Bouncing from cloud rap to electronic and metal, nineteen year old Toshiro (known as TO$HIRO) spans genres and countries. A Malaysian-Irish musician currently residing in Sweden, he’s a rising star in the underground scene. Known for his energetic cloud rap, he hopes to branch out with his metal project Hantu.

FTGT caught up with Toshiro to discuss his creative method, his vision for the future of both TO$HIRO and Hantu, as well as connecting with people through music.

For the Good Times Magazine, we are here with . . .

Toshiro: TO$HIRO.

What can you say about your creative process and production, what does making a song look like for you?

Toshiro: Hopping on to FL studio. Usually, I would cook up a beat beforehand and record vocals onto it. Making a song depends, it usually takes two, three hours. That also depends if I’ve written lyrics beforehand but sometimes, I just do this shit where I just think of lyrics on the spot so it depends.

Are you mostly music first, then lyrics? Or lyrics coming first?

Toshiro: I would say having the beat first, so I know what type of lyrics and what type of flow to put onto it. Having the beat first is what I usually do, but when I have lyrics written down on my notes app then sometimes I can use random lyrics here or there that I think are really good, and that could work with my beat.

I want to talk about your development. Between albums, for me listening to them - start to finish, it feels like the third one is your most emotional. Is that true? Do you feel like you’re putting more of yourself into your recent work?

Toshiro: You're talking about the most recent album? Yeah. I would say it’s more personal and its obviously like, I’m still having fun making the music, but it’s more, I guess, serious.

For your single ‘dead to me’ - We noticed that the cover was Emperor Maximilian gauntlets. A pretty famous shot that fits your aesthetic. Would you say you take inspiration from history and art?

Toshiro: It’s really not that deep, honestly. I saw an Instagram post with that photo. I’m big into history. I like history and shit, but I’m not too clued into all the things. Honestly, I did know that they were real gauntlets, but what it looked like to me was you know in Lord of the Rings, Sauron’s gauntlets? It looked kind of similar to that, so I was like, ‘this looks kind of dope!’ Especially for an album cover. I just edited the colours and stuff and made it more vibrant.

Do you feel like films are an inspiration on your music?

Toshiro: Some films, I guess. Some films, some video games I referenced in my music, like my most recent album had a bunch of Skyrim references because that’s one of my favourite games.

I would like to touch on the Crows EP, it’s a much different sound to the other stuff with your TO$HIRO project. It’s more reminiscent to me to, kind of, Crystal Castles, and that more experimental electronic stuff. What can you say about that?

Toshiro: At the time, I was listening to Snow Strippers when they were at like 50K listeners and now they’re at 2 million something. I think they released their most popular song when I was listening to them. I really liked the sound, and I was listening to Crystal Castles before that, and I had never created electronic music before, so it was very experimental, that EP.

What have you been listening to recently?

Toshiro: Bladee has been my top artist forever, fakemink is dope. In terms of metal, I’ve been listening to Lifesaver, Psychonaut 4. I’ve also been listening to Oklou, she just made an album. I saw her live in Copenhagen in November.

What about your recent meeting with Elusin?

Toshiro: Yeah, I met her in one of her shows in Copenhagen. Actually, it was a free show, it was at an art exhibition. I don’t know why it was free but I was really fucking stoked because I would’ve payed to go see Elusin, that’s another one of my inspirations.

Slightly off-topic; Sweden obviously has a massive issue with anti-immigration and racism. Do you ever see this as an obstacle? Does it affect you much?

Toshiro: I’ve gotten stopped by the police so many times. They’re always trying to ID me. I’m not even joking, that stuff always happens in Sweden.

Do you think that impacts you in any way? Do you think that kind of experience, especially in the rise of the far-right in music culture and the effect that that has on the music scene such as the underground. Do you see any correlation between the rise of far-right politics in Europe and the usually-accepting underground music scene?

Toshiro: I would say it doesn’t really have any correlation to the underground music  scene. Like the underground music scene here in Sweden is like, very related to Bladee and all that shit. I would say it’s more related to the gangster rap here in Sweden. A lot of the gangster rap here - and I don’t actually know what they’re saying because they’re speaking in Swedish - but they’re talking about the Swedish government, and shit like that. Like how it’s becoming more far-right, but I wouldn’t know. I think it’s probably more correlated to that scene.

Do you have influences from that scene at all, would you be listening to Swedish gangster rap?

