Between a Party and a Religious Celebration: Rein Mali Makes Us Dance the Christian Way with Latest Single “Like Ah”
TAKE ME TO CHURCH — literally. Indo-born, Perth-based R&B/soul artist Rein Mali defines himself as “a fresh face into the industry with a sound ready to redefine R&B music.” Will it be true? You be the judge.
Drawing heavily from gospel and church music, Mali’s music feels like a party anthem and a religious celebration at the same time.
His debut single, “Like Ah,” produced by Blake Weller and Christian Meares, symbolizes the start of his artistic journey as a musician, as the artist shows us the sounds that stuck with him during his upbringing.
Mali’s first chapter unfolded in his dad's church, whose music was the definition of hope, faith, and soul to the artist. Drawn to rhythm from a young age, passion led him to want to play drums and, later on, to learn many other instruments. Eventually, this led to Mali becoming a singer.
Particularly inspired by R&B and neo-soul artists such as D’Angelo, Musiq Soulchild, Fred Hammond, and Stevie Wonder, whom he playfully nicknamed “four of the GOATS” or his “Mount Rushmore,” Mali’s music is both fresh, sounding as if it came out of the late ’90s and early 2000s.
On the modern side, he looks forward to hopefully one day working with producers such as Darkchild and D’Mile, who have produced some of his favorite hits.
“Initially I thought this was a weakness,” the artist confesses, “but found that it was an authentic and real product of the music that inspired my grown-up, which shows my true colors as an artist.”
Now, he calls his style “time travel R&B,” a genre which takes all the best things from the late ’90s and early 2000s R&B/neo-soul era and mixes it with a modern touch. It's what Mali knows best.
But his ambition goes further than that with his debut single, “Like Ah.”
“I wanted to write my own neo-soul anthem,” he writes. “D’Angelo has his anthem ‘Lady’ and Musiq Soulchild has his anthem ‘Just Friends.’ ‘Like Ah’ is truly inspired by the feel and emotion those songs and that era brought to the world.”
Regarding which producers to collaborate with, Mali writes that “oftentimes, it’s difficult to find producers who ‘get it,’ but shoutout [to] the homies [Blake Weller and Christian Meares, producers of “Like Ah,”] for understanding the vision and sound. Perth-based goodness!”
So what’s in store for the future?
“Music is what I do day and night,” Mali shares, feeling lucky to gig weeknights and weekends and dreaming of eventually becoming a full-time touring artist.
Mentioning fellow Asian R&B artist Joyce Wrice, whose sound is similar to Mali’s, among his dream features, the artist sees himself releasing his first EP, touring this country and continuing to make some “Perth-based R&B soul goodness for the world to hear” in the year ahead.
With a few singles coming out and then touring on the horizon, Rein’s “time travel R&B” is definitely here to stay.
As the artist puts it, “I’m here to say, bring it back.”
