“I was feeling emotional, I guess”: Powfu talks breakthrough hit “death bed (coffee for your head)”
Columbia RecordsCanadian artist Isaiah Faber, aka Powfu, has a hit on his hands with “death bed (coffee for your head),” about a dying young man who’s saying goodbye to his girlfriend. The unusual topic was inspired by the fact that Powfu had been wa…
By ABC Audio on June 1, 2020
Columbia RecordsCanadian artist Isaiah Faber, aka Powfu, has a hit on his hands with “death bed (coffee for your head),” about a dying young man who’s saying goodbye to his girlfriend. The unusual topic was inspired by the fact that Powfu had been watching Nicholas Sparks films like Dear John and The Notebook.
“I was just watching a lot of those romantic movies, like, around that time, so I was feeling emotional, I guess, and wanted to write some deep, deep stories,” he tells ABC Audio.
“death bed” — included on Powfu’s new EP poems of the past — is based around a beat he found online that samples the 2017 song “Coffee” by the British artist beabadoobee.
“Whenever I write a rap to a sample, I listen to the lyrics of what they’re saying in that sample and I try and, like, go off of it,” Powfu explains.
“In the sample, she’s talking about sleeping and making coffee for your head and stuff,” he continues. “And I wasn’t really feeling, like, talking about actually sleeping…so I decided to go from the standpoint of somebody who’s on their deathbed.”
Powfu adds that beabadoobee — aka British artist Bea Kristi — is happy about the song’s success.
“I think she’s enjoying it quite a bit,” he says. “It’s helped us both out a lot so, it’s pretty awesome.”
The only downside? Quarantine’s kept Powfu from fully experiencing “death bed” blowing up.
“It’s been weird ’cause I’ve been watching the numbers go up and people are sending me videos of it on the radio, on TikTok and everywhere,” he says. “But I haven’t really been able to go out and experience it and meet up with fans and play concerts…so it’s kind of weird, but I’m looking forward to, like, performing and stuff.”
By Andrea Dresdale
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