Page 22 of For The Record

RYDER BLACK: Thank you for having me! And yeah, Volume Records has been great. Leo Perez, the exec, actually sent me a gift basket when they hired me—

MW: A whole basket, with the Godiva chocolate and flowers and everything?

RB: [laughs] No flowers, but I did get this awesome cap that says Volume on it.

MW: Already repping the brand, I see. So, tell me a little about yourself! What was it like to grow up in Kentucky? How has the path to stardom been?

RB: I’ll be honest, small-town Kentucky is a bit rough around the edges. I lived in a trailer for three years of my life—

MW: A trailer, really?

RB: Yeah, I mean, it was pretty common around those parts when I was growing up. But my parents never made me and my sister feel like we were missing anything, maybe because everyone else around us was growing up in the same circumstances. I… I would say I saw a lot in Kentucky that prepared me for L.A.

MW: That’s interesting. I didn’t think L.A. and Kentucky would have much in common.

RB: The drugs, mostly. A lot of overdoses. Suicide. That kind of thing. But, yeah, anyway, I will say it made me grow up fast, realize what I wanted out of life.

MW: Wow, that sounds really tough. I’m sorry you had to go through that. And what did you want out of life? Or, I guess, what do you want?

RB: I wanted to make a living as a musician. I grew up listening to my mom’s old cassette tapes - she had tapes of Elvis, Sinatra, Bing Crosby - and watching MTV, Michael Jackson, that sort of thing. As well as my dad’s favourite thrash metal, hair metal, Megadeth, Devin Townsend, that sort of thing. A weird combo, maybe, but I swear, it was a mix of those things that really put me on the path to music.

MW: Sounds like it was a mix of influences from different generations. How do you think that’s influenced your music style?

RB: I would say that it’s really taught me not to overlook any music. I really believe all music genres and songs have some kind of redeeming quality, something you can take and really transform into a good song. And I do think that’s why music is the big uniter. There’s something in it that anyone can take from and learn from.

MW: Like, a hidden gem?

RB: Yes, a diamond in the rough, that kind of thing.

MW: Speaking of diamonds in the rough, tell our readers about your experience on America’s Got Talent. How was it? How did the season go?

RB: Wow. Um, I will say first off, I’m so grateful that I had that opportunity to be on the show. I really do think it taught me so much about myself as an artist, about the music industry, about what my fans wanted to hear. And of course, it was such a great opportunity to get my name out there and allow more people to have access to my music.

MW: Let’s talk about that last performance… Thought You Hated Me.

RB: [laughs] Haven’t heard that question a lot these days.

MW: I’ll assume you’re being sarcastic.

RB: No, um, I get that that’s the word on everyone’s lips, but really, I had no idea that performing that song on the show would cause such an uproar, really. Didn’t think I’d be trending on Twitter for two days.

MW: So, I have to admit, our readers do want to know… who is the girl who broke Ryder’s heart? We’ve heard some fan rumours that it was Skye Holland?

RB: She’s a pretty private person. I’d rather not talk about her.

MW: Alright, I can respect that. That song was completely written, produced, and released by you, with no label backing you, right?

RB: Yes, that’s correct.

MW: What was your writing process for that song? How do you usually go about it?

RB: [shrugs] it’s really different every time. Sometimes I get a snippet of a melody stuck in my head, and I have to write it down and see where it goes. Other times, I have these thoughts that are just so confessional, so raw, so personal that I feel like I have no choice but to slam the door shut on those lyrics. And that’s when I know it would make a good song, when it hurts a little to put out there.

MW: And would you say TYHM was one of those songs?

RB: Oh, definitely. I would say that’s really the most vulnerable song that I’ve ever written. It wasn’t meant to diss anyone, despite how some people are talking about. It really was about telling my side of a story that had two sides, that I felt like my side wasn’t getting told. So I wanted to tell it the only way that I know how. And I don’t regret that.

MW: Do you feel like, in this age of social media, it’s become easier for people to tell their stories like that? Stories that haven’t been heard before? Because I think in this new age, there is also fear of people taking one line you say in an interview, and completely misconstruing that, or looking at one social media post and analyzing it to death. There is this hyper-fixation on little pieces of people’s lives when in reality that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

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