We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dilan Jay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dilan, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project is what I’m working on right now— my music, this new sound, collabs, and persisting in my craft. I’ve been making music for years. In fact, I started DJing local parties in my hometown when I was just 12 years old for $40 a pop. So music has been in my life for almost as long as I can remember. And my music has evolved (clearly) from DJing to rapping, to touring, to dialing back from the strictly rap-centric sphere, to diving into the singer-songwriter genre to hone my vocal skills, to today. Today I’ve mixed my love of singing with my skill to know what sounds make people move (something good DJ’s are typically great at). Thus, my sound today is happy, fun, energetic, feel-good pop/R&B music that’s a representation of my hip-hop and singing background. And the reason why I say this is the most meaningful is because it is happening NOW. I think a lot of artists get stuck on what they think they should be making, or all they think they’re decent at, but it’s important to keep evolving and pressing on no matter what. So, I’m most excited about the tracks I’ve released this year. They’ve amassed 2 million streams on Spotify within the past few months, and almost 3 million views on Youtube, so I’m of course happy about that.

Dilan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Born in Los Angeles, Dilan Jay sings, raps, and writes energetic, happy, and party-ready music perfect for the Pop/R&B space. With a #1 on MTV’s Most Popular Music Videos, a #1 on the Billboard Charts, and a recent #1 on YESFM radio with “All of My Love,” he’s primed for performing dope beats designed to make people move. Collabs include Money Man, Capella Grey, with production collaborations with Black-Eyed Peas Keith Harris, and Chris Brown’s Breezy songwriter Darious Coleman. Currently, his 2022 music has generated 2 million Spotify streams and 3 million Youtube views.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Experiencing people react to my music. As an artist, you’re trying to create an effect, so watching people light up, dance, and smile to my music is irreplaceable. I couldn’t imagine creating music and not trying my hardest to push it out into the world. I’m definitely not the reclusive artist; I am definitely an artist for the people. I love people, I love meeting them, and seeing them have a great time… which of course, always includes dope music.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I was a rapper, I had to confront that that season of my life was over, and it was simply time to evolve my music into the area I had always admired, but didn’t feel like I could do… that being, R&B. I grew up listening to Jodeci and Brian McKnight and thus, revered incredible R&B. But being in the rap space, I didn’t feel like I was ready to go there… until a few years ago, I decided I wanted to try. So I put down my mic and picked up a guitar and threw myself into the singer-songwriter space. Learned everything I could from John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and worked on my vocals. When I first started working on my singing vocals, it was like learning to ride a bike again. I was at ground zero! Rapping and singing are two very different skills. But I persevered, and I even hit the open mic circuit, playing over 100 open mics within a 1 year period, just to get out there and perform and practice new singer-songwriter songs I’d released. And that hard work paid off. A year ago, I started fusing together my hip hop background with my newfound ability to sing, and today I’ve released music that truly represents ME, which is not only gratifying personally, but the streaming #s are showing others love it too.

Contact Info:

• Website: dilanjay.com
• Instagram: @dilanjay_
• Other: Tik Tok: @dilanjay_