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

Alright, Ryder thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on was my second album “Immersion.” This project is all about my study abroad experience last year which was the best experience of my life, studying in Berlin and traveling to six other countries. I loved working on this album because it was definitely the most challenging project of my career, but also one of the scariest things I’ve ever done because it’s a whole collaboration album. I had no idea what to expect with the features that I wanted on the album, some I’ve never worked with and some that I have worked with in the past. It was so rewarding because everybody that I worked with on this album did such an incredible job and played such a big role with creating something great. The biggest takeaway is that there is so much talent in this world, and everybody wants to work and get their voice heard, so it was amazing.

The funny thing about this album was that it was supposed to be my senior capstone project, my last semester of college at Elon University, but I was like “I want the whole world to listen to my stories, and let’s put this thing out on streaming platforms.” I’m still shocked that I completed this album in 3 months, and there was definitely a point where I thought I was never going to finish this, but I somehow did and it was definitely a grind! A rewarding one!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I go by Ryisfly, and I first got started with DJing, which I still do now and I want that to be my dream career full time. I’ve been DJing ever since I was 14, and I was mainly doing it as a hobby and a way to make extra money in high school, but when Covid hit, I shifted towards producing music which was the best decision I’ve ever made. I started releasing songs when I first got to college, and comparing my music from when I first started to right now, I would say it definitely changed drastically in a good way, and I’m really proud with the journey that I’m on.

I took a break from DJing during the pandemic, but it wasn’t until last year that I got back into DJing, and that was the point where I started to fall in love again with the craft. I started posting mixes, transition videos to tik tok and instagram, and the amount of views that I’ve gotten through DJing and music has been quite remarkable. During the months of Janurary and February 2024, I gained 5,000 followers on Tik Tok in one month and I had two videos blow up on the exact same day, so I got a ton of recognition in college via DJing. I was able to get gigs through my social media, which was absolutely crazy and something that I could not have imagined.

I think what sets me apart from others is my creativity and how I like to create the unexpected by hooking my viewers in with my transition videos, and also being able to tell stories through music, especially in my songs and songwriting. This and also being able to create a brand with “being fly” and being your most authentic self, that’s what I bring to the table with my viewers and audience.

I’m mainly proud of my work ethic and resiliency because I’m someone that has struggled with social anxiety, and I didn’t let that stop me from achieving my dreams. There were definitely risks that I took which were pretty scary and nerve wracking but I had to take them to get what I want. The risks that I took opened up a ton of opportunities like I don’t think I would’ve ever imagined DJing in nightclubs in NYC or Jersey City if I wasn’t proactive.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A big lesson that I had to unlearn was “everybody had to like what I was working on especially my music.” I had to unlearn this because music is obviously subjective, and not everyone is going to like my work which I learned to be ok with. The backstory originated when I was making my song “Swiss Alps” off of my album “Immersion.” I remember making this song thinking like “man, this absolutely sucks, I don’t think anyone, even my friends are going to like this.” It was a song that was completely different from what I was used to making, and I was not feeling confident. It then came to a point where I was like “screw it, I’m gonna put it out there, and see what people think.” It turned out that a lot of my friends, even my family loved the song, and I felt so good. about it The biggest takeaway from this experience was that you have to stop caring about what others think of you and you can’t be your own worst enemy. Stop striving for perfection.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

To be honest, I didn’t have a particular goal in mind when creating my audience on social media. I just started to post videos on a consistent basis doing something that I love which is DJing and making music. I didn’t really care for views or likes, and I treated each video as something unique. People eventually caught on to it, and I went viral about l a month after posting my dj videos, which totally caught me by surprise. My advice is just to be authentic and have fun with making content. I know it’s such a chore to post so many videos, and you’re putting yourself in a vulnerable situation by wanting to be seen, but have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously! You’re also gonna get negative comments and haters, and my advice for that is that they’re people who are jealous and dust them off!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryisfly_/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ryderklein520
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryisfly_
  
  https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ryisfly/1571854876

Image Credits

Kenny Bieber
Sylvie Cullen
Louis Gaspar