Toshiro: Swedish gangster rap? No not really. I don’t actually fuck with the sound of Swedish gangster rap or what’s popular. There were a couple of artists like Einár and Yasin who were very popular here in Sweden, but it’s not something I really fuck with. Yeah, I just don’t fuck with the sound.

Let’s go back a little. You were saying about being stopped and searched. Do you think that kind of alienates you a little bit from Sweden? Do you still feel like you’re part of the Swedish scene, rather than a worldwide one? Do you think that has any influence on how you see yourself?

Toshiro: I would say it doesn’t really affect me being in the Swedish scene, but it affects my experiences being in Sweden. In terms of being in the scene, I haven’t felt any different really. I was recently featured in one of those Swedish underground iceberg tier lists. I would say I’m just being noticed or picked up by the Swedish underground because before that I was international, some parts in America, some parts in the UK, kind of all over the place. Now I’m kind of being picked up where I live, so it’s kind of nice to have that, and I’m able to collaborate with a lot of artists. But no, I wouldn’t say it affects me being in the Swedish scene.

So those personal experiences don’t really seem to translate to your music?

Toshiro: I would say the personal experiences don’t really affect me being in the scene that much. I would say me not knowing the Swedish language well enough kind of affects it more, because I’m trying to learn Swedish right now. I’m kind of like that, connected to other Swedish artists, because first of all, I’m not Swedish, I just live, and second of all, I don’t know the language, so I’m kind of more distant.

 Does that make you feel more alienated at all?

Toshiro: Yeah, it does make me feel alienated. I mean, I’m still part of the Swedish scene because I live here and I’m making music here, and I’m making music with Swedish artists, but I don’t feel completely . . . but I don’t feel integrated into that scene where someone could see me as a Swedish artist. Right now I would kind of more identify myself with being an Irish artist, and Malaysian artist that lives in Sweden. It’s kind of hard to find where I sit.

Do you feel like it’s important to be grounded in real experience and real interaction, and since so much of music is online now do you feel like it’s important to have a real life space for music?

Toshiro: I definitely think so, because most of my collaborations were online, so I was collaborating with people from all around the world, a lot of people from America and stuff like that, but I feel like you’re most likely gonna be successful if you collaborate with people person-to-person if you’re actually with them, and I’m trying to use that as an advantage. I’m trying to collaborate much more with Swedish artists, but doing it face-to-face is definitely much better than doing it online.

So how are you connecting with people near you? Is connecting with your music just that you go out for the night and go to certain venues enough that people start to recognise you, or is it online interactions moving into a physical space?

Toshiro: I would say - this is kind of embarrassing to say; but most of my friends that I made here in Sweden I met through TikTok, after I had been to shows and stuff. Shout out swagboygabe, he’s actually super popular on TikTok, and we are really good friends. He’s been to my place, trying to make music as well. I think by having connections like those I’ve found more people, I think networking is actually, like, really good, if you know someone or they know someone, or they share your posts - it reaches a lot more people. 

I want to talk about your new metal project, hantu. I gave it a listen and I really enjoyed it. One thing that really stuck out to me was the vocals, is that you?

Toshiro: Yeah, that is me in the vocals. I had never done metal vocals before, but I’ve been listening to a lot of Lifelover and Psychonaut 4 and stuff like that, and I’ve been trying to just get my voice to sound similar. It’s very hard to do metal vocals, a lot of people underestimate that, but I’ve been trying to train my voice. I think definitely the trap metal that I was doing years ago, that definitely helped. Maybe you wouldn’t think so, but it actually did help me, because I was training my voice to learn how to scream without affecting or ruining my vocal cords.

Yeah, I thought the way you recorded that was quite impressive. It almost doesn’t even sound like you, it was a really raw sound. More on the project, this is almost a total detour from the TO$HIRO stuff, is that on purpose? Do you want to keep it separate, and in terms of keeping them separate, do you think the fans of your original project are going to be enjoying this new one?

Toshiro: I think the demographic for my TO$HIRO stuff, if they are really tapped into what I do, what I like, my inspirations and what I incorporate into my TO$HIRO stuff, they will definitely also like the black metal that I make and the vocals that I do for that project. But I also at the same time want people to know that the TO$HIRO stuff is the TO$HIRO stuff, and the hantu stuff is the hantu stuff, and that they’re completely different worlds, and to not treat it as the same thing.

I go back to Yung Lean again, he has his Yung Lean stuff, but that’s different to his Jonatan Leandoer stuff. The Jonatan Leandoer stuff is more of a ballad, whereas the Yung Lean stuff is the serious, more trap stuff, and he also has Död Mark, which is more of a band with Gud I think.

