Michael Makai is an artist who prides himself on staying relevant. Yet Makai’s definition of “relevance” is different from the things often associated with the term - the capitalizing on some flavor-of-the-month trend or watering down material and falling into lockstep with whatever is presently considered “radio friendly.” Makai’s definition of “staying relevant” is the emotional kind. This emotional relevance is the way audiences are able to
relate to his music and strike an instant connection. He is the rare artist whose constant
self-reflection doesn’t feel self-serving. Makai’s music is about inclusion; it is about sharing a process rather offering empty platitudes. It is about saying I’ve been there too; I ‘m going through this now. An artist with an unwavering substance and dynamism when it comes to storytelling; an artist who prides himself on closing the gap between stage and crowd, Makai’s introduction to music couldn’t have come from two places more organic than
family and neighborhood.

Being raised by a single mother holding down multiple jobs at the same time, Michael was often left in the care of an older brother and sister who were already out making their livings performing music. Initially a decision driven purely by necessity, they took Michael along to gigs, keeping an eye on him even from onstage. It was here Michael was exposed not just to the impact a life in music had on his siblings but how they shared their passion for it, creating a common bond with what just an hour earlier was a crowd of complete strangers.

Often times the work that defines an artist arises when he finally begins creating for himself and stops trying to deliver what he thinks others want to hear. After a Dreamworks deal that that fizzled thanks to that perfect storm of corporate restructuring, shifting views on “Pop,” and just plain bad timing, Makai lost his desire to continue with music
altogether. Yet this stagnant disheartening period in Makai’s life turned out to be short-lived thanks to a sit-down with lifelong friend and Grammy award-winning producer Jimmy Greco. After talking, Greco helped Makai decide that it was best to approach things 180 degrees from the strategy of the dying major labels. Makai and Greco decided to do a record that was purely about making sense of things, articulating struggles and dreams. It would be called Awaken and it wouldn’t be about “hit songs” or caving into the mainstream conventions already on their way to becoming cliché’s. Awaken would be nothing but words and music coming from the heart; a record that did its title justice by not just dwelling on the past but looking toward the future. Greco asked Makai to start his project by not taking a kid gloves approach and tiptoeing around painful memories.

Listening to Awaken it is clear the the album began from a place that is raw and full of loose ends. This latest collection of songs builds on Makai’s signature approach of embracing vulnerability and making music that is purging, therapeutic and most importantly resonates with others. Where songs like “You I Will Never Be” is Makai coming to grips with growing up without a father, a nonexistent relationship, other tracks like the single “Hold On My Heart” explores existing - and evolving - relationships. It is a unique love song from a man’s perspective, it is gut level expression, the ebb and flow of a couple’s time together mirrored in the instrumentation; soft to loud to soft again. With a record done on his own terms it only made sense to Michael to release it through Greco’s independent label Airgo Music, a venture that has embraced the digital age and takes a unique grassroots approach to bringing the music of talented artists like
Makai to the masses.

What comes next will be Makai taking Awaken’s songs to audiences and fans across a variety of genres. His live show is an extension of everything heard in his recorded work. Makai remembers what it was like to see performers and storytellers with nothing to hide and who were comfortable freeing their emotions onstage. A Michael Makai show is a night out, a performer making sense of his own life in an open forum with the crowd finding a way to relate the message to their own experiences.
That is relevance. That is a future full of possibilities.