Over the past years, Diplo has released many banger songs like "Dat A Freak," "XXX 88," "Set Me Free," and many more, but little did his fans know that he also loves exploring the country genre.
According to NME, the musician returned to his country music persona named Thomas Wesley, which also happens to be his real name.
Diplo first introduced Wesley in 2020 after releasing "Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil." Today, he dropped the track titled "Wasted" along with collaborators Kodak Black and Koe Wetzel, his first country project in nearly three years.
The recent song was accompanied by a music video directed by Austin Peters, popularly known for previously working with Major Lazer for the documentary, "Give Me Future."
The release of "Wasted" comes after the musician was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album for his self-titled record and Best Dance/Electronic Recording for the song, "Forget My Love" with Miguel at this year's Grammy Awards, which will be on February 5.
In other updates, Diplo was photographed in November wearing a traditional Qatari dress in Doha, Qatar, as he was one of the performers at the Daydream Festival.
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Diplo's Country Music Origin
In a previous interview with Beat Route, the EDM artist said it's a funny coincidence that his real name fits for a country artist. Growing up, the genre surrounded him as he was raised in northern Ontario, Canada.
However, he lost his interest when he moved into the city and discovered other genres like dance music, rap, and EDM.
Over the past years, especially when Lil Nas X released "Old Town Road," Diplo decided to dabble into the country scene again as the track reignited his interest.
"For me, it was Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" that reignited my interest in country music again. How can you not be moved by Georgia-native's persistence to break down the doors of a genre that tried so swiftly to block him out?" he said.
Despite being a renowned musician in the EDM and pop scene, Diplo admitted that country music is a genre that is hard to break into.
The reason why is that there's a lot of "tradition" to the genre so musicians have to create music "in a way that tells people you're taking it seriously, even if you're putting your twist on it."
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