ARTIST TO ARTIST: A CONVERSATION BETWEEN PARIS UNLTD & D\u00C9 MIKYLAH

ARTIST TO ARTIST

A Conversation between Dé Mikylah & Paris Unltd

Dé Mikylah (3rd year) and Paris Unltd (2nd year) are both Woodsworth students, who also happen to be up and coming artists in the music scene in Toronto. We had them sit down in conversation and talk about finding balance, their inspirations, and what the future holds for them both.

Paris: I’m Paris Unltd and I’m here talking with…Dé: Dé Mikylah.

P: We have so much to talk about! You’ve had a busy week, with lots of ups and downs. How would you describe your schedule, and how you manage to find the time to be an artist but also exist outside of that sphere?

D: It is very hard, and it took a lot of getting used to.

I think I was prepared because I went to an art high school for vocal [music]. My schedule was literally 4 courses, then staying at school till 9 o’clock to do a rehearsal for performances. The biggest thing I’ve learned doing this now is to prioritize your time.

P: Meeting other people who are also either writing music, making visual art, photographers, etc. Do you think you fit in the general Toronto creative space?

D: I’ve always been into music. It’s always been the way that I express myself, so it’s not fake for me. As a result, I resonate with any creative... However, I feel like I don’t fit in because most of the creatives I know have completely emerged themselves in their work and are only an artist. At some point, they tend to get more respect just because that’s their sole mission. However, we’re both here from U of T, and it can feel like we are doing 45 different things at the same time. How do you feel about this?

P: The [creative] space is very new to me. I felt like I had to find a way to fit in, especially amongst fellow black artists, coming from an alternative standpoint, trying to break into pop music. Me and my producer always label my

music “alternative queer pop”, and it was kind of hard to figure out...

D: The more you go through different experiences and put yourself out there, the more it will come easily to you. You got to keep going, there will be flaws along the way but you will continuously learn. Going back to what you said about fitting into the pop scene, the Black creative scene, there have been times when I had to just say “I don’t care!”. If they like me, they like me, if they don’t, then they don’t!

P: Listening to “Good Luck”, which was my favourite song of yours… felt like I was listening to someone’s journal and their thoughts. What were … you ... going through? ...this song seemed like it was about focusing on friends that had betrayed you at some time. I thought it was a really interesting angle to take in one of your first songs.

D: I’m so happy you caught that because most people think like “what guy hurt you?” You’re actually really spot on.

P: Oh, rock ‘n’ roll!

D: Basically I was going through a really hard time with relationships, but also breaking ties with friendships as well. I was still hurt, but I was also realizing that I needed to be the bigger person and move on. It was the realization that I’m holding in all this emotion and it felt so good to let it out, but at the same time, I couldn’t be bitter and negative about it. I just want to be out of the picture.

P: I love that came through so well in your song.

D: Thank you! So, I wanted to know what made you start doing music?

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P: Music for me, I guess I need to attribute to my father. He was the one who was always blasting music growing up, in the bar downstairs. He would always make us come down and play like J. Holiday and have us sing. Coldplay was a huge influence on me wanted to get into music and become a singer. So that was my first step into wanting to do music. From then on, I went into guitar lessons, and then vocal lessons, and it became part of getting my high school diploma in South Africa. It was a gruelling experience being part of the art academy, and that’s where I got a lot of my insecurities as an artist but also where I found fulfillment and a way to sift through the mess in my head. That was what motivated me to get into music. People shredding on the guitar...singing about the cheesiest love things... That was my beginning.

D: Wow.

P: So, what direction do you see yourself going in the future?

D: I’m actually working on something right now that is going to be released March 1st. This is a project very close to my heart because I’m addressing mental illness and different phases of emotions in my life, put together in a way so that you almost feel the rollercoaster [of emotions] that I felt. It’s an EP, called Subconscious, I can’t really classify it as really happy or really sad.

P: You have a really good knack for taking us through the thoughts in your writing, I would be super stoked to hear a full body of work where you have space to expand on all those different types of emotions.

D: Thank you!! So, I loved your song Gimme. I really liked the vibe of it… I wanted to know what your inspiration was for that song and where you were going with it?

P: I wrote the song at the beginning of firstyear and it was at a time when I felt a sense of sexual freedom. With freedom, came the insecurities. The biggest thing was dealing with my insecurities around my body, and how weight fluctuates, my image, my skin colour - especially in a queer environment, where sometimes it can be hard to find people to relate to… So, those were the inspiration for the tone of Gimme… I was listening to A LOT of Tove Lo, I really connected with how her hooks were simple but really effective, but her lyrics were crass. I think I wanted to channel a sense of “I don’t give a fuck”... I don’t really think I was in a healthy space, so honestly, it was a weird first single to have.

D: Well I loved it, it was amazing. How do you feel being a [queer] black male making the music you are making and addressing the issues you are addressing?

P: In the early stages of me wanting to write more and more music when I came to Canada, was a time when I was just shitting on everyone who made me feel a specific way. Especially people that I found attractive, but thought they would never find me attractive because of the way I looked. I don’t really fall for people, but when I do, it’s this weird mismatch of “I think this guy is beautiful”- especially when I find a queer black guy that you are genuinely attracted to, and then it turning out that they are less interested than me. Finding out that they have other people that they would rather be with, and conveniently those people aren’t black. Then I blame myself.

D: I wanted to know your experience because I love and appreciate what you’re doing, just because I have friends who identify as queer as well, sometimes it can be hard for them to fully be vulnerable and put all of that out there. So to have a figure like you to look up to, because you have the courage and the braveness to not give a fuck about what anyone thinks, I really respect that.

P: Funny enough, in terms of future projects...I have one coming out on the 8th of March. “Murder Me!” is the name of the new song, and this is me trying to take a step in a new direction. Florence and the Machine, which is another big inspiration to me, has a song called I’m Not Calling You a Liar, where she literally goes: “I love you so much, I’m going to let you kill me”. Imagine loving someone so much, you would let them kill you. So I thought about having a song that is basically about begging someone to kill me, and like having SOMEBODY TO LOVE *Queen voice*...which equals death. The whole recording process was really therapeutic, just screaming “MURDER ME!” into the microphone a couple dozen times. The whole game of finding someone to love...can suck.

D: I am so excited to hear your new song after what you’ve explained about it. I’m wishing you all the luck. It was lovely to have this conversation with you, you are a beautiful soul.