Michael Persall, better known by his artist name MICKY is a regular fixture in New York City’s live music scene, where he made his come-up. His sonic influences range from heartfelt Motown classics to introspective reggae hits and old-school rock, but what really underpins MICKY’s broad musical style is his relatability, lyricism and ability to conjure emotions from his listeners. His latest single and video ‘Northstar’ do just that by taking us on a journey that reminds us all of the value of hope, resilience and hard work.
When asked to describe the inspiration behind the track, Michael tells us that;
“Northstar is about my journey these past few years living as an artist and entrepreneur in music tech. The line in the song ‘Northstar never lost sight through the movement’ speaks to the challenges building a company and career as an artist, and developing the patience to learn from failure and stay focused on moving forward despite the setbacks.”
The visuals to ‘Northstar’, cleverly echo MICKY’s sentiments of building oneself from the ground up with his choice of a VHS-Esque, home-video style treatment that gives off an organic, rough and ready feel. The video is filled with seemingly self-shot footage of the artist followed by flashing, glitch-like lyric overlay, which further adds to the grittiness of the self-made entrepreneur’s song and its meaning. The track itself is set to be released on August 28th and sounds like it would blend seamlessly into Post Malone’s early discography.
‘Northstar’ is the cool, synthy, trap-pop number that’ll act as the lead single for MICKY’s upcoming six-track mixtape of the same title. The mixtape includes previously released singles like ‘Racehorse’, the motivational indie anthem and ‘Strike’, a bouncy, piano-led soul number. MICKY’s Northstar project takes you smoothly through a range of genres with each song adding a unique style, value and meaning to the message of the tape.
Michael Persall (MICKY) is an entrepreneur, songwriter, and recording artist based in New York City. Growing up in a family-run bed and breakfast in central California, Micky developed his entrepreneurial chops at a young age. He moved to New York to attend New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he studied entrepreneurship and the music industry. Upon graduating, Micky played over 400 shows in NYC in a year in an effort to throw himself into the market, develop his live set, and build his network.
Shortly after playing hundreds of shows in NYC and developing a side hustle building websites for artists, Michael connected with a fellow NYU alum and helped launch the online/offline network for the music industry, Treble. Treble launched in 2017 with over 30k signups on an iOS app with coverage from Complex and The Wall Street Journal, to name a few. At this time, Micky and team launched Treble Tuesdays, a weekly event series to market the app that took off in NYC, bringing in over 10k music industry attendees in a year and earning an official showcase at SXSW in 2019 at Empire Garage.
Over the past few years building Treble, MICKY has released a single that has hit over 1.5m streams, a single that has been placed in TNT’s Animal Kingdom, as well as a flurry of demos in 2020 that will accompany his upcoming single ‘Northstar’, on the Northstar Mixtape. This will also mark the launch of Micky’s, Northstar Records, an independent label and management company that works with cause-driven talent.
Looking ahead, Treble has just released its invite-only web beta with partnerships in place with brands and music companies such as Universal Music Group and Jagermeister. Micky also enjoys A&R consulting on the side and recently signed emerging soul singer/rapper Wiley from Atlanta to Downtown Records.
LInks
https://www.instagram.com/michaelpersall
https://twitter.com/listentomicky
https://open.spotify.com/artist
