A Conversation with: Sylvee

Nelson-born artist Sylvee is making her presence known with her latest incredibly powerful dark-pop single “Retrograde World", further cementing her undeniably captivating sound. Featuring Māori artist and rapper Lucid Hiest and written/produced by Simon Gooding (P!NK, Dua Lipa, Drax Project), she chats to us about the process behind creating the track at Songhubs by APRA AMCOS last year, her biggest inspirations and more.

We’d love to know a little bit about your musical journey so far from when you first started singing and making music!

I didn’t actually tell my parents that I could sing until about 5 or 6 years ago. I took music in high school for 1 year, and then I was like “this is terrifying - what if someone hears me? That would be so humiliating” so I stopped taking music (laughs). I was just so shy. Then one day I was like “I’m just gonna try sing along to this track” and I showed it to someone and then it just kinda went from there (laughs). 

I started working with this guy in Wellington over the internet, and we started making music under the name Bank Land. He’s super cool - we never met for a couple of years and then he kinda got really busy so we stopped. And then I just carried on making my own thing. It’s just been very random.

Congrats on your latest single “Retrograde World”! Can you tell us about the meaning of this track and the inspiration behind it?

We wrote it at Songhubs, and we were kinda just sitting there talking about how crazy the world is, and with the insane, horrifying racism that was going on in the world. We were all on the same page about it which was great, and having Isiah (Lucid Hiest) in the room who is a Māori artist, it just felt nice to be able to have him on the track and give him the space to say what he needed to say, in a place that he felt safe to do that. So I think it is a bit of a political message but I think it’s important and he just makes it so cool. I’m so stoked that he was keen to jump on and it was awesome.

Amazing! What was the process like for writing/producing this song?

It was crazy - every morning we would get put into groups of whoever, and one person would be the artist and the other 2 or 3 would be writing for you including the producer. So it was a bit nerve-wracking because you don’t really know anyone and they just shove you all in a room and you get going (laughs). It’s scary but it’s super fun - we had Simon Gooding on production and he’s just super calm, so lovely, and always just grooves with you which is really nice. I think it was on a Wednesday that we did it, so we already had two days prior where we were writing with other people so we had a bit of a warm up which was nice. Everyone was like “I hope it’s not me on the first day” (laughs). It was a really nice environment - everyone was super lovely. It was a great feel to the week because everybody was very supportive and actually interested in each other. Everyone was telling each other to get good sleep and take your vitamins. It was a really nice, wholesome environment - it was really not what I expected from musicians but I really enjoyed it (laughs).

So cool! What were your main highlights working on the track and the music video?

Working on the track, the place we were actually in at Songhubs was so beautiful inside, and it was really just a crazy experience to make music with really talented people. So I think the whole thing was a highlight (laughs). And it was nice to come out with a song that you actually like at the end because sometimes you don’t. Especially going into a session with people you don’t know, you don’t know what their music tastes are - it could be a disaster (laughs).

The video was crazy because it’s so uncomfortable! Because it was my first one I was just like “wow I never want to do this again, I hate it” (laughs). You’re just dancing for like the whole day in front of 20 people that you don’t know (laughs). That was a real experience. But it’s good to do things that make you uncomfortable.

We also love your feature on The Upbeats’ tracks “All We’ve Got” and “Divide”, who are fellow kiwi artists in the dance/electronic space! What was your favourite part being on these two tracks?

I actually did a song with them back in 2017 called “A Place For You” so we’ve kind of known each other for a while because they’re originally from Nelson as well. Jeremy has always been super nice - whenever I need help with music stuff or I’ve got a question, he’s so helpful. So he’s always kind of been a person that I’ve shared things with. The collaboration kind of came around from there - he sent me a bunch of tracks and asked me if I wanted to try some stuff and they liked two of them so they had two!

Do you have more music on the way soon?

I mean, I think so! (laughs) I don’t know if there’ll be another song that comes out beforehand but we do have an EP coming so really excited for that.

That’s super exciting! Who would you say are your biggest inspirations in music?

I grew up listening to, obviously, Britney, Christina, Mandy Moore, Avril and even like The Corrs. My grandmother lived with us for most of my life, and she listened to a lot of theatre, so we spent a lot of time listening to classical music, a lot of records, and we went to go and see Swan Lake, Les Mis, Fiddler on the Roof and stuff like that so I don’t know how that has influenced me. Before I started doing more pop, I did a lot of emotive music and I think I really like being able to put huge emotion into things. I like being able to make people feel things, so I think that’s why the whole orchestral and theatrical side of music is really interesting to me.

But new artists? Like Lana, Sigrid, Noga Erez - she’s from Israel and she’s amazing. And Holly Humberstone, yup. She’s amazing too. I love them all, but it changes all the time.

Who are some of your favourite NZ artists right now and are there any songs in particular that you especially love or connect with?

Oh my goodness - I love all of them (laughs). I really love BROODS’ new song - I love all of their new music, their last album was amazing. Foley - love. Lorde. Lévyne. SASKI. BEXY. Mikey Dam. Matthew Young. Ashley Alexander and of course MCK is brilliant. She’s got SUCH good music coming. There’s some really great stuff coming from New Zealand and I think it’s nice to have different sounds coming through and a bit of exploration.

Absolutely! What do you love most about living in New Zealand? Do you have any favourite places to travel to or local spots to visit?

I was actually born in Auckland so I always love coming to Auckland, except for when it’s COVID (laughs). But I love Nelson - it’s so crazy to live here because there’s not really any music going on here. I’ve just been coming up to Auckland once a month to do stuff. But you can’t really beat Nelson - it’s sunny all the time, you never have to worry about parking. There’s not really much traffic, it’s so beautiful. But I also do love Auckland as well, but I just don’t love how many people there are (laughs).

Fair enough! What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learnt in your career so far?

I think listening to your gut because I think sometimes if you ask for too many opinions about a certain project, that starts to confuse you. Sometimes I think advice is really important but it depends who you’re asking, and to not get too much. Ask a couple of people and not the whole town because you have to remember that your songs are not going to be liked by everyone. My husband’s a great example because he could not be more opposite from me in music taste and all of the previous music that I was putting out, he was like “oh you know I don’t really like that kinda music but cool” (laughs) and I’m like “oh okay cool” (laughs). It’s nice to show it to somebody who is not going to inflate your ego and someone who’s gonna just bring you down a peg and give you like an actual, realistic response for someone who isn’t gonna like your music (laughs).

I think that’s quite important but yeah, you just have to trust yourself. At the beginning you’re just so grateful to be a part of everything but you do have to try not to sacrifice too much. Having management that you trust is just so insanely helpful (laughs).

Lastly, if you could say one thing to every person in the world, what would it be? 

I think it comes down to if you have a difficult situation that you’re in, remember to take 3 really deep breaths before you respond (laughs). It gets the oxygen in there and it helps you respond without reacting emotionally. I think we all just forget sometimes to think about what we’re gonna say, and we just constantly react. So yeah, think! (laughs)

Haha some great advice - thanks so much Sylvee! Make sure to keep up with her on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify or Apple Music.