BEDÜK ON NEW MUSIC , TURKISH ARTISTS SINGING IN ENGLISH AND CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
“ Instead of the accident , I try to be the sparkly car on the road they tend to look at but not gather around that much .”
Photos by Haifa Mohamed . All rights reserved ©
Nearly two decades since he released his first album “ Nefes almak zor ” ( Hard to breathe ), Serhat Bedük is one of the few Turkish artists to release music in English as well as his native language .
While in London , he met with Haifa Mohamed to talk about his career , his artistic philosophy and what is next for him . And he has a message for aspiring artists : Be yourself because that is what makes you unique .
It was a rainy day in London ( shocker ) when I sat down for an interview face-toface with the artist . It felt like a triumph to conduct an interview not via Zoom and the historic Grove House in West London made the experience much more elevated .
Bedük showed up early and I had to rush to the location an hour before the scheduled time . I envisioned the scenario of a singer being angry because he needed to wait for me for a whole 8 minutes and 20 seconds !
To my surprise , he was just waiting near the location , sheltering from the rain and having a green tea from the nearby coffee shop and no display of attitude at all .
Serhat Bedük has 9 albums in his discography and a number of singles . He wrote and produced most of his work and directed the majority of his video treatments .
His 2013 album “ Overload ” made it to the preliminary list of nominated albums in 7 categories for the Grammys . He said awards can give a sense of purpose to an artist who is just starting out .
“ In your early days you feel it ’ s the conclusion . You want to earn those things and you want all of those things .” He explained that artists at the beginning of their careers view awards so highly . “ When you get them you understand that the accomplishments are in other things that give the full picture , like going on stage and thousands of people singing your songs that you wrote in your small studio .”
I asked him whether he cared about numbers and how much attention his work is receiving .
“ Nowadays everything is numbers . Instagram followers and YouTube views , it is like an accident . If you are riding on the road with your mates and see a normal
18 SLEUTH ISSUE 4