Dylan Owen on Being Hurt Enough
Photo by Tom Flynn
Kinetics & One Love first made their commercial debut as songwriters by penning B.O.B’s single “Airplanes,” and their fans are extremely eager to see them back releasing music as artists. Their synergy with Dylan’s knack for deep storytelling comes from years of friendship and behind-the-scenes writing that started with “In the Corner” on Dylan’s fan-favorite EP ‘Keep Your Friends Close.’ Dylan’s vulnerable, poetic songwriting has generated comparisons in the press to alternative icons like Conor Oberst and Elliott Smith, and he has shared stages with Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Logic, Patrick Droney, and Watsky.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I, first of all, want to talk about the collaboration because you two have worked together before, haven't you? I’m wondering if the collaboration came about organically.
[DYLAN:] Definitely organically, yeah. We've been really close friends for years, and we worked together on my EP ‘Keep Your Friends Close’ on a song called “In the Corner.” That was 2012. Now Kinetics is one of my best friends. He's a songwriter in the music industry, but I know him as a rapper. We have this circle of rappers that we hang out within New York, and we always freestyle and talk about hip hop and albums that we love. He's kind of been an older brother figure of mine through the years, and you know, has helped me with my art and my albums and my rhyming technique. It was just totally natural to work together on a new song.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Is it hard creatively, working with a friend?
[DYLAN:] It was super easy with him because we both know each other's writing styles so well. I think I did like five versions of my verse for this song, because he (Kinetics) specifically pushed me, and I think it came out even better than it would have if it wasn't with a friend.
[UNPUBLISHED:] How do you think you've changed musically, or maybe just in yourself like since your first collaboration?
[DYLAN:] I think I've gotten a lot more confident in who I am as an artist and in what I want to accomplish with my time on this earth. It’s so clear to me now that the reason I do this is to help my fans and impact them positively. That wasn’t unclear before, it’s just that at this point, my fanbase has developed into a small community of friends that know each other online. They are becoming people that I meet out at shows and in coffee shops. So we finally have a chance to talk about life and each other’s strange paths navigating this existence. So, I think it has become clearer to me that I don't care about record sales, streaming numbers, or you know making a million dollars off this. What I care about is moving one fan at a time with my music and giving them something to relate to. So, yeah, that’s why I open up in my songs. I have to open up for people to do that in return.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you find it hard to then find the right words to put it into when writing something vulnerable?
[DYLAN:] Well, I actually have always felt that expressing vulnerability in my music is easier for me than expressing it in person. I feel like music is a safe place for me to be completely honest, and you know, be my truest form of myself. That's hard, sometimes, socially. It's not hard for me to find the words in music at all. I think the words are my favorite part. But sometimes it's hard to find the words in real life outside of the music so songwriting is my outlet for self-expression, processing things, and learning how to be myself.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you listen to your past music, and it hits you a little bit differently now?
[DYLAN:] Well, I always hear artists say that they ‘never listen to their own music.’ But I actually listen to it a lot. I'm always trying to get better, develop my story and take it in a different direction. Everything is so independently done and independently made. I'm involved in all the mixing, the production, and every little aspect of what you see when I release something. So I have to listen back a lot. A song that might have a different context now from when I wrote it is my song, “Break Some Ice.” That song originally felt so tied to the themes of the album it was on called ‘Holes In Our Stories.’ Nowadays, it feels like it could exist as a standalone spoken-word piece about entering my roaring twenties.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have any process when you're either writing or, like, talk me through how you would go about writing a song and putting these emotions into lyrics?
[DYLAN:] Well, the message of what I want to talk about when I write a new project is something I think about for a very long period of time. I'm not able to show up in the studio and instantly come up with a song. That's not how it works. For me, it's more like, I think on a big life experience for a year or longer, and then I find a way to write about it once I’ve processed what I’ve been through. And in terms of the actual songwriting itself, that happens in a different way every single time. And I used to beat myself up about that, I wanted to have one way that I could do it. But now I know I can’t predict what makes writing feel pure. Sometimes I start with a poem that I write. My song “This Incredible Life” was a poem that I posted on Tumblr and I turned it into a little song on my acoustic guitar for example. Or sometimes, I play a riff on the piano, and then I come up with a phrase that goes with it, and then I'll match that with a topic that resonates for me and that I want to rap about. Whether it's a grandparent passing away or me having a symbolic birthday or me going through a breakup. It could come from anything, but real-life experiences are always what I'm trying to work through in my songs.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Does that have any difference when you say you're writing a more upbeat song to maybe a more vulnerable, heart-breaking song?
[DYLAN:] Well, weirdly enough, sometimes really happy sounds and melodies inspire me to write sadly. It's a cool juxtaposition sometimes. But I find that yeah, my lyrics will always tend to be emotional. I like lyrics that are honest and vulnerable. That's what I like to hear in the music I love. And that’s how I want to impact people. Encourage people to be more emotional, to be more vulnerable, to say what they're feeling and share what they're going through. That is the impact I want to have.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Who has impacted you in the past in music or in general?
[DYLAN:] My music tastes have no limit in terms of genre. I’m into anything with substance. I’m really into everything from the band, ‘Bright Eyes,’ they're probably my favorite band, to Lucinda Williams. I love Eminem, of course, I grew up on him and then also love old Kanye West. I was a big fan of the rapper Common and Talib Kweli growing up when I was first developing my style and there's a rapper named Eyedea who passed away now, unfortunately, but he was a huge inspiration of mine when I was a kid.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have a dream collaboration?
[DYLAN:] So many! How cool would it be to have Phoebe Bridgers on a track? It'd be a sick pairing of genres. So, I would love to feature her. Hip Hop wise, I think J. Cole would be incredible. And of course the king of lyrical storytelling in song, Bob Dylan. I’m ready for all of it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I saw that you were going to write a rap dedicated to like a person in your Instagram comments. Tell me about that?
[DYLAN:] Yes! I am basically going to message them and ask them a few questions like where are you from? What is your hometown? Which song of mine did you hear first? And then I'm going to write a quick rap about it, send them the video, and post it on all of my socials. They can do whatever they want with it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Anything to add?
[DYLAN:] I would always love to remind my fans that, you know, you really make a big difference in my life by listening to the music, messaging me or mailing me letters, sharing what I do with a friend or on your socials. You might think it doesn't go a long way, but it really does. And yeah, just that I'm thankful that you guys are here. There was a time when I didn’t believe there was more to life but you’ve changed my outlook on that.