Hwaji

As you all know by now, I have an immense respect for Samuel Seo as an artist. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that when it comes to music recommendations, I take what he says seriously. Such was the case when he suggested multi-genre artist DAMYE during our chat. Listening to DAMYE’s music, then getting to know him, I was really ecstatic to have the chance to talk to him.

We start with what’s become a new customary greeting: “How are you holding up?”

DAMYE is nothing if not thoughtful and incredibly diplomatic. “I think we still need to be cautious with going out and wearing masks and being careful with everything. But I think things are getting better, definitely.”

He’s also courteous. He asks me how things are going in the US. From here DAMYE very naturally expresses who he is.

The DAMYE Origin Story

“Hi. My name’s DAMYE. I’m a singer/songwriter/producer based in South Korea making music.” He follows the commonness of this response with a small chuckle. It’s an aspect of talking with him that makes the conversation a delight. It speaks to his unassuming nature. An aspect of him that manifests even in the way he approaches music. His first memory of true musical recognition speaks to that.

He takes a few seconds to think about it. “I guess,” he begins, “it was back in middle school, or elementary. I think sixth grade, or fifth grade. One of my friends brought a live DVD of Green Day, and he just played it in our house. When I watched the performance I fell in love with the energy, you know. Ever since then I really wanted to play the guitar, and I wanted to write songs and play in front of people. So I started learning guitar, and that’s all I did.

“To be honest,” he continues, “I feel like people around me realized I fell in love with music more than I realized it myself.” This won’t be the first time this comes up in our conversation. DAMYE’s so earnest in his artistry, he doesn’t realize he’s fallen head-over-heels until someone points it out. “I never planned to be a full-time musician,” he confesses. “All my friends actually knew I was gonna eventually go that way by the way I was practicing and playing every day.”

“I listened to a lot of music growing up,” he says. “It went from Green Day to heavier rock. Then eventually when I was in high school I was in Korea. I was still attending international school, and some of my friends were showing me hip hop. Hip hop was more of a hobby to me growing up. I felt like my main stuff was playing guitars. When I was in college I got into more soul and R&B stuff. I realized I was starting to write more songs based on hip hop and soul. But I still thought it was a hobby.”

It’s an interesting thing, an artist’s proverbial origin story. So how does one go from the unapologetic hard-edged ’90s punk of Green Day to the less rambunctious nature of R&B?

“Go for it!”

Unsurprisingly, it took the observation of a friend for him to realize his musical direction had definitely shifted from guitar-driven punk and hard rock. “She just told me, ‘Oh, you should just go for it because you’re writing way more songs in hip hop and R&B. But you still think it’s a hobby.’ So I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ I feel like people around me realize things about me more than I do about myself,” he says, a chuckle coloring the admission.

Perhaps something else he doesn’t fully recognize is his ability to draw people to him. An innate energy that attracts similar energies. To always surround yourself with people who see your passions for what they are is certainly fortuitous.

“Everybody around me thought my passion level wasn’t at hobby level, you know. Same thing goes for writing rap music or soul music. I thought it was a hobby because growing up all I did was play guitar and write songs based on rock. But the number of songs I wrote in hip hop and R&B was way more and ended up being my main genre of music. But I didn’t realize it. People around me realized that, so they just told me to go for it.”

Circle of Influence

DAMYE’s genuine love of music translated into one of the more surprising albums to come out of 2019. His debut, “Life’s a Loop,” showed a young man melding genres as easily as a child blends watercolors. Each influence mixes to create swirling compositional landscapes rich in texture and overt emotion.

However, this is a young man who doesn’t necessarily see each individual tree in his forest. He’s immersed in the thick of it and lets his experiences guide him. Realizing his focus was more R&B and hip hop, it’s only natural to wonder how much of his work is experience and how much is emulation.

“It was both,” he admits lightly. “I feel like whenever I write songs, whether it’s good or bad, I always try to write something about my life. That’s just a main part of it. But of course it has to… You can’t just be yourself when you first try, right?” he asks. “It’s kind of like a both type of thing. You try to sound like the artists you like.”

He looses another shy chuckle. He’s very open, but his nature indicates someone who doesn’t normally speak with authority. Not really shy. Reserved. Someone who speaks with intention and usually allows those with more demonstrative personalities to guide the conversation.

