Interview: 2016 Must-Know - Phoebe Ryan

Back in October, Taylor Swift highlighted Phoebe Ryan's debut single, 'Mine', as a "new song that will make your life more awesome" - alongside other up and coming musicians such as Alessia Cara and Hailee Steinfeld.

Needless to say, TayTay was not wrong, and we can't wait to see/hear what the LA-based songwriter-turned-artist gets up to in 2016.

"...a great song changes the way you think."

COUP DE MAIN: Is 2016 going to be the year that the world is blessed with a full-length Phoebe Ryan album?
PHOEBE RYAN: Hell yeah, hustling to get it out as soon as possible.

CDM: Are you still actively writing songs for other people?
PHOEBE: You bet I am. I'd go crazy if I wasn't. I like to keep the wheels turning.

CDM: How does your songwriting process work?
PHOEBE: It's totally different everyday, you never know what's going to happen. Some days I'll have a word or concept in my head that I work around, some days the melodies come first, some days you just wake up with a batch of lyrics that you want to make work. It's fun because it's unpredictable.

CDM: Do you write your lyrics specifically for the songs, or do you write poems or prose and then evolve them into song-form?
PHOEBE: I'm always writing short little poems, even if it's a single sentence or two interesting words. Sometimes they evolve into actual lyrics that I use in my songs, sometimes they stay hidden away in a notebook until I come back to it.

CDM: Lyrically, what's your favourite song that you've written?
PHOEBE: This is definitely a hard one because I have so many favourites - but I'm really proud of 'Mine', which I wrote with Kyle Shearer and Nate Campany. I really think we successfully conveyed the emotion and meaning behind the song.

CDM: What do you think is the difference between a good song and a great song?
PHOEBE: A good song gets your booty shaking, which is cool. But a great song changes the way you think. A great song is one you'll want to listen to forever, and share with people you care about.

CDM: At what age did you write your very first song ever, and what was it about?
PHOEBE: Fourth grade - here are the lyrics, as written:
"when your leaving my heart beets bad
i see no one but the wall next to.. doo doo doo dooo
you go walking away so i get nothing of you
you go walking away so i get nothing of you"

CDM: If P.H.O.E.B.E. were an acronym, what would each letter stand for?
PHOEBE:
P- Party
H- Hopping
O- On
E- Everything
B- But
E- Eels

CDM: What's on your bucket-list?
PHOEBE: Starting a bucket company.

PHOEBE RYAN's 'Mine' EP is out now - click HERE to purchase it via iTunes.

Watch the 'Dead' music video below…

P.S. Click HERE to check out more of CDM's 2016 Must-Know artists in CDM Issue #17!