'Mauvey is a character': emerging singer-songwriter Bawah on changing his name
Q&A | CBC Music | Posted: May 9, 2025 1:25 PM | Last Updated: May 9
The singer, formerly known as Mauvey, opens up about new music on The Block.
Newly renamed singer-songwriter Bawah (born Ransford Laryea) might be recognizable to fans: his previous stage name was Mauvey, a moniker he performed under from 2018 to 2024. He was born in Ghana and spent time in the U.K. before moving to Vancouver and carving out a space for himself by penning alternative songs that fuse pop, rock and more.
With his new artist name came a new artistic direction, which he opened up about in a new interview on The Block.
WATCH | The official music video for 9:
"I'm changing my name because I'm not the same anymore and my music is not the same anymore," he wrote on Instagram.
While chatting with The Block's host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe, Bawah discussed the factors behind his musical shift, how playing sports has informed his music and more.
The full conversation can be heard above, and you can read an excerpt below.
A few years back, you wrote, "Mauvey was born as a result of my obsessions with storytelling, songwriting, cinema and fashion," as we touched on right there. [You said] "I was angry, frustrated, happy, grateful, in love, and desperate for the world to change. I was all of this all at once, and so was my music, and it still is, it's Mauvey." So what changed from who Mauvey [was] at that time?
Yeah, I mean, the interesting [thing] for me is that that bio, that's me. That's still me.
The seed?
Exactly, yeah, but Mauvey is a character and I created the character, I think, out of fear. I came up playing sports and I was always taught to never get too high, never get too low, as far as keeping your emotions even keeled and I know with sports and with music, too much love can get to your head or too much hate can make you quit. And so I just always wanted to be able to present myself in an even way. So creating Mauvey meant that if I got all the adoration in the world, I wouldn't take it personally. And if I get hated by everybody, I wouldn't take it [personally], because they're hating a character that I've created and not me as a person, [because] I know I am sensitive. So that's why.
And with Bawah, I also had to tell myself [that]. I kind of checked myself last year, and [said], "That's cool to create this mask, but you're robbing people of who you are," and that's part of the artist's journey as well. For me, I want people to believe me, I want people to buy tickets, buy [things], watch stuff when I ask them to watch it. So I need to give them the real."
WATCH | A Deeper Dream by Bawah:
I get that though. I get that, you know, putting yourself out there is challenging. So let me talk about basketball for a second. As you spoke about being an athlete and being coached into not getting too high [or] getting too low, can you talk a little bit about that basketball pre-artist version, I guess, of yourself? Because we have all these alter egos, we have these careers that we've done, and we've had these things that we've done that we don't do anymore. But, I mean, I feel like it's still part of your life.
Yeah, I mean, just to start off with, I've always said, and I still believe, I'm the best basketball playing musician on planet Earth. Like, I know that people try to come at me all the time, but the reality is, I'm better at basketball than you. So that's just the first thing. So, just step one. Two, but for real, it was my first love. And it's the first thing that really helped me. I got bullied during school, and it was when I started playing basketball, because [of] this kid who was like the biggest bully that I had. I obviously sucked at basketball because I never played. And he was like, "Aren't Black people supposed to be good at basketball?" And it was just a really trivial comment. But that really stuck with me and I was like, "You know what, you're right, that's true."
And summer holidays came and I played every single day. I watched like Allen Iverson and Kobe and I just, I literally played every day. All so that when I went back to school and we had PE, it wasn't even organized basketball, it was PE basketball. But I could just destroy this one person. That's what I did, and I never lost at anything ever again. Like, he won the cross-country the year before. I don't even like long distance [running]. I won at that.
You chased down this bully for your whole life.
And that was at the start of school, so for five years I just destroyed this person and um, and for no reason. I didn't get any joy or satisfaction from it.
No?
Not enough, basically.
That's a lesson in and of itself.
One hundred per cent, yeah. But it sowed a seed. It made me understand the type of person I am, resilience, and that I didn't wanna be typical. If you tell me, "No," I'm gonna do this. I had to control that, because that was definitely on the table of the type of person I could become. But I really hate injustice.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.