Do you think that’s something more artists should look into, keeping separate genres and separate sounds in different projects? I mean, a lot of times fans will be annoyed if someone’s taking a big detour with an album, or just changing up their sound and saying, ‘Oh, this isn’t what I wanted to hear.’ Do you think that’s a tool more people should be using?

Toshiro: I definitely know what that is like as a listener, to be a fan of someone and hear a specific sound and be attached to it, but then that artist makes something new or experiments and then you’re kind of disappointed. But I also understand from an artist’s perspective that experimentation is a really big thing, and as an artist you don’t wanna keep doing the same thing, you wanna branch out into different things, try different things and obviously keep it in the same style, but just experiment with different genres and even merge genres together to create something new. It’s a hard thing as an artist to please the fans and also please yourself, because you as an artist want to experiment and try new things and not just do the same shit.

Speaking about your fans, have you had any fan interactions that really stuck with you?

Toshiro: I’d say more of the online interactions probably stuck with me. I’ve had less of the physical, people coming up to me. I’ve only had people coming up to me when I’m with my friends because they also have notoriety through TikTok and stuff, and they know me through them, but I’ve had a couple of people who have dmed me out of the blue that I don’t know at all, just random people that are from America or Spain or something. There’s hella people all around the world just taking time out to actually tell me that they like my music, and I actually really appreciate that, to know that my music is liked by other people and somewhat inspires them - that’s actually really nice to know, you know?

Yeah, it’s really not all a game of stats. You’ve been growing your fan base steadily, but within that, I think you’ve got a bit of a cult following going. 

Toshiro: Yeah.

What can you tell me about what you're wearing right now?

Toshiro: My closet is very generic - no, I wouldn’t like to say generic . . . like, I take pride in what I wear, but it’s nothing too fancy, I guess. I usually wear my Rock Revivals, my True Religion jeans and stuff like that. I’m less of a person who buys actual branded clothing, I’d like to get more into that, but if you’re talking about the t-shirts, a lot of the stuff I wear is band tees and stuff. I’m always repping metal merch. I have Haunted Mound merch, I’ve got this Yung Lean Warlord hoodie. I like to wear a lot of the stuff that I listen to. If an artist I listen to has merch, I like wearing that, because it kind of reflects me in a way; because thats what I’m inspired by. 

Yeah, I mean, the readers can’t see this, but you’ve got a Drain Gang hat on with a Psychonaut shirt as well. Everything you’re wearing is reflective of what you enjoy artistically.

Toshiro: Yeah, in my room I have a Sematary poster and a Haunted Mound tour poster. Me as a person, I like to surround myself with my influences - that really helps me realise the artists that have helped me, and helped craft my vision. At the end of the day, everyone’s favourite artist was inspired by someone else, and I’m one of those types of people . . . I hold my inspirations very close to me. I like to keep my influences very close.

What advice have you gained for those starting out?

Toshiro: What advice have I gained? Shit, I haven’t actually been given much advice except for the generic advice: keep going, keep persevering. I had advice the other day - it wasn’t advice to me, but advice I saw on someones story - where someone was talking about, there was an artist called zukovstheworld he’s a uk underground [rapper] . . . on his story he was basically telling artists to never give up, you’re always gonna judge yourself as an artist, but to keep persevering, keep releasing music. I would say a Yung Lean quote that’s really good is, ‘Every artist makes music for themselves, unless you’re Drake.’ That’s a really good one, because I would say Drake is one of those examples where he makes music for money. I’ve heard he has ghost writers and stuff, take it as you will.

What can you say about Adamn Killa and about that collab falling through? 

Toshiro: Okay yea, Adamn Killa, I’m actually a really big fan of him, and his collabs with Bladee as well, that’s some of my favourite songs, like ‘Psycho’, that’s one of my favourite Bladee songs. Yeah, he was offering, and I’m gonna say this right now, I payed for this feature, he was offering low [price] features. This was quite early on, I  think I payed sixty dollars or something, and it ended up falling through. He gave back the feature but it sounded like he was whispering on the mic, so it definitely could’ve been better. I didn’t release it officially, but I released it on my Soundcloud. It is released, in a way, but I never really was proud enough of it to put it out officially . . . but no hate to Adamn killa, shout out to Adamn Killa, I just didn’t think the feature was that good, it sounded like it was recorded at three am.

One more question - any final words you want to leave us with?

Toshiro: Am I allowed to requote?

Yeah. Say whatever you want.

Toshiro: Favourite quote? ‘If  you give up, that’s when you fucked up.’