Cayey Cicada

"My music will be a message of transcendence." 

Cayey Cicada is a bilingual indie-pop artist that magically blends different genres in his music. The name itself is an homage to Puerto Rico (his birthplace). That helps him represents himself in the music industry, especially in the culture mix of L.A. Cayey Cicada is getting ready to release his second EP in the wintertime, but in the meantime he released his latest single: Vuelo. This brings me to the lovely conversation I had with him last week where we talked about his music and musical influences.

"Vuelo comes from a poem my brother wrote." He said that he asked his brother for permission and modified a few things, added music to it, and it became Vuelo. It truly is a trans/indie/electronic-type song that is chill, but also leaves you feeling good. The process behind it is evident.  

"Lots of beats. The new EP will have a lot of Lo-fi, rock, and synths." He also mentioned that for the EP, other genres present  like salsa, reggae, and jazz amongst others. What fun! 

I asked him what motivated him to become a musician and at what point he felt that it was a necessity. "I discovered music so late. I was in my second year of college. I was 21 when I truly discovered music. A friend of mine was playing "Vagabundo" by Draco Rosa on the guitar and I felt it. My dad, my parents in general, were not too happy with this decision at first."  It's amazing that even though discovering music "late" , it has lead him in this wonderful music journey.  

We also talked about the impact of music and the impact his he hopes his music will have. He mentioned that he wants to transcend, which also happens to be his favorite word. "My music will be a message of transcendence." He also feels like he has grown with this musical process and with that in mind, I also asked him what his biggest musical influences have been. He responded with people like Bob Marley and Gustavo Cerati amongst other music legends. Such good musical influences. 

If you are reading this, don't under estimate the power of music. Please go check out Cayey Cicada!