There is something so vivid about Silas and part of it is his love for colors. It’s in his bold fashion choices that perfectly blend modern and classic styles, otherwise clashing colors and patterns, and feminine and masculine energies. The same perfect blend that makes his sad (and beautiful) lyrics into music you dance to, either alone in your own room or in the club.
“I love dancing to misery,” he laughingly tells Metroscene Mag in our exclusive interview. “I love desensitizing myself to my traumas by writing and singing about it over and over until it becomes just another story. Music is my therapy.” This is particularly evident in his newly released song, Kanino which features Ace Cirera.
In our conversation, Silas welcomed us into his colorful world as we talked about his writing process, his music, and even a glimpse into his dating life.
Becoming Silas
Before signing with his record label, Vicor Records, Silas independently wrote and produced his debut single, Melting Vitamins – a song he wrote after a series of rebirths. “I sat down angry as hell, expecting the angriest punk rock song and I ended up writing the most hopeful song I’ve ever written,” he tells us.
Although he’s been writing music for years, once he finished writing Melting Vitamins, Silas knew that this was the song that he’d be introducing himself with as an artist. “It’s about saying goodbye and letting go and welcoming the new.” After two months of releasing this song, he signed with his present record label, which excitingly lets him do whatever he wants creatively.
“I’m still heavily independent. I am my own producer, marketing team, and creative team. Everything I put out, I conceptualized and materialized,” he shares. Admittedly, he can be a control freak from time to time since he has a very specific vision. According to him, he thrives when he is surrounded by supportive people.
Through his love for the arts, Silas wants to keep on creating. “I love creating big ambitious projects,” he tells us.
On writing his songs
Silas has always been a writer who grew up around so much music. Add to this mix the amalgamation of the life he lived, he decided to write his own songs. He tells us that he’s very bad at memorizing other artist’s songs because it’s not his story, so once he started singing for a living, he knew that he won’t just be covering songs. “I have things to say,” he declares.
Part of his identity as a songwriter is him being very visual. His music is impressed by paintings, photographs and even movies, which he believes is one of the reasons why his music is also very cinematic. Having synesthesia, these visual influences are very important in how he makes music. “I convert what I see into sounds,” he says.
Silas also describes himself as a time traveling storyteller. “Time is an illusion, so I basically just get lost in existence.” It’s no wonder that his music can sometimes feel nostalgic yet still be so new because he lets himself be in the moment. In our conversation, he tells us that he produces music based on his emotions – on how they make him feel and how they make him move.
Inspirations just come out of him naturally. “It’s always something random, always a feeling. Sometimes I start with the vibe or the movement or a certain instrument, certain hook. Sometimes I would have a title and write around it. Sometimes when I write for other artists, I just chit chat with them for hours. I need access to who they really are and what they really want to say. So when I make music, I always just wanna say how I feel. I’m always confessional,” he shares.
In terms of singing and performing, he loves good soulful vocalists like Prince, Justin Timberlake, Jojo, Jazmine Sullivan, and Tori Kelly among others.
Heartbreaks and music
Silas opens up with us that he wrote Kanino, which has Sassa Gurl in its music video, during a time when he was falling in love with a TV star he worked with on a project. It was his first time falling in love, and according to him, it was euphoric. “She got me and my art.” Although they loved each other intensely, the relationship ended when she betrayed him.
Using bleeped out colorful language, Silas tells us that he was deeply hurt. He ended up rewriting Kanino into what it is now. “It’s what I wanted to tell her because I never replied after we fought over the phone.”
Interestingly, before Kanino, Silas hasn’t experienced romantically loving someone yet. However, he has always known how to write about pain. “I was always just writing about what I think love is. In my song, One Night Stand, I was sort of starting to get an idea,” he shares. “I’m a very loving person, I love immensely.”
Although he finds love a bit cheesy, in a way that he’s always expressing it by saying the opposite, Silas confesses that he loves love.
What’s next for Silas
Silas has only recently entered our ever-growing music industry, but he’s already produced songs that are diversifying and celebrating who he is as an artist. With his fun and refreshing take on fashion and his love for creating, Silas wishes to do more with what he has.
“I plan to release an EP of songs you can dance to while crying, i’ll keep you posted but I also want to produce a short film of some kind so that might happen. I’m always working on something so if it’s not music, it’s something definitely entertaining,” he tells us.
Whatever it is he has in store for us in the future, we know that Silas will be painting our lives in multicolor.
