Belgian rising talent Polar Lenny kicks off 2025 with his new single, “Daydream,” out now. His story is one of perseverance, creativity, and personal growth. Starting out by making music in the confines of his bedroom, Lenny began crafting beats. Years later, he has evolved into a multifaceted artist celebrated for his introspective lyricism and innovative approach to music production. In 2024, Polar Lenny reached new heights with the release of his debut album, Working on Dying, and the successful launch of his self-organized festival, LEVEL 808. Both achievements have firmly established him as an artist to keep on your radar.
In this exclusive interview with InMusic, Polar Lenny reflects on the pivotal moments of his career, from his transition to live performances to his evolving creative process. He opens up about the importance of mental health in his life, the inspiration behind his debut album, and the vision behind “Daydream.”
You started making music in your bedroom—“just me, myself, and I,” as you told us a couple of years ago. How far do you feel you’ve come since then?
Since then, I’ve grown a lot as an artist and also on a personal level. Especially 2024 has been a huge year for me, as I did my first couple of live shows, went to New York to connect and collaborate with other artists, released my debut album, and organized my own festival ‘LEVEL 808’ together with some friends. Lots of new experiences to learn from and a lot of new motivation to go even harder this year.
In our first conversation back in 2022, you shared how much you care about mental health. How do you take care of your own mental well-being?
I’m definitely in a better state of mind now than I was back then. I’m not really a talkative person, so everything that’s on my mind is in my music. I try to be as transparent as possible in my lyrics and that’s what helps me a lot, and I also hope to help listeners that way.
You ended 2024 with the release of your debut album, Working on Dying. Can you tell us more about this project?
In 2023, I worked on this project for a whole year. The album is an honest reflection of everything that was going on inside of my head during that period of time. You can hear an evolution in my lyrics, as my view on certain things changed throughout the year. For the production of the beats, I got inspired by a lot of underground rap genres such as pluggnb and jersey club. I tried to experiment and mix sounds from different music styles and give my own twist to it.
How did you come up with that title, and what does it mean to you?
‘Working on dying’ is the never ending cycle of working on yourself and improving your life until you can die in peace. Lots of people told me the title sounds dramatic or dark at first, but I think it’s a beautiful way to describe someone’s purpose in life. ‘Working on dying’ essentially could be a synonym for living.
What are you currently working on? Are you exploring new soundscapes?
Currently I’m not working on a full album or anything in particular. I’m just making songs based on how the creativity flows. I’m letting the inspiration come to me without forcing anything. It has been exciting to work on a full project, but I always had to make sure all the songs complemented each other and fit together. Right now, it feels nice to just create whatever comes up at the moment without anything bigger in mind. I’m getting inspired by lots of different electronic genres like d&b, house and hardstyle lately, trying out new stuff.
Can you tell us about your new single “Daydream??
Daydream will be out this Friday, and it’s the first time in years I didn’t produce the beat myself. My guy Comexis made this beat for me and it immediately sparked my inspiration to rap again. This niche underground style of hiphop is what I’ve always been listening to, so it makes sense that I still drop a song like this every once in a while, even though my style has been evolving in a different direction.
What’s the meaning behind this song?
Daydream isn’t about a specific storyline or anything, just bars and good vibes for the people. Basically some thoughts that we’re on my mind while recording the song, since I didn’t really write it beforehand.
In 2020, you released your debut single, “Time Traveling.” If you could actually travel back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
I would probably tell myself to spend more time really learning music, instead of worrying about getting streams and views. I see a lot of young artists who are the same as I was back then. You see these rappers on social media who seem to blow up overnight and you think that’s the way to do it, not realizing that’s not the way to build a sustainable career most of the times. If I could go back, I would first of all accept that it’s gonna take years to grow, start getting live experience sooner, maybe learn an instrument, and most important of all search for people in my area with the same mindset to connect with, instead of only connecting with people on the internet.
Looking ahead, what do you hope to achieve in 2025? And what can your fans look forward to?
I definitely have some exciting things coming soon, with some of the best music I’ve ever made. I’m also doing a lot of work behind the scenes this year, producing for other artists. In January I’ve really been focused on finding new artists to connect with as a producer. And of course the second edition of our festival LEVEL 808 is going to be bigger and better than the previous one, so definitely look out for that as well.
Finally, is there anything else you’d like people to know about you or your journey?
Nothing I can think of right now! Just thank you to who’s reading this and I hope you just discovered a new artist you might like. And thank you guys for allowing me on your platform!
Listen to Polar Lenny’s new single “Daydream” on our Spotify playlist:
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