DYLAN is a 20-year-old singer, songwriter, and self proclaimed “indie fuck doofus” who has been lighting up the ears of listeners worldwide.
When Dylan was younger, she taught herself how to play the piano and guitar. At 11 years old, she formed her first band, and began to write her own songs. Music has always been the one and only thing Dylan has wanted to pursue, and there was no plan B.
Even though her school felt differently, Dylan kept playing music and writing throughout her teen years. One of her music teachers told her to just “Fuck everyone else – you do your thing“, which gave Dylan a sense of confidence. Just two days before she finished school, she caught the attention of producer Will Hicks. Dylan and Will worked together on new material for a year, and the experience helped propel Dylan into a new chapter of her career.
Dylan is currently signed to AWAL, has caught the attention of BBC Radio One, received placement on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist, and has a dedicated posse of fans all over the world. She recently released her ferocious new single “Good Enough” along with a music video, and we got to chat all about it!
Hi Dylan! Thanks for being down to chat. How’s it going?
YO Im great thank you – surviving!!!
So first, let’s talk about your new single “Good Enough”. What does this song mean to you, and what was the inspiration behind it?
Writing good enough did a lot for my confidence. I was in a bit of a weird space before hand when I just felt like pure trash and that I would never quite be good enough for anyone. Now that for me was a big no no because the whole point of my music is to empower other people and at that moment I really needed to empower myself. I walked into a session with my friend Adam Argyle with a rough idea of the song and we put it together in the best part of a day. Safe to say I walked out of that session with a serious spring in my step. Writing music is really the only outlet I have for getting my emotions out so writing Good Enough was very important and has really done the job I needed it to do.
The music video for “Good Enough” is dark, yet very satisfying. How was it like filming it?
So we actually filmed the video for ‘Your Issues’ and ‘Good Enough’ in the same day. It was a very early start and a very late finish, but it was stupidly fun. Im a bit obsessed with light shows which is why there are so many strobes lol. It was such an amazing team – most of whom I know well so it was just a really nice day. I got verrryy into it, and we had to do what felt like a million takes so I was shattered at the end but I knew we had a good video by the end of it. Quite funny watching yourself dance when you know you have absolutely no experience in that area hahaha. Safe to say I went to bed that night seeing flashing lights.
I hear you have an EP called Red on the way! Can you give us a little heads up on what we can expect from it?
Right – I started writing Red late last year when I was experiencing emotions for the first time. That sounds dark but id only just moved to London and beforehand I had been stuck in Suffolk so I didn’t really have much experience or much to write about. I was really struggling with the way people treated and felt for each other – not just in relationships but in friendships too. Red is all about how I felt about teenage melodrama and flings. Its me finding my feet in the world.
You’ve been making music since you were younger. What would you say sparked your interest in making music?
Probably AC/DC. I was obsessed with standing on the kitchen table playing air guitar. I refused to have music lessons (stubborn)
So I taught myself how to play piano and guitar. Learning other peoples songs by ear took quite a long time back then so I thought it was easier to write my own. Theres never been another option really. I was useless at school and at sport so I just threw myself into writing instead.
Looking back, is there any advice you’d have for your younger self who was at the beginning of their musical journey?
Its the same advice I would give myself now. Don’t be so god damn hard on yourself constantly. Stop comparing yourself to people that are at the top of the charts. IT TAKES TIME WOMAN.
Are there any artists you’d love to work with in the future?
I say this in every interview and I will not stop until he notices me. FLUME IF YOU ARE READING THIS I AM LIVING MY LIFE TO COLLABORATE WITH YOU.
I know that these are very interesting times, to say the least. What are some of the ways you’ve been staying busy and motivated?
Still doing sessions most days, learning how to produce. More importantly i’ve been trying to attempt the saxophone. I say attempting because I still sound like someone is strangling a hippo. Im not sure my parents will love me after quarantine is over.
Finally… if you could pick five artists to perform at a post-quarantine music festival, who would they be?
Glass Animals , Flume, Hans Zimmer, The 1975 and Hannah Montana (does that count????)
Hell yeah. Check out “Good Enough” below, and go say hi to Dylan on Instagram @iamdylanofficial and Twitter @DYYLAAAANN!
