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00:00 Why did you want to have a chat with us about the sound campaign?
00:02 You can reduce stigma by like, you know, there's trends of saying
00:07 let's normalise this or normalise that.
00:09 I think a better way than just telling people to normalise something
00:12 is just being normal about it and just speaking about yourself.
00:16 That's why I try to just emphasise having good people around you.
00:19 Thanks for having a chat Sage.
00:28 Let's talk about you growing up then.
00:30 Gwynedd, what was that like for you? Paint a picture for us.
00:33 Beautiful scenery, freezing, a lot of rain.
00:36 But yeah, interesting. A bit of a culture shock for me.
00:39 I was born in Essex. I was there till I was seven.
00:42 So I'm moving somewhere where the language is completely different.
00:45 The culture is completely different. Yeah, it was a lot.
00:49 You adjust to it. You assimilate somewhat in terms of
00:52 I learnt the language and learnt what being from Wales means, etc.
00:57 You got Ayrtoda and Sage Todd's as well.
01:00 Is there a difference between the two?
01:04 Not really. It's mostly for practical reasons of people being able to say it easily, quickly, etc.
01:10 They're both me. Just one is a more potentially
01:15 exaggerated version of my thoughts and feelings.
01:19 Like when I'm just chatting with you now, I'm not going to tell you
01:24 everything I feel to its deepest extent, you know.
01:27 Anytime I have a conversation with someone, but through the music,
01:31 you're going to hear a more raw version of me.
01:33 Obviously, music is such a big part of your life, but
01:42 how much did it have an influence in shaping who you are?
01:47 I'd say it's the other way around. It's more so my life shaping the music
01:50 than music shaping me. I think it's just a positive outlet
01:53 for negativity, a way for me to get some sort of catharsis from life
01:57 and my experiences and putting it into the music.
02:00 And you perform as a job. What's that like for you? How do you manage that?
02:05 It's a switch I have to flick.
02:07 Is it?
02:07 Like in my daily life, you were speaking to me outside.
02:10 I wasn't necessarily shy, but I'm more, I'm just chill, you know, most of the time.
02:15 But when I'm about to jump on stage, it's more so you flick the switch and then I'm Sage
02:20 and I'm here to perform right now. And then once that's done, I'm chilling again.
02:24 And it was definitely something I actively had to overcome.
02:27 I remember even when Round Around started to go a bit viral online,
02:32 I had only performed once live at that point, and it went terribly.
02:38 I almost cried. That was like a year or two before that.
02:41 So after that, I was like, OK, do I want to do this music thing?
02:45 I have to perform if I'm going to do music.
02:47 So I found a random open mic in Finsley in London and I was just like, OK, loads of old
02:54 drunk people there. And then for me, that was like, OK, I can do this now.
02:58 Yeah.
02:58 I just went there with my laptop, did a few songs. I was like, OK, I'm ready.
03:01 In this campaign, we talk a lot about the notion of masculinity.
03:06 What does Welsh masculinity mean to you, Sage Tards? What do you reckon?
03:10 That is, yeah, that is a very interesting one.
03:12 What does it look like? My day to day is just a grind right now, I'll be honest.
03:17 I'm sure a lot of young men will say that.
03:18 For me, it'll be looking after the people that matter to me,
03:22 being there for my friends, being there for my family, looking after people when I can.
03:26 There's a more so something I just try and embody.
03:28 I feel like if someone spent time with me,
03:30 that even just through the way I talk, my mannerisms, that's what it means to me.
03:35 It's just a feeling more than anything else.
03:38 Somewhat, because I feel like I have some really positive examples in my life of masculine men.
03:45 So being able to embody some similar traits to them, etc.
03:49 And I have good blueprints.
03:51 So it's just a question of taking what's useful and discarding what's not.
03:56 My dad's definitely a huge example of a great male role model.
04:03 Discipline. I'd say strength of will, strength of character,
04:07 integrity. So be a man of your word.
04:11 Say what you mean. Don't snake around things.
04:13 He's instilled those things in me.
04:15 Be someone other people can rely on as much as you can.
04:19 Why did you want to have a chat with us about the Siren campaign?
04:24 And it focuses primarily about trying to stop violence against women.