From the makeup “Life’s a Loop,” he has many noticeable influences. Old-school soul like Prince, Stevie Wonder, and even a bit of Bill Withers. Moving into the ’90s with the likes of Donell Jones, D’Angelo, and Maxwell. He’s got a rough edge soothed by the influences of Miles Davis, giving birth to music reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest. His honest lyrical content and the eclectic twang of his compositions is flavored with Anderson .Paak’s California ease.

As I suspect, .Paak really affected his musical insight and shifted his focus. “I think it was either Kendrick Lamar or Anderson .Paak. I feel like back when I was still making ‘Life’s a Loop,’ every song I wrote was pretty sincere relating to the message. But the way I expressed myself, the way I express those messages, I feel like I was still trying to emulate other artists. Like getting all the influences from other artists, you know?”

The Berklee Year

It’s really no surprise that music would eventually take over his life. However, most parents aren’t exactly enthusiastic when their children choose a path that doesn’t guarantee any kind of success. This rings particularly true for parents in South Korea with children who choose music. (Particularly if they don’t end up at a major label.)

“I feel like my parents are way more open about things than other parents in Korea,” DAMYE says. “[Not] like the stereotypical parents. I feel like they’re the type of people who’ll tell people to go for their dreams. But when it came down to their own child they were still concerned about their child going into music. Going into music is way [more] difficult to make a living than other jobs, right? So they’re a bit conservative like that. But, no, I think they gave their full blessing about that now. Which is a grateful thing.”

He’s quite lucky in that regard. So many artists express a largely unsupportive family (unless, of course, they make it really big). This somewhat suggests going to Berklee’s College of Music was a compromise.

“It started as a compromise,” he admits. “But when I went there I learned a lot of things and met a lot of great people.” 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvX4CkQBljH/

His desire to really expand his musical perspective is obvious in his choice of school. Berklee over, say, Juilliard or SUNY Purchase. 

He releases another small laugh. “Berklee, they do a lot of contemporary music and there are a lot of artists who do all kinds of different music. People I hung around with, we kind of had the same preferences in music, I guess? Which is different to schools like Juilliard because they’re more specific when it comes down to the kind of music they’re studying.”

DAMYE’s circle of influence has always had a wide radius. “Being in Berklee, it was my first time being surrounded by all these musicians, being in a musician community,” he says. “Honestly, I felt like I learned a lot from my friends, way more than I learned from my classes,” he says. “I never majored in music all the time I was at Berklee. All my classes were very beginner level. But all my friends who I worked with and hung around with, they were really good at their own craft. So just by being with them, by listening to a lot of music, just hanging out with them and working on some music, I feel like I learned a lot. Which is very helpful to my craft.”

DAMYE & INPLANET

“I was there for a year,” he says. “The thing was, after finishing my first semester, I got back to Korea. Fortunately I got signed to my current label, INPLANET. I really liked my time back in Berklee, so I asked them if I could do a year or two more and come back. They told me I could do a semester more. So I ended up doing just a year. After I finished up another semester I came back and started doing music here.”

This reminds me of another artist whose trajectory changed when he was signed. G2 mentioned in our conversation a few years ago that he’d been on the path of a painter when music came calling. “Would you ever want to go back and finish up?”

“For now I’m good,” DAMYE says. “I don’t know, if I don’t feel like making music myself as an artist, maybe. But I don’t see that coming in ten years.” That soft laugh again. He’s settled into his life. Contemplating giving that up for a formal education? Makes sense it’s not foremost in his mind.

Where Do We Go From Here?

So now, it’s 2016. DAMYE’s signed to a label. Fresh out of his first year of college. What are his next steps?

“Back in like 2016, I used to take vocal lessons from Boni,” he begins. “She was planning to do a show, and she wanted her band to be, like, younger people instead of professional sessionists. So she asked me if I could play the guitar. And I said, ‘Sure that’d be great!’

“I’m not very professional, session-like, when it comes to playing guitar,” he admits. “But I can alway have fun on stage and be happy about it and give out that energy to people. I think that’s one of my talents. The CEO of our label saw that. He wondered who I was because I was having so much fun on stage. Usually professional sessionists, they look dull and they just play their parts on stage, right? But I was, like, dancing, I was smiling. So he was wondering who I was.

“Boni told him that I made my own music. After finishing the semester we got in contact, and he asked me what I was doing. I just showed him some of the songs I was preparing for the album. So yeah, right out the gate, I was already making an album before going to the label.

“I only had like two or three songs,” he says with another breathy chuckle, “I think the song that really caught my label’s mind was ‘Blessed’ actually. It was half-finished at that time.”

