In Conversation with Alt-Pop Artist Nick Vyner
Photo by Noah Kentis
Los Angeles-based artist, Nick Vyner has been tearing up the virtual Indie scene since 2020 with the release of his viral smash-hit “Mood Swing.” In the years since, he has released several music videos, songs, and collaborations, building Vyner up to become the next Alt-Pop superstar. On June 15th, Unpublished sat down with Vyner to discuss his entire musical career thus far. Here’s what he had to say:
[UNPUBLISHED:] Tell me more about “Mood Swing!” The song came out two years ago and is continuing to climb. What about the song do you think makes it so special, especially to fans?
[NICK VYNER:] That’s a good question. I don’t know, it’s a tough thing to answer. I feel like I always have some sort of perception or idea of how a song is going to be received. And it is never what I think it’s going to be. I had no clue what “Mood Swing” was going to be. All I knew is that it was a fun song that I liked. I think we worked on that for like two or three days maximum.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Oh wow! That’s so fast!
[NICK VYNER:] Yeah it was a quick one. It’s weird to have that one be the one that blew up, but I’m so grateful for it. I think there’s something about using samples that can enhance your work. I think that carries a lot of the weight in that song. I just feel lucky that I was in the right place at the right time to be on that beat.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What was it about that particular sample that stood out to you?
[NICK VYNER:] So my Co-Producer and Co-Writer on “Mood Swing,” Stanley Randolph, and I were crate-digging - going through old records. We had been listening to random old records for probably an hour at that point. And then we had our heads down deep in thought and we came across “I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby” by Baby Washington and we just both looked up at each other and made eye contact. We each had a glimmer of hope in our eyes and I knew we had something there. And so we started working, figuring out exactly where we wanted to chop it. And, honestly, I’m still surprised it came together so quickly. The first session was only around two or three hours. We had the sample, made the beat, laid down some vocals, and then we came back a few weeks later to see what we wanted to do with it. It was just one of those “catches your ears” moments.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Was there anything in the sound of the sample that inspired the lyrics and overall feel of the song?
[NICK VYNER:] I thought the sample had this sunny yet somewhat melancholic feel to it. And I was pretty fresh from moving into Los Angeles. I just felt like I had so many unsettled things in my personal life and I didn’t know if I could resolve them. I had all these issues with myself, friends I’ve lost, all these issues just on my mind. I was in my feelings, wanting to reckon with the pain of losing a close friend - someone who just did something that hurt me. It was tough. And the song just felt right, I tried to not give it too much thought and let the lyrics just come to me instinctually.
[UNPUBLISHED:] So you wrote this when you first moved out to Los Angeles back in 2018 but it didn’t come out until the end of 2020. Did the time between the inception of the song and its release change its meaning at all? And what changed by 2020 that made you think it was time to release “Mood Swing?”
[NICK VYNER:] Releasing the song in 2020 changed the landscape of how it was received. I mean, one of the main reasons we waited so long was so we could clear the sample and we needed budgeting for that. So, we ended up having to put it on the back burner for a second. I worked on a bunch of other music for a while and started exploring new sounds. Eventually, I came back to that one and I just knew it deserved to be a part of my catalog. It was a statement I wanted to put out. Putting it out mid-pandemic was a bit of a trip. I was dipping my feet in the industry completely virtually. It was a unique experience. I think everybody being so active online had a big part in “Mood Swing” finding its audience. We were still kind of early in the TikTok days, and it still had its crowd of haters, but there was something very communal about everybody being on TikTok and finding music there together. So yeah, it was a bit of a double-edged sword, dropping “Mood Swing” two years later in the middle of the pandemic, but I think it was definitely how it was supposed to go.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Now the music video you filmed “at home,” or at least in a home. Tell me about the filming and creative process for that.
