Smolasty - Big eyes made big numbers

Smolasty, actually Norbert Smoliński, is a Polish vocalist and music producer, whose songs many times broke the 50 million plays barrier. Does he deserve the title of one of the most popular artists on the polish music scene?

Smolasty – how did he start? Beginnings of career

Smolasty, already as a teenager felt connection to music. It was partly caused by the fact that he comes from a music-loving family. Smoliński in his interview with Dzień Dobry TVN said:

“My father tortured me with music when I was still in my mother’s belly. There were always vinyls of good bands, such as The Door or Lady Pank in the house”

These experiences inspired Smolasty to not only listen to music but to start creating it. In 2014, aged 19 years old, he had a debut on rapper’s Pablo Novacci’s record named “Galactico”. We could hear his voice in “21 Pesos song”. For it being his debut, we can agree that Smolasty did well. His first try on the rap scene definitely looks better than in the case of most today’s rappers.

After his great debut, Smolasty decided to continue his hard work. In 2015, he started a collaboration with rapper Kaz Bałagane. This project was certainly a big challenge, since this time, Smoliński produced music for all songs from the record. His bits were appreciated by the listeners, who started to see Smolasty’s future in the coming rap projects. His most popular song from this record is “Dr.Traphouse”, which today has more than 5 million views on YouTube.

Smolasty’s productions were characterized by high quality. 1 year after the collaboration with Kazem Bałagan, he presented to the world his first original mixtape called “Mr Hennessy”. The most popular song from this record is “Afterparty”. The clip from this song has more than 260 000 views. The mixtape was so good and it’s welcoming positive that the record label Warner Music Poland proposed their collaboration. Smoliński could not let this chance pass and signed a contract with the music giant. Then the numbers went up….

First successes

The collaboration with Warner Music Poland brought him extra means, which Smolasty could use. It resulted in the release of the song “Jestem, byłem, będę”, which at that time became his biggest hit. Its music video was of much higher quality than for the previous one – “Afterparty”. The song was awarded the gold record status. It was his first such achievement. These numbers could mean only one thing- Młode Wilki.

Młode wilki

The popkiller Młode Wilki is an initiative which focuses on choosing, awarding and promoting the most interesting new faces of the polish rap scene. It is also a polish version of the American XXL Freshman, which helped to promote such artists as Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Macklemore, Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller and other top artists.

Polish rappers, who presented in different editions of Młode Wilki, are for example: Otsochodzi, Reto, Oki, Jan Rapowanie, Tymek, White, Żabson and others. Smolasty was invited to the 5^th edition. The performance in Młode Wilki is always a huge distinction for every musician. Each edition, comes out with its own promotion song, where all the invited artists perform. In 2017, Młode Wilki presented to the fans the song “Dla nas”, in which there was mentioned the famous verse about the top rapper Bedoes’ mole. Smoliński was responsible for its production and refrain. The musician did amazing with this responsibility, which resulted in more than 25 million views on YouTube.

Smolasty – the most popular albums and songs

Młode Wilki was for Smolasty the springboard to success and becoming one of the most popular musicians in Poland. During the next years he consistently created music, regaled his fans with huge hits and great albums. He released 6 records since 2017:

„Jestem, Byłem, Będę” (2017)
„Los” (2017)
„Fake Love” (2018)
„Pełnia” (2020)
„Ghetto Playboy” (2021)
„Almost Goat” (2022)

The “Fake Love” album was awarded with platinum status, “Pełnia” – golden one, while “Almost Goat”- a diamond one, which means more than 150 000 records were sold.

Smolasty is an artist who has released many popular songs. At least 7 singles have golden status, 12- platinum and 3 – a diamond one.

The most popular song- “Duże Oczy” has more than 130 million views on YouTube, “Nim zajdzie słońce” – 90 million, and “Pijemy za lepszy czas” -70 million. These are only 3 songs with the biggest numbers of plays on YouTube. Many others have several dozen million views. Only a few musicians reach such big numbers as Smolasty. He is a phenomenon in the context of numbers.

Collaborations

Smolasty owes his numerical success to the thoughtful, often not obvious collaborations with other musicians. His voice like no other, can adapt to many completely different musicians’, resulting in explosive combinations.

We were able to hear Smoliński collaborating with Doda (the created the song “Nim zajdzie słońce”, which became a radio hit), Otsochodzi, Young Leosia, Kizo, Szpak, Ewa Farna, Roxie Węgiel or Białas. It is a wide range of artists that guarantees listeners new sounds that never get boring.

Of course in the case of project Młode Wilki, Smolasty collaborated with many popular rappers- Reto, Bedoes, PlanBe and others. However, they were not the only ‘’wolves’’( pol. ‘’wilki’’), with whom Smoliński recorded a song. One of his most unexpected collaborations was the song “Perła na dnie” with the musician Robert Gawliński, known from the band Wilki.

Smolasty- rates/ reviews

Kariera Smolastego pokazuje, jak bardzo jest utalentowany i pracowity. Nie boi się eksperymentować, współpracować z wieloma twórcami i uczestniczyć w wymagających projektach. Jego zaangażowanie w przemysł muzyczny pokazuje, że całkowicie zasługuje na liczby, które jego utwory generują.

Opinion Paweł Skarzyński
Translation by Nina Szuran
Fot. Profil FB artysty / GN Photography

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