Life’s A Loop

With a handful of songs and an incredible passion, it’s time to actually create his album. Perhaps unsurprisingly this is a long process for DAMYE. After all, it’s three years removed from those few songs he showed INPLANET’s CEO to the actual release of “Life’s a Loop.” 

“I was always by myself at home in my bedroom,” he says. “So it was pretty new. I think it took very long because it was my first time making music and trying to release it, right? I wrote a lot of songs before I released that album, but I never finished them. Finishing a song and starting a new idea is a totally different process. I didn’t know better.

“The process was I would make a song, and when I would return to it, it’s very hard to finish. Whether it’s the lyrics or the composition or the production. The more and more I tried to make it perfect, it took a longer time, you know? But now I realize you can’t be perfect, so you have to finish it in the first try. It’s better to just finish a song when you work on it and move on. But at the time I didn’t know that. That’s why it took so long. Also it was my first time recording myself in the studio. So that was also pretty new.”

With so much to take in, nerves certainly must play a factor. Or perhaps excitement was the prevailing emotion? He takes a moment to consider.

“Umm…” He begins like one of the songs he starts, then returns to. He attempts to take himself back to those first moments in a professional studio. “Half and half,” he finally settles on. “It was my first time hearing myself on a track. So it was my first time recording myself other than on my phone or with a crappy mic. It took time to get used to it, and it took time to develop the skills I needed to record myself.

“I think that was the main reason that it took such a long time. Now I have a lot of songs released out there. So I’m able to compare myself with how I did before. But back then, I had no comparison. I had no standards when it came down to my own music, you know?”

DAMYE the “Lonely Boy”

Everything was new to him. From being in the studio to actually creating the visuals for his album.

“I think my first music video was a song called ‘Lonely Boy.’ Originally we didn’t try to shoot a music video,” he reveals. “Me and my A&R guy, we just went out there and we really focused on shooting the photo for the cover art. At the time we just tried to shoot some scenes we could use for the lyric video. The original plan was for it to be just a loop of me running around. It wasn’t intended to be a music video.

“Our label CEO saw that and thought even though the music video quality wasn’t professional it was very fun to watch. So he asked us to go out another day and shoot an actual music video. So it just happened to be that way.”

DAMYE & His Mentors

“Did you have any mentors while going through the process?”

He tests the word out first. Contemplates. Then: “I had a lot of mentors. My CEO at INPLANET. I don’t know if I like to call him a CEO. He was my mentor because he helped me with a lot of advice. Also we have a producer named Creo. And he also mentored me because he had a lot of experiences and advice. They really helped me.

“I was always used to making music myself,” he continues. “It all started from Berklee, getting all those instruments recorded by my friends, which was really cool. Getting those features from Boni and Khundi Panda. That was also pretty new. It was also a great experience. I was also a big fan of Hwaji and Boni. Hearing their voices on a beat I made. That was like a dream come true moment.” It’s hard to not mention DAMYE’s chuckle whenever he lets one go. The sound punctuates just how open he is with his feelings. How certain memories spark spontaneous joy from him.

DAMYE seems to thrive in that creative environment. Many voices, many experiences melding together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. It’s fascinating to hear what an artist learns from another artist.

“There’s a guy named Dishaan on the album,” he says. “He featured on ‘CMND+F’ and he also helped me with a lot of playing guitars and making parts. He approached making music just imagining what he was hearing when he heard the things I made. And he tried to play or sing the things he heard in his mind. That really influenced me.

“When it came to Hwaji, he also had the same process, I think. Like he would just write what he heard in his mind.”

The album’s overall construction is really interesting. Listening to it, one feels the weight of DAMYE’s R&B influences and how they interact with his own experiences.

“I feel like ‘Life’s A Loop’ is an album that I made…” He pauses for only a moment to collect his thoughts. “I tried to make music that I liked in the recent four years,” he says. “Whereas now I’m trying to infuse all these influences I had when I was growing up. So it was sort of intentional that way, but I didn’t really think about it.”

DAMYE Opens His Diary

So open with his emotions, DAMYE’s album really does sound like a young man writing in his diary.

“Yeah. Because there’s the way you talk, and there’s the way you write in your diary, right? And the two sound totally different. When you talk to other people about your life you tend to be more colloquial or more friendly about it. But when you write down the same events in your diary, you tend to get more essay-like, you know what I mean? ‘Life’s a Loop’ is exactly like a diary or a journal that I wrote going through some of my life events. 