04:29 But the way of doing that is trying to understand how men think and why men don't want to open up
04:35 about their things, which does eventually lead to violence against women.
04:38 You can reduce stigma by, you know, there's trends of saying,
04:42 let's normalise this or normalise that.
04:45 I think a better way than just telling people to normalise something
04:49 is just being normal about it and just speaking about yourself.
04:52 That's why I try to just emphasise having good people around you.
04:56 That way, when I go to my people, my friends,
05:00 I can get a real feedback instead of just egging me on or whatever.
05:06 When I go, when I have my FaceTime calls with my friends asking about whatever,
05:12 they'll tell me their honest opinion and then you can take it and do what you want with that.
05:18 I'm a millennial, but I look at Gen Z and I think of them as being the most kind of
05:24 progressive in that way, in terms of talking about their feelings.
05:28 I think there's a lot of knowledge and information out there.
05:32 And I think we're "intellectual" more so than maybe previous generations.
05:37 But I don't think that equates to wisdom.
05:39 I think those are two different things.
05:42 You can know all you need to know about a subject and not be able to apply it.
05:45 As well, I don't know if you can relate, but I think
05:48 it can be difficult to open up in a general sense, because I think as young men,
05:55 we work better, me anyway, I work better with solutions.
06:01 More so than just speaking.
06:04 Me included, that's what a lot of young men need or desire anyway.
06:10 Like some sense of community, solution, purpose, as you mentioned earlier, purpose.
06:17 Purposelessness can cause a lot of issues.
06:27 Singe, let's talk about Gone Scene Blocked.
06:30 Give us a bit of a taste as to what it's about.
06:32 That's what it says on the tin.
06:33 It's about, I guess, relationships in the modern day and how they can be quite disposable,
06:42 or how they can feel that way.
06:43 So, gone, as in gone from your life, scene, left unseen.
06:47 If anyone uses technology today, you can see when someone sees your messages.
06:52 And then blocked, you have the option to completely block someone out of your life
06:57 on social media, etc.
06:59 And I highlight as well, I guess, the young men facing the challenge that is breakups.
07:05 I've had a few breakups myself, and they are, I think you kind of underestimate how
07:10 hard and horrible they are.
07:12 Do you reckon there's ever pressure to have the male bravado thing,
07:16 of you've got to have everything together and always be the guy that's always happy,
07:21 you're always the guy?
07:23 Definitely.
07:25 I think there is, and I think some of it is warranted in the sense that
07:28 I'm not vulnerable with everybody.
07:32 I don't believe I need to be.
07:34 But I think it's important to have a group of people that you can be very open with.
07:38 And if you have a good friend group that you can trust, then that sort of
07:44 omits a lot of that potential insecurity or whatever.
07:51 If you have people that you can trust and talk to, then yeah.
07:54 I don't know if you feel this way, but sometimes there's pressure for when guys do something
07:57 in a group, they have to follow the group consensus or whatever.
08:00 Say if one of the boys said something that was a little bit inappropriate or maybe backwards,
08:05 or even something a bit sexist, but you think there's that pressure for guys to fit in.
08:10 Fitting in is more important than doing the right thing.
08:13 Do you know what I mean?
08:14 I think that exists.
08:15 I can't currently relate personally, because I only really want to surround myself with
08:20 people that are like-minded, so I don't want to have to be challenging my friend every
08:26 time and being like, "Yo, don't watch what you're saying, this, that, this, that."
08:30 If we're like-minded generally, you don't have to do that.
08:33 But I think if you are in that situation, yeah, you should definitely say something.
08:38 If something...
08:39 But I think there's even a wider conversation to be had if you're in a group of friends
08:46 and you don't morally agree with a lot of their views, then you might...
08:50 I don't know, there might be more conversations to be had with them.
08:54 That's a good point.
08:55 Yeah, maybe not just in that one moment, but...
08:57 Yeah, you might want to look, reflect and think, "Okay, maybe I should be around more
09:02 like-minded people," or not.
09:04 It's up to you, you know?
09:05 Yeah, exactly.
09:06 Sound it out, get sound advice, be sound as.
09:10 Sound it out, get sound advice, be sound as.
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