Black Music Matters: On the Horn with RYL0
To celebrate Black Music Month, KXSC’s Elle Davidson sat down with five Black artists at USC to talk about their musical journeys, and what being Black in music means to them. Class of 2020 graduate Ryl0 talks about what electronic music means to her, and how finding her place in the USC community has influenced her sound. A pioneer of “cyberpop,” Ryl0 is crafting her own sound and artistry. Her new mini EP “Rebirth of a Nation” comes out this Friday, and is inspired through her thoughts on America in 2020. You can stream her projects, and much more, on our Black Music Matters Spotify playlist. Check out our interview below:
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Elle Davidson: So how long have you been playing music?
Ryl0: I've always been a very musical person -- although very different from the music I make now. I grew up in musical theater, in the performance space. By the time I got to high school, I joined an acapella group. I also started getting involved in electronic music and started taking music production lessons at a music school that was dedicated to electronic music in New York City. I would go on the weekends, and it was an extracurricular thing. But even then, taking such an official leap into pursuing music felt odd and out of place, because as soon as I started getting excited about the idea of production, I also psyched myself out. I didn't see anyone that looked like me. I didn't have any points of inspiration. At the time, all my teachers were older white men. It was a boys club, so I got too scared.
I came back to music when I got to college. I got bored one day, and I opened up GarageBand on my computer, and started noodling around with it again. Coming to LA and finding a new group of people and a new sense of my creativity, in addition to all of these other years of experiences, helped me come into what I'm doing with music today.
ED: You touched on this a little bit in your first answer saying that you struggle to find inspirations, but now do you have any? Who are they?
R: Yeah! I absolutely adore both FKA Twigs and Grimes. I adore them both for their music, but also for their artistry throughout the process. Looking up to women in music is one thing, but they're also both so involved in the production as well as behind the scenes. They're not just figurehead pop stars. I resonate with that so deeply being a musician now, but also coming into college being a filmmaker and a screenwriter.
ED: So, how would you describe your musical style?
R: People are always telling me that they don't know how to define my genre. So I decided to make my own genre, and it's called cyberpop.
ED: In the cyberpop world, what are some of your long term goals?
R: Now that I'm home and have nothing else to do, I've been manifesting and thinking about this a lot. Ultimately, I really want Ryl0 to become much bigger than myself. I'm still pursuing a career in film, in addition to pursuing a career in music, and I really want to find a space to combine all of these things together. For me, what cyberpop is about is inquiries of a post-human future. I'm really interested in exploring the intersection of technology, in addition to music and artistry.
That's kind of what cyberpop is about. It’s the coexistence of future technology explorations via VR. I'm very interested in VR. I'm actually working on a VR music video right now with a friend of mine.
ED: How has your experience at a predominantly white institution influenced your musical journey as an artist?
R: So I started making music officially a year and a half ago. However, the first song that I ever wrote -- like ever -- was the end of my freshman year, summer 2017. I didn't have enough confidence in myself to believe that I could produce it myself. So I was in search of a team that could help me see the vision out. I was on a search for months. You think that being in a college with a film school and music school that are both super renowned on a global scale, that it would be easier to find collaborators. But in my experience, it has been incredibly difficult to find not only collaborators, but just people that are willing to validate you and your artistry.
It's really difficult because sometimes it's hard to differentiate like, am I not being acknowledged by my peers because I'm a woman, because I'm Black, or because I'm not talented? Is it all of the above? Is it none of the above? It's really hard to figure out when you stand between so many intersections. So I've been wavering in and out of imposter syndrome for the past four years, and it's made college very, very difficult in my experience.
ED: Why do you think that amplifying Black voices at USC is so important?
R: For me, it's so important, and I explore this in my own work as well. I went to a private high school that was predominantly white, and of the Black population, there was a very specific way to be Black, and to portray and present Blackness. I was pretty much the only Black girl in my friend group, and I didn't realize how much that influenced my experience coming into adulthood, until I got to college. It's so important to amplify Black voices. Because for people like me, you know, I didn't really grow up listening or partaking in things that were typically or stereotypically considered Black. And that is neither a fault or an advantage. That's just what happened in my experience.
So I really struggled with my identity, because I was constantly questioning myself like, “Am I Black enough? Even though I don't listen to RnB, even though I don't really enjoy hip hop or rap, like, is this all right?” It really stifled a lot of my growth. I'm proud of where I'm at now, but I feel like it shouldn't have to be that hard. The journey to self-discovery as a child shouldn't be difficult, and you shouldn't be questioning every decision that you make, or any interest that you like, and you should just be able to have the freedom to explore whatever it is that your heart desires. I think what's important for me is that amplifying Black voices doesn't just mean amplifying the Black voices that reinforce a perception of Blackness.
I think amplifying Black voices is so important right now because we need to see different Black voices, we need to see different representations and different presentations of the same kind of Blackness.
ED: Do you have any advice for other Black musicians at USC?
R: Don't let anyone tell you or bully you into doing something differently. If you are set on your artistry, stick with your artistry always, and everything else will fall in line with that. Be open and be nice and be welcoming, because at the end of the day, everyone is going to come back into your life.
ED: Can you name another USC artist that you admire?
R: Yes. I really admire Ayoni. I remember seeing her perform at a party about two years ago, and I thought she was amazing. I really admire her because she's beautifully talented.
- Elle Davidson, Director of Publications
Our Black Music Matters Spotify playlist is linked here.