We recently connected with SYDIR . and have shared our conversation below.
SYDIR, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I would have to say that my most meaningful project to date is my current single & video, “They Want Us To Party”
Over the last 5-6 years, my best friend of 20 years, Terrell T-Rex Simon and I did several shows together. He is an R&G (Rhythm & Gospel) artist and I am a multi-genre artist, but we always managed to make our musical styles mesh. We currently have 5 songs and 2 videos together. I’ll never forget when we recorded our first song together, “Freedom”, which I wrote in the wake of the George Floyd murder. He and I had been trying to do a song together for YEARS and the “Freedom” record just came together organically. After releasing “Freedom”, so many people told us that we needed to do more songs together, which we did and in turn we wound up doing lots of shows together performing those songs.
Fast forwarding to Oct 15, 2023 in Atlanta, Ga, Terrell and I had two shows together. One was for the Spin Awards where I performed with Terrell on his song “Shine” and the other was the Underground Music Awards where Terrell hosted the red carpet and I performed a medley of my own songs. We’ve truly hit our stride as a dynamic duo of the stage as whenever people would call for one, we showed up as a package deal. The following week, we were scheduled to appear and perform at an event in Harlem and at the last minute I had to back out because of child care issues. I called Terrell to let him know, but there was no answer because I assumed he was in transit, which is always the case because we both are constantly on the go.
About 15 minutes after attempting to contact Terrell, I received a call from a mutual friend of ours, Dejah, asking had I ‘spoken to anyone yet’, as confused as I was by the question, I wasnt ready for what she said next……
Terrell passed away earlier that morning.
Yes, my very best friend for the greater of 20 years was gone. We were JUST together the week before doing shows, we had JUST spoken via text the night before he passed, discussing the show that we were supposed to do that next day!!
So many questions plagued my mind, but one that stood out the most was “How am I going to continue doing this music thing without my best friend at my side?”. I was always a solo artist, but Terrell and I had become such fixtures in each others performances that we were like Batman & Robin, when you saw one, you saw the other, ALL the time.
Over the weeks following Terrells passing, I became extremely depressed (as to be expected) and I started looking for ways to channel these feelings. Of course, I turned to music and the first thing I turned to was the idea of doing a tribute record for Terrell, but what would I do?
Terrell wasnt a sad person, he was super up beat and dare I say “the life of the party”, he loved to “turn up” and just have a good time. That is exactly what I needed this tribute song to be. I didnt want it to be a slow or mid-tