Karl Wolf has carved out a lasting legacy in Canadian music, and now he’s embracing new sounds, fresh projects, and the chance to give back to the scene that shaped him.
Catching up with Now Toronto, the “Africa” singer shared that life in the limelight hasn’t been his main focus lately.
Two years ago, Wolf launched 4AM Vibes Records, a new label meant to mentor emerging talent and build a forthcoming music-and-tech platform. A major part of that vision included signing his first artist, electro-pop singer-songwriter Dani Doucette.
“I’ve been doing everything,” Wolf said. “I wear so many hats. I’ve been an executive at a label, I’m an artist, I’ve been a producer, so I kind of know the game and I think I know exactly how to change and move to the next level of streaming.”
Don’t get him wrong — Wolf says he enjoys being a frontman, but he values the craft just as much as being in the spotlight.
“I could be making music 24/7. Even if I wasn’t famous for it, I’d still love doing it,” he said, noting that his writing credits already run deep, including on Jamaican singer OMI’s international hit “Hula Hoop.”
“I’ve written for so many artists who’ve done really well,” he added. “I love both sides of it — but being a frontman is fun too.”
Even so, Wolf has had a busy 2025, with several songs steadily dropping over the course of the year. His latest is “Body Talk,” a dancefloor-ready hit he says was inspired by a trip to Cancún, Mexico. Also influenced by his time living in Montreal, where he was exposed to French nu-disco clubs and artists like Stardust, Mojo, and Daft Punk, he says the single is a tribute to the music that shaped him.
A CITY THAT ‘SET THE TONE’
Paying homage to different sounds isn’t anything new for the entertainer. Alongside “Body Talk,” his TikTok hit “Yeah Habibi,” a modern Middle Eastern-influenced remix to Usher’s 2004 hip-hop club smash “Yeah!” continues to rack up massive numbers online, garnering billions of views on the platform.
As a Lebanese-Canadian artist, Wolf has always placed his heritage at the centre of his music. With songs like “Yalla Habibi” becoming mainstream, he says when he began incorporating Arabic sounds into pop music more than 20 years ago, there was no blueprint to follow.
“When I first started doing it, I was one of the first — they call me the father of A-pop now, Arabic pop. There’s actually a genre now, but at the time we didn’t have anyone to look to,” he said, also pointing to artists like Massari and Belly as others who helped establish the sound.
Wolf reflects on the Toronto music scene as a whole with pride, crediting his friend Kardinal Offishall with paving the way for the city’s global stars, including Drake, The Weeknd and Justin Bieber.
“They’ve set the tone already. I never did anything anyway,” Wolf laughed. “I just put the Habibis on notice. People come up to me and they’re like, ‘Yo Karl, I was seen because of you.’ I’m so happy just doing that.”
WHAT’S NEXT, HABIBI?
When he’s not working, Wolf keeps things local — naming Bloor Street Lebanese restaurant Amal as his go-to — while exploring personal interests ranging from artificial intelligence to UFOs (the latter, he predicts, we’ll see as early as 2027).
But until then, the songwriter says his next chapter is focused on creating space for emerging artists. He notes that today’s musicians don’t have the same visibility his generation did on platforms like MuchMusic, and says he’s currently developing something aimed at supporting as many as two million artists by 2026.
“I love performing but there’s something in me that wants to help the artists that are coming next… Let’s sort of educate and help the new artists, and give them a platform that’s even better than what we had,” he said. “That’s my Opus right now.”
With the new year approaching, Wolf shows no signs of slowing down — curious, creative, and focused on whatever comes next.
“I can’t tell what stage of music I’m in… I’m loving performing live, I think that’s something that people are craving these days,” he said.
Looking ahead, he’s also leaning into revisiting the songs that defined an era. “I’m excited to go back to the old hits – people love that. It’s like nostalgia is back,” Wolf added. “Once you see the Backstreet Boys come back, you realize, you know, we could do a comeback too.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source nowtoronto.com ’
