RHYAN DOUGLAS DEBUT EP ‘CIRCLES’ AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE TODAY
RHYAN DOUGLAS
DEBUT EP
CIRCLES
AVAILABLE
EVERYWHERE TODAY
NEW SINGLE + VIDEO
“AFRO BLUE”
OUT NOW
DOWNLOAD COVER ART HERE
TRACKLIST ARTWORK HERESTREAM HERE
Added on Spotify’s ‘R&B Rising’ , Billboard’s ‘R&B/Hip-Hop Fresh Pick’s + the Fashionably Early ‘New Music’ Playlists
“…a special artist — something fresh and real…” ~ BILLBOARD
“Rhyan Douglas (music) needs to be in somebody’s movie. The…production is subtly warm and oozes the innocence of young love, paired with the knowledge of an old soul.” ~ VIBE Magazine
“…sultry and snap-led R&B… ethereal croons…dynamic range from Douglas… impressive and surprising…” ~ HotNewHipHop
““Douglas is perfect for those who want to be immersed in what they’re listening to. Accompanying his warm vocals, Douglas provides a strong visual element to his music.” ~ Sidedoor Magazine
”…emotionally raw…” ~ Rated R&B
“blurs the lines between R&B, Folk and Soul, and stands out from the cookie cutter, and sometimes explicit, R&B we’ve grown used to in recent years.”’ ~ Shifter Magazine
…a beautiful folk production…” ~ Global Grind
[March 15th, 2024] – With each release Rhyan Douglas has proven he’s become every tastemakers’ stand out pick, with critics affirming the Brampton-native is a very special artist that offers something fresh to music as he beautifully blurs the lines of R&B, folk and soul. His softs coos amid acoustic guitars and unique storytelling alongside voluminous productions are well showcased in his debut 9-track EP, Circles – available everywhere today. https://rhyandouglas.lnk.to/Circles
“Circles is a tribute to my childhood and my continuous growth and evolution into the man I’m probably supposed to be,” shares Douglas. “Loss, money, religion, ladies, bowling and of course my dreams – and the subjects my attention demands of me, both bad and good.” He continues, “I don’t why I made it, nor do I know why it sounds as such; I let life do its course, ultimately driving me through circles the same way I was running before finding myself through sound. In a sense, I’m presenting to you a few pages of my journal.”
“Do I captivate your mind? Do I mean a little more to you?” He asks of the lover he pursues on the DJ Dahi, BADBADNOTGOOD, Mihji Grey, Eli Brown, Tarron Crayton & Wondagurl produced “Afro Blue,” which he dropped just ahead of today’s release – available now HERE. A cool and visually enthralling video accompanies the song where fans get to witness and unpack not only Rhyan’s dynamic range but his grasp of making us see and feel.
From the technology-steeped romance waters on the 2020s he finds himself in on “Spin The Block,” to the guitar laden “Young & Reckless,” or the lyrically heartening “Conversations” which VIBE Magazine proclaimed, “should be in somebody’s movie.” Rhyan encapsulates the innocence of youth and young love, we all wish we could get back. A truly gifted griot, his mastery of immersive sonics draws us in, while Douglas continues to pen and craft far beyond his years. From his explorations with wispy tonal and snap-led productions to his sultry verses and ethereal falsetto, Rhyan’s blend and mastery of R&B, folk, and soulful sonics on Circles, are as if he invented them truly on his own.
Rhyan Douglas is a uniquely talented singer who hails from the Brampton/Toronto, Ontario area. He developed his passion for singing at a young age, discovering his true voice growing alongside with the SDA church youth choir; he began to hone his craft, spending countless hours practicing and perfecting his vocals. As his talent began to grow, Rhyan caught the attention of some of the most prominent producers in the industry, including Wondagurl, No-ID, and Eli Brown, to help craft his sound.
Rhyan’s music is a new genre termed “Folk-soul” that combines elements of folk and soul music, creating a fresh and distinctive sound that sets him apart from other artists. His music has been inspired by a diverse range of musical artists, including Frank Ocean, Thundercat, Sam Smith, Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, Daniel Caesar, and Tyler The Creator. Past collaborators include Dj Dahi, Jordan Evans, Matthew Burnett, Leon Thomas, Marcus Semaj, Los Hendrixx, and 6LACK.
