Who Is Nylo?

Meet the Chicago singer/songwriter behind Indigo Summer and more.

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Complex Original

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Born and raised in Chicago, Nylo has always had a knack for songwriting. Before she even knew how to read sheet music, she essentially created her own code to write, and remember, songs. She started sneaking into the Methodist church she went to as a child to play the piano. After her aunt surprised her with her very own keyboard, she started to take music seriously—and then she moved to Texas. 

It wasn't too long before Nylo felt creatively stifled in Texas and ended up trekking to Los Angeles to perform in a Christmas play. She never left L.A. After months of writing for other musicians and trying to create her own music, she made Memories Speak in Spring 2012which included "Someone Like You," which Mac Miller would later sample on his latest album, Watching Movies With The Sound Off. From there, she gained the attention of music sites, first and foremost Fake Shore Drive, which she says changed her life.

Nylo would eventually sign to Epic Records and get the attention of Nas, who has referred to her as his "favorite new artist." But it's more than the co-sign. Nylo released Indigo Summer on July 16, and ever since, she's been on her way to becoming the latest soulful, R&B star. We figured it was time to find out about the voice behind Indigo Summer with Who Is Nylo? 

As told to Lauren Nostro (@LAURENcynthia) 

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Growing Up & Early Musical Influences

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Nylo: "I grew up in Chicago. We were in the inner-city when I was little. I was going to a Montessori school and I was not into it. I would just sit in my cubby until my parents came. I was in another world humming, writing, and making up stories. That turned into songwriting as I got older.

"When my parents split, my mom worked three jobs. She was a trained paralegal, but after you stop for nine years nobody wants to hire you. She had a bunch of bullshit jobs to make up for the fact that she was out of practice. She was gone a lot and my dad moved into the city. I saw him on weekends. I did the half and half thing.


 

I wasn't negatively affected by the fact that my parents got a divorce; I was negatively affected by the fact that they just hated each other. I thought it was a great idea, I never saw them love each other. 


 

"I have a brother. He's older and we kind of raised each other, but we did not get along. I would spend most of my time locked in my room trying to stay away from him. My brother was crazy. He mellowed out a bit. Now he's traveling, trying to figure out what he wants to do with his future.

"I was 7 years old [when my parents got divorced]. I wasn't negatively affected by the fact that they got a divorce; I was negatively affected by the fact that they just hated each other. I thought it was a great idea, I never saw them love each other. It's weird to be an adult and think about the people I've loved in my life and think my parents loved each other like that at one point, which is crazy, and then see it destroyed. Neither one of them has touched another person since they've been alone. It blows my mind.

"Even though my dad's not musical, he loved music. That was where I got my musical influence. He introduced me to Stevie Nicks, Whitney Houston, and Madonna, those huge [names]. My dad was a huge fan of Celine Dion and Sarah Brightman. He loved female voices. My dad had the best speakers you could buy; he was that kind of guy. I'm the same way. The speakers are so important. I have friends that listen to music on laptop speakers. I get upset because they have no idea what they're missing. You can't get loud enough to listen to things people pour their life into. It gets dissolved in the high frequencies of the laptop speaker.

"My mom moved us to Texas to be with her family. She was originally from Texas and my dad was from Chicago. She also wanted me to get away from the kids I was hanging out with in Chicago. She wasn't thrilled with them."

Learning How to Write Songs

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Starting to Play Piano

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Nylo: "I never got a piano until I was 16. I got this incredible keyboard from my aunt as a gift. She wanted me to give her son piano lessons because I had [learned] to play through sneaking into the chapel at the church. Once service was over, nobody was around, so I could play for hours and that's where I learned and got my chops up.

"She was like, 'I want you to teach my son how to learn to play piano.' He didn't have a keyboard, so she was like, 'I don't know anything about pianos, I want you to come pick one.' We went to Guitar Center and I picked out a reasonable one, it was a couple of hundred dollars, something for him to learn on that wouldn't be a huge investment. If he decided in a couple of months he wasn't into it anymore, she wouldn't lose money.


 

I had developed a good enough ability to play piano through sneaking into the chapel at the church. Once service is over there was nobody around, so I could play for hours and that's where I learned and got my chops up.


 

"I picked one, she went to go check out, and while she checked out I went to play a Motif Vs 8 which was the most incredible keyboard. It has this amazing piano sound. I went to go play and I was in love, and I turned around and saw her carrying this humongous box to the register. I was like, 'What are you doing?' because this keyboard is like $3,500. She was like, 'Look, my son plays guitar. I didn't understand until I got him a nice guitar, but the same face that he made when playing his guitar is the face I saw you make when you sat down at that keyboard. We're getting this one.' We take it to her house and she subtly said, 'You know, Kyle's not good enough to play this one so maybe you guys can trade keyboards. He can have yours and you can have this one.'"

