Meet Synead

Born in NYC and now living in Brooklyn Synead is the shimmering pop powerhouse you need to tune into. Synead has had experience living in many different places and it comes through in their eclectic sound. In our latest interview, we chat with Synead about Their latest single “The Rifts”, social media, and fashion.

A Self-Portrait by, Synead

Would You Rather

only be able to buy things with coins or by trading random objects? Please explain.

I really dislike how we've been conditioned to value money/financial wealth more than human connection. I get it, but I'd probably go with random objects. There's something so special about receiving or giving someone something with some history behind it. I’m also very big on bartering and I sort of have this superpower for inheriting things. It’s like the universe is always putting fascinating objects in my pathway (clothes, jewelry, books, music, knowledge, etc...). My favorite piece I inherited was my first electric bass. My friend moved into her new apartment in the Bushwick/Ridgewood area of Brooklyn. Walked into one of the rooms and behold a bass guitar that was hoisted up on the wall. My friend blessed me and let me take it home. I practiced with it until the following year when my other friend, who was moving back to Missouri, gave me a whole new beautiful Red electric bass along with this grandiose and beautiful baby blue mirror. Lucky me, right?? That blue mirror has impacted my life in so many positive ways. I'm forever grateful. I guess it's also about who it comes from as well. Energy is a much more valuable currency to me than someone's coin with some white person's face on it.

Some Questions with Synead

If you could create your own Ben and Jerry’s flavor, what would it be?

Oooooh. I'm not a big sweets person but maybe a Vanilla Cinnamon-Sugar Dulce Crunch Crispie. A vanilla ice cream base with hints of cinnamon-sugar all tossed up with rice Krispies and Werther's original caramel pieces. Ugh. Damn, I want some now!

How do you feel about the role social media plays in a modern artist's career?

Love it and hate it right? I love the powerful ways we can utilize it to advance our intellect and push forward humanity on creative, environmental, and social fronts. Yet... it tugs at me because I see the ways in which it is waged against us and just how we succumb to the depraved nature of it. As an artist, it gives me a sense of power over my narrative and the way I want to present myself to the world. It's my voice and I'm very specific about how I use it. However to have integrity in a realm where integrity is deemed worthless and fraudulence rules the space...*sigh*

What are your thoughts on streaming platforms?

Are you asking me if they have helped or hindered the industry? My artistry? The creative community? I've read it takes approximately 180,000 premium-accounted streams to generate any kind of income. Let's not even get into what artists get after the streaming services take their "respective" cuts. I much rather be like Aretha Franklin. Run. That. Cash. Rest in power to a real queen.

What was the creative drive behind your 2020 single “The Rifts”?

Ah! I was coming out of a time where I was making a lot of changes in my life (I'm always making a change somewhere) and this was more geared towards reminding people to stop picking bullshit fights with me. We can either get right and move forward together or I can simply move forward without you. ON TO DI NEXT ONE!

What is one thing you would want to change about the music industry?

ABOLISH ALL 360 DEGREE DEALS.

Who’s fashion sense inspires you?

I think I'm much more inspired by eras more than I am inspired by people. I'm greatly inspired by the 60s-90s fashion styles. Within that era, I'd have to pick my mom, Shiela E., Princess Diana, Dominique Devereaux, Janet Jackson, Diana Summer & Cher. All of whom traversed this era so gracefully and fashionably.

What music was playing in your house growing up? Has it influenced what you are making today?

Oh my god. My mom would play all the 90s girls (Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Sinead O Connor), 80s bangers (Prince, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan Heart, Journey, Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam, Phil Collins, The Pointer Sisters), and all the Caribbean vibes (Patra, Shadow, Sparrow, Alison Hinds, Calypso Rose, Chaka Demus & Plies, etc...). All while I was in my own world with the pop and dance/house folx like Christina Aguilera, Aqua, Alannis Morissette, C&C Music Factory, Haddaway, Crystal Waters, Cece Peniston, and the works. They absolutely inspire my sound now because I’m all over the fucking place remaining genreless. I like it that way though. All of my time with this music inspires me to make all kinds of music all the time. Sometimes I feel like a Pop Princess where the other days I feel like a House Diva. Other days I’m in a gritty rock pocket. All depends on my mood! That’s also why I love collaborating with as many folx as possible. They bring out all the different aspects I’ve been influenced by.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Don’t ever diminish your integrity for anything or anyone and remember this- stop stepping on the backs of black womxn. We’re not your pedestals. We’re angels in disguise and trust and believe you want to stay blessed. The latter isn’t very pretty.

Synead