It’s amazing what can happen when you try. When you take the risks. When you follow your heart. If you don’t believe me, just ask Adam Klobi. The rising Toronto-based artist had an explosive start when he released “Dinner” last year, which racked up 10M streams across platforms. He didn’t know what to expect, but he knew that he had to eat, he had to pay the bills… His drive and persistence left his ever-growing fanbase with something to aspire to, as Adam’s story could be anyone’s story. He is now entering a new chapter of this story with his debut EP, YESTERDAY, TODAY. The project’s first singles, “WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS” and “FICTION,” have set the tone for the rest of the EP, with stories of lost love and self-worth. When we caught up with Adam, he was gearing up to release the third single, so we asked more about how these singles connect, the overall project, and the importance of doing the work.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and time.
You’re coming off a pretty good year. Your music started picking up and you started branching out into this career. What was it like to see your music receive such positive feedback? Did you feel any pressure, did you feel validated?
Yeah, I mean, I think overall, the feeling is just definitely positive. Just to have any sort of validation that something that I create would not only resonate to myself but to someone else is the best feeling in the world. I think it was scary at first to be so vulnerable and to be like, ‘Hey this is something I made, this is a piece of me, please like it.’ You know, that’s how we all are with anything that we do. But I think coming around to the end of the year, it’s me realizing that people aren’t going to like something because you want them to like it. They’re gonna like something because you like it. And that’s just what I’m going into 2026 and onward with, that feeling of, ‘I’m just gonna do me for me and make things that I think are really cool and I personally love regardless of trends or things that are popular now.’ I guess that feels like the only way to sustainably grow, whether that be in the business side of things or in just my personal life and how I feel going into new music.
What’s been the reaction with your friends and family during this time? Have they been supportive? Are they getting used to how things are going?
Yeah, I mean, up until March of last year when I released my first song and things started doing a little well for me. They were like, ‘So, you gonna find a new job or…’ My parents come from immigrant backgrounds, and so they’re very “work, work, work, work, and make sure that things are stable and if you’re stable, you’re good and you’re okay,” which is the mindset that makes the most sense, right? I felt like I had the opportunity to take a chance and try to push it, and they were very scared because of that, right? Parents will do that. I think a lot of parents would rather you be stable more than anything else. It took them a second to realize how much I truly wanted to pursue music and how much I meant it, because as a kid growing up, there’s a lot of things that you do and you tell your parents that you want to do and they let you do it, then two weeks later you’re onto the next thing, right? I think there’s a lot of cycles of that, for sure.
Speaking of your first single that you released called “Dinner” that went viral, what were your hopes when you released it? Did you think, ‘I’ll put this out and whoever loves it will love it,’ or did you think, ‘Wow this is great, and this is really gonna take off’?
It was a little bit of a unique situation because I hadn’t had any music out, and this song kind of got its legs before I even had a Spotify profile created. It was on TikTok and it was trending, and there was this sound that’s going crazy. I had this opportunity to hit the ground running and release this song, but in my head I’m like, ‘Well, what if I release it and it flops?’ The pressure of that was terrifying, but the opportunities that it presented me with were life changing. I don’t think I went into the release with expectations of it doing crazy, insane numbers, but I was like, ‘Okay, it should do all right and I should hopefully be able to buy myself food for the next couple weeks.’ [Laughs] That was the hope, the hope was I need to be able to eat some more food. And I was able to eat some more food, right?
Your recent singles are “FICTION” and “WE WERE NEVER JUST FRIENDS,” and I read that you had mentioned that those singles are sort of related in a way, so will the next single you’re planning to release also be connected to the narrative of those two singles or will it be different?
Yeah, so these two will be connected to the next single, which will be connected to the full project, which is going to be releasing sometime in March. So, that’s gonna be one full narrative of songs that I feel drive my sound into the direction that I’m really passionate about. I’ve always grown up listening to rock music and indie sort of things, and I started off with folk. That’s a grey area, and to slowly be able to shift toward what I truly want to be doing without kind of going cold turkey and being like, ‘Hey, this is a rock song’—it’s very hot and cold, and I didn’t want to do that. I feel like that’s not the smartest approach to take, but everything is gonna be tied together with a little bow, and I’m pretty excited about it.
I read that “FICTION” was the proudest you had ever been of a song. Do you still feel that way about it? What makes it so special?
Yeah, I think just when I was writing it, I didn’t notice in the moment. But then zooming out, I kind of listened back and was like… I just really like the dynamics of it and how it builds, and it’s a song that can be kind of related to a bunch of different genres and artists without lending itself completely to one. I think, currently, it’s my favorite song that I have out, but I do have favorites that will be released. I’m definitely the most proud of that so far, and I feel like it’s gonna be hard to dethrone it. It’s just special to me.
