That first minute of hearing a new song is everything. The sound fills your ears, it envelops you, it echoes through your body, and before you know it, you begin to feel. Your heart reflects the emotions that hide between the lines, and your brain runs through the sounds connecting each one to a memory, making them special, making them yours.

Listening is a deeply intimate process. No matter what the artist is trying to tell you, no matter what inspired their music, you will find individual meaning in it, your own way to connect. If the connection is strong enough to stick with you, you will come back to the song again and again, trying to replicate that first soul-stirring experience and instead finding something new every time.

Kaxi’s new single, Torture, is the kind of track you want to come back to. As the sound of the song builds up, old memories come rushing back. The theme of the single is universal, yet the lyrics feel deeply personal.

“It’s about that one person who brings peace to your chaos — where even the pain of being with them feels more right than the emptiness without them. It’s about knowing something is going to hurt but choosing it anyway because, somewhere deep inside, it still feels like home,” the artist comments.

Themes of love are often explored in music, art, and poetry. Yet, many portray love as mysterious and hard to understand or romanticise it to the point where the audience can’t relate but only fantasise. Torture is different. It tells a story of a love that’s real. It’s honest and, therefore, not always easy. From the second you hear it, you know it doesn’t come from a fairytale; it was born out of true memories.

“There’s a line in the song — ‘so let’s run away from our problems, ’cause there’s no one to solve them.’ That captures where I was mentally. Life was heavy, chaotic — but somehow when I was with her, it all felt still,” Kaxi shares.

Although the single does not shy away from the heavy, it also moves the listener to change their perspective. The song evokes movement. It teaches you that even if you feel pain, pain is not the end, and pain does not have to be still.

“Torture is one of those tracks that makes you want to cry from how much you feel — but also dance through the pain.”

“People often think sadness has to sound slow, stripped back, or heavy — but I’ve always believed pain can come dressed in bright colours. It can feel cinematic. It can make you want to move, even when it’s breaking you.”

The act of pure feeling and the process of raw creation are invariably intertwined. The themes of a song can sometimes bring up emotions that seem random. The happiest of songs can connect you to the saddest of memories. A sad ballad can grant unexpected peace. For Kaxi, feeling is at the core of his music. The understanding that the listener will create their own experience with his music, enriched by a simple desire to put a soul into each track, makes for a unique performance.

“I don’t think I can control how people receive or interpret my music — it’s always going to be subjective. And honestly, that’s the beauty of it. I’m not here to force a message down anyone’s throat. But here’s what I know: if something moves me, there’s no way it won’t move someone else.”

For Kaxi, his music is his life; it surrounds him, moving and inspiring him every day.

“This is everyday life — not just a career, but a lifestyle,” he shares.

In his songs, you can trace back a story. Following his journey through sound, you will sense right away that his music, his creative style of lyrical storytelling, did not just come to by fully formed; it grew and developed as he did.

“For me, music has always been a way to escape the mundane and make sense of how deeply I experience the world.”

“Even as a kid, I felt everything intensely. I was just three years old when I first felt music in my chest — before I even understood what ‘feelings’ or ’emotions’ really meant. There’s a funny story: when my younger brother was born, my parents were worried I’d feel left out. So they started sending me to hang out with this local band during their rehearsals. By the time I was four, I was singing and performing, and I never stopped.”