Get to Know Neo Kiio: The Artist Blending Dreams and Music with His Latest Album "days into dreams"
Meet Neo Kiio, a talented artist and musician known for his unique blend of vocals and keyboard skills. Starting with reluctant piano lessons at age 10, Neo’s passion for music grew, leading him to self-teach and create music inspired by artists like Kid Cudi and his love for underground anime. Let's get to know Neo and talk about his newest release, "days into dreams" out now!
LISTEN TO "DAYS INTO DREAMS" BY CLICKING BELOW
TELL ME A BIT ABOUT YOUR START. HOW DID YOU GET INTO MAKING MUSIC?
"Well, it originally started when I was somewhat forced into piano lessons when I was around 10. my mom made me take them to try to keep me out of trouble. At first, I hated it, but I grew to love it. Not long after I would start to try to teach myself to play the chords of songs I like. It was mostly just music my older brother had shown me. REVOFEV by Kid Cudi was one I loved to try and play… by high school, I had a mic and from there I was making songs every day."
WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO MAKE MUSIC?
"Honestly, listening to all the fire artists that are out there these days. I really like listening to Slaywitme. Oh, also Frost Children… they’re dope. Anime and animation in general are also something I’ve always drawn inspiration from. If I'm not making music, I’m probably watching some underground anime from like 2012 cause that s--t do be inspiring me hella."
Photo by Tyler Morrison and Sket Wilde
LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR NEWEST RELEASE, "DAYS INTO DREAMS" WHICH IS OUT NOW! WHAT WAS THE RECORDING PROCESS LIKE?
"From day one of recording to the drop, this project changed a lot. To me, making an album, making a video, drawing a picture… they’re all the same thing in different fonts, you feel me? Whenever I do these things the process is always the same, I kinda spend a few weeks thinking about what I imagine the final product to (in this case) sound like and do my best to try to realize that vision. Usually what happens during that realization process is a million instances of me changing my mind and this was no different, to be honest."
WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU FACE WHEN RECORDING?
"Sometimes my writing process is my worst enemy. With me, there’s always an ongoing narrative whenever I make something. A story being told that goes beyond just that single song you’re listening to. So like, when I have to throw a song out I sometimes might have to throw out another by extension. It’s kind of like if I was writing a book. I’ve got 5 chapters written but I need to completely rewrite chapter 3. Since I had to rewrite chapter 3, I’ve gotta make changes to chapters 4 and 5 too, or else the story won’t make sense anymore. Since that’s how my brain works it can get real complicated for me if I sit down with my team once I’m done drafting everything and we decide there’s a song or two that just didn’t pan out. And believe me… that fasho happened a few times."
Photo by Tyler Morrison and Sket Wilde
WHAT IS THE OVERALL MESSAGE YOU HOPE PEOPLE TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ALBUM? DOES IT REVOLVE AROUND ONE MAJOR THEME OR DID YOU FIND YOURSELF COVERING MANY DIFFERENT TOPICS?
"Dreams are a funny thing, you know? Famously we all always try to interpret our dreams looking for how they connect to our reality. Often they’re a representation of the internal battles we have going on. Like past traumas or whatever. A lot of what is going on theme-wise in this project is simply me tackling those past traumas by writing songs based on the dreams I was having literally as I was writing the project itself. I kind of figured this would bring me some closure for some of it and hopefully, I’d come out a better person at the end, then at the end, I encourage the listener to do the same. So a lot of different topics get covered but at the same time, there is one major theme."
Photo by Tyler Morrison and Sket Wilde
WHAT SONG ARE YOU THE MOST PROUD OF ON THIS ALBUM?
"the final track on the project called 'right now.' for sure is my favorite and the one I’m the most proud of."
TELL ME ABOUT THE MUSIC VIDEO THAT CAME OUT WITH THIS EP, WHAT WAS THE FILMING PROCESS LIKE?
"Shoutout @philumbo on IG! They’ve been a good friend of mine for some time now and we’ve got super good chemistry (they directed the video). I pretty much just send them a song and an idea for what a video for it could look like and they make it happen. Shoutout to their whole team. As I’ve been saying this project revolves around my dreams so I really wanted the video for 'neon dreamland' to kind of feel like a dream."
CHECK OUT THE MUSIC VIDEO BY CLICKING BELOW.
WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT FROM YOU IN THE FUTURE? ANY SHOWS COMING UP, OR ANY PLANS FOR MORE MUSIC TO BE RELEASED?
"Most def! I’ve actually been working on my live set for this album so expect more info on that soon. All I can say for now is when I say live set I mean LIVE set. We're gonna have a full band. As for new music as always I’ve got a lot more to give. Expect to hear some more about that in a month or two."