Yet Makai’s definition of “relevance” is different from the actions often associated with the term like capitalizing on some flavor-of-the-month trend or watering down material and falling into lockstep with whatever is presently considered “radio friendly.” Makai’s definition of “staying relevant” is the emotional kind. This emotional relevance is why audiences relate to his music and strike an instant connection. He is the rare artist whose constant self-reflection doesn’t feel self-serving. Makai’s music is about inclusion; it’s about sharing a process, not a set of empty platitudes. It’s about saying, “I’ve been there too; I‘m going through this now.”An artist with an unwavering substance and dynamism when it comes to storytelling who prides himself on closing the gap between stage and crowd, Makai’s introduction to music couldn’t have come from two places more organic than family and neighborhood. Raised by a single mother juggling multiple jobs at one time, Makai was often left in the care of his older brother and sister who were already making their living performing music. In a decision driven by necessity, they took Mike along to gigs, keeping an eye on him from the stage. It was here that he learned how music impacted his siblings and they shared their passion for it, creating common bonds with crowds of complete strangers.

Music defines an artist when he begins creating for himself and stops trying to deliver what others want. After a Dreamworks deal fizzled, thanks to corporate restructuring, shifting views on “pop,” and just plain bad timing, Makai lost his desire to create music. Yet, this stagnant and disheartening time in Makai’s life was short-lived, thanks to a sit-down with lifelong friend and Grammy nominated producer Jimmy Greco. Greco helped Makai to deviate from dying major labels. Together, they agreed to make a record purely about making sense of life and articulating struggles and dreams. It would be called Awaken, and it wouldn’t be about caving to mainstream conventions already on their way to becoming clichés. It would be nothing but words and music coming from the heart, a record bringing justice to its title by not just reliving the past but anticipating the future. Greco asked Makai to start his project by not taking a kid gloves approach and tiptoeing around painful memories.

Listening to Awaken, one can discern that it began from a raw place, full of loose ends. This latest album builds on Makai’s signature approach of embracing vulnerability and making music that purges, therapeutically heals, and most importantly resonates with others. Where songs like “You I Will Never Be” shows how Makai came to grips with growing up without a father, a nonexistent relationship, other tracks explore existing and evolving relationships. The single “A Hold On My Heart” is a unique love song from a man’s perspective. With gut-level expression, its instrumentation mirrors the ebbs and flows of a couple’s time together: soft to loud to soft again. With a record created on his own terms, it only made sense to Makai to release it through Greco’s independent label Airgo Music, a venture that has embraced the digital age and takes a grassroots approach to bringing the music of talented artists like Makai to the masses.

Soon Makai will bring Awaken’s songs to audiences and fans across a variety of genres. His live show is an extension of everything heard in his recorded work. Makai remembers what it was like to see performers and storytellers with nothing to hide who were comfortable freeing their emotions onstage. A Michael Makai show is a night out, a performer making sense of his own life in an open forum with the crowd finding a way to relate the message to their own experiences. That is relevance. That is a future full of possibilities.