FEATURED ARTIST OF THE WEEK!
MYLES
Watford, United Kingdom
This week Tamara Jenna caught up with Rak-Su hunk Myles to discuss his debut solo release 'Old Fashioned. Myles, primarily known for his membership in RnB/Pop group Rak Su blew the minds of the British public during his time in the talent competition 'The X Factor'. In fact, as I'm sure we all remember - They won! Written, produced, and recorded in just five hours at his home studio, 'Old Fashioned' is Myles' first solo single. His debut track provides us with a great afrobeat-inspired pop track just in time for the summer! His lyrics overthrow any preconceptions upheld by society regarding modern dating. He just wants to do things the good 'Old Fashioned' way. We hear this message through his lyrical content - "Forget Netflix & Chill I wanna do this old fashioned, I wanna take you out and talk before we get cracking". Drawing inspiration from his own endeavors with love, Myles holds the view that doing things the Old Fashioned way is what encouraged his happy three-year relationship.
We decided to reach out to Myles to get to the juiciness behind his work!
What influenced your decision to do a solo track? and will there be more to come?
I always wanted to release some solo music to express a musical side of me that you wouldn’t normally see in Rak-su. There is a song dropping on the 8th April called Crazy Love.
When creating the track, who were your biggest artistic influences?
My biggest influence on Old Fashioned was the Afro genre. The instrumentation and the percussion used is heavily influenced by afro.
Producers and other songwriters often get overlooked when promoting a track,
who (if any) other artists worked with you during the writing process?
I fully produced and wrote the song myself, but I do agree writers and producers do not
generally, get enough credit.
Where did you find your inspiration to create the track?
The inspiration was found from my relationship I'm in with my partner. Although the storyline is slightly exaggerated we did do things the old way and took things slow and respectfully.
When is your favorite time of day to create?
My favorite time of the day to create is the afternoon, I eat my lunch or breakfast depending on what time I wake up and then see what pops into my head.
What motivates you to create? Your tracks are always upbeat, how do you maintain
that energy in your music?
I'm a very energetic person in general and I think it rubs off onto my music. I find it easy to write and produce upbeat music, I find it harder
to make slower in your feels music. I have to really be in a dark headspace to be
able to create slower music.
How do you define success as an artist? and more specifically, what does success
mean to you? What are your ultimate career goals?
I think you’ve found success as an artist if you build up the courage to release a song. Success shouldn’t be
defined by “Numbers” as they don’t mean much in today's industry. It's great having
big numbers but it's not the be-all and end-all. Not to say you shouldn’t aim for the
stars but don’t be too harsh on yourself if you don’t get BIG numbers straight
away. My ultimate career goals are to continue to make music for a living, trust the
process and see where life takes me musically.
Other than having been in a group, how do you collaborate with other artists? What
are the methods you use to build connections in the industry?
Me and the rest of Rak-su tend to go to events and work with a lot of producers. Networking is crucial in today's industry and normally that's the way you get support on your music.
What are your future plans? What can we look forward to for the rest of 2022?
My plans for the rest of the year is to continue making and releasing solo music as well
as releasing music with Rak-su, we have a lot lined up this year and the aim is to
perform that on our 2022 Uk theatre tour.
Lastly, we just want to say thank you so much for talking to us today, it was a real pleasure!
To wrap things up, we've decided to hail Myles at Number 1 in our weekly Top 10 Afrobeats and Number 2 in our Weekly Top 10. We cannot wait to hear what's coming next!
Don't forget to stream both 'Old Fashioned' and 'Crazy Love' which can be found in the link below. We really enjoyed catching up with Myles and wish him all the best on his prosperous journey!