[NICK VYNER:] We put the video together in a pretty short amount of time. I need to give every ounce of credit to the Director/Producer that did everything on this shoot, Eva Doorly. We were going against a major deadline with the song coming out right at the end of the year since everybody was about to go home for Christmas. I knew that we wanted to try and do some sort of one-take narrative story about me feeling out of place at home. We ended up finding this amazing house in the hills to shoot at. It was such a cathartic, fun learning experience to be on set for the first time. To have that beautiful shot on film, my very first video, is something that is just so exciting. I’m still shocked we were able to pull it off when I look back. It was a really fun experience.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You’ve released a couple more singles since then. The video for “Foundation” has a similar pandemic energy with the entire video being shot on Zoom. How did that come about?
[NICK VYNER:] Yeah, that one came out recently. When we made the song, we did it entirely over Zoom. It was the only song I’ve ever worked out that was built entirely over Zoom. By the time we released it, we were detached from the “Zoom era” with everyone returning to doing their thing. But I just felt like the song sounded like Zoom - and maybe it only sounded like that because I was a part of it. But I just felt like that, for the video, we could translate what it felt like to make the song virtually. So we ended up doing the concept shoot where everything was shot on a Zoom call.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You also have a new song called “Flood,” which is my personal favorite. Sonically, it feels a lot bigger than everything else you’ve released so far. Tell me about how your music taste has changed since 2020 (from the inception of your other songs) to this one?
[NICK VYNER:] Well it’s crazy because the first version of “Flood” didn’t come too long after the first version of “Mood Swing.” So, when I was working, I had all these different ideas in my head at the same time, but I just didn’t know how to put them on paper. So each of them just ended up having a different timeline, and “Mood Swing’s” just happened to come out a little earlier than “Flood.” It took me a bit longer to sort of crack the code on “Flood.” But, once we found the formula, I was happy enough with the song to give it away. It feels like a direct expression of what was going on in my head.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Now, you note on your website that you want your music to be a soundtrack for your life. Are there any particular soundtracks from a film that you’ve been inspired by?
[NICK VYNER:] This is one of my favorite questions that I’ve ever been asked, I spent a lot of time listening to movie soundtracks and scores. Obviously, the Licorice Pizza soundtrack with all of these amazing crate-digging finds. The score for Zola by Mika Levy that came out last year. There are so many sounds of the internet happening throughout that score that always brings me back to my experience watching in the theater for the first time.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You also have a classical music background, right?
[NICK VYNER:] I do. I studied classical and choral singing and studied vocal training for a long time growing up.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you think your classical background influences the sound of your music now?
[NICK VYNER:] I don’t know if I can pinpoint any place where it directly influences my music. What studying classical music did was give me a foundation of musical knowledge to help me operate off of instinct. I think most of the classical training comes in when I’m putting together vocal harmonies and doing things by ear. Mostly, it gives me the confidence to know what I need to do.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Kind of switching gears a bit - you also released a song “Cool With Me” with the artist Young Bae. What was it like working with him and other artists in general? How does collaboration change your creative process?
[NICK VYNER:] It’s so fun for me. It takes all of the pressure off of my ego because I’m not worried about creating the perfect representation of myself. I get to just enjoy how sick the song is - just knock it out. It’s also always so fun for me to hear what other people have come up with. The idea that anyone would ask me to feature on their song is honor enough. The Young Bae collab came about pretty naturally. I got the call at my day job. He sent me the instrumental and I wrote and recorded it that night and sent it off the next morning.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have any dream collaborators you’d want to work with?
[NICK VYNER:] See, that’s a tough question because I have people who I look up to with sounds I’m obsessed with, but you never know if you’d want to collaborate with them or if you’d mesh well. But if I had a Pharrell collaboration before I died, I could die happy. I think, obviously, just being in any sort of same space as Frank Ocean would be incredible.
[UNPUBLISHED:] To just sort of breathe the same air.
[NICK VYNER:] Exactly. I’ve also gone through my idealist Pop child phases where I want to have my Jack Antanoff album. Hopefully, I’ll get to work with some of the people I’ve grown up listening to.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Now, you made a pretty huge leap coming from Dallas to Los Angeles back in 2018. Do you have any advice for aspiring artists considering making the same move?
[NICK VYNER:] Man, just focus on your music and try to connect with real people. Honestly, LA is no different than anywhere else. It’s always tough trying to figure out if people are being honest with you. So, just make sure you find the right people and focus on your work, and know you will find your right place and time.
