New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Opening with a earworm-worthy melody of bright guitar and beat-ready piano, "bananas" drops in quick like a summer heat wave with a sunny discovery: "everything I need is right in front of my face."
Ever the chameleon,
SonReal defies categorization. With a hat tip to
Tom Petty in the chorus and a grateful nod to his mother, he pays homage to his influences. (Mac Miller - "When I heard that Malcom died / I put my head against the wall"). In the final verse,
SonReal concludes with, "..then I called my mother, told her that I love her 'cause I know that / everything I need is right in front of my face." It invokes a sense of gratitude dashed with melancholy.
From the melody and lyrics, to the artwork and careful attention to detail in the creative direction, Bananas reminds us to chill out, work hard, and to give thanks to the little things in life. It's all we've got.
SonReal is the moniker of Canadian singer, songwriter, rapper and visual artist
Aaron Hoffman. With years of international touring, more than a dozen award nominations, nearly 125 million views and over 170 million global streams to his credit,
Aaron has made a name for himself as SonReal.
Bursting onto the scene with the quirky, now-viral video sensation "
Everywhere We Go" (22M views),
SonReal and his team set a high bar for visual content and songwriting. EPs and mixtapes followed suit, featuring songs and next-level videos like "
Preach" and "For The Town'' before SonReal's full-length debut in 2017, One Long Dream.
Often told that his versatility and genre-bending tendencies are an obstacle,
SonReal has always stayed true. Constantly pushing boundaries in his music and in his visuals, he has always aspired for more. Tracks like the Platinum-certified single "Can I Get A Witness" and "Problems" from One Long
Dream were the first indication that
SonReal had more to say as a songwriter, and more to accomplish as an artist.