Brandon Gonez with Smiley for an exclusive “Unfiltered Sessions” episode. (Courtesy: ry.ones)
From being mentored by Toronto’s most well-known rapper to paving his own lane, Smiley has made a name for himself and has gained international recognition.
At only 28 years old, he has accomplished being signed by a big record label, performed in front of thousands and collaborated with well known artists, but the rapper did face some adversity along the way.
The Brandon Gonez Show sat down with Smiley on this episode of “Unfiltered Sessions”, where he got candid about his journey to fame and the hardships that came with it.
Professionally known as Smiley, Alexander Eli Morand grew up in Pelham Park Gardens in Toronto, and got his start in music after he was expelled from school and out of boredom, went to a local studio with some friends.
Smiley gets candid on the hardships he’s faced during his rise to fame and how he got signed to OVO Sound. (Courtesy: ry.ones)
“I wasn’t even supposed to be on the song, but my friends told me, ‘yo, spit something’, you know,” Smiley told The Brandon Gonez Show.
The diss track called “Too Much” jumped started his career, which later led him to be invited to be an opening performer at OVO Fest in 2019.
Smiley spoke on his relationship with Drake and how Toronto’s iconic rapper looks out for him like an “older bro”. Smiley shared that he even put him up in an Airbnb in Los Angeles to record music.
At that time, the two were collaborating on a song called “Organization” which didn’t turn out the way Smiley had envisioned this dream experience to turn out.
“Basically one day we’re just chilling in the pool, and I see a page post the song ‘Organization’. It leaks. So now we’re like, ‘yo, the freak?’ Our dreams, everything crushed at this time,” he said.
But Smiley said that Drake continued to show him love and then eventually signed him on to his record label OVO Sound.
OVO Sound represents multiple well-known Canadian artists like Roy Woods, PARTYNEXTDOOR and dvsn.
Smiley shares there was another song leak situation that happened afterwards, when his and Drake’s song “Over The Top”.
“I was like, oh shit, this guy’s about to pull the shit, he’s about to think I’m the leaker,’” said Smiley.
This time around, the song still got an official release and has become the rapper’s most well-known song to date.
Although after the release of “Over The Top”, Smiley shares that he experienced a lot of online hate, but Drake helped him through this hard time by sharing similar experiences and acting as a mentor.
“Let’s just say it was just always good to see him just always reaching on, checking out, checking in on me, and you know even my family. Like everyone, my friends,” he said.
Smiley’s currently working on more solo music, testing out new sounds and he dropped his latest track “Heartless” featuring OVO Sound artist Baka Not Nice, which came out earlier this year in January.
Smiley gave an exclusive performance of his hit songs “2 Mazza” and “Over The Top” on The Brandon Gonez Show. (Courtesy: ry.ones)
He shares that the key to success is all about confidence, self-belief and hard work.
“Never think of a plan B, never. Just believe in yourself, manifest, and just do the work, you know, freaking overtime, overdrive. You have to really go crazy and just put out the music too, do content, and just never give up.”
Check out the exclusive Smiley interview and performances of his hits “Over The Top” and “2 Mazza” exclusively on The Brandon Gonez Show.
