Ady Suleiman X FAULT Magazine

Photography: Lennon Gregory

Words: Will Soer

I love talking to Ady Suleiman, just like I love his music. In a previous interview we have talked about dancing to Giles Peterson, listening to Amy Winehouse and leaving Simon Cowell’s record label. Now he’s back with his second album Chasing, his first release since 2019.

FAULT Magazine : Is it good to be back?

Ady Suleiman : It’s good to be back. It feels like I’m an active artist again, I’m enjoying every second of that.

FAULT Magazine : The last time we talked was in March 2019, when you played Electric Brixton. How did you find lockdown?

Ady Suleiman : When I was in it, I realised how stagnant the environment is, not being able to socialize, travel, have jam sessions. That’s kind of my source bucket for writing, and for everything. That’s life, to be honest. I was like, rah, you know, I’ve just written a couple songs about f**king being in lockdown. How many artists wrote songs about lockdown? Do you know what I mean?

FAULT Magazine : The Koffee one was good. Yeah, I mean I can still feel tired after day of collaborating with people, but it’s a nice tiredness.

Ady Suleiman : It’s almost physical. It’s more like a physical fatigue rather than a mental fatigue, I think I’m more creative when I’m thinking less. Especially because the way I write melodies, it’s all freestyle, I’m not really thinking. Then, lyrically I ask ‘What is the freestyle saying?’, and that’s what takes time. It’s gotta match the feeling of the music.

FAULT Magazine : That’s why your music is so nuanced. Like with Chasing’s lead single Miracle, it gets into that weird thing of being able to see that life is a miracle, but that happening in the same day as feeling very lonely.

Ady Suleiman : Like I know that I’ve actually been given so much, I’m so blessed. But then there’s that guilt of like, but why do I feel a bit s**t? Am I allowed to? There’s a bit of that in there as well. I wrote it about being fearful of being social. You know, stepping out again after lockdown. And then, towards the end, it’s being like, actually this is really lovely.

FAULT Magazine : Do you have any specific memories you associate with it?

Ady Suleiman : You know what, the first verse I remember very specifically. I was going to a good friend of mine’s 30th in the park. I’d been living in Woolwich and I’d just been spent a lot of time by myself, because Woolwich wasn’t super well connected, before the Elizabeth line. Maybe this was around the time you could meet in groups of six or some s**t. I remember being really anxious, and it almost freaked me out that I was anxious. And it was because of fear, more than it being that I wasn’t gonna have a good time.

FAULT Magazine : What do you picture for the second verse?

Ady Suleiman : It’s a mix of stuff. The euphoric moment, that was always like, I pictured myself like in the middle of a crowd of people.

FAULT Magazine : What events have worked for you, since lockdown?

Ady Suleiman : I really love a lot of African diaspora events, I’ve really got into, like, black British nightlife, essentially. Everyday People, RECESS, OVMBR, I love what Odeal’s done. But yeah, Everyday People was an early one where I was just like, yeah, this is so lit. Music was great, people great, energy great. That was definitely a moment. I was like, yeah, anytime this is here, I’m going to come through.

FAULT Magazine : What was your first performance after covid?

Ady Suleiman : I did Cross The Tracks with Kofi Stone in 2021. That was the first time I’d ever sung live with no live band, no rehearsals, just a DJ. So before coming onstage, I was just there with the AirPod in trying to remember where I come in. I mean it’s a very easy job singing a chorus, so it’s not me moaning, I love doing it.

FAULT Magazine : I didn’t think you were moaning, I mean this was right after lockdown!

Ady Suleiman : He’d asked me to jump on in the past and I always made an excuse. But this time I was going to the festival already, I was just like, f**k, I’m literally gonna be in the crowd, I can’t pretend that I can’t make it. So I called him and I told him all the worries I was having. And he was a really good friend, he was like ‘don’t worry about it, if you’re not feeling up to it on the day it’s fine, people are gonna be so excited to see you’. It made me realize this isn’t about me, it’s about this guy trying to do his thing, and me going to support him. He really cares about if I’m there or not, and that’s really lovely.

That show really put me in a different head space, because there had been moments in lockdown when I was like, I dunno how much I like this. But when I came off stage I was like, ‘I want this so bad’.

And there was this overwhelming feeling of, I dunno if pride’s the right word. Kofe supported me on tour, to see where he got to, I didn’t know how many people were gonna be there going crazy for him. He’d grown so much as an artist. We became really close friends off him helping me get back onstage, which has been a really lovely friendship.

FAULT Magazine : That’s like a microcosm of growing as a person, right?

Ady Suleiman : I think growth and progress is so essential to our wellbeing. At least I know it is for me.

FAULT Magazine : I know for me, a lot of my sense of self-worth is tied to progress, doing things that matter to me, but I worry that it’s not stable. How are you with finding peace? It’s important to know that you’re allowed to just be.

Ady Suleiman : Absolutely, I’m much more in line with the last thing that you said than I’ve ever been in my life before. I think growth for me is more about fear. It’s a different voice that I’m trying to give myself. And that allows me peace. It’s not that fear isn’t there anymore, it’s just more like, how do you manage it?

FAULT Magazine : Is that about changing habits?

Ady Suleiman : It’s a mix of things. I did a couple of therapy sessions that really helped. Cry, on the album, that is basically an epiphany of me realizing that the way I was speaking to myself wasn’t helpful. And that’s why it’s this kind of euphoric. People had told me ‘you’re so self-critical.’ But I believed that I needed to, if I don’t, who else is gonna do that?

But honestly, when you go through things in life, we are always learning. Sometimes it can take longer than others. The music probably was allowed to be finished because I was feeling more at peace. It’s tough when you work on something a long time. It makes it much harder to finish.

FAULT Magazine : When did you finish it?

Ady Suleiman : Before 2025. Now that it’s out, and I’m hearing what songs people like, I’m enjoying it. I actually listened to the album a couple times, it’s been good.

FAULT Magazine : Thank God, you deserve it.

Ady Suleiman : Sometimes you’ve gotta sit down and be like, let’s make peace with this. I’m proud of myself man.