It is the feeling you get in high school when you see couples lined up by the lockers. The bitterness you experience when you don’t receive roses on Valentine’s Day. The look on your face as you watch your friends go on cute dates with their crushes. The unwavering question of: when is it my turn?

Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Rich has felt your isolation. His newest single “Still Alone” is about being chronically single during a time when everything in your life is awkward–but it's more than that. It’s about feeling like an outsider, or an “alien" in a place where you’re forced to participate. It’s an era in your life that can make you feel utterly secluded; and send you into a loop of flirtatious misery. The song recently hit Spotify’s Chilled R&B and R&B Weekly playlists, and has amassed 115,000 streams since its release in late January.

I sat down to talk with Rich to get insight on why he released the track, who were his influences growing up, and what we can expect from him as he continues to grace us with breathtaking cover videos and original music.

Sparky: Just like to say thank you so much for meeting with me today. Coming across your music has really helped me get through some hard times. Your voice is seriously angelic and I’m so honoured and grateful to talk with you.

I’d love to start off with a little on how your journey started in the music industry. Who and what were your influences into becoming a recording artist? Was there anyone in your life that encouraged you to make music and share it?

R: I started singing [when I was] really young. My mom is also a singer–taught me pretty much everything I know about singing. Both my parents were music teachers, now they’re currently retired. But my mom was an early childhood music ed.; my dad at university, so music was always around the house and we’d get out the guitars and play songs together.

I saw a reel with everyone in your family playing guitars, you guys are so talented- everyone plays something.

R: Totally. I have two older brothers- one plays the bass and the other plays the cello. It's a whole family thing. I guess my career would have started way back when I started uploading music to Soundcloud. I think that’s when I started to get serious about pursuing a career as an artist in the music industry.

Who are you most inspired by, & are there any artists in general that maybe you're a fan of or have inspired you to produce your own art?

R: One artist I often point to as just really inspiring me in a massive way is actually Bjork. In high school I was just absolutely obsessed with her. I devoured every single album of hers and I love how a lot of her projects mix music with multimedia and she always worked with all these really cool collaborators. This dude, Michel Gondry, went on to do these really amazing movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I was just always obsessed with everything Bjork did. Another person that comes to mind is Brandy. I’ve just always loved her voice. It is so comforting. She’s probably one of the best vocal arrangers in the game. She’s also an endless source of inspo [sic] for me.

I thought you were gonna say Frank Ocean because I do see you singing a lot of him, but those are awesome inspirations.

R: Frank is absolutely amazing and another massive source of inspo [sic].

I'd love to hear a little bit more about your creative process, from conception to recording. Could you maybe explain how you get an idea of yours into the studio?

R: A few years back I had been singing backup for Chance the Rapper. Going on the road with him, you'll actually see me in the back on, like, a Tiny Desk performance. I learned so much from that experience about building a body of work. At that time, Chance's musical director, Peter Cottontale, was putting together his first solo album, and he would put together these amazing sessions bringing in some of my favourite singers. He would fly in Yebba. Also, this amazing singer, Madison Ryann Ward; another singer named Dixson. We would just all get in the room and start creating together, and just see what happened. That really inspired me. I think, um, sometimes if you just put the right minds in one room, it's inevitable that something great will come out of it for sure.

I think that has really, kind of influenced my process as I make more music and drop it on Spotify, I'm always trying to make sure all the ingredients are, like, the highest quality, going to my favourite pianist if I want to add some piano to a track, or going to my favourite producers if I need things to feel more full and colourful.

Thank you for sharing that. I’ve seen you on the keys, they seem to play a huge part in your songs. Did you teach yourself how to play or - because of your family- maybe you were influenced by them to learn? Tell me about your journey with the piano.

R: So, my parents forced me to take piano lessons starting at, like, second grade. I always hated them, but I'm thankful my parents sat me down and just made me keep going at it. So, I started with mostly classical lessons. I eventually started learning about jazz in high school, what kind of chords to play and how to improvise on the piano. There are certain pianists who have inspired me over the years.

Ahmad Jamal is an amazing jazz pianist. Keith Jarret, Robert Glasper, I'm just so inspired by each of those pianists' kind of unique approach to harmony and building a composition.

Well, it definitely bleeds into your work and I can see it. I'd love to hear the story behind what inspired you to make “Still Alone”. I read in your caption that it's about being chronically single in high school, and I was also wondering why you decided to share how you were feeling in this particular era in your life at this moment.

R: “Still Alone” is, kind of, this one song that has stuck with me over many, many years. So, I had released this EP in high school, I think it went on iTunes but didn't go on streaming services. So only my good friends and family knew about this first EP that I dropped. A lot of my friends and family would bring up “Still Alone,” in particular, as a song that really stuck with them. I think the song–it definitely came out of the experience of being a queer person at a predominantly straight high school, which I think is an experience that a lot of queer people have. A lot of people, if they count the number of queer people that were in their high school class, it's probably just gonna be on a single hand.

I can't think of more than like four other queer kids that I grew up with in high school and all of us were in different stages of coming out of the closet. So, there wasn't really a sense of community among the queer kids at my high school. And, so, it was a really isolating experience at times, feeling like I was the only. I was just kind of an alien watching all these straight people go in and out of relationships and live out those movie, dream-like romance fantasies that I would watch growing up, but never was able to participate in. So yeah, I think that the song “Still Alone,” it kind of grew out of that feeling of just isolation and I'm glad that first of all, friends and family, um, like related to it and now it seems like more and more people are getting to know this song and relating to it as well which is super gratifying.

