Speaker 1: 00:12
Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to another episode of YNA Talks. Uh, we got DeAndre here on the spotlight. DeAndre just got done recording a song and he's got a few more that he's gonna record. Tell the audience, tell everybody kind of what you got going on in your life and uh where people can find you at.
Speaker 2: 00:30
Well, right now I'm just working on a new RB project. Uh you can find me on Instagram, DeAndre underscore Adonis or on Twitter, underscore Adonis underscore 15, and then everywhere in terms of streaming services, Apple Music, Spotify, Title, SoundCloud, all of that.
Speaker 1: 00:48
Nice. So, how long have you been making music for?
Speaker 2: 00:52
Uh it's now it's been about five years.
Speaker 1: 00:55
Five years, wow.
Speaker 2: 00:56
Yeah.
Speaker 1: 00:58
Who has inspired you as an artist? Like, what are some big names you look up to when you're working on your own music? Like what just what comes to mind?
Speaker 2: 01:08
Was in the very beginning, the artist who got me into making music was Chance the Rapper, because he was. I remember I heard his voice without seeing everything, and I was like, what why do you sound like that? And then I started digging more, and I was like, oh, okay. Chicago Based helps the community. Real shit he likes to, you know, rap about.
Speaker 1: 01:28
Yeah.
Speaker 2: 01:29
And how he started so young in high school and writing raps and songs and detention and stuff like that. So it's very inspirational. Nowadays, it's uh I'm more into Smino. He's definitely a very good inspiration for me.
Speaker: 01:46
So yeah. So is it artists that inspired you, or you know, like why for you, like why become an artist?
Speaker 2: 01:53
It just felt the best way I could express myself. Because I've always in I've always been an artist since I was a kid, like in terms of drawing or painting or something like that. So that was always a good way of expressing myself. And then when I found out that I enjoyed creating music, that became a whole nother world of how I could be expressive in my feelings, emotions, stuff like that.
Speaker 1: 02:20
So when you're writing music or creating music, have you ever kind of stumbled across um like issues when writing, like let's say like writer's block or just kind of like a mental block that like prevents you from writing music, or are you just 24-7, 365, always kind of inspired to write music?
Speaker 2: 02:41
Well, I never the thing I tell people like that I don't have writer's block, but that's only because I never try and force music. I never try to force the art. I always let it come to me so I never find myself in a moment where like, oh, I'm trying to make something and I can't, I just can't figure out what that is. I just always let it naturally come so then it's it just flows smoothly.
Speaker 1: 03:06
Gotcha. So like when when you're creating music, everything is just always so like genuine and you know it really like helps for um a place inside. Yeah. So with that being said, does making music, does it make you feel these emotions, or does it kind of just help you express them, but you know, like not feeling it in the moment, or like how like how does how do you go about doing that?
Speaker 2: 03:30
Well, the emotions come first, and then music, the music part just expands that. So it doesn't necessarily make me feel the emotions, it just spreads the emotion out even more so I can figure out how I can express it in within the lyrics or something like the vocal harmonies or how smooth or the kind of character I put into my voice. Nice.
Speaker: 04:00
So, what are what are some pros and cons to collaborating with other artists? You know, do you have to like match their energy? Uh, you know, what what are you doing in a collaboration with another artist? Like, do you go based off them? Do they go based off you?
Speaker 2: 04:13
Well, I I think a lot of the struggles people have when they collaborate with artists is trying to match their energy rather than just going in their own bubble. Because that's what the beauty of collaborating with artists is that you get to express yourself in your way at the same time as they express themselves in their way, and then you combine that and make something completely different.
Speaker 1: 04:38
Yeah. When it comes to these collabs, have you like I because I know this happens a lot, uh, where like they won't get back to you, or you know, there it's hard to match up the schedules. Does that like kind of throw you off of your game like when you're recording, or you know, does the frustration like get to you, or you just kind of let bygones be bygones be bygones?
Speaker 2: 04:59
It used to a little bit in the beginning, but then I over time I started to realize that you know everybody has different lives, everybody has their own life. So like everyone's not on my schedule. So I use that as like it doesn't necessarily irritate me ever if someone can't like meet up or you know, something like that. It doesn't, I just be like, okay, you know, I live my life. If I had an issue like this, I understand why it happened on the other end too.
