Edwrds
Getting Personal with Edwrds
by Kayla Marra
From Long Island, New York, Edwrds is a rapper, singer, and songwriter with the goal of spreading positivity all over the globe. In July 2022, Edwrds embarked on the Boys of Summer tour, alongside other influencers and artists, where he performed in cities across the country, spreading his message and powerful lyrics.
Amongst all the excitement with his new EP “Street Lights” recently coming out, as well as a few other exciting announcements, we were lucky enough to sit down with Edwrds to chat about how life on the road has been, the biggest milestones in his career, social media’s impact on the world, and so much more.
Since we only had a few minutes to chat backstage at the Boys of Summer Tour, could you tell us a little more about you and your music?
As you know, I go by Edwrds. That's without the “a.” I'm from Long Island, New York. I'm a huge mental health advocate and a huge advocate for being excited each day to not only learn something new but meet new people in the process of that learning experience. I realized especially on this tour that a lot of people avoid interactions. There are even people walking down the street who don't even want to look at each other. What I've learned is that I want to use my music to inspire others. To wake up excited to meet somebody new, have a new conversation, and just expand that love and positivity. I make hip-hop music, and there’s an inspiration for a lot of things. So, that's my spiel.
When did you know that music was what you wanted to do?
I grew up dancing. I started at the age of three. Then doing that competitively for 13 years really help me fall in love with music. As much as I loved being in dance classes, I wanted to be the person making that music. I looked around and saw everybody connecting on such a deep level and just enjoying life in the moment, which is something that I love so much. I’ve just always loved it. Once I was able to get my thoughts down in my notes and on my paper and just record songs, there were things that I was going through that I didn't even know I was going through until after I wrote the song. I would write everything and then read it back and hear it and I'm like, “Oh wow, that's what happened!” The day that happened is the day I realized that I love this, and I want to keep doing it.
The last time we talked was backstage at the Boys of Summer Tour, how has it been so far, performing in cities across the country?
It's been really cool I'm not going to lie. I've also been becoming really friendly with all the other acts and influencers on the tour which is really fun. Just such cool people. It's nice to see people again and see fans again. There are even people from last time I was on The Boys of Summer tour that were like, “Oh jeez, is it's crazy to see you again.” I'm still at the early part of my career so it's little things like that just blow my mind and mean the world world. It's like, oh you remember! Life is crazy and easy to forget things so when someone appreciates you, that's awesome. I've even had people DM me and they're like “My friend FaceTimed you at the show, you did so good!” It's the fact that people are even hitting me up from a FaceTime call of the performance, it's just really cool. It's just a blessing. It's always a fun experiment trying new songs, showing new dances, showing new energy. It's just a cool thing. I feel like with each show, each performance just keeps leveling up. One day it's going to be so magical.
What is one memory from the tour that stands out for you?
I'd probably say last night. After the show, we all came back and then everybody was just hanging out in the hotel room having a good time. We threw on some beats, so I started freestyling for everybody, which is one of my favorite things to do in the world. I really want people to one day be like, “Wow, this man could have spit with Juice Wrld bar for bar!” I got to say my memory was probably just hanging out with everybody and having such a cool moment, because everybody was just blown away, like “oh Edwrds got it like that?” Definitely shout out everybody else who's been on The Boys of Summer Tour, they’re fantastic. As for the fans that are watching, I can't pick a single moment because every time I grabbed a hand in the crowd, it’s all love for everybody.
You have a single and a music video coming out very soon. Could you tell us a bit about the song, the writing process, and the music video process?
It's a whole lot! The new music coming out has been years in the making, just fine-tuning and perfecting it so that I could just really show the world what I'm capable of. They're some of the most personal songs I've developed over time. Some talk about my relationship with loss. Whether it be in a relationship, whether it’s family, there's a lot of conversations on that piece. The theme about the release coming out is streetlights – so summer nights. Whipping at night whether it be with your friends or by yourself. I think there's a beauty in looking at the streetlights when you're listening to music. They almost represent moments passing on some Kanye stuff. So yes, it's an EP called “Street Lights,” it's going to be five songs and I've been performing the songs on tour. The people who've been seeing me at the shows get their little sneak peek and everybody's very excited. I'm super excited. I just can't wait for the world to see it. It's going to be awesome.
Out of all the songs you’ve written so far, which one do you think encompasses who you are as an artist and why?
Wow, you're coming up with the good questions today! I would probably say on this project it's a tiebreaker between this song called “Basement” and my song called “Burn Holes.” “Burn Holes” is very representative of the performer in me and the carefree essence that I like to move around with. I don't want little insignificant situations to destroy my day. That's song that really shows my capabilities of the rapping, the singing, and the production, because I produce my own music, just so you know. I love having my hand. But “Basement” is such an emotional song that talks about old friends that I'm not in touch with anymore. When things get bad what are we going to do at the end of the day? I want you all to listen to it and when you see it, definitely let me know to whether it's “Basement” that encompasses the vibe. You definitely let me know too!
Yeah! I’ll DM you and get back to you to let you know what I think the vibe is.
I definitely need to know.
Do you think your writing process and style have evolved since you started creating music?
