Adam Tensta - Like a Punk

The Hebe Media team are big fans of Adam Tensta. Since we first heard some of the tracks from his awesome debut album: It's a Tensta Thing, we have been following his movements closely. For a while now he has been working on new material and is about to hit the world with his follow up album: Scared of the Dark. We checked in with Adam for a quick word about the new video for Like a Punk and an update on his current plans.

The first track from Adam's new album to begin making waves online was OK Wow, which we felt marked a pretty big change and gave a different vibe to Adam's previous stuff. Like a Punk takes that a step further, giving perhaps a more edgy and dirty sound to tracks like Back Before You Know It and My Cool, which were two of the stand out tracks from It's a Tensta Thing. Adam explains the story behind the new album:

"The new album was created during a very long period of time. It took close to three years to complete and is a snapshot of my life, as it is right now. Being on tour for three years on three continents provided me with so many new impressions and experiences, that it's hard to view things like I did, as briefly as just a couple of years ago. For me, Tensta is not the same as before, all though I still live out here. This newly found "perspective" has also forced me to delve into thoughts that I buried a long time ago. Thoughts about my relation to my family, resulting in me opening a Pandora's box for many of my vices. 

I would like to see this album as the first step in a process, a process to become a more open and tolerant person."

One of our friends who we featured on the blog a few weeks back, Albin Holmqvist, had worked on an awesome Tensta music video a while ago for the track Dopeboy, which you can check out here. The director of both videos is a guy called Marcus Lundin, another big Swedish talent. Adam told us what it was like to be back working with Marcus again on the Like A Punk video and the thinking behind the video itself:

"It's always nice to team up with people that can make ideas come to life, as in this case. Marcus has the vision and know to make visuals enhance the impression of a song. For this video we wanted something scaled down, with an almost documentary feel to it. We wanted to capture the everyday life of these young and frustrated kids. Their situation reminds me of how it was growing up and having nothing to do, and the almost dumb loyalty I once felt for my friends. Right or wrong, standing by their side no matter what we got into. Even if hesitant (as the monkey in this video), we rolled through thick and thin."

We think if the first two tracks are anything to go by then Scared of Dark will be a really interesting album. It is really cool to see an artist evolve and develop his sound with more then just the dollar signs in mind. From the way he performs, acts and talks, you can see how humble yet confident this guy is. As one of my Swedish friends said recently "It is almost annoying how down to earth he is with that amount of talent" we think that is one of the best compliments we have heard!

I spent a day down in London a bit ago with Babak and Thomas from Adam's management company, Respect My Hustle and we immediately hit it off. They are a group of creatives who are intersted in making cool projects and trying new things above any kind of short-term commercial gain. There are other really talented people in the stable such as Eboi, a man with an unbelievable flow and a man who I think is destined for something special: Dida.

We are currently developing a project with Respect My Hustle and are looking forward to making some annoucements in the coming weeks. We can see some really interesting opportunities and collaborations for them here in UK and can't wait to help that happen!