"I had this piece of junk I never touched because it sounded like crap. It didn't have weighted keys and the piano sounds were really bad. I would play the piano and it sounded crazy. It was huge, and I could feel it vibrate. A Motif, even though it's still digital, there's a feel to it. Within two weeks I had this crazy keyboard. Then he stopped playing keyboard and I had this piano.

"I was 16 when she gave me that. She never would admit she bought it for me because she didn't want me to feel guilty, but that's pretty much what happened. She knew; she's a very intuitive woman. She changed my life."

Moving to Texas

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Nylo: "I went from having friends and a normal life to having no friends and not being able to make a friend to save my life. I moved to The Bible Belt. It was so different and very politically charged. I was in a super Republican area and I was a very liberal thinker. After my first day I was a 'Satanist.' I was an 'anti-patriot.'

"I went to four [high schools]. I dropped out before starting my senior year. I remember the first day of school came and I was like 'I don't think I can go,' and my mom didn't make me.


 

I had no friends so I made music, wrote songs and learned how to record because I had gotten the laptop and was learning how the recording programs worked.


 

"I had no friends so I made music and wrote songs. I learned how to record because I had gotten a laptop and was learning how the recording programs worked. There was a program called Reason I was trying to figure out so I could produce. That same year I was playing open mics around the town. I started producing my songs and they all had arrangements. This guy found me at an open mic. He wanted to record some of my songs and I had all this stuff to work with.

"He didn't know what he was doing, I didn't know what I was doing, but I got the gateway into a studio life. I was like, 'I'll be really quiet. Do you care if I sit here and hang out?' and [the studio owner] let me do it. He gave me a chance to be like, 'What's this do? What's that do? Why do you do that?' and I learned everything there is to know about recording in a studio.

"It was just a completely different world inside of Texas that I hadn't had exposure to. It was probably a 20 minute drive but would take me two and a half hours to get there on the bus. I did it everyday because there was nothing else I would've rather done."

Starting Over in Los Angeles

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Nylo: "I was friends with this kid who did acting and theatre. He knew I sang because I done a musical in Texas. They were trying to create a New York theater festival in Dallas and there was a bunch of plays going on for a weekend.

"They were all 99-seat theatres and because I was a singer, I did this Cole Porter review. There wasn't any acting involved. We enacted all of Cole's best songs. From that, this kid was like, 'I'm in Los Angeles and I'm doing this play. We just fired our lead and I think you would be perfect. I think you should talk to the director.'


 

It was like an oasis. I remember walking around and thinking I can do anything, no matter how crazy I got. I would never be the weirdest person here and that was a very free feeling. 


 

"I think everybody knew I was trying to get out of Texas, but my mom was like, 'If you leave right now I will legally bring you back,' because I hadn't turned 18 yet. I don't even remember asking if I could go. I just booked the flight and she didn't fight me.

"I had a round trip [ticket], but I got the part. The play ran for 13 weeks, so I was in Los Angeles. I stayed with every member of the cast for a couple of nights. Some of the moms took me in and let me stay on their couch. It was a Christmas play, nothing you would ever had heard ever, but it wasn't Texas so I was like, 'Whatever, I couldn't care less. We could sing about Zebras, I'll be fine.'

"It was like an oasis. I remember walking around and thinking I can do anything, no matter how crazy I got. I would never be the weirdest person here and that was a very free feeling. You can't stick out, I felt so safe in that. For the first time in two years, I could do anything I wanted. Whatever I can come up with, I can do, and no one's going to question me."

Writing For Other Artists

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Nylo: "I found a studio in L.A. that I slipped into where I started working as a songwriter. I was trying to write songs for other artists. I wrote with a lot of people that came through, nothing huge or recognizable, but it was cool because I got to see the process. I got to bring things out of people.


 

I was doing music but it might as well have been in my kitchen, which is where my setup actually was at the time.


 

"That was the number one thing I found: All these people would come in and they had great voices or something about them was special, but they had nothing to say. I was like, 'I'm not doing this anymore. If I'm going to write these songs 100%, I might as well just release them. These people don't care what they're saying.'

"It just didn't make sense anymore. It wasn't like I didn't have any idea [about] what I was going to do, but I knew I wasn't going to write songs for other people anymore. I was doing music but it might as well have been in my kitchen, which is where my setup actually was at the time."

Getting Discovered

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Nylo: "When I came back to Los Angeles [after spending time in Chicago] I found this crazy, amazing studio. I was staying on this girl's floor and they saw my MIDI keyboard. These two guys came home with one of my friends from the club and were like, 'Who's the musician?' It was 2:30 in the morning and I was not having it. They forced a performance out of me at 2:30 in the morning. After getting hassled for 20 minutes, you'll pretty much do most things that aren't against your morals.


