Introducing #0091 - Rydell
Let us introduce you to Austro-American singer Rydell, who has just released something special in the form of her debut track ‘Queens & Kings’. She talks to us about writing while traveling and how her debut track came together.
Your new track ‘Queens & Kings’ is out now, can you tell us the inspiration behind the song?
I wrote ‘Queens & Kings’ when I was living in Los Angeles and London. I experienced a wave of unexpected homesickness. I really missed Vienna, so I wrote this as a love letter. The song represents my feeling of summer in Vienna. When spring rolls around and the city drops her gray fur coat to reveal a stunning bright summer gown. Vienna has been voted the most livable city 6 years in a row now, believe me it is no hoax. Basic life quality aside, just trying to fathom the stories the walls of Vienna could tell. Walking around the city, passing Mozart’s house, I can’t help but imagine him staggering home from a wild night, humbly humming his latest composition. Or driving by Sigmund Freuds apartment and imagining him taking a lunch break from laying down foundations for psychological concepts and casually grabbing coffee with a friend around the corner. There is a level of mindfulness that Vienna represents in its lifestyle that is very hard to find in other international cities.
You’re based in Vienna, but you’re traveling a lot to write, what makes you do that?
I’ve been really lucky being able to grow up traveling a lot and living in California, Austria and the United Arab Emirates. It feels weird to stay in one place for too long. All the stimuli that these different environments provide are such valuable inspiration for any creative process. One can’t help but soak it all up and thus they leak out in your work. The hard truth is also just the chase for gigs. In performing arts, you go wherever someone lets you work. And also, finding people you click with. I recorded my EP in London because I had found a producer that I really hit it off with. Also, if you’re going to bury yourself in a dark studio for 10 days straight with little sleep and lots of tea, you might as well do it in London... am I right?
Where is your favorite place to travel to for writing?
Nature does good things for me. If I am secluded somewhere in the middle of the woods, you can bet your ass my notebook will not be neglected. But I also had times where I came back to the city from rural trips and that suddenly sparks a creative wave. I guess it just depends on what is most triggering at a specific point in time and where I am cognitively has a big impact. Any emotion can be turned into something creative for me, but I need the space in my mind to let it happen.
Where do you get your inspiration from when writing songs?
Life, dreams, interpersonal dynamics, relationships, fears, but also fantasies. Probably everything except mathematics or taxes.
Now your first single is out there, what next? What are your plans for the next few months?
I have some more tunes lined up, they will be coming out within the next few months, eventually forming my EP that will be out early next year. I am going back to London to get back in the studio in November. I just released my first single and I am already itching to make more. I suppose the writing bug got me and I’m not mad…not mad at all.