Kat Harlton
Edmonton-based R&B-Pop artist Josh Sahunta, recently released his new single “This Party Sucks” on January 14, 2022 via all streaming platforms.
“This Party Sucks” was produced by Edgar Vargas (Flo Rida, Trinidad James), and is laced with dreamy synths, adding a nostalgic twist to its modern punch of pop.
Drawing upon his influences of John Mayer, Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd, Josh’s songwriting is packed with deeply rich narratives and cool, contemporary soundscapes. Josh has opened for the likes of Scott Helman and Joey Landreth, and he continues to perform across Canada, the US and Europe.
His two latest releases have seen major support from Apple Music and Spotify, having been featured on several editorial playlists such as Spotify’s “New Music Friday Canada”. He has also received support from BBC Radio 1 in the UK, was a Top 10 Finalist of CBC’s 2020 Searchlight, and was recently selected as the winner of the Corus Radio Summer Song competition.
We had the opportunity to chat with Josh about his new single, bridging barriers with music, and what’s next.
Kat: Can you talk about the inspiration behind your latest single “This Party Sucks”?
Josh: “This Party Sucks” came about on one of my first Zoom co-writes of the pandemic very early this year. Myself and my co-writers: Robbie Jay & Edgar Vargas were listening to the instrumental on repeat and we couldn’t help but feel like we were listening to a party song. Given that we were in a pandemic however, we didn’t feel like writing a party song would make much sense, so we instead chose to write about getting out of a bad party to take the party elsewhere. I felt like the tagline “This Party Sucks” just rolled off the tongue nicely and had the perfect amount of sass and attitude to it, and it honestly just stuck!
Kat: What do you hope fans take from the track?
Josh: I hope the song lifts spirits in these tough times. It’s been such a heavy couple of years and a lot of the music coming out has been related to the pandemic in some way. It seems like everywhere you go it’s just “covid, covid covid” and I don’t want us to forget about what life was like before that. I want this song to make people feel nostalgic of the good times, but also hopeful that we’ll have more good times ahead.
Kat: What do you find is the most challenging part of your creative process?
Josh: Self-doubt is easily the hardest obstacle to overcome on a regular basis. I’m not the best songwriter or producer by a stretch, but I’m as good as I need to be in this moment, and sometimes it’s hard getting caught up in comparing where I’m at, to where my peers and role models are at. It can be crippling at times when you feel like nothing you do sounds good. That to me is the hardest part, but you just have to keep waking up each morning with the mindset of improving on yesterday. Even if it’s the slightest improvement, it’s still progress.
Kat: What has been a career highlight for you so far? What have you learned along the way?
Josh: A definite career highlight has been getting to perform and teach music for students at a school in Uganda. This particular school was in an extremely impoverished part of the country, and I spent a week with the staff and students, teaching guitar, piano and performing each night. It taught me the power that music has to bring people together regardless of language or cultural barriers. It also taught me that my goal as a musician should never be to achieve fame for my own gain, but to use any success I ever achieve to give back and help those who didn’t have the opportunities that I had.
Kat: What’s next?
Josh: The next major thing on my agenda is to put out a 13-song album in May. It’ll be the largest body of work I’ve released to date. I’m extremely excited for it to be out in the world as I’ve been working on it for almost 2-years now. It’s the best representation of who I am as an artist and I can’t wait for people to hear it.
For more on Josh, visit: https://www.joshsahunta.com