 

Labels started wanting to know what my deal was, but I was always singing on these pop records, so by the time they met me I would be like, 'I don't think I'm the person that you want.'


 

"I sang to them that night [and] he was like, 'Oh my God.' He called his producer and was like, 'You've got to meet this girl.' He was working with this composer who's done tons of things. They had a studio literally dedicated to songwriters and producers. It was huge and amazing. We had all these artists coming through and I got to see the process and take a part. Sometimes I wouldn't get to work on a session if it was really big. I wouldn't be part of it but I would get to see it and I got to cut a bunch of songs, too.

"From that, labels started wanting to know what my deal was. I was always singing on these pop records, so by the time they met me I would be like, 'I don't think I'm the person that you want.' I had been writing everything from pop to country, and they wanted me to maybe be a country artist and then they were like, 'Oh, well you can be like Avril Lavigne because you're kind of punky.' I was just not interested and not only that, but in order for me to pursue it, I had to sign my life away to someone I didn't trust. So I was like, 'Alright no, it's not happening. I walked out of the studio and started from ground zero again."

Making "Memories Speak"

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Nylo: "When I made Memories Speak, I was over the business side of music. I was convinced at that point that I was supposed to join the Peace Corps or sell coffee and then just make music on my front porch. And I was so okay with it. I was fine with it because I really love music and I didn't want to see it like that.


 

I was over the business side of music, and that was when I made Memories Speak. I was convinced at that point that I was supposed to join the Peace Corps or sell coffee and then just make music on my front porch and I was so okay with it.


 

"There's beautiful and negative sides, but I kept running into the negative side. I wasn't taking part in songwriting sessions. I wasn't doing any of the things I was doing—because I was doing graphic design and taking and cutting songs for people—and I stopped all of it.

"I was really mad about a bunch of different stuff, so I made Memories Speak for the whole sake of putting it online and never looking at it again. I was in a bad mood but we had so much fun because I was getting all this stuff out. It was this garage inside of a family's home and I hung out with the grandma in the morning. It was like camp. It was far away from where I lived, so I would go for the weekend and we would work on a couple of songs.

"I worked with a couple of kids I knew from music online, so I co-produced. It was literally just a bunch of kids in a garage having fun. I'm sure I was a little difficult because I was really mad all the time. They hadn't done anything big. I had a bunch of good songs and they had a bunch of good songs and I could tell that they could produce. I made Memories Speak and two months after Memories Speak was online, I got signed to Epic."

Internet Buzz and Being Sampled by Mac Miller

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Signing to Epic

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Nylo: "Things got crazy because of this publisher who is one of the biggest in the world—Jody Gerson. She went on some public music conference and the question was, 'You sign all of these huge artists, how do you know?' She was like 'I don't know, sometimes I just know. For example, when Nylo walked into my room the other day, I just knew.' Mind you, nobody knew who I was, she just throws my name out there.


 

It happened so fast because I didn't want a record deal. I had no desire for a record deal.


 

"In the next week, every single major record label had emailed me. I had no idea what happened. Somebody had to tell me because I was like, 'How do you even know and why do you care?'

"It happened so fast because I didn't want a record deal. I had no desire for a record deal. I took the meetings and they were like, 'You're going to need a lawyer if you're going to sign.' I got introduced to a really amazing lawyer. He was like, 'I got into this business to protect artists. I won't let you do anything that's not in your best interest. What are you looking to do?' I was like, 'I just want to have complete creative freedom and final say. A really artist-friendly deal.'

"It was like a movie because the whole brain trust in the building was trying to figure out how to make the deal happen, which was pretty hard because they had to come to me. I was like, 'Look, this isn't something I'm looking for. It's not something I need right now, so if we're going to do something we have to do it on my terms.' We found something that worked for both of us, so I signed."

"Indigo Summer" and Support From Nas

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The Future

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Nylo: "I've already been working on an album for awhile and I'll just continue. My plan for that one was to write the whole album, go in with one producer, and do it the old fashioned way where we build the songs from the ground up. Write the songs real songs on piano, have a producer come in, turn it into one incredible body of work, and release an album that I am proud of, that makes perfect sense to be the perfect follow up.


 

There's a couple [of people] that are really incredible that I would love [to collaborate with], like Malay who worked with Frank Ocean and Emile Haynie who worked with Kid Cudi and Lana Del Rey.


 

"There's a couple [of people] that are really incredible that I would love [to collaborate with], like Malay who worked with Frank Ocean and Emile Haynie who worked with Kid Cudi and Lana Del Rey. Emile would be another one that could grasp a bigger project. But it's a matter of having someone willing to go in and do 14 songs with you.

"I don't know the dates for any of them, but there's a tour planned for everything. We're starting in San Diego, CA and going up to Canada and coming back down on the other side from Toronto and going down. That'll be this fall which, timing wise, will be perfect."

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