Ricardo 2

The speaker interviews artist Ricardo Cobian-Durante, who is from the Bay Area and has released music on Spotify. They discuss how attending a choir festival inspired the speaker to start songwriting. Ricardo talks about his music-making process and how it serves as an outlet for his emotions. He mentions challenges like writer's block and imposter syndrome. He also shares his favorite artists and how living in the Bay Area has influenced his music career. Ricardo is part of three choirs and plans to continue making music in college. His upcoming album, "Perspective," explores themes of love and valuing one's own story. He advises new artists to start with journaling and to learn from online tutorials. The interview ends with a promotion for Ricardo's album. Oh man, I think my family for sure has my back on this type of stuff, but most of it has been like my own independent You know, like I kind of like to support myself through it and like ride the waves on my own, you know Hey guys, welcome back, bring back the bay podcast. I have a treat for you guys today I was able to get an interview with the one the only Ricardo Cobian-Durante. This is an artist from the Bay Area. You guys probably know who he is If you're in a choir, he attends our high school and he is a up-and-coming artist who has already released music to Spotify And is going to release a new album soon. So I hope you guys like my conversation with him Before we get right into this interview though, I want to let you guys know that any songs I have do not express the views of Karl Maher, Scott Scoop, Ricardo or any of that. We are just, I have removed some lyrics because they are inflammatory Yeah, so choir has this festival every year called Chrono Festival Which is like a bunch of choirs like come together and sing and they have this segment in it Where they let like artists like perform their music from Chrono Choirs And last year during that festival like the power went out in the whole school And we had to do that little section for the artists like in the choir room And it's only in the PAC so like it's not like the same I got to see really like everyone's like songwriting style kind of And like I saw how intimate it was like everyone was really like Like the stories that they were telling with their songwriting like all the emotion that they were putting into it And I felt really inspired and I was like I wonder if I could do that too And then from there it just kind of like my songwriting just like picked up So I guess a big shout out to them for doing that for me Yeah, I make everything on my own I have like a cable that connects my keyboard, it's back there My keyboard to my computer and then I can just like play notes or chords and stuff like that Oh yeah, that's really cool Did you have to learn how to play the piano for your musical career or did you already know how to play the piano? Yeah, like I think I really started to learn it to make my own music But I already had some piano knowledge since my brother is also a musician And we've had like a keyboard so like during COVID when we were all like stuck inside I like get on the piano, you know But I think this year when I started songwriting I like really learned piano Here is a piece of music from Lakota's Spotify, it's called Aurora Oh Yeah, I think making music and like writing music has been like such a good way to just like get things out Now what I mean by that is like for example like if I'm going through something or something like that I can just like write a song about that and then it like gets it all out And then I can just like put that out for other people to hear And that's really changed me like a lot because before I didn't really have an outlet to like do that kind of stuff But now that I discovered songwriting and stuff, it's like my go-to, you know Like whenever I'm feeling something really strong like oh let me write a song about this And then it's nice because other people like connect to it, you know And then you build like those connections with people, it's really nice What are the biggest challenges you've come across since joining the music scene? The biggest one is probably like writer's block Just like writing out of ideas of like what to write about Or like feeling like the melodies are just becoming too repetitive and like I need to take a break and stuff I think that's been like my biggest challenge But I think also kind of like imposter syndrome Like I sometimes feel like oh this isn't good enough, like I don't like how this sounds Like I can't put this out, like this is too bad And then I'll like scratch the whole thing, you know And I think it's done more damage than it's done good Because obviously sometimes it's good to like hold yourself to a good standard, like a high standard But sometimes I feel like I'm too critical on my own, like writing and stuff Definitely like my favorite artist to like listen to for sure is like my biggest inspiration Like I always try recreating their sounds I think like some of the top ones are like probably like Leve, like Mitski, Billie Eilish for sure With all like the vocal layering and stuff Yeah, yeah Okay, I think my top favorite Leve, probably Haunted would be like the other one Okay Magnolia, that's up there And then above the Chinese restaurant, I don't know, I don't know what Okay From Mitski Ooh, this is so hard Probably Fireworks Okay Okay, so two slow dancers for sure And then the second one would probably be a Burning Hill for the second one And then probably, I think it would be my top three for her And then, okay, Billie Eilish, I've been a fan of hers and she was on SoundCloud I like know her entire discography like by heart, it's so hard Okay, so definitely top three, so three's probably Come Out and Play Two would probably be My Future Two would probably like I Love You as a receipt So, how has living in the Bay affected your musical career? Yeah, I think for sure I'm privileged to be living here in the Bay Area Because there's such a diverse like music culture For example, like San Francisco, they have like a huge jazz scene And like there's constantly like openings to like do gigs and stuff and like perform So, I guess I'm privileged in that way But at the same time, because there's so many musicians It's really competitive to like really grow your platform and stuff But overall, I'd say there's like more good than bad living in the Bay Area Like in the music scene So, what level of choir are you in? So, I'm in three choirs this year Oh, three, three? Yeah, like three or four periods are just choir So, I guess I have it kind of easy my junior year I'm in Chamber Choir, which is like the advanced choir I'm in Concert Choir, which is like second year choir And then Highlanders, which is like beginner's choir Yeah, and then next year I plan on doing the same Did you all three choirs like use your voice at the end of the day or something? For some people, it's for sure very like vocally taxing For sure to be in like multiple choirs and like sing for that long But I think I'm just like genetically blessed or something Because my voice never gets like that tired But there are some days that are worse than others for sure Oh, I was also wondering, are you going to continue making music in college? I know it's really hard to create a balance between college life and your own personal life Yeah, for sure I actually plan on majoring in music production and songwriting So, this is for sure something that I want to keep going like past high school and stuff What do you think? Yeah, okay, so I think in my upcoming album that's coming out soon I think the biggest themes that I explore Obviously, there's like those like edgy like love type of themes You know, like getting over someone or something But I think the overarching theme is just like really like valuing and understanding your own story And even like the worst parts of it, you know Like just being grateful to like be alive and stuff And like understand that everyone has like ups and downs and stuff It's called Perspective It's so fitting That's good, that's good It's coming out May 9th at 9pm 9pm Next, I asked Okado what his advice for new artists would be Like start with little I would start with journaling first of all Because that kind of gets you into like writing lyrics Kind of because you're like just journaling what's up, you know And then like looking up like YouTube tutorials On like how to like start like producing songs and stuff That was so helpful for me And then it just like kind of picks up on its own from there kind of Alright guys, I hope you liked the interview I think Okado shared a lot of very interesting things Make sure to check out his new album Perspective And I hope to see you guys in the next one