The other songs on the EP that are coming out, are they also gonna be related to “FICTION” and “WE WERE NEVER JUST FRIENDS” musically?
Tonally, yes. Every song on the project has a slightly different genre feel, like they’re all tied together where they’re nostalgically invoking. It’s like that late ‘90s early 2000s feeling of like, end of a movie, it’s a rom-com, credits are rolling, the rain is falling… It’s sort of that feeling, and we played around with different feelings and topics. There’s a few songs that really have to deal with the traditional things like love and heartbreak, but there’s also a few songs that look inward. The title track I’m especially proud of; it deals with self-image and deals with my own personal struggles. The closing track is probably one that can dethrone “FICTION” for the most proud I’ve been. It’s just a song about watching your son grow up and being terrified that they have to grow up but also so excited for them to grow up. It’s just sort of like a push-pull feeling, everything all tied together with really heart-tugging sounds. I feel like I’m just happy everything was able to be tied together the way that it was.
Did you write the songs specifically for the EP or did you have a whole bunch that you pulled from and put together?
For this EP, yeah, this kind of came together a lot more Frankenstein-like. It was seven songs from seven sessions, and I kind of just picked the ones that I felt were—first of all, the strongest, and second of all, kind of all tied together that would make a cohesive story. They all give you the feeling of growing up and going through the motions of life. I went to a studio to finish up the project. I worked with Calvin Lauber, who is the best producer ever, and he executive-produced. We took all seven, pulled them apart, put them back together again three times over, and just tried to really make sure everything was cohesive and one. I’m so, so happy we did because I fell in love with the songs a second time. It really, really cemented the choice of choosing these songs for the project.
Going through the timeline again, you have your next single coming out, and then are you planning on doing the EP shortly after that, or are we getting more new singles before then?
Yeah, I like this next single quite a bit, and then a month after, the project is gonna come out—March 20, I believe. So, three singles and four extra. I really wanted there to be a piece of me living on my pages, on my DSPs, and on my profiles, so someone could really buy into a world and who I am. It gets difficult with singles, and I think a lot of artists will release single after single after single, and it works and it’s something that’s very cost-effective, but it doesn’t really give—at least in how I connect to an artist—the fans something to latch onto and be a part of. I don’t know how many of your favorite artists you can be like, ‘Oh, I love this single by them, that’s my favorite thing.’ It’s more like, ‘They’re my favorite artist because this is my favorite album. This is my favorite project that they’ve made. This is my favorite era.’ It’s very broader picture, and singles are a great tool, but I think I just wanted to have something that people could latch onto.
What else do you have going on this year that you’re looking forward to?
I think things are pretty much up in the air. I’m just trying to figure out where my life is, to be honest with you. I’m here in Toronto, and it’s one of the best cities on earth, but it just feels a little musically stunting. The scene is kind of few and far between, and I’d love for that to change. It does feel like I need to go outward to work with people I trust and love, like I fly to and from Nashville and LA, and I think finding a home—even if it’s just for short-term in one of those other cities—is definitely one thing on the agenda for me. But, it’s just a lot of work and making new music and hopefully playing some shows, which will be fun. I think just the aspect of not stopping working is really big for me. I feel like me and many other people, if you don’t function, you don’t function. It’s like “go, go, go,” and if you stop, you really stop and power down. I need to just make sure I’m always working, because I love it.
I think that does it for me, do you have any other comments or thoughts before we wrap it up?
I don’t think so. I always want to stress that I got into music at such an odd time in my life, where I had no idea what I wanted to do. I could’ve got into painting, I could’ve got into martial arts, it could’ve been literally anything. The fact that you’re able to attach yourself and use tools, as scary as it is with the internet and AI and everything, you need to use the tools if you really want to be passionate about something. Just figure it out, like you actually have to and take the risks. I know many risks that I’ve taken, and some of them didn’t pay off, but a few of them did. I wouldn’t be anywhere if I didn’t just do it without the fear of somebody else judging me for what I’m doing or why I’m doing it. I could’ve never thought that it would be my actual job, and here I am two and a half years later. That’s the craziest thing to me, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Yeah, it’s crazy. Sometimes that’s the best way for things is just when they fall into your lap, and that’s what it is.
Yeah, but in that point, it’s like something’s not gonna fall into your lap unless your lap is there for it to fall into, right? So, it’s just where luck works. So many people see success in any field that you’re in, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re so lucky’ or ‘You got to this spot, oh, I wish I can do that.’ It’s like, you can, you actually can do that, it’s just you have to be there to get lucky. It’s just about the amount of times that you clock in and the amount of times that you’re willing to put yourself in a crappy spot, and how crappy of a spot are you willing to be in for the potential?
You can listen to Adam’s debut EP, YESTERDAY, TODAY, here.