“The time period for that was between late-2016 to late-2017, just a year span,” he continues. “I think that’s why I was having a hard time finishing it in 2018. I was still working on stuff that I was going through in 2017. So I had to look back on it and emulate the emotions that I had a year ago. That was one of the hard things I had to do, I guess.”

It’s a brave one who takes his first foray into the music world to bare himself without fear. Look back on his life, his trials and triumphs, his insecurities and give that to the world as its first impression. However, DAMYE did it so easily.

“I feel like as long as I don’t lose the initial emotions I was going through, it’s pretty easy for me,” DAMYE says. “For example, if I’m going through something I have to finish the song right in that moment. I can’t just delay it and try to get back on it tomorrow or the day after. Then it becomes hard because you can’t stay in that emotion the next day or the week after. But as long as I finish at least writing the lyrics out or at least recording in that moment, it’s pretty easy for me, I think.

“I feel like that was always natural with me when it comes with music. Whether it’s good or bad. Whether it’s a demo or professional stuff that I released. I always try to be sincere about it, I think. Whether the mood is light or deep.”

DAMYE and Hookuo’s Greatest Hits

That earnest emotion extends even to those projects that he deems are the least sincere. Let’s take the collaboration EP “Greatest Hits,” for instance.

“That was fun.” I can feel the smile in his response. “Actually that’s the least sincere stuff I’ve ever made. Just for fun. The things I wrote in ‘Life’s a Loop,’ as I said, they were sincere. It was written in a way I was writing in a journal, right? Whereas ‘Greatest Hits,’ the message was there, the core was there, but it’s very exaggerated. Just like, we’re having fun, very exaggerated, you know? I wrote stuff and pretended to be like a fake gangster. That was all just for fun.

“I just started hanging out with Hookuo, and he wanted to make music with me. So he just sent me a lot of beats. At the time I didn’t have any stuff I was working on myself. When I heard those beats, they were too Dr. Dre, G-funky. I was having a hard time trying to be myself on those beats. They were so good just being old-school G-Funk kind of stuff, you know? So I decided to let myself go and decided to just have fun with it.”

To be fair, if someone actually gives you legit G-Funk, you kind of have no choice but to go there. “The thing was, I really don’t like having fake stuff in my lyrics,” he insists. “But all those beats he sent me reminded me of that time. Reminded me of the G-Funk era. I figured it’s better to be fake gangster than to pretend to myself to be masculine and strong. So I tried to just go for those exaggerated feelings, you know?”

So many hip-hop artists from South Korea, unfortunately, really stay in the mindset of pretense. Wearing the persona like a costume. (Perhaps more interestingly a suit of armor; but that’s another conversation for another day.) DAMYE is exceptionally self-aware. And you know what? He has a hell of a lot of fun either way.

“I wanted people to tell that we were just having fun joking around instead of actually pretending to be these masculine gangster-ish rappers.”

Great Quality vs. Genuine Soul

DAMYE wasn’t born in Korea, believe it or not. “I  was born in the States,” he says. “We moved back to Korea when I was still very young. I grew up here. But in middle school and high school I was attending international school with a lot of English-based classes and a lot of them were international students.”

This fact fascinates for two reasons. 1) DAMYE has the perspective of someone with a mostly Western upbringing, which 2) informs his understanding of Korea’s music scene. It’s a constant point of interest, learning how Korean artists see how R&B and hip hop slot into Korean culture.

“I feel like there’s a lot of…” Again, DAMYE is self-aware, thoughtful. “When it comes to music in Korea,” he begins, “there’s a lot of quality music. But sometimes I find I listen to a lot of music that has quality but not enough sincerity, I think. I prefer music that gives me some kind of emotion, whether it’s joy or sadness or some kind of feeling. Sometimes I hear a lot of things that have a very good quality, but I can’t feel anything from listening to it, you know?

“Like you said, a lot of it comes down to trying to be something that you’re not. So when you listen to it, the techniques or the quality or the rap skills, they’re all there. But you don’t feel anything from it because there’s something missing, you know? I like to call it a ‘soul’ kind of thing. Not in the sense of R&B soul. Not all the music is like that. There’s definitely a lot of music that has quality, but less soul, I think.”

DAMYE is very diplomatic. But honestly it’s more than that. He’s quite perceptive. Behind the young man who genuinely enjoys what he does, there’s a very keen intelligence. He’s an observer. Someone who takes in his surroundings and absorbs the information. He’s been in and around the music scene long enough to understand that there’s more to it than what’s presented. Even if what’s presented is a bit superficial.

