The environments around all of us are constantly changing, and sometimes it isn’t all that easy to adapt to those changes. The past year in particular has brought on major sudden changes for people all over the globe, accompanied with feelings of helplessness.
If there’s anyone ready to admit they’ve been in that boat, it’s Dylan Fraser. Just a few weeks prior to the UK’s first lockdown of 2020, the rising dark pop superstar from Scotland had signed his record deal. A major life milestone was suddenly overshadowed by a grim global situation, and Dylan’s excitement came to an unexpected halt.
“It was weird, because I had been traveling to London, doing all this cool stuff and being in the studio, and suddenly I was back in my childhood bedroom where I had always been my whole life,” Dylan admits. “It was just a very weird progression. At first, I kinda freaked out and was like, ‘Ugh… what am I going to do? I literally have nothing to do, like I’m back home in Scotland with nothing to do. The world is gonna move on without me, and I’m just gonna be forgotten about. I’m not gonna get my chance to release these songs.’”
Hey, you can’t blame Dylan for fearing the unknown. After all, being a musician is something he had dreamed of since he was a toddler. “I think I always kinda had a vision of where I wanted to go career wise from a super young age,” Dylan says. “I still to this day don’t really know why I knew so well, but I kinda just stuck with it.”
In his early teens, Dylan was gifted a hand-me-down guitar by his mother. He was able to learn different chords, play different songs, and even write a few. However, his love for music was something he chose to keep lowkey for quite some time – especially while in high school.
Dylan confesses, “I think you’re just an awkward teenager and your confidence drops a bit once you go into high school. I think I didn’t really tell anyone I was doing music, and I was posting covers online and stuff. I kinda just kept it to myself, and obviously people at school found out. I never really spoke about it, I was kinda shy and nervous to talk about it, so I kinda just kept it to myself and kept it out of school as much as possible.”
In mid 2020, it was go time for Dylan. Despite the continued uncertainty in the world around him, he dropped his first single “Vipers.” As he appreciated the magnitude of the moment, he also felt nervous about what could come next. Dylan released his debut EP The Storm a few months later, and began to question his own journey. He confides, “I got quite wrapped up in everything I wasn’t doing, rather than everything I was doing. I sometimes find it hard to focus on my wins, and I tend to focus a lot on everything I’m not doing or haven’t done yet, or what isn’t happening for me yet. I think I was in this mindset where I wasn’t looking at the achievements I had or being like, ‘oh you’ve done well!’”
Dylan decided to make it a goal to try to shift his mindset, embracing how far he has come and seizing the opportunity for growth that presents itself daily. “Not sweating the small stuff, just enjoying and focusing on what I’m good at… the other stuff doesn’t matter,” he says. “What I love doing is making music, connecting with people, visuals, and performing live. I think that’s what I’m going to focus on.”
This exact thought process is what set the tone for Dylan’s new EP, The World Isn’t Big When You Know How It Works. Having to climb the ropes of life on your own can be difficult, no matter what the conditions are. As Dylan says though, “The world is a big, confusing, scary place. No one’s got it figured out, we’ve just all gotta find our place in it and see where we can slot in.”
He continues, “I don’t think anyone fully ever figures out life in general. I think we’re all constantly growing and evolving, learning, and having the experiences. I think if you can find your ways to deal with life and the shit life throws at you in the best way… I think it’s about trying to understand your own headspace, what your limits are, what works for you, and what situations make you feel uncomfortable that you don’t want to put yourself in.”
The lockdown also made Dylan realize it’s okay to take your time. He spills, “What the pandemic gave me was the space to sit with my own thoughts and feelings, before I could even think about writing a song, and figuring out exactly what it is I want to say and what I’m trying to communicate. My whole process of writing music has completely changed in the last year, and I think I need that time. I’m not one of these artists who can write a song every single day… that just doesn’t work for me. It’s not productive. I only write when I want to write, or I feel inspired to write.”
The World Isn’t Big When You Know How It Works was Dylan’s space to open up about his many life experiences. Perhaps they haven’t all been smooth sailing, but they’ve transformed into stories Dylan is now sharing with pride. Hopefully, you’ll be able to relate to this sentiment too as you listen!
(And hey, the world isn’t so scary when you have good music to help you get by.)
Check out The World Isn’t Big When You Know How It Works below, and say hi to Dylan Fraser on Instagram @dylanfrasermusic.
