He grew up with karaoke and brass band music, then made his way from “The Voice Kids Germany” to Popfest Wien: Lukas Oscar‘s soul-tinged pop is full of promise and goes down as smoothly as a throat lozenge.
Gelo-Revoice is the singer’s secret weapon, a throat lozenge guaranteed to heal any hoarseness and soothe the sorest of throats. Lukas Oscar is a fan of them – which is perfect, because he and his voice have big plans. The young singer-songwriter lives in Vienna and has been making music for a while now – a little reminiscent of James Blake, not the worst reference. He was born in Fürstenfeld, to a Philippine mother and a Styrian father, and grew up surrounded by karaoke and brass band music: “It was inevitable that I’d make music.”
He started taking piano lessons at the age of six, he won “The Voice Kids Germany” contest at thirteen, and now he’s working on his debut album – not a bad progression. His single “Bloodhound” already climbed the FM4 annual charts; he practically melted the main stage an Popfest Wien, and he opened for Khrunangbin and Parcels at Vienna’s METAStadt. Hats off!
Everything Everywhere All at once
Lukas likes writing songs about thoughts he’d rather avoid in everyday life. Growing up is hard: the first bills landing in the mailbox, the first heartbreaks, the first failures. “That’s why a lot of my songs are about letting go and allowing yourself to feel things – to me, that’s why songwriting exists.”
Lukas Oscar says his music is “everything, everywhere, all at once”. “I’d like to be everything, be everywhere, and it often makes me sad that I can’t. But it just makes me enjoy being able to have this colorful landscape in music even more.” A Lukas Oscar song can take shape in a lot of different ways, but it usually happens in random situations: a lyric pops into his mind, like a hailstone on the head. At the end of the day, he says, it’s like keeping a daily journal – you just have to see what comes out. The most important thing, though, is connecting with others: “People are so beautiful. I wish I could meet all eight billion of them. The fact that I can’t make a connection with eight billion people is unsettling sometimes, but I’m trying my best – one at a time.”
And since Austria has a good music scene and people support one another, there are the obligatory collabs: with Joe Traxler on “Braindead” and “No Love, No Cinnamon” and with W1ZE on “Painted Pain” – the video was named Music Video of the Year at the Vienna International Shorts festival in 2023.
Karaoke and Brass
“Fly Me To The Moon” is his mother’s favorite karaoke song; his father’s favorite hobby is playing trumpet in the brass band. The karaoke machine often comes out at family events – and the singing can go on until 4 in the morning; age plays no role. Lukas Oscar was singing karaoke in his diapers. There are photos.
But everyone knows the situation: karaoke is only fun until someone really good shows up. “I mean, let’s be real: karaoke is flexing. You pick the song that you know you can deliver best. I think as a kid I was very much like, ‘Okay, I need to deliver, so I’m gonna sing that Adele song where she belts so high, yeah!’ And now I’m just really happy that I’ve come down from that a little bit. I have the feeling a lot less that I need to prove myself or whatever; I’m just here to have fun. Karaoke is competition; music is fun.”
New Single: “Life Keeps Flashing”
Lukas Oscar’s new single, “Life Keeps Flashing“, is out now – a preview of his forthcoming debut album. “The single is about letting go, not questioning your feelings anymore. Life is over quickly, it’s like a light that flashes in your face – that’s why it’s important to take time for yourself and think, ‘Hey, it’s really nice to be here!'”