A Year That Settled In

This year, it somehow became about being more honest with who I already am. I put out a new album. I worked closely with a few new artists. Some of the music I released began in Oslo, during last year's trip to Scandinavia. Those tracks carry a feeling that's hard to explain. Finishing them was necessary. I wanted to mark that moment as an official part of the project. The last release of the year - Skytek - was probably the most fun to make. It includes a vocal recording from my fiancée. She's not a musician or singer in any traditional sense. The goal was simply to create something together. A memory. Her voice is transformed, pitched high, tuned and abstracted. You can't really recognise her - and that's what makes it cool. There's also a bit of my childhood in that track. When I was around 11 or 12, I used to listen to Scooter a lot. I had a custom CD my cousin made me. Those tracks had these intense, high-energy top melodies, often paired with very high-pitched female vocals. As a kid, I genuinely thought those voices were computer-generated. I didn't understand music at all. All I knew was how it made me feel. Somehow, that naive sense of wonder found its way back into this song. Looking back, I did release a few standalone singles. And I can already tell... I'm being pulled back towards EPs again. I like them more as a format. They're smaller than albums, but far more cohesive than just singles. You can build a little world inside them - a contained space for an idea. I don't know exactly when the next one will happen, but I'm already working on it. Very recently, I also implemented a small daily routine. Nothing strict. Nothing that feels like a chore. Just a simple system. I spent some time thinking it through - even doing a bit of research - because it bothered me how easily I would fragment my attention, jumping between tasks, ideas and thoughts. The rule is simple: I always write my thoughts or tasks down, either in a notebook or a digital note. When I'm creating music, editing videos or working on visual ideas, I turn off Wi-Fi. When I'm studying, researching, developing the web app, using AI or learning Norwegian - which I've been taking more seriously since that Scandinavia trip - I turn it back on. So far, the biggest change I've noticed is how I feel at the end of the day. I either worked, or I consciously chose to rest - play something on my Switch, watch a good film or just do nothing. No more in-between, lost moments. I called this little experiment "Creative Monk Mode". I even wrote it down on a piece of paper, listing different creative states like production, study, research and web app development. Having something physical in front of me every day helps. It contrasts nicely with my otherwise very digital-prone life. Switching gears for a moment... When I released the album, I briefly made a comeback to social media. I posted a few times, then stepped away again. What I noticed that really changed wasn't my behaviour - it was how much power I give to it. I feel completely fine not using social media for long stretches of time. I honestly don't feel the need to perform being an artist in order to exist as one. That pressure - the need to prove myself - is simply gone. Truly. I create because I want to. And because I always have. If this project never becomes mainstream, that's fine. It was never meant to be (if such a thing even exists). It's meant to be meaningful. A record of my journey. A snapshot of time passing. So... 2025. I think this was the year something shifted permanently, yet quietly. I stopped chasing the world's idea of who I should be and settled more deeply into my own life. I care more about time, health, love, silence and freedom than I do about public stages. I still want to sustain myself through my work. I believe in sustainability - just not at the cost of compromising the project, or myself. Time keeps moving, whether I succeed or not. And that was '25 in a nutshell. P.S. Oh - and I'm getting married in about 12 days. Next year hasn't even started yet and it's already sounding like a blast. Thank you for reading "Inside The Mind Of An Artist". Until next time, Vítor