Primary Intention

“I feel like there’s primary intentions. Every song has a primary intention, you know? What I mean by intention is the reason why you started writing that song, you know? I feel like a lot of times a lot of artists in Korea, their intentions are to sound like something. I’m not saying they’re not putting in their own soul or they’re not putting in their own meaning behind it. But when your primary intention is to sound like someone, when you put it out there, people are gonna notice that first instead of the meaning behind it. So I think that’s the primary concern behind it.”

It makes sense. After all, hip hop and R&B did not originate in Korea. The country and its artists garner their influence from black Western music, just like everyone else around the world. Even more so, perhaps, for a country who even with its desires to economically expand globally is still quite insular.

“When I’m making a song, there’s a reason why I want to write a song, right? For example, it could be a love song. If I feel like making a love song, there’s a difference between making a love song when I fell in love and I tried to write that emotion down, versus ‘Oh, I wanna make a song like “someone someone someone”’ and trying to write the love lyrics behind it. There’s a huge difference, I think.”

R&B and Hip Hop Commodified

“Do you think the way the genres are commercialized in Korea might have something to do with it?”

He takes a moment to contemplate this idea. But as he answers, there’s absolute clarity. His struggle isn’t so much whether he agrees. He’s someone who, whether he realizes it or not, desires to have intention behind everything he says.

“Yeah, definitely,” he says. “It’s more commercial now, so there are a lot more players and producers out there. I feel like I can’t say everybody’s that way in Korea. But the general thing about it is that [more] people try to make music that’s popular than try to find their taste in music or preferences. That has a lot to do with it too.”

It’s certainly an interesting perspective to have considering the vast popularity of hip-hop competition shows in the country. Particularly what seems to be a seasonal mainstay, Show Me The Money. The bandwagon effect is strong. So strong, in fact, established artists find themselves on these shows as contestants. Even in this regard, though, DAMYE is thoughtful.

“When it comes down to making your own music I don’t think it’s very helpful to be on those shows,” he admits. “But when it comes down to making sure your music reaches a lot of people, it definitely helps, I think. I released an album, an EP, a lot of singles. But if you go on that show and go on to a certain round and spit two or three verses on that show… If it gets aired, then you get to have your music reach more people than I did. Yeah, when it comes down to making music, I’m not sure. But when it comes down to making sure your music reaches a lot of people, it helps a lot, I think. Whether it’s cool or not.”

We have to share a laugh there. As if there’s a mutual understanding of just how precarious it all is. With this mature mindset about the nature of the beast, I’m obviously curious to know if he’d ever consider going on one of these shows himself.

“Back even like a year ago, I’d probably say no. But nowadays I’m pretty confident in my music. So, you know, I would consider it because I want my music to be released out to a lot of people. But all my past life choices have said no.” His laugh his fuller here. More a rueful expression of his shifting perspective. “I’m not sure if I’m really gonna go through with it, but I would consider it.” It’s certainly something that many artists have had to consider lately. 

Indie vs. Independent

My strongest connection to Korean music has been the independent artists that make up the biggest foundation of the country’s industry. Most go unnoticed. Many build followings without the major recognition of artists signed with the proverbial “Big 3.” Still, most are just young artists trying to hustle to supplement their day jobs. Taking low-paying gigs at small clubs and bars in Hongdae. Busking in the legendary Hongdae Playground. Most of them are also incredibly talented.

DAMYE is in a unique position. Signed to an independent label means, while not as well known, he still has professional backing. Still, even he must have moments where fighting for recognition becomes discouraging.

“Sometimes,” he begins. “But I feel like it just means there are extra steps I have to take than other artists. I try not to be discouraged. Like I said, I have a lot of confidence in my music, and I really have a lot of passion and love for my music. But when it comes down to numbers, there’s definitely a difference between me having a hit single and someone from a bigger label releasing a single. There’s more attraction to it even if that artist is as new as me.”

This industry is brutal, especially to its non-idols. So how does one navigate that, especially in the climate we’re living in now? What keeps an artist like DAMYE going?

“I feel like it’s all about the dream and vision that I have in myself. It’s just a feeling that I have a team behind me. When it comes down to making music, I make it myself. When it comes to my career, I always have a team behind me. Whether it’s my CEO, my producer, or my A&R guy. Sometimes when I’m discouraged they really help me to get back on my feet. They give me good advice. I can always see that they have way more belief in me than I have in myself.

“Like I said, being an independent musician means I have extra steps I have to reach than someone who’s signed to a big label. It’s good I reach another step, but I’m still not there, you know. Then to celebrate small victories. Even if it doesn’t change your life right away.

