My Friend Shawn Unveils New Album WUNDER
Photos and interview by Nik Bauman
New York–based artist My Friend Shawn steps into a new chapter with his upcoming album, WUNDER. We got to see him perform live at Arlene’s Grocery in lower Manhattan alongside local artists Sandrinne, Fallyn, and The Alaskas. It was his first show in the city in over a year, and he gave the audience a 45-minute set with a five-piece band, playing fan favorites as well as some new music. We spoke with Shawn before his set and talked a bit about his background, his creative process, and his new project.
What’s your background as a musician?
The background starts where my family is from; half African American, half Dominican. A lot of my influences are built around those foundations. On the black side of the family, with my aunt, I grew up with Kanye West, Common, and Coldplay, surprisingly. Then, on the other side, with my mom, more of the hispanic side and white grunge loving side. I got into Nirvana, Radiohead, and every big 90’s band at that time. All of those fuse together, kinda like what I make right now.
What’s your creative process like?
I started off doing YouTube beats. I find YouTube beats online and just spit on them, but there’s too many legal issues that occur with the licensing and publishing of all that. I realized I have to do it myself, record it myself, mix it myself. About a year or two years ago, after Training Arc. everything from that point on was produced by myself.
What has changed over time?
I realized I could do more than rap and more than hip hop. I enjoyed trying indie and alternative.
Do you write your own stuff?
Yeah. In terms of lyrics I always write every song, always write every bar, every verse. It has to come from me. In terms of production, like with my project WUNDER, I’ve done 10-11 of the songs by myself and the other three are produced by my best friend Pierre.
How did you learn to produce?
I learned songwriting and recording and stuff on my own; I was like 20 or so. When I turned 21, I came out here for Clive Davis. That institute helped me get a bunch of other people around me that were making shit on their laptops.
When did you start writing WUNDER? Were there songs you had ready or did you start fresh?
I took a leave of absence around 2024. When I had left to go back to Miami, around April or May, I had sat down with an acoustic guitar I’d grown up with for years and started making songs from scratch. It’s the first project I started fresh on every single song. Kinda went through a frenzy for like three weeks, and after a month, I had like 8 songs.
What’s the inspiration behind the title?
There’s a show called Dark on Netflix; it’s a German show about time travel. Every time they said the word wonder, I was like, ‘I kinda fuck with that, it sounds hard.’ It’s technically called “wunder” (vunder), but we’re not gonna say that; I just put the ‘U’ as something cool.
What about the meaning of the project itself?
In a more generalized sense… I feel like the world at this moment is extremely turmoiled. I could sit down and make an abstract album or something like that, but I realized I could make songs that are more positive for people. Songs that still touch on a few things here and there that are not too into the weeds, but passive listening that’ll challenge you in a way. WUNDER is challenging the listener to open their eyes up a little bit to the world around you. Sonder is a word I love, having the realization that everyone has their own unique perspectives. It challenges people on that too.
When will the album be released?
The plan is June or May. We shot absolutely beautiful, ridiculous 4k ultra HD music videos and everything that my boy Sam is still editing.
Is there anything else you want to shout out?
Shout out Pierre, my producer, best friend. Shout out Sky, shout out Rashad. Shout out my mama, my auntie, the family, everyone from Miami.
