OMI talks fashion, Taylor Swift, and 2016

The award for most recognizable saxophone riff of 2015 without a doubt belongs to Jamaican-American performer OMI, the hitmaker behind the mammoth single Cheerleader.

Coming off the success of the record-breaking track and the release of his highly-anticipated debut LP Me 4 U in October last year, OMI is bringing his sharp style and summery vibes to Dubai Shopping Festival.

It’s OMI’s first time in Dubai, and, true to the spirit of Dubai Shopping Festival, he’s keen for some retail therapy.

“Maybe I’ll grab a souvenir,” he says, “But I’m really a footwear guy, so any interesting sneakers or shoes or boots, I’ll be definitely buying in Dubai.”

Since the breakout of Cheerleader, OMI’s picked up his own personal stylist, but rates his own fashion sense as “fairly good”.

“I can help myself,” he assures me, with a laugh. On what inspires his own personal style, OMI cites travel as his biggest influence: “It’s trading ideas, juggling ideas, of what we see. It’s never a case of where you take the whole outfit off the mannequin that you see in the window.”

Cheerleader was the definition of a smash hit — but it was also a slow burn. OMI began developing the breezy track in 2008, but it would go through several transformations before German producer Felix Jaehn got his hands on it in 2014, giving the track an understated, chilled-out remix. It was this incarnation of the track that would go on to become 2015’s song of the summer, taking the top spot on global charts from Sweden to Australia, racking up a mammoth 450 million plays on Spotify and 71 million streams in the UK, where it was the most streamed song of 2015.

After reaching such ubiquitous status with the song, is OMI suffering a case of Cheerleader-induced burnout? “No,” he says, “I really love the song. I respect the song so much.” He acknowledges that the ground-breaking success of the track opened a lot of doors for him — doors like sharing the stage with Taylor Swift in August last year to perform Cheerleader on her 1989 world tour. OMI has one word to describe the experience of some 40,000 fans packed into San Diego’s Petco Park singing along to his song: “Awesome.” On Swift herself, he says, “She’s an awesome person. She knows what she wants and she makes it happen.”

As for whether or not he expected such staggering success with Cheerleader, he says, “I think it’s a phenomenon — it surpassed a lot of our expectations. You work really hard on [a song], you believe that it has the potential to do well. But I must say, it has broken a lot of records — for me not just as an artist, but as a Jamaican artist. In my generation, that’s something to be proud of.”

OMI, who began writing music at 14, credits the island nation’s diverse musical and cultural landscape with shaping his versatile sound. “You have to open your eyes and your mind to be the endless possibilities of how you compose music. Growing up in Jamaica, I was predisposed to that. It’s not very difficult for the person that opens their mind to it.”

He singles out his father as one of his biggest motivations to become an artist, also paying tribute to a diverse roster of local and international influences like Bob Marley, Nat King Cole, R. Kelly, and OMI’s dream collaborator, John Legend.

The self-confessed workaholic anticipates a “crazy” 2016. He’s just announced the third single from Me 4 U, Drop in the Ocean, sure to keep the summer vibes going well into winter. Of the forthcoming music video, due out January 16, he says, “There’s gonna be a lot of colour. It’s gonna be very vibrant. Sexy girls are gonna be in it — and myself,” he laughs, “A lot of cool vibes. Beachy without the beach.”

— Melissa Majdandzic is an intern at Gulf News.

*Don’t miss it

OMI will take the stage for a fashion show by Etoile La Boutique at Fashion Central, Mall of the Emirates at 6.30pm on January 15.