Olai

"There are few things as exciting as standing on a stage and creating an atmosphere where the audience becomes captivated in the moment with you."

The growing interest for music

Magnus Olai Vikström started creating music at the age of 14 when he played in a band. The music-making began as a collective project in the band, where members wanted to evolve as musicians and thus started creating their own music. They were inspired by the music they were listening to at the time, which was primarily a lot of 70s rock, including Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles, and The Eagles, but also 80s metal like Metallica and Iron Maiden. The idea for the artist name 'Olai' and the music style emerged a few years later when the artist worked as a street musician in Australia. He stood on the streets of central Melbourne, playing and singing from morning to night. When others stopped to ask his name, they struggled to pronounce his first name, so he began calling himself by his middle name, Olai. In addition to performing various songs requested by the audience, he also started writing his own music. The songs were acoustic folk rock, and the lyrics often revolved around his own experiences and observations in everyday life. An early and significant musical memory was when one of Olai's friends showed him the song "Basket Case" by Green Day, a band the artist found incredibly cool. "It was exciting to hear the song while there was also a video for the music."

Olai’s Sound

The acoustic folk rock sound is something Olai has continued with to this day. Simultaneously, the artist is inspired by other genres such as blues, bluegrass, rock, metal, and even choral singing. In addition to singing, the artist plays both guitar and harmonica, both of which are recurring and distinctive instruments in his music. Olai primarily sings about love and dreams in his songs, but other themes such as the struggles of everyday life and politics also appear. The most enjoyable aspect of creating music for the artist is the act of creation itself, especially when creativity flows, and the work with an idea evolves into something more. Whether singing the audience's favorite songs and creating sing-alongs, or playing his own music and getting the audience to actually listen to the song, temporary joy is created. The artist finds this both fascinating and fun. The dream is to combine music with his other interest, which is language. Currently working as a language teacher, Olai envisions being able to work with both professions in the future. He also describes that there are few things as exciting as standing on a stage and creating an atmosphere where the audience becomes captivated in the moment with you."

Listen to the music