Soothing harmonies and acoustic melodies carry Virginia-based singer/songwriter Nobel's latest track, "Flower on the Wall." With skillful guitar playing and his classic knack for lyricism, Nobel weaves a track of appreciation for his girlfriend, the perfect song to pop on during this season of love. Inspiration from Mustafa the Poet, Brent Faiyaz, Majid Jordan, and Drake can be heard in Nobel's other releases, R&B notes and confessional songwriting peppered throughout.
We sat down with Nobel to discuss his single, where he found his inspiration, and what we can expect next from this rising talent in the new year.
FLEX: The story behind this song is so lovely, tell us a bit more about your inspiration! What was the songwriting process like? Nobel: I remember recording a rough version of this song at 1am and sending it to my girlfriend the next morning. I don’t know if she was just being nice (because I thought my strumming was terrible) but she loved it so much it made her cry. I ended up going to the studio that day to record it and she showed up and surprised me. It was memorable being there together listening to it while the engineer was mixing. F: "Flower on the Wall" is the perfect track to put on for a chill drive or to relax at home. How did you put together the instrumental, and do you usually work with acoustic guitar? N: I’ve never received formal training in guitar lessons so I strum based off my emotions. Most of my songs are written in minor so for this song we created the instrumental using my cadence and eventually it just pieced together. F: How is this track a departure from your other work, genre-wise? N: I always like to experiment with what I can create and this song just happened to come out with a blend of folk. My other work is influenced by hip hop and RnB, so this definitely took me out of my comfort zone. The mood is also very mellow and the lyrics are personal so I felt vulnerable when releasing the song but maybe that’s why I’m so proud of it. F: What was the music video shoot like, and who directed/conceptualized the video? N: I directed the video myself and shot it along with two of my friends, Mardi and Fahim. Fahim is a photographer so he is very knowledgeable on camera settings. Mardi is a content creator, and he and I love shooting reels/videos together but the editing process is a pain in the ass for him because I am so picky. Eventually, we sent our version to my childhood friend Amir who is a mastermind videographer. He put some touches on it and finalized the video. We all loved the outcome. F: You say that you've always been drawn to writing, and that naturally progressed into songwriting. Where do you see your lyrics taking you in the future? N: I have never really thought about where my lyrics might take me but I would like to inspire others to create an everlasting impression on this earth. People come and go, so what we leave behind is important to me. I have little recollection of my relatives from Kurdistan, other than my grandfather. Sometimes I think if they would have left behind a piece of themselves, my own mystery of who I am and where I came from could have been more complete. F: What else can fans expect in 2023? N: More variations of Jimmy (my alter ego). I never want to be boxed in creatively so I’m always testing my limits with new music. As I evolve as a human being, I plan to express myself in different ways and I hope fans can relate.
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