“People behind me and celebrating smaller victories. Looking back, my life still hasn’t changed drastically. But it definitely did [change] just by going up one stair at a time, you know?

“I definitely don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have my label,” he says with deep adoration in his voice. “They believe in me a lot. Even though I’ve not made a lot of money with music right now, it’s still funded all my career. Whether it’s creating music or shooting a music video. So that really helps, that really puts me in a different spot than true independent artists. They have to figure out everything by themselves, which can be very difficult.”

DAMYE & Samuel

If you’ll remember, in my conversation with Samuel Seo at the end of 2019, we talked about artists he’s keeping an eye on. The one he was adamant about was the young man I’m speaking to right now. About a month ago, DAMYE made a post on Instagram sharing a picture of the first time the two of them actually met.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-UrDPGJbLp/

“Shout out to Samuel Seo!” he says with an enthusiastic chuckle. “From my perspective,” he starts, “my relationship with Samuel Seo started back in 2016 when I met him as a fan. From his perspective it started last year. He has this thing, he remembers every one of his fans because he’s always thankful for the people who listen to his music. I think at first he just thought I was a fan.

“The next time I met him, I met him at the show I mentioned where I played guitar for Boni, and he was in the next slot. I hit him up and I told him I was playing guitar for Boni in the previous slot. We met and took a picture and I talked to him. I feel like then he thought I was a guitarist. I never told him I make music or write raps or produce, so he just thought I was a guitarist, I think. When I released an album I saw him on Instagram. Then he realized I was a beatmaker and producer and singer all in one. Just like him, you know. I’m very thankful that he listened to it and he liked it.

“Samuel Seo, I think, position-wise he’s the closest to me in Korea because he makes his own music and he doesn’t rap, he doesn’t sing, he does both. And that’s just like me. He’s also a multi-instrumentalist. So I feel like even though our music isn’t totally the same, I think position-wise he’s the closest that I have in Korea. He’s been a really good mentor to me in the past year. So yeah, thank you, Samuel!”

There’s a tendency for artists to hoard the spotlight. They relish the notion that they stand alone. But there are many who realize that despite the universality of music, it’s a small community. Particularly for those who aren’t as well known. Hearing DAMYE’s appreciation of an artist who in turn is so appreciative of the music that’s around him is heartwarming.

“It’s gonna be fun!”

Conversations with artists always seem so short. This one with DAMYE is no exception. But “all good things…” as the saying goes. What’s most important, of course, is the road ahead. DAMYE is working on an album he hopes to release later on this year.

“It’s gonna be fun,” he begins, that natural laugh of his in full force. “Right now I’ve got three songs ready, or two and a half. I’m still working out the third song.

“When you’re an artist or you’re a craftsman of whatever kind, you alway have your favorite project, you know. Your favorite song, for example. It’s a great feeling when you renew that personal favorite every once in a while. I feel like for a long time my personal favorite song that I wrote was ‘Lonely Boy.’ From this album it’s renewed, I think. So that’s a great feeling.

“I can’t wait to finish this album and release it so people can listen. It’s gonna be a really fun album. A lot of things about Subway.” This, of course, garners a laugh from both of us. His Subway tales are semi-legendary, if you visit his Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6qHkqap6-Z/

“It’s gonna start out with a lot of fun tracks. It’s gonna have some serious stuff too, but very colloquial. I feel like lyrics-wise it’s gonna be different than ‘Life’s a Loop.’ As I mentioned, ‘Life’s a Loop’ was more like a diary, right? Me going through stuff and writing it down in a diary. This album’s gonna be more colloquial in a way. Me telling things I was going through to friends. I’m hoping it feels that way. 

“I also feel like I always have musical influence in myself when I’m writing my music. So it’s gonna also be like a musical. But not to the point where it’s corny.”

Until Next Time…

This naturally devolves into a side conversation about the movie adaptation of “CATS.” But we’ll save that for another day. As far as final words go, DAMYE again impresses me. Always positive. Always looking forward. We end on more of a “see you later” than a goodbye.

“I hope you’re hyped for my album as well. Not so much to the point that you’ll get disappointed. But from my perspective, I think it’s my best work so far even though I only have three songs ready. I’m gonna try to release it this year and not think about it too much. It’s gonna be great, and I hope you’re hyped for it. Also I have to add it’s been a while since I’ve talked in English, so it’s pretty refreshing.”

Keep your eyes and ears open for DAMYE! His is a talent that you must experience firsthand.

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