Sweet within the Sour: Mangotale Island
Shawn Serrano – professionally known as Shawn Wasabi – has been on what he calls “an emotional roller coaster” during the past few years. With the 2015 hit “Marble Soda,” Wasabi rose to fame alongside his computer and Midi Fighter 64, a custom 64-button MIDI controller that gives him access to hundreds of individualized samples at the touch of a button.
His highly-anticipated debut album, MANGOTALE, is a collection of songs that gives an inside look of the bright, colorful world inside his mind – which is wonderfully out of control and mesmerizing. Accompanied with the album is MANGOTALE Island, an online, tropical getaway where each track is associated with an original animated character. Providing a multi-faceted experience was a crucial factor when making the album. “Everyone has the idea of a perfect world inside their head that they know isn’t real, but they go to – to escape reality,” Wasabi says of his creative process. “I’ve been through so many different phases in my musical career – at least since I was four years old when I started playing keyboards, and the experiences and memories I’ve made have helped me so much into shaping who I am today.”
Normally, a release like MANGOTALE would result in worldwide touring, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, concerts – as most artists and fans know – haven’t occurred since earlier this year. However, this hasn’t stopped Wasabi from performing. Not only has he uploaded multiple live performances from his living room to YouTube, but there are also various Instagram videos of him creating beats with random objects, such as a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and on random occasions, like when washing his hands. “People have these expectations of what traditional instruments are, what’s supposed to make music and what’s not,” he shares. “I want to be inventive in the way I approach music. There’s so many different ways you can approach creativity, and there’s no right or wrong way to make music or make art.”
Additionally, intersectionality is a huge aspect in Wasabi’s music. As a person of color in a predominantly white, male industry, Wasabi acknowledges that although that can have its challenges, being able to work with people from all different backgrounds and walks of life is what encourages him to keep creating. “You’ll never know what it’s like to be in their shoes, but you do have the ability to sympathize and take some time to imagine what it’s like to be in another community that isn’t yours and understand where they’re coming from,” adds Wasabi. “I love collaborating with people, and oftentimes, I find that the most emotionally honest, conversational, and cooler songs I have come from those stories.”
Moreover, it’s worth noting that the upcoming deluxe edition of MANGOTALE has additional new and unreleased tracks, complete with new MANGOTALE Island characters. “It’s like a patch update for video games nowadays, where creators can fix minor bugs and glitches and put out downloadable content, like new levels and character skins,” he elaborates. “There are so many emotions and stories that I feel like I haven’t expressed, and I want to continue to tell that story because, like my music, I’m constantly changing and learning new things about the world.”
If this year has taught people anything, it’s that the future is unpredictable. In addition to sharing his story through his music, Wasabi says he wants to inspire the next generation of creatives to pursue their passion. “I’m already seeing people on TikTok and Twitter making their own videos of hooking up wires to different objects and intercalating my style, and I think that’s really awesome,” he affirms. “Each generation is learning new things about creativity and all these art mediums, and in the current age of the Internet, it’s a lot easier to find tutorials of different techniques and knowledge being passed on. I hope that through my music, I can encourage people to find new mindsets within their mediums and think outside the box.”
Writer: Hannah Fitzpatrick
Photographer & Videographer: Haldane Morris
Men’s Grooming: Coma Spice
Editor: Eiko Watanabe
Special thanks to EPK Media (@myepk & @epkmedia - epkmedia.com)