Rhyan released his first single ‘Last Page” in November, which landed on the NOW 89 compilation album, and today drops his 9-song EP titled Circles, executive produced by Wondagurl & Eli Brown. Having already opened on tour for 6LACK, he is currently the cover of “Alt R&B” by the Yams Playlist, even recently providing stripped down versions of his two singles and his own rendition of “His Eyes Are On The Sparrow” for their Yams Sessions. Later this month we will see him release a live performance with major R&B platform Escape Tracks. It’s clear after wowing folks during performances at SXSW this year, Rhyan is poised to become a major force in the music world.
Circles Tracklist:
- Spin The Block
- Young & Restless
- Found
- Conversations
- In The Garden
- Afro Blue
- Sunnie D
- Holy Child
- Last Page
DOWNLOAD PRESS PHOTO HERE
CREDIT: Justin Aberneth
SHORT FORM CONTENT HERE
Follow Rhyan Douglas:
Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // TikTok
ABOUT RHYAN DOUGLAS
You’ve seen the conversations about R&B. Is it dying? Is it in the midst of a lowkey resurgence? Some will say it hasn’t been the same since beatmaking replaced live instrumentation and vocalists no longer came up singing in church. That the lyrics are loveless, tired retreads about infidelity and toxic relationships. That the soul is missing. The Canadian phenomenon Rhyan Douglas is here to dispel any such notions about a genre in decline. Already co-signed by Atlanta star 6LACK and touted by VIBE and Billboard, Rhyan Douglas is the future of R&B.
Raised in the Toronto suburb of Brampton by parents who filled the home with gospel and reggae, Rhyan showed promise at an early age—very early, in fact. As far back as junior kindergarten, he stood out from his peers because of his voice. His musical inclination led him to enroll in his school’s arts program, where he sang in the choir and played in the band, learning clarinet before moving on to other instruments, including piano and guitar.
His voice is the first thing you notice on his debut project Circles. On one of the EP’s most understated tracks, “In the Garden,” he sings alongside a piano and an organ—in other words, classic accompaniment for a vocalist with real skill.
“Too much to bear/Tears on your carpet,” he sings. His lyrics create mystery, enticing the listener into the authentic world his songs build, with their images of youthful abandon and anxiety about moving into adulthood. He wonders: who really cares for me? Who is praying for me? Where is home now? He has dreams (“a big house in LA”) and in his voice you hear both the confidence to manifest those dreams and the uncertainty, too.
Rhyan’s songwriting draws on his lived experience. For instance, since he was a teenager, he’s been traveling from Toronto to Los Angeles, building connections with producers and musicians, working hard to achieve his dream of living as an artist. Though his mother initially had anxiety about his decision to leave school to focus exclusively on his art, she couldn’t deny his dedication.
But his time in school wasn’t all hard work. “Young and Reckless” is a diaristic account of being, well, young and reckless: gorging on junk food, chasing fashion trends, doing dumb things with rental cars in the parking lot of a Krispy Kreme. Rhyan has a knack for captivating opening lines, and “Young and Reckless” is no exception: “I stretch my arms to feel like I’m flying/Probably ’cause I’m five minutes from dying,” he sings, encapsulating the fleeting feeling of teenage immortality in a single couplet.
His songs are littered with real-life details that ground the material, simultaneously separating it from cookie-cutter pop music and finding the universal in the specific. He sometimes likens it to folk music—or folk-soul—and the truth of that categorization is in the details. His songwriting doesn’t try to hide his age—fast food is a recurring theme, along with curfews, borrowing cars, and the dreamy, destabilizing effects of young love (“Afro Blue” is, in part, an ode to clandestine rendezvous in a Wendy’s parking lot).
He celebrates the life he’s lived in all its complexity, using his voice to imbue these universal experiences with all their wonder and drama. “Found,” one of the sweetest songs on the EP, uses lush vocal harmonies to brilliantly recall a long-distance love that has no future but haunts Rhyan regardless. “I found a girl…who lives in my head…rent free,” he sings at the top of his register, in an ethereal falsetto.
Circles expresses the fullness of Rhyan’s emotions and ambitions. The songs often feature atypical, surprising structures—a sudden burst of Auto-Tune here; a beguiling choir outro of female vocalists there. The songwriting continuously impresses with its candor, climaxing with the final song, “Holy Child,” where Rhyan sings frankly about his family and the eye-opening realization that, as he puts it, “despite everything going on in my own life, I still got shit going on at home.” Rhyan creates the sensation that he’s lived an entire lifetime. His voice may be boyish in its range, but the depth of feeling is that of someone who had to grow up fast, as Rhyan says he did. He explains that the title comes from his sense that he’s already lived through a number of full circle moments. And yet he’s just getting started—his will be a career to watch—and enjoy—for a long time.