At Home With Teen Producer Jawsh 685

Created by American Jason Derulo using Aucklander Joshua Stylah’s instrumental “Laxed (Siren Beat)”, the track “Savage Love” has topped the charts in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, surpassed 1.1 billion streams and was recently the third most played song on US radio, Leena Tailor reports for Variety.

The 17-year-old Stylah, aka Jawsh 685, never saw it coming, Tailor writes.

As Stylah prepares for his final high school exams, he’s looking ahead to pursuing music full-time. What’s he expecting after having already experienced success? “Once you get out there, lots of people won’t like your work,” he reflects. “People hate on what they don’t understand – even hometown people; I just block them now.”

As he continues sharing his music and culture with the world, those hometown haters should perhaps be grateful to Stylah for shining a positive global spotlight on a neighbourhood more often making headlines for crime than phenomenal youth success. Says Stylah: “It’s rare to have someone young from South Auckland come up like this, so I feel really proud taking everyone on my back. [My friends] are riding with me. It’s always been like that.”

Original article by Leena Tailor, Variety, October 1, 2020.