The expression "breaking new grounds" could not be more apparent in the life of multi-disciplinary musician-entrepreneur Mahmoud Shehada aka TheRealMood.

From breaking a world record to musical breakthroughs, the singer-songwriter stays grounded and true to his priorities: Family first. While the singer-producer successfully released his latest single 'Another Wave'—an ode about "taking on another chapter in life" and facing all the challenges that came along the way—his wife recently delivered their second baby. Quite obviously, his pride exhumes from this and his Instagram feed displays a glimpse of what matters to him. musivv reached out to the Guinness World Record holder to check on what's breaking out in his career.

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Hi Mahmoud how are you? How are you coping with the pandemic? ‍

I’m good just had a baby girl today and learned to accept the pandemic for what it is I guess.‍

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How do you stay grounded considering your level of success in business, music sports, etc. ‍

I always look through the eyes of myself in 10 years and say that who I want to be. I keep chasing that vision and it changes when I get closer to the age, then I create a new set of goals to achieve. Everything I do, I do firstly for my family, my team and then lastly myself. I don’t spend time focusing on what was already done, you always need to look ahead. Not taking away from any achievements. If you’ve done great things you should be proud of them but look towards what could be done next. ‍

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I don’t spend time focusing on what was already done, you always need to look ahead.

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Tell us about the Guinness Record: Longest live marathon streaming. How did the idea come about? ‍

When the idea was presented to me it really pushed the challenger in me. I go live quite frequently on TikTok and figured 43 hours (GWR minimum requirement) straight is achievable. Also, the fact that no one has ever attempted this record gave me more incentive! There was never a plan to do it but I am not one to back down from a challenge. ‍

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What was your mental and physical preparation leading to the attempt to break the world record? ‍

Mentally it was all about ensuring that I believe in my ability to achieve targets or goals that I set. Patience was the key to succeeding in this attempt and no preparation could be done for that, it is literally an in-the-moment mental challenge that you need to overcome. Physically, I was just coming out of a food poising situation (hospitalized for 3 days) the week before the event. So I just ate light and healthy to the build-up and made sure I got 7 hours of sleep the night before and that’s really all I did. 

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How does this feat rank on your list of achievements? ‍

Ranking it is difficult because I was fortunate enough to achieve a few of my lifetime goals at an early age, but it is definitely in my top 10. ‍

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Mixed martial arts, how did that happen? Not a lot of musicians are into sports. What inspired you to take that direction?‍

My love for the sport and the discipline that it teaches you. A lot the patience I’ve learned and the ability to challenge myself to do things I didn’t know my body could do comes from what I’ve learned from training. 

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‍If you're to choose between music and sports what would it be? ‍

It is definitely music without a doubt. But I must say my love for sports is quite extreme. 

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You mentioned you want to bridge the gap between the local and international music scene, would you care to expand on that? ‍

I definitely feel like there is a gap from the sense that artists in the region find it very difficult to make it or break out into international markets. I’m looking to create a bridge that enables artists access to all markets they wish to focus on through Divine Intervention Entertainment. ‍

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Lastly, and most importantly, Drake or Kanye? (we know you love Tupac so he's a given) ‍

Not an easy one, aside from rap Kanye is one of the best producers I’ve grown up listening to, so I definitely can’t discount anything from him. Drake to me is more relatable due to the fact that we both are lyrically inclined and his music has consistently grown to reflect his story in different stages of his career. I’d hate to pick between the two. But seeing as I grew up in Toronto and Dubai… I gotta take my man Drizzy all day (smiles).

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The process for 'Another Wave' was quite intriguing considering it was a follow-up to his two previous songs 'Mind Right' and '2 Moods'. Writing the latest single was like a continuation of the journey. In the macro perspective, the song could speak of the different waves in life that he rides instead of breaking against. "True expression for me always comes out lyrically first," he concludes.

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"True expression for me always comes out lyrically first"

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