I think the difference now is that back when I first started making music, it was just this big experimentation of what I can do and what I'm capable of. A lot of it was self-taught. I would do classes, but I had to take whatever I was taught and incorporate it in my own work. Now I’ve realized that you can approach it so many different ways. You could start it with writing a poem and expanding that. Sometimes I'll do that. Other times, I want to start with something like the drums. I want to get that pocket moving and then I’ll slide the words in there. It's never planned out as I said earlier. I’ll write a song and then listen to it after, or read the lyrics, and I'm like, oh jeez, this is really deep. Are you okay (Laughs)
How do you think social media has changed the music industry?
I’m very grateful for the world that we live in. It gives you a lot of opportunity. But as much as there's positives, there's negatives as well. I actually have a song that talks about this. It's called “Internet” and it talks about how a lot of people are lying for likes. We're finding out for fulfillment in likes and follows, and people's judgments of us. Let's be real, as cool as social media is, we could all be in contact with everybody. It is judgment, which is something that I don't believe any of us should ever have for anybody. I've been having a lot of conversations recently where I say, what is the end of the world to you? That's the end of the world. What is the end of the world to me can be insignificant to you. We can't judge because everybody experiences and has their own perspective on situations. As for social media, It's a beautiful thing if you use it in a positive way. If it’s expressing yourself and being authentic, I support you all. But when you see someone letting it take over their life and become an addiction, I think that's where a lot of people fall. I hope I never go through that because I've had my battles with social media. Of course I'm someone who is not perfect. I overthink things. I get mad sometimes when something doesn't have as many likes as I want. We all go through that. We may look at something like – I don't look good in that; can you take it down? That’s social media. I made a deal with good. I deal with bad. It's just a cool thing that we have. We're floating on a rock and somehow, we could talk to people on a piece of metal. It's beautiful.
If you could put together a tour or festival, including yourself, who would you have on the lineup?
Oh, this is a good question. Actually I recently got to go to my first real Festival ever. I went to Lollapalooza, and it was so loud. So if I had to choose, I'm putting Dominic Fike on there because he's awesome and I loved his set. There's this band called Måneskin, I don’t know if you know about them. I love them, so I would definitely. Even though we don't make the same music, I want them there. I want Blackbear there. Jaden Smith, you know he can party. Then maybe some acts that I'm friends with, some of the homies. I always like showcasing my friends and other people’s stories. For the longest time when I was growing up, I would always be like “only my opinion matters I don't need to hear anybody else's,” but I've grown up and realized there's beauty in hearing people's stories and backgrounds, because the littlest things make the biggest difference.
What is one city you’d love to visit and perform in?
I really would love to do a show in California. I would really love to because I've only done little stuff, but I’ve just loved every venue I've been at here. Whether someone smells bad or has some of issue, it doesn't really matter what the problem is. I'm just so grateful to be able to travel and meet new people. I am so okay with doing a show in someone's backyard with like twenty people or doing a show with a couple hundred. It doesn't matter about the people there. It's about getting a message across. We're trying to connect.
That shows that you genuinely love what you're doing, which everyone can tell.
I genuinely love what I do, and I also care about other people's stuff. A reason I love doing these types of interviews is that it's clear. You can see compared to interviews with other people, I don’t mean to gas myself, but there’s an attention.
What do you think your biggest milestone so far as an artist has been?
I feel like this tour has been a cool thing, but I guess I would just say I just got over 100,000 streams in total which I think is cool. I also love seeing where people listen to my music from. Seeing people listening in the UK, or people listening in some crazy country that I've never heard of. I think with each new one that's added that's a milestone because I want to reach as many people around the world as I can.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
I'm just going to trust this one that popped into my head. I was talking to my pops one day and it was some stupid stuff. I cracked some jokes, and I was like “Oh I mean, I'm going to do my thing but YOLO.” He was like, “Jake you don't only live once. You only die once but you have a choice to live everyday.” When I heard that, I thought about it for a week straight. I was like, maybe he does have a point. My dad would just be cracking jokes about some simple stuff but when he said that it sat with me. I've been trying to wake up every day and decide that I'm going to live today. I'm going to meet people. I'm going to be excited for life.
Do you have anything you’d like to say to your fans?
Wherever you are and whatever you're all going through, you're not alone. Mad love, hugs, and virtual hugs all around. It's such a blessing to exist. If you're passionate about something, just enjoy the moment because in the moment lies so much abundance. I know that sounds very wisdom-like but think about it and check it out. Also, thank you so much for having me on as well. I've got to thank you because you're the one putting us on the platform to speak and how these people hear things.
Thank you so much for being here! I heard that you have a couple of exciting announcements to share…
As you all know, we've got the EP coming out, but there's going to be so many cool music videos we're doing. Today I'm going to be driving over to this Airbnb I rented. It's like two big tree houses on the lake. It's just going to be some really different stuff, really exciting stuff that's going to be happening. I'm also going to be at Playlist Live. That's going down in Orlando, Florida. I'll be performing on Saturday and Sunday. That's going to be a fun one. Yes, just more shows, more fun new ideas and energy because every day we need some new energy. I’m also going to be performing at the Opry Mills Unplugged in Nashville which is going to be really cool because I’ve never really done anything in that realm. It's going to be cool in Nashville. I've recorded a lot of songs on this EP in Nashville, so it's going to be cool to take these songs that were made there and bring them there and say thank you.
Edwrds’ EP “Street Lights” is available on all streaming platforms as of August 12th, check it out! Stay tuned for more exciting announcements, we can’t wait to see what is in store for him!
Copyright ©2022 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: August 15, 2022.
Photos ©2022 Steven Wood @scetti. Courtesy of Management Edwrds. All rights reserved.