We got a chance to speak with the R&B artist Souly Had about his latest single “DRUGS”!
Souly Had
Hailing from upstate New York, Souly Had musical inclinations began by being in the car with his mom listening to artists like Justin Timberlake and Sublime. Having dropped out of college in 2016, Souly moved into a house with 13 friends and began focusing on his music. In that same year, Souly Had dropped his song “Deja Vu” which gained nearly 10k plays overnight, leading Souly to tell his parents that he was pursuing music full time. The last couple of years has shone light to many new artists, including Souly Had. With nearly 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify and over 100 million streams in total for his most notable single “Crush“, Souly is undoubtedly an artist to watch! Representative of a new style of artistry that is not easy to place in a box, Souly Had evokes several elements that all factor into creating excitement among the alternative R&B crowd often compared to the likes of Omar Apollo, Dominic Fike, Giveon, Snoh Aalegra, to name a few. Additionally, like many others, Souly put his musical talent on display by covering songs of other artists he admired, “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse being his first cover to go viral.
Check out our interview below about creating new music and what’s next for Souly Had!
The Knockturnal: You recently released your first single of the year, “DRUGS”. Can you talk about creating the track?
Souly Had: I linked up with Hennedub almost a year ago, he’s the one who produced the track. I met him in a little studio in NYC, and we tracked right on his laptop on a home studio type set up, which is crazy cause the track sounds so good. I remember making a few tracks that night, and “DRUGS” was my least favorite initially but it turned out to be the one I liked best. Once I heard the beat the song itself only took about 10 minutes to track, because I already had the lyrics from a session prior.
The Knockturnal: How has your creative process evolved since you started out in 2016?
Souly Had: I used to strictly write my lyrics down on a notepad and rehearse them over and over and made sure I had every part of the song done before I went to record. These days I go in and feel the track out and look for melodies and phrases before I even write anything. I think this process helped me evolve a lot as an artist, and usually the parts of the song I freestyle end up being the best take, it feels like that way gives me more freedom.
Souly Had
The Knockturnal: What artists have inspired you the most?
Souly Had: Some artists who have inspired me include Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator, and Mac Miller.
The Knockturnal: What has been your favorite cover you’ve made so far?
Souly Had: I did a little 15 second cover of Cupid’s Chokehold for TikTok. I plan to do a full cover but I think that’s my favorite to this date.
The Knockturnal: What is coming next for you?
Souly Had: A LOT of new music. I have so many songs in the vault, which is some of the best music I think I’ve ever made and I hope the fans agree.
