Presenting an exclusive interview with one of the most exciting break through R&B producers and songwriters of the modern day and age, the insanely talented 24 year old Atlanta, Georgia born American musician; Flwr Chyld.
Having the ability to paint the canvas of a song with his instrumentals and songwriting, the musician is at the heart of a continued sequence of groundbreaking new projects with some of the most exciting emerging vocalists of this generation on each different song.
It's incredible to believe that his journey has only just begun. We're completely in love with his sound that taps into a new era of music with shades of Frank Ocean moods, but would be more appropriate to compare with the likes of 9th Wonder in terms of the finesse of production.
At the heart of his sound is a feeling of dreamy jazzy soulful beats that you can't help but vibe with, lifting energies and moods. Clean, polished and oozing groove. We couldn't wait to speak with the artist and find out more about his music and who this mysteriously talented new force is.
What inspired the name Flwr Chyld ?
I got the inspiration from when I took my first trip to New York in March of 2017. I made it a point to link up with a couple of artists in advance just to connect. During one of the meetings, I told this one artist that I was gonna make a beat for them when I got back home to Atlanta. Once I finished the beat I called it “Flower Child.” From that point it was just something about the name that stuck with me. I approach all of my production with color and emotion in mind so it just made sense, not to mention it resonated with who I was and currently am as an individual. The name itself was pretty ambiguous at the time and it's still one of my favorite things about it.
What music did you grow up on, and was that in Atlanta ? What was life like growing up ?
Despite moving to Atlanta when I was 7 and growing up on a ton of Hip Hop, I would say that that’s not what my ear naturally gravitated towards. My dad was a band director so by default I was exposed to all types of music that ranged from old school Hip Hop, to jazz, tons of Neo-Soul, and even a bit of classical.
Growing up I did a lot of bouncing back and forth between the place I was born (South Carolina) and Atlanta, largely in part to my parents not being together. I spent most of my formative years in Atlanta and was exposed to several different parts of the culture that 1. helped shape me into the person that I am today and 2. Influenced a lot of the music that I’ve created.
This past year definitely taught us the value of going with the flow, how's life been since the release of Flow & what inspired the album ?
Life has been a combination of me continuing to go with the flow and finding different ways to grow as an individual and musician. Everything has been fairly simple for me, just taking everything one day at a time and not putting too much pressure on myself. Staying patient with myself and everyone around me has allowed me to be way more balanced than ever.
As far as what inspired the album...let's just say that I went through a lot after I graduated college in 2019. There was so much uncertainty with my career at that time. I had never dealt with that kind of depression and anxiety in my life. I eventually got through it by adopting this mindset of going with the ebb and flow of life no matter what's going on. I learned to not stress about the things I couldn't control and let everything fall into place the way it needed to. Once I started to do that, everything came together.
Essentially, the concept for the EP stemmed from a very introspective place where I wanted to be intentional about each and everything in my life. Whether that was me dealing with my mental health, love life, or other things, the goal was to put all of those ideas together in a way that made the most sense sonically. With the idea of “flow” in mind, I explained to the artists that were featured that they had the freedom to write about whatever they wanted to, and they executed beautifully.
Other than music, where else to do you find your inspiration ? Do you have any favourite painters, artists, movies, books - or maybe just life itself ?
I enjoy treating myself and usually what that looks like is me going to a museum by myself. The exhibit might be the exact same but sometimes I’ll go just to see if I can take in something else that I didn’t catch before. It's really similar to music when you think about it. You may have heard a particular song a million times, but there are certain days where something as simple as the weather might make you take a different approach to the way you listen. It's the little things in certain mediums of art that make you truly appreciate it.
I enjoy a good movie (usually action, romance, or thrillers get the job done haha), but more recently I’ve been reading a lot more often which is something I’m really happy about. One poem book I’ve been reading in particular is ‘First Thought Best Thought’ by Chogyam Trungpa. It has a series of poems that really allow you to simplify all of the moving aspects of life that we tend to overthink. I've taken some inspiration from that book and been able to approach music with a much more clear mind. I’m sure we can all agree that not overthinking things makes life so much easier. I’ll leave it at that.
We were so happy to see the collab with Emmavie, one of the modern unsung queens of RNB (Her album with Alpha Mist is legendary). How did you two meet and how do you find the process of collaborating with other musicians ? Do you prefer it to working solo ?
So I first found out about Emmavie through my related artists section on Spotify. Oddly enough, I never ended up listening to her music. I promise it wasn’t on purpose haha I just never got around to it. Low and behold one of our mutuals put one of her songs on a playlist. I listened and instantly fell in love like YO! Why in the hell did I wait so long to tap in to her music???? I wanna say literally within the same week, I got a notification on twitter and it was Emmavie saying how much she loved my music LOL. At that moment I was like okay it probably would make sense for us to try and work on something together. The universe was just aligning everything so I had to take advantage.
My creative process is very very simple. I typically reach out to artists I’m a fan of, and if they respond we go from there and create something. I honestly prefer collaborating with others over working solo because it allows for two different creatives to come together (sharing different perspectives) and create something beautiful. I create all the production for my music on my own, but I absolutely love being able to bring different vocalists in for songs.
What is your relationship with music and spirituality like ?
I’m a very spiritual individual and I feel like everything I do comes from a spiritual place. When it comes down to music, there’s no difference. I’m a firm believer that when musicians are creating, its coming from a personal place, and for me...whatever space I’m in at that particular moment of time will reflect in my music. My goal is to always make someone feel something from my music. When I create, I share my own personal experiences through music, but I leave it to the listener to create their own experience based on their interpretation of what they’re hearing. Sometimes people reach out and tell me the music I created got them through depression or helped them with their anxiety. The energy in music is very powerful, and those are a few reasons why I see it as a spiritual thing.
This short film below by Sydney Seabron is a short film exploring the creative process behind Flwr Chyld’s debut EP ‘Iridescent Luv’.
Iridescent Luv in 2019 was an incredible debut album, Flow in 2020 kept the levels super high, what is your secret ?
One thing about it, I cannot and will not miss. I won’t say what exactly I have in store but just know I’m growing as an individual and musician...all of that will reflect in the music. When I'm working solo I tend to approach things with an open mind that just allows me to create seamlessly or a particular idea in mind from something I was inspired by prior to the creative session.
When I'm by myself I have the freedom to go whatever creative direction I wanna go. Sometimes I'll get the homie Alex or Shane to play guitar on a track, it just depends on what the vibe is like on that particular track. Getting extra live instrumentation helps the creative process as it helps bring my ideas to life.
Follow his Spotify page here & on Instagram at @flwrchyld_
Art Direction: Piera Moore aka Slumpiera
- PSYCHIC GARDEN
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