EXCLUSIVE: Interview With Rhys Lewis

Rhys Lewis is an exciting singer/songwriter who has recently shared his brand new single ‘Better Than Today’.

Here we speak exclusively to Rhys Lewis to discover more about the track and 2019 plans:

Can you tell us a little about what inspired your new single? 

2018 was a pretty mad year globally for many reasons. I had also had been going through quite an unsettled period of time in my life. I was struggling to control my own emotions and my own mind as I letting my anxieties about the future get the better of me. So I wrote this song to remind myself that we are all going through something, there’s darkness and uncertainty in everyone’s life and I’m not alone in feeling lost in those moments. 

What are you hoping fans take from this track? 

Feeling hopeless at times is part of being human, everyone goes through low moments in life so don’t let it distance you from the world or the people closest to you. 

The lyrics are fantastic for a New Year was that a factor in choosing now to share the song? 

It was a little fortuitous, but we did consider it as the new year was approaching, yeah. We started writing the song in April and only finished it in November, so by the time we got round to finishing it we felt that the New Year would be an appropriate time to release the song, considering it’s sentiment. 

What was the writing process like for Better Than Today? 

Myself and Aidan (my piano player) were in our studio in South London and we were trying to write a different idea. It wasn’t really going anywhere, so I said we should start something new. Aidan started playing the piano part to what is now Better Than Today, and I started singing and within 5 minutes we had the chorus. It just happened, we were both not thinking and that’s often when the most creative moments occur. I had written the title down in my phone a while ago, and for some reason when Aidan played the chord progression and I started to sing melodies that lyric fell out. I then spend a long time tweaking the lyrics over a few months with Aidan’s help. It taught me not to rush an idea, some songs take a day to write, others take months, so don’t stop working on something until you’re sure it’s the best it can be. 

What was it like working on this single as a producer for the first time?

It was scary taking on the responsibility of producing this song, but at the same time it felt really exciting to learn more about the process and more about myself as a musician. Myself and Aidan recorded the song to tape as we felt it would promote a more emotional performance that had some kind of journey or build to it. When recording digitally with a computer it’s much easier to divide the recording process up, so recording the ‘old school’ way was more of a challenge but I think the outcome is a lot stronger because of it. It’s also quite amazing to hold a reel of tape that you just recorded your song onto. Using that process gave me even more of an appreciation for all the old records I love. 

Are you hoping this will lead to you having a more hands on approach in the future in regards to your music?

Well it was a massive learning curve but I think I’d like to try producing more of my own music this year and see how far I can take it myself. I’ve just finished recording my EP, which I’m really happy with, so that’s given me the confidence to carry on producing things myself. I would also love to go into producing for other people one day, so I guess this is a good way to practice. Use my own music as the guinea pig…!

As we start 2019 what are you hoping to achieve through your music? 

I would love to be able to travel the world by touring a collection of songs that have connected emotionally with people enough to want to come and see them live. I have also had so many heartfelt messages these last 6 months from people feeling low or heartbroken about how my music has been some kind of comfort or support for them, which is the most rewarding thing to hear as a songwriter. So I hope I can continue to be honest with my music and reach more people in that way. 

Can we expect an album from you this year? 

Yes. 

 Make sure you follow Rhys on Twitter @RhysLewisMusic to keep up to date with all his music and tour news!

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