Speaker 1: 05:31
Yeah, like you you kind of like put yourself into their their shoes and like really kind of understand it. Well, that's good that you that you don't like let it get in the way because I know sometimes that could be like a major issue with some, like, especially in an industry where everything's kind of fueled by a lot of egos, yeah. You know, it's it can become a mess. So I want to ask you, like, could you name a few emotions that you find easy to write about? Like, what what do you find easiest to express when you're sitting behind the mic getting your emotions out?
Speaker 2: 06:01
I think love is the easiest thing because I mean we've all felt it, even if it's not super, you know, love and then like it's always like love with family members, or you're loving your friends or your girlfriend or boyfriend or something like that. So love is definitely because it's so expendable, there's so many different ways you can describe love. Everyone describes love differently, everyone loves differently.
Speaker 1: 06:26
So yeah, and it's you know, like you definitely hear a lot of like love songs, love stories, especially uh in RB, um, which you I would say that the you're like more prominent in is like a RB space. It's a category of music where people kind of freely express their emotions to others, and you know, it's it's always a vibe. Always. Um I also want to say like uh RB music is filled with uh love songs, such pure raw emotions. Uh, we have amazing singers in both hip hop and RB. So I wanted to mention like a few elite songwriters such as Frank Ocean, Lil Nas X, Young Ma, Kevin Abstract, who takes such great strides in the music industry while also representing part of the LGBTQ community uh at events or even in their songwriting. Where would you place yourself in comparison as a young up-and-coming artist? Do you write openly about your sexuality or do you aim to inspire others to follow in your footsteps?
Speaker 2: 07:28
Yeah, I definitely openly write about my sexuality because I mean it's art, so there's no rules to it. You can express yourself through that art form, whatever art form it is, whether it's music or not, however you want. And everyone's unique, so there's not like a set way to express your sexuality with art. Like Frank Ocean, for example, like he makes music about you hear him talking about guys, you hear him talking about girls too. Everyone still loves him regardless because of how true to himself that he is.
Speaker 1: 08:05
Yeah, and that's that's great to hear because I mean, really, uh, when it comes to love, it like it's kind of a language of its own. And you know, it it can be talked about in multiple different aspects, it can be appreciated in multiple ways, and it's it's almost refreshing to see more and more of that in today's music, you know, like people like openly coming out or like representing these different communities, you know, because a lot of the times they don't have like that much representation, so like it's it's good that uh you have that stance on it. And also um I wanted to ask you too, how is being a part of the L LGPTQ Plus community affected you mentally, and how does it tie into the emotion you portray in your music?
Speaker 2: 08:47
In the beginning, when you're a part of that community discovering yourself, it's always gonna be tough because it's so like broadly not accepted by a lot of different people. But you just gotta look at that and not make let that get in the way of you finding yourself and loving yourself because I mean you're you, they're them, everybody is their own unique individual. So yeah, I just try to stay within myself, stay true to myself, and just express.
Speaker 1: 09:17
Well, that's great, you know, because like I again, like you said, like it's sometimes it's not accepted, and like a lot of the times that can deter people from you know expressing these emotions, or you know, it can like really get to their heads and they can like be depressed, they can be super anxious, like leading to many mental health issues. So I'm I'm glad that you're very open about uh kind of where you stand and that you know love is just one language. So we also wanted to ask you like, have you um in like relation to music or in your personal life, have you run into any kind of like mental health issues, whether it's like where you you felt depressed or if you were anxious, um, like does music kind of help you cope with it, or like how how does music fit in with your mental health in like a day-to-day life or when you're in a studio space like this?
Speaker 2: 10:08
Most like mental health issue I've had is usually just it's seasonal depression, actually. When the winter time comes, no sun, it's always every day is gray, it's cold every day. That that affects me a lot. And that's usually when I do a lot of my writing is during those times. That's usually when it comes to me a lot, is because that's when I'm feeling all those emotions. Yeah, but uh yeah, I recording it, getting it out, getting my voice memos, recording it on my iPad, however way I can get those out so I can keep listening back, or just writing it down simply and not recording it or ever recording it, that's a good way that I help cope with that.
