Interview: Mellow & Sleazy On Their New EP, ‘Midnight In Sunnyside 2’, Collaborating With International Artists + More

Last week, ‘Piano titans, Mellow & Sleazy released their new EP, ‘Midnight In Sunnyside 2’, a sequel to 2022’s ‘Midnight In Sunnyside’.

The 9-track project comprises contributions from TMan Xpress,DJ Maphorisa, Focalistic, Shaunmusiq, Ftears and many more.

Last week, we attended Mellow & Sleazy’s listening session for ‘Midnight In Sunnyside 2’, at Shine Studios, Braamfontein to get a first-hand experience of their now new body of work and witness the pair get awarded multiple plaques.

In the interview below, the duo delved into the decision-making process behind their lead singles, the timing of the project’s official drop, future collaborations and more.

Below is how the discussion went down:

Why did you release ‘Thesha’ and ‘Kwenyile’ as lead singles, do they set the tone for the project or were they simply favourite picks?

We released ‘Kwenyile’ and ‘Thesha’ in a space of two weeks both of them, and the numbers are moving so it makes sense to add them to the EP. But they kinda do add to the tone of the EP because they’re both dark and sweet at the same time.

Your joint-project with Felo Le Tee dropped a few days ago, why was this the perfect timing to drop ‘Midnight In Sunnyside 2’?

Thing is Midnight In Sunnyside 2 was planned from last year. Since Midnight In Sunnyside 1. We dropped it each year on 4/20, which is Mellow’s birthday. The Felo project was just something we were doing on the side and it just happened to be very good, and that’s when we received it. The timing?... that was Felo (laughs). Which was perfect timing I can’t even lie because it builds the hype as well. 

We’ve received a collaborative project, you’ve just dropped your brand-new EP all in a matter of four months into the year. What is the rest of 2023 looking like for Mellow & Sleazy?

Eish, so basically for the rest of the year we’re focussing on our album. Obviously, we’re gonna be dropping a few singles and the main thing we wanna work on is working with international artists. Specifically Nigerian artists to be honest because they’re too much.

This has been a special night for both of you. How does it feel to witness your hard work continuously pay off considering the multiple plaques you’ve received tonight?

It feels really amazing, especially because we’re always in studio. Even now we come from studio, so it feels really dope to see our hard work pay off. 

Stream 'Midnight In Sunnyside 2' and watch the recap video below:

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