That's awesome. I did a little deep dive into your Instagram to find your caption about being gay and being who you are and thanking everyone, thanking all activists, for doing their part. That really resonated with me because I am also a queer person. So, I think, your music, that song in particular, definitely transported me back into being queer in high school and not having a community to lean on. So I really appreciate you having that out there and I hope that it helps people that are in this situation now and, and young people, can relate.

R: I'm glad you related. I feel like more people had that experience than one might think.

The next thing I'd like to ask you is that I’ve seen you making covers in my deep dive of your Instagram and also saw some really cool places, on the rooftops and the porch with your family. I was wondering, where are we gonna see you next and what's your absolute favourite place to record?

R: At this moment in time, my absolute, absolute favourite place to record is a studio that I live above called Mason Jar Studios. It's run by my friend who is an artist who goes by Son of Cloud, and I've been building this first album mostly out of that studio. It has an amazing piano that you might see in a lot of my cover videos that I post. and lots of other great instruments and fun things to play with. So, I started posting on TikTok kind of towards the end of the pandemic and was doing a lot of videos sitting at the piano in the studio that I live above.

I'm starting to get the urge to travel a bit. so you might see me, I don't know, singing cover videos with London in the background, or Atlanta, or Nashville, or different places behind me. I've been thinking it might be fun for that to become a theme on my social media, doing covers in new places and travelling the world.

That would look so great, honestly, seeing all the different places and you get to travel at the same time.

I've seen that you got Kevin Garrett in one of your covers. Who is an artist you'd be most excited to sing with and in the future, who would you love to collaborate with next?

R: That's a great question. Finneas just commented on one of my TikToks this morning. I would absolutely love to work with him. That would be amazing. I mean, of course, Frank Ocean. I feel like everybody in the music industry wants to work with Frank. I should mention Brandy. The thing is, if I ever met Brandy, I feel like I would be too shy to even say anything to her.

That’d be a dream for sure.

R: I think those are a good three to go with.

Since you've become more engaged on Tik Tok, and social media, what would be the most fulfilling thing for you when it comes to interacting with those that listen to your music?

R: I think definitely the most gratifying thing is when people tell me just their specific situations in which I seem to help them. Like, people, when I'm doing a live stream, people will comment, like, if you're helping me fall asleep, or you've been helping me fall asleep for the past, like, few weeks, which is cool. The other day, I saw a comment from somebody saying something like “tuning in from my hospital bed,you give me so much comfort.” And, I mean, I really hope whoever that is gets better. I'm just really glad I can help people in different instances in their life, and maybe provide some comfort when in anxiety-inducing situations.

Yeah, for sure. It's so nice to hear that people are really resonating with you and can give you that feedback–and it’s so easy to connect now because we have social media. So, thank you.

Now, I sort of bled into your personal life, but what would an average day look like for you? I also saw you singing Frank Ocean, making a smoothie and the acoustics in your cabinet are ridiculously pleasing.

R: Yeah, so recently, I've been starting every day meditating. It helps me in a really amazing way just to keep my head in a good place. And also, after I meditate, I often do a little journaling. Then it kind of varies after. I might do some things like emailing and phone calls around them, midday. Then around that time I make my smoothie, which I actually have right here.

Oh, he brought the smoothie. What's in it today?

R: It’s frozen banana, frozen blueberries, almond milk, almond butter, cinnamon.

All the good stuff.

R: That's everyday.

Sounds powerful. definitely a powerful smoothie.

R: And yeah, I think then in the afternoon, I might meet up with some collaborators, like maybe another artist or songwriter. And then, yeah, maybe evening on a work day, they'll be finishing up whatever I worked on in the afternoon. Maybe work out in the evening. But yeah, I think that is my usual schedule.

Amazing, thank you for that. I'm really glad that I caught a glimpse of your artistry in the works. Your story is really one that I'm blessed to hear, andI really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today. I am quite nervous to begin this journey writing but I'm really happy that I got to spend some time talking with you. You've been such a spectacular guest and I'm really excited to hear more music from you in the future.

If you can, I have one more question for you. Do you have anything in the works that you'd like your fans to get excited about? And, maybe, like to announce?

R: So, a few months ago, I posted this song idea that I made with a friend of mine, a producer named Maths Time Joy. The song is tentatively called “Gay Face” and it definitely dives into my experience growing up as a gay person. Even more so than maybe “Still Alone” does. And in these past couple of days, I started thinking about maybe turning it into a multimedia project of sorts. Maybe even like a zine project. So, that is definitely something my fans can expect in the next few months.

That's so cool. Can you explain the zine? What does that mean?

R: Zines are pretty much just like magazines, but mostly devoted to art. Usually, they don't have many ads. If they do have ads, they're often kind of making fun of ads. But I've actually seen one artist I’ve been super inspired by who's been doing really cool things in that space is FKA twigs. She made kind of the digital equivalent of a zine on her Instagram, or she's done it a few times, over the past few years. She has, like, a carousel post that you can flip through. I remember one in particular, it was about hair, and just exploring black women's hair and just what it means to be a black woman–and yes, style your hair. I think zines, sometimes, can be a fun kind of artistic meditation on a particular topic. I think in my case it would be kind of a meditation on what it means to be a gay person.

I'm sure fans would love to see what you come up with. That sounds like a really fun idea. And I know you got this. Thank you so much, once again, for taking the time out of your day, after making your smoothie. I appreciate that.

R: Thank you.

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Written By Kimberly Moon-Chong

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