Australian rapper Masked Wolf, born Harry Michael Avramidis, will be performing December 31 on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest on ABC. But while the show is now in its 50th year, the rapper admits that, as an Aussie, he'd never heard of it before.
"I mean, our New Year's Eve is, like, the Harbor Bridge in Sydney and, the fireworks there," he tells ABC Audio. "They do a massive fireworks show, which is like $7 million or something, it's huge. But the New Year's Rockin' Eve? No idea."
But now that he's familiar, Wolf says it's definitely an honor to be included.
"I feel like if you're an Australian and you're included in anything American internationally, it's something you should be privileged to be in," he notes. "I've spoken with Ryan [Seacrest] before in an interview and that was just a privilege alone in itself. So for me...I'm taking everything as it comes, but I hope they like the Aussie sound and how natural I am and what I speak about."
It's what he speaks about that led to his global hit "Astronaut in the Ocean," Wolf says.
"I think once people found out what it was truly about -- the message of feeling out of place, especially during the time when it was released, it was, y'know, the pandemic at its core -- it really resonated with a lot of listeners," notes Wolf. "Like, 'Hey, that's how I feel and he was was actually willing to speak out about it.'"
"And it's not just with music," he adds. "It could be anything: your job, losing your job, stuff like that. So I just think it connected because it was real."
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest kicks off Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.