PR expert Maxim Behar debuted on the music scene with the song "PR We Are"

Hosts (Maria Konstantinova and Viktor Dremsizov): That's right the song premiered simultaneously in New York and Sofia. How did he decide on this challenge and what motivated him to take up music we will now find out from the man himself. We say good morning, it's very nice to have you with us, Mr. Behar.

Maxim Behar: Good morning, thank you very much. Great start to the week.

Host: How did you decide to take on this challenge? This is a challenge for you, isn’t it?

Maxim: I don't know if I decided it or if it was fate. About a year ago someone attacked Big Sha on Facebook and I defended him. He messaged me to express his gratitude and to say that he owes me. I told him that one day we might record a song together. From then on he would text me every 3 to 4 months to ask me when and where would we record the song. He told me to write the lyrics, as he and his son would write and produce the beat. One day they told me that they were coming back to Bulgaria for a tour of Rubber Heads. I arrived in the studio with the song text written in Bulgarian, but later on, we decided to rewrite it in English, as the song genre implies it. I started dictating the new text and Lil Sha got it down on his phone. In 10 minutes we were ready.

Host: And how did you choose to sing for your PR profession? Not for love, not for a breakup but for PR.

Maxim: No. I really wanted to do something for Public Relations. I’ve been in this business for 30 years. That was my original idea, and the lyrics were like that. When Lil Sha told me to give him a rhyme for PR to catch on from somewhere I told him I didn't know any other word but Behar. He latched onto that word and that's how the lyrics started. It was a great pleasure to do this project.

Host: How long did it take you to record this song?

Maxim: We recorded it in one day without leaving the studio. Big Sha said that this had never happened to him before. Usually, it takes days, weeks, or even months to get a song done. There was chemistry in the studio. It was really warm in the studio, as there were no air conditioners there.

Host: Mr. Behar, were you worried or bothered by the criticism about going into music or doing a song?

Maxim: No. I sent it in a raw version before we made the video to a few friends of mine - Martin Zahariev, Igor Markovsky, and Petyo Punchev. There's a very talented Bulgarian singer, Ilko Birov, who I listen to quite often because he makes very good pop. Everybody gave me a piece of advice on what to do, and how to do it. Everyone told me that I would receive a lot of criticism and a lot of people would not like it. But I told myself a lot of other people would like it. Last Tuesday we promoted it in New York on radio Hot 21. In 5 days, it got close to 14,000 plays on Spotify, which means there will be criticism, worldwide.

Host: But there will be people who will like it of course.

Maxim: Again, I was very pleased I was at the World PR Congress in Warsaw last week. There I presented it to the board of ICCO the global PR organization of which I was president a few years ago.

Host: How did they react?

Maxim: That's 30-40 people from all over the world. They all said, "Wow. Great song. Send it to us. We'll download it from Spotify right away."

Host: Do you have ambitions for the next song? Are you preparing one? Is it going to be about PR again or something else?

Maxim: I want to do another couple of songs with Big Sha and his son. The second song will be about politicians. I've written the lyrics and sent them to Lil Sha to write the music.

Host: When can we expect Mr. Behar's next song?

Maxim: Next year sometime. Let's get this song off to a good start. Let's see the pros and cons. You know this year I published two books; I was involved in a British film production. I got a call late at night from the casting director, the film is called Very Close. She told me that the director had come in late in the evening and showed my picture on the phone. He told her he wanted me for a role. That's how I wrote the song. It gives me a chance to look at my serious business a little sideways. These are creative projects that are super interesting. And my business is very creative. And I'd be very happy if I got more listeners. There are already a lot of American radio stations spinning the song. When I switch the station to Hot 21, I can hear it playing. This really encourages me

Host: That's commendable. Should we expect another song or even an album soon?

Maxim: I have no ambitions. We promoted it to American and Bulgarian radios. Then Nikolay Yanchovichin the director of BG Radio said to me, "Go make more songs because we need good Bulgarian music". But again, it was the chemistry that came between us, a great pleasure. I will be very happy if the listeners like it.

Host: We wish you the best of luck with whatever you take on.

You can see the whole interview here.