Redbrick Meets: Michael Aldag

Singer and social media star Michael Aldag is on campus at the University of Birmingham for approximately five minutes before being approached by someone.

‘Are you from TikTok?’ they ask.

Aldag smiles and replies that yes, he is. However, he makes it clear later in the interview that although he enjoys creating content online, music is his true passion. Aldag has been interested in music since he was seven-years-old, and began gigging at fourteen, so when he started to gain traction on social media he thought it could be a good way to help his music. With over 600,000 followers on the video sharing platform TikTok, this seems like a pretty solid marketing plan.

Although he enjoys creating content online, music is his true passion

‘I’m just always trying to tell people who follow me on TikTok that I also do music,’ he tells me.

Lockdown proved to be pivotal for Aldag, and with nothing else to do he found himself writing songs ‘every other day,’ which means that a lot of his music was conceived during the pandemic. Aldag credits his recent co-collaborators, including his guitarist Alex, with helping him get ‘a different perspective,’ and aiding with the production aspect of his songs, as Aldag prefers to focus on the lyrics.

‘Tell me a bit about your process,’ I ask, curious to know how each song begins as an idea in Aldag’s mind before becoming fully-fledged pieces of music.

Aldag’s newest single ‘Ghosted’ came out in September this year, an electronic pop-y style song with lyrics depicting the perils on online relationships such as ‘if you were as funny as you are online we’d have a perfect time,’ and ‘I loved your private story but you’re actually so boring.’

The song is about ‘the disparity between the online perception of things and how things are in real life,’ Aldag explained, though admitted ‘that’s just a posh way to say that I got blanked by a girl.’

This is not the first time Aldag has written about a personal experience. He finds himself writing ‘a lot’ when going through something difficult, and uses songwriting to make sense of whatever situation he finds himself in, deeming it a ‘useful’ practice. The music video, which Aldag is immensely proud of, features phone screens, clever editing, and Aldag himself which perfectly encapsulates the spirit and lyrics of the song.

He […] uses songwriting to make sense of whatever situation he finds himself in

Aldag tells me ‘Henry Oliver is the director I worked with on that. We had a really good idea and we were able to execute it well which doesn’t always happen so I’m really pleased we got that.’

What’s next for the 19-year-old?

‘Getting out and gigging now,’ is the answer, and Aldag cannot wait to hit the stage and ‘prance about’ in front of a real crowd. After a year of lockdowns amidst a global pandemic, I can only imagine his anticipation for that very first show. Fans also have two new songs to look forward to, ‘Love of My Life’ which is coming out in December, and ‘Teenage Drama’ which will be released in January.

‘I’ve got so much music that I haven’t released and I want to show everybody it.’