shark: Hi Felix, welcome to the interview! I'm really looking forward to talking to you today!

Felix: Me too, I'm very excited

shark: Great, let's get started. I have some interesting questions for you 👀

Felix: Omg shark, yes

shark: I've been wondering for a while now if you're related to the cat Felix. Could you explain how it is please?

Felix: Sadly not, but seeing my name every time I got to a supermarket is nice. But yеs, fair assumption

shark: Ahh, haha, maybe you could use the Fеlix cat as your profile picture though. I think it would suit you! Anyway, how did you come up with Felix? Is that your real name?

Felix: Yes, exactly. Many people ofc still know me as FelixAUT (Felix + three letter code of Austria) but thanks to @Gary I'm THE Felix

shark: Oh great, S/O to Gary! Now that we've covered the origin of your name, let's talk a little bit more personal. Could you tell us a little bit about you for those who don't know you too well?

Felix: Well, where do I start? I'm 21, turning 22 on the 30th of April, I'm from Austria and I recently started a new job, which really boosted my confidence (you have enough information to doxx me now 😭)

shark: Ohh, I wish you an early happy birthday Felix and congratulations on your new job! I promise I'm not tryna doxx you. Speaking of Austria though, how did a guy from Austria get into Genius? I know the community there is quite small. Could you tell us a little bit about your Genius beginnings and where it all started for you?

Felix: This is where the fun begins (Anakin Skywalker, Star Wars Episode III):

I started out in 2021 on Musixmatch and added a few lyrics, just to see if they actually end up on Spotify, lol.
But I quickly realised that Genius is just so much better. The second I switched sides I never wanted to go back again. I already knew Genius from YouTube and knew it had so many lyrics.

And this is where I noticed something: The Austrian artist that I gave lyrics on MXM, Alf Poier, had only 4 song pages and all where from @pressburg (Fun fact pressburg is the German name for Bratislava). The rest is history, I later discovered translations and now I'm a transcriber.

And no, I haven't fixed all Austrian songs and probably never will but I have actually started recruiting people, which is a challenge that I enjoy.

shark: Oh, the Austrian community must have been super underdeveloped when you first joined Genius! I'm glad you're here and actively trying to change that, Felix! Tell us more about your Genius contributions. What do you enjoy the most? Is it transcribing songs, writing Q&As and annotations, mentoring users, or something completely different?

Felix: I basically do anything I'm interested in, reaching from Metallica to small indie-pop artists with only one song released.

I used to be really into German Translations, I went kinda crazy there, haha. During my mentoring phase with timo and laven I started to enjoy regular scribes wayyyy more, fixing pressburg feels soooo good.
I still do Deutsche Übersetzungen but way less than before

shark: I see, I noticed you are pretty active in the German channels, which brings me to the question. How connected is the Austrian scene with the German one on Genius? Is it like one big scene where everybody helps each other whether it's Austrian or German, or can you still see a certain barrier between the scenes?

Felix: Right now Germany and Austria is just one community (Oh god, history repeats itself 💀 ) and that works out fine for the most part. Most new Austrian artists also don't sing in dialect anymore, so the language barrier is nonexistent. But what is a problem is that songs from Austria are often an afterthought if they aren't rap. That is unfortunately a result of German songs just getting more views.

shark: Interesting, it's true that German rap songs are really popular on Genius, unlike Czech ones for example. Well, since I'm from the Czech Republic, I have to ask about the Czech Republic. I know you've been there a lot and you know the language a bit. Could you please elaborate on that? I'm really excited!

Felix: Ah yes, I have been there a lot, f.e. Ceske Budejovice, Cesky Krumlov, Lipno and ofc Prague. My family liked to go there a lot when I was a child. Language-wise, well, I know some words, stuff I picked up from my visits. Dobry den 🗣️ Pozor 🗣️

Going there is kinda magical, South-Bohemian forests are really magical and the towns are beautiful.

shark: Pozor! That's funny lol. Let's talk about music now. You've already mentioned Metallica. Can you tell us some bands or artists you listened to as a kid? What kind of music did you grow up with?

Felix: Iron Maiden, Die Fantastischen Vier, Black Sabbath, ABBA, S.T.S. and a lot of radio-pop music, like Lady Gaga (The queen), Avicii, Calvin Harris or Ich + Ich and so much more
shark: Oh okay, thank you! Can you recommend any songs that you have liked recently? Also, what tracks or albums are you looking forward to this year?

Felix: My LastFM says: Lots of Metallica, the songs "One," "Battery," "Orion," and "Fade to Black." Also Bad Bunny dropping DTMF was insane, I wasn't expecting that he had another great album (arguably his best) in him. Right now I'm not looking forward to anything, but you never know.

shark: Thank you, we have very different tastes. No worries though! I was wondering what other hobbies you have besides music and Genius?

Felix: I'm a semi-active simracer and already competed in international tournaments, most recently in Valencia.
I also like languages (Makes sense, haha), I'm currently working on getting my Spanish back to where it was.
And I also like exploring new places by train and see what's going on there.

shark: Ohh, I'm not familiar with simracing at all, I had to search it up! Could you please explain us what simracing is and for how long you've been doing it for?

Felix: It's virtual racing, based on real racing series and events. You race with dedicated simracing hardware and there are many games that fall into the category sim, like Gran Turismo, Assetto Corsa or iRacing. Since the pandemic real racing and sim racing moved closer and there are many real racing drivers using simracing to prepare for real races, the most prominent example is Max Verstappen.

I've been simracing since 2019, I started out with a steering wheel on my desk and now I have a dedicated setup.

shark: That's super exciting, Felix, I didn't know any of that! Now I have to ask you which racing game is your favorite, and which car brand/car model is your favorite?

Felix: It has to be Assetto Corsa. As much as the AI racing sucks, the driving is sooooo good. I'm actually not a car guy but if I have to pick a favourite, it has to be Toyota

shark: Great, I only played Assetto Corsa once haha, it was too technical for me. I have to agree though, Toyotas are cool!

Now I have two more questions for you Felix to finish this interview. I would like to know what your future plans are for Genius, if you have any. For example, do you have any ambitions to become an Editor in the future?

Felix: Yes, I'm working on that. It will take time because my mentor is busy right now but I have the time. I also want to have at least one other transcriber helping me with Austrian songs, specifically dialect songs 🥺
shark: Oh, good luck with that, Felix, I hope you find someone!

Is there anything else on your mind that you would like to answer, something I forgot, didn't mention?

Felix: Yes, when my girl asks me if we can cuddle I always answer: Sorry babe, I have to scribe 😎

shark: You're cold, Felix! A real Transcriber dedicated to his profession for real 😂 😂. It was really nice talking to you, Felix, I hope you enjoyed the interview too. Take care!

Felix: Thank you, it was an honour!