
Congrats on the new single, Wind Meets West! What is "Technicolor" is all about? Thanks for having me! Super excited to be here. “Technicolor” is a song that comes from a place of joy, a place of cherished memories as they are and basking in their warmth. In the past, my songs have typically been a way for me to process darker emotions like heartbreak, loneliness, and my struggles with depression and mental health. But I was experiencing this bout of writer’s block for a good reason: I’ve been feeling happy and supported by loved ones.
So for this song, I went to a different emotional palette: happy memories from when I first moved to New York City. I thought about this Tinder date I went on with a girl in a bright blue dress in the summer of 2018 and the colors of autumnal landscapes that paint the sky with red and cherry gold. There’s nothing quite like leaves in the Northeast! I want this song to help folx cherish memories as they are and embrace them to find joy again. If you could collaborate with any artist this year, who would it be? I’d love to work with Lauv, I love how open he is with his mental health struggles and I love how candid he is lyrically and musically. He writes some amazing hooks! Plus I love that he’s like me and has a hand in every part of the music-making process. Do you have plans for a full album release at some point?
I’m aiming for an EP release for next summer! This winter I’ll be taking the time to sort through my songs and figure out what I want to say as an artist. For the past few months, I’ve been writing a lot of songs about my mental health struggles and growing up as a child of immigrants. When I release a full body of work, I want them to be interconnected. What inspires your music? My songs come from my life, the thoughts and emotions that burrow into my brain and need to find a way out. I write from my perspective as a kid who’s just trying to figure out life. Songwriting is amazing because it allows you as the writer to go to this very subconscious space where you can really explore your inner self. Sometimes when I write a song, I don’t know what it’s about until the very end when I have that “aha!” moment and I realize “oh, so this is what’s been bothering me”. When you write new music, do you write the lyrics first? What is your process like? Typically it’s me sitting in front of my DAW, my piano, or with my guitar trying to put music to a concept I have in my head. I very type A in that I organize my thoughts around a single idea. I always tell new writers “go with the idea you like the most or are most inspired by”. What is the idea that you can’t get out of your head that will drive you to finish that song? That can be chords, lyrics, or melodies. Then everything I write or compose will always be tied to that idea and will be chosen based on if it supports the idea or not. I have the privilege of being able to not only sing and play instruments but also produce. This allows me to translate my ideas into music very quickly and it allows me to have a gigantic solid palette. If I were to sum it up? I start with a color on a blank canvas and keep throwing paint at it until I see something pretty. After that, it’s all about fine-tuning it until it’s something beautiful. Where can people listen to your music and connect with you on social media? My new single “Technicolor” is out now on all the streaming platforms! Please go stream it, follow me on Spotify and support independent artists. If you want to follow my journey, you can follow me on Instagram and TikTok (@windmeetswest) where I talk about my journey, give singing/producing tips, and let folx into my songwriting process. If you’re free tonight at 8 pm EDT, I have a show with Bonfire Live, an amazing organization that puts on shows whose ticket sales go 100% to the artist! I’d love to see you there, go to bonfirealive.com to get your tickets.
instagram.com/windmeetswest