backing band performed on Stephen Colbert’s US late night talk show.
A distaste for convention is central to both Owusu-Ansah’s creative success and personal identity. Born in Ghana, his family migrated to Australia when he was two years old and settled in Tuggeranong in Canberra, where Owusu-Ansah’s aunt was already raising a family. “That was the first time I felt like an outsider, and it didn’t feel like there was anyone else like me,” he says. “In a negative aspect initially, but by living through that I learned how to flip it into a positive, and I’ve carried that mentality throughout my whole life.
“It’s not even intrinsically who I am, but that’s just what it was. I would purposely dress in ways that I knew would shock people. But because I was a fan of, like, Kanye and Pharrell at the time, I was seeing, like, ‘first they hate, then they emulate’,” he laughs. “So I had that mindset of trying to start something new, do something cool, start a new movement.”The contrarian streak also, initially, extended to music.
“You know when you’re growing up and everyone’s like, what do you want to be when you’re older? I was going to be an author,” he laughs. “I feel like in my school, in my group of friends, I was the only one who wrote, read and listened to poetry. No one else did!”
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.