WEEKEND MUSIC PT. 77: LEVIN LIAM

WEEKEND MUSIC PT. 77: LEVIN LIAM

Words by Clara Butkovic
All images courtesy of Finn Bündert

Levin Liam is a musician from Hamburg who moves between Indie and Rap, giving his music a distinctive voice of its own. In this interview, he talks with Numéro Berlin about his songs, his creative process, his upcoming performance at the Elbphilharmonie and the way he loves to play live.

Clara Butkovic:  I’d like to start by talking about your single “Dogs” (Hunde): “can’t you see the world is going to the dogs? There’s no time for love you no longer want.” („siehst du nicht, die Welt geht vor die Hunde? Für Liebe, die du nicht mehr willst, ist keine Zeit“) I feel like there’s already a lot in there that defines your music. Themes of love and departure in a world that’s falling apart. Would you agree that these are themes you explore repeatedly in your music?

Levin Liam:  Yes, definitely. Love is just a very emotionally charged topic, and that’s why I like writing songs about it. They are individual themes, but I place them in relation to a bigger whole.

CB:  Your lyrics feel very lyrical and considered.

LL:  Yeah, I think lyrics are really important. It’s an ongoing process. I’m not a fan of lyrics that are overly clever. It really annoys me in German music that it’s often too clever or over-poetic. In good simplicity there is often much more than in something inflated. In the end the most important thing is the music. The lyrics only become what they are through the music, the performance, and everything else.

CB:  I think the simplicity you’re talking about also shows in the skits you often use, which are part of hip hop. You’ve also done features with OG Keemo or Trettmann. Where does your connection to Hip-Hop come from?

LL:  It’s really just my personal taste and habits. For me it’s mainly about how I produce and how I perform. Actually, in all elements of my music there are lots of hip hop influences.

CB:  You produce a lot yourself and I feel like you shape your image, especially visually. It seems very important to you to shape your own image. Why is it so important for you to maintain a lot of control everywhere?

LL:  I obviously have people I work with on these things, videos, images, and so on. But if you want a project to follow a red thread and you want to define the rules yourself, then it’s important for an artist to keep control. I also see it as a great privilege because all these things are exactly what make up the project in the end. I don’t do everything completely alone, but in the last instance I want to make or participate in the creative decisions. Especially for my own project I want to be at the very end of the chain because the artwork is something you get to curate yourself. That is very important to me.

CB:  On March 4th 2026 you’ll be performing at the Elbphilharmonie. How did it come about that you’re playing there?

LL:  I love that venue. It was always a goal to play there. My team and I kept pushing until we were offered a date through someone we had worked with before. It’s really not easy to get to play there.

CB:  Do you think it will feel different because it’s such a renowned venue compared to festivals or your own tour?

LL:  Every concert is always very different anyway, especially if it’s your own show or a festival. And of course the venue changes the set a lot because we play much less aggressively. It will be lighter and calmer especially in terms of the set because otherwise the room wouldn’t work acoustically. Also everyone is sitting. That’s very different from other concerts. The stage is in the middle so everyone looks from all sides. The setting makes it a very special evening. I actually like it. I like that it’s calm, like a listening concert vibe, so people just sit and listen. Almost amphitheater style, everyone can see from all sides, which also gives so many more possibilities for using the space than if you just play centered forward. The room is beautiful and sounds beautiful so it will be a very special concert. The set is of course completely different from my other concerts. A new album comes out a week after the show so I’ll play a lot of new music. It’s definitely a special evening.

CB:  Are there venues where you prefer to perform or can you not really say that?

LL:  The best I’ve found is usually a size of two to four thousand people. Not a very high room but still somewhat contained regarding the ceiling. It feels massive, there are already many people, but you don’t completely lose contact because you still notice a bit. That’s really great. I haven’t played my own arena yet which is probably also really amazing, but compared to these five thousand person halls with high ceilings the energy sometimes goes a bit away. Venues in the middle between big halls and smaller ones have always been the most fun for me. And this Elbphilharmonie thing I think is actually the ultimate in terms of venues. It’s always been a venue I was most excited to play.

CB:  You were also active as an actor. Do you think that influenced your writing your music and your image?

LL:  Yes, for sure. I naturally worked a lot with texts even in acting school I tried myself creatively a lot. That developed me as a creative person. I really enjoyed it and there were some great things I did, but in Germany it’s not exactly a hub for tasteful TV production. In retrospect it’s not something where I feel I could fully unleashed myself creatively.

CB:  Do you see yourself doing acting projects in the future?

LL:  Yes, definitely, if it’s an awesome project. I’m just not in a situation where I depend on it for my living anymore. If there’s something that really interests me or challenges me creatively I can totally imagine it. But it’s hard to predict. I have a lot to do with music and that’s what I mainly enjoy doing now, but I don’t want to rule it out because I really enjoyed acting.

CB:  I want to quote from the song Leben lang. “I want everything to move, but at the same time I want everything to stay the same.” ( ich will, dass sich alles bewegt  Aber zur selben Zeit will ich, dass alles besteh’n bleibt ) I feel that contrasts both musically and lyrically run through your songs. Will these contrasts appear on your new album Pech released March 13 or is it something that generally runs through your music?

LL:  I’m involved in production everywhere, so everything is always cohesive. But I’d say the new album is even more ambivalent in terms of sound. I think you can feel the extremes and ambivalences of the current time in the music. The album isn’t completely finished yet. I’d say I’m about eighty percent there. I’ve been in the studio all the time finishing the album.

CB:  Are you tied to a location and need to sit in a studio to make music?

LL:  I have my studio at home now. So I’m basically there every day, and if I’m traveling I bring my laptop and keep working. If I’m in Berlin I work in the studio with others. Or if I’m traveling somewhere I make sure to go to a studio there as well. I try to keep at it all the time to maintain the energy. I can record anywhere. I usually don’t record in a studio but just in any room.