Speaker: 10:53
So on that, when you're writing, you know, maybe just in general, or maybe it's specifically an emotional song, you know, mental mentally, do you need to feel those emotions? Do you need to be going through something related to the music that's going on? Or, you know, can you just write?
Speaker 2: 11:09
I can just write, but I it feels better if I'm actually going through it. So like gives you better end results. Yeah. Yeah, and it makes me execute it a lot better too, because it's not like because it will kind of feel like I'd fake it a little bit if I'm not actually going through those emotions or something like that.
Speaker 1: 11:28
So yeah, so like uh what you're I say is like you in some way, like you need to like kind of express what you're feeling in the moment, or like it has to be like recent, right? When it comes to you expressing yourself through music or artistry, I mean you're such a multidimensional artist, like you you draw, you record, you play instruments. What what do you think you would do if you weren't able to kind of get that out in song? Because I know a lot of people have a hard time expressing their emotions or how they feel inside. Like what like what what else like would you almost kind of like advice that you would give to somebody who's like going through like seasonal depression or like doesn't really know how to express themselves? Like what would be a different avenue that you would try out?
Speaker 2: 12:12
So I would just tell these people to just keep keep searching, keep finding that one thing that will help you express yourself the best because there's an unlimited amount of things. It could be it could be recorded music, painting, drawing, writing poetry, exercising, anything like that, motivational speaking, anything, interviewing. So there's so many different outlets that could help people get through stuff like that. So I think that I would just say just keep looking and keep searching.
Speaker: 12:46
Um I think you kind of hinted at it when we were originally talking about you know writer's block. Um, but you know, handling kind of like that mental burnout specifically, have you hit that point at all? And like is that kind of the same aspect of what you follow with a writer's block? You kind of step back, take a break.
Speaker 2: 13:04
Yeah, because I mean rest is just as important, if not more important, than the work. So I think taking care of yourself, the best way you can do that is to rest. Because you don't always have to be 24-7 working, you don't always have to be on top of every little thing you do. So I think people should take as much time to rest as they do to work.
Speaker: 13:29
Describe the world that music puts you in.
Speaker 2: 13:32
It's free. That's that's the main thing. It's freedom. There's no, there's like I said, there's no rules to it. Like you can do however you feel is best for you. So that's that's the best way I can describe it is freedom. Because there's a lot of different ways where people can feel trapped, whether it's at work, at school, in a relationship, with family. So when they find that one thing that they can express themselves in, that is the most freeing feeling to me.
Speaker 1: 14:04
What kind of piece of advice or like what would you tell somebody kind of going through the same thing that you do as an artist and as a person? Like, what are some words that you would give to me?
Speaker 2: 14:16
Other than, you know, finding that one thing that you love more than anything, talking to people, there's a lot of different perspectives that you can get from different situations. There's a lot of people who have been through similar things than you. And uh things like therapy, stuff like that, parents, friends' parents that are cool with you. Um so there's always a bunch of people that you can talk to, and you're not alone. And there's a whole there's a whole world of different people who've probably gone through the exact same things as you went through. So those are good examples of people that you can reach out to to talk about your stuff.
Speaker 1: 14:56
And uh once again, uh just uh throw your socials out there, let people know like where they can find your music at and kind of what you got going on. If you got a any a new album coming out, or if you're writing or if you're if you're planning on performing soon, uh just what you got.
Speaker 2: 15:14
So I got um got a show June 3rd in Chicago, got another show at uh Kent Lawrence Pride in Kansas, June 24th to the 25th. Uh you can find me on Twitter, underscore Adonis underscore 15, and on Instagram at DeAndre underscore Adonis, and then you can find me on Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, Title, Pandora, all of them.
Speaker 1: 15:37
Yup. Well, thank you so much for uh coming out here to the studio, kind of taking us through a day in the life of DeAndre and kind of what gets done in the studio.
Speaker 2: 15:49
No problem. Thanks for having me.