder – all the immortals. I do try to expose my generation to a retro sound, but reimagined through my kind of sensibilities, I guess.

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I read that you grew up in quite a creative household. How do you think that contributed to you going into music? And were your family always supportive of your career choice?

Yeah, it was a very creative home to grow up in – lots of art going around and my parents were supportive of how serious I was about music. They knew I didn’t give a fuck what they would say, but they were always extremely supportive. I couldn’t have done it without them but still would have in the end regardless.

I’m sure your age gets brought up a lot, but it’s a huge feat to have had this success at your age. What would you say was your driving force, perhaps even what set you apart from other musicians of a similar age?

I listen so much. I’m very intuitive and I suppose my intensity is what maybe sets me apart from other young creatives. I’ve only met a couple of others like me, but I guess I’m truly an obsessive person and that’s just my nature. I think everyone develops in their own time, but I had this immense goal I was set on from when I was really little.

You’ve already done some huge live shows still quite early on in your career, performing even with the likes of Justin Bieber. How do you find performing live today compared to when you started?

It’s a different thing, a different game. Growing up in jazz clubs playing gigs, and having fun, I fell in love with music so hard. I couldn’t believe it. Those are still some of the best memories I have, when I was little, playing in those early days. But playing Wembley by myself, it’s different, it’s amazing. I had envisioned myself playing there for many years. It’s my favourite thing of all time! Adjusting to playing in an arena or a stadium was a lot, but I was so grateful to have beautiful friends there like Justin, Jayden and Teo to vibe with. It was straight after Covid and being in a house and making a record. Then being in arenas, it was not a learning curve because honestly, I had envisioned it for so long and it was beautiful. But it is different from growing up and playing in small jazz clubs, let’s just say that.

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Which tracks from ‘Weatherman’ are you most excited to play live? And why?

I have played nearly all the tracks live already! I played 60-70 shows last year, playing songs like “All for Nothing”, “Only You” and “Weatherman” when they were all unreleased. I have already done it, which was an awesome experience really.

What does the dream tour show look like to you? Any bucket list venues or dreams to share the stage with a particular artist?

I want to share the stage with H.E.R., I want to play Red Rocks, Wembley, play theatres. I want to do it all; I love it all. I want to play with a live orchestra and I want to put on intimate shows. I have played in some of my dream venues already, and that’s a blessing, but I really have a passion for live performing in lots of settings and musical contexts.

You’ve only been on the music scene for a few short years, but you’ve already worked with some major names. What’s been the best advice you’ve received about the industry?

The best advice has been just to focus on the art and shut the fuck up. No one knows, it’s terrifying. But it’s all predicated on ideas, so if you have good people around you and focus on the art, that’s all this is. You can get extremely caught up in some of the most powerful energies you can experience in this realm. I have travelled a bit and spent some time with some intense people and it’s like the most different space, and it can take you away from what brought you here in the first place, which is just making shit with all the integrity you can bring to it.

And last question. Looking forward, where do you want to be in five, ten years? What would be your ‘I’ve made it’ moment?

In ten years, it would be being able to sell out amazing venues for shows.  I want to work in multiple genres, I want a record label. There is too much to imagine, but I want to just produce the best work I can in the next five years, and just take it day by day.

Listen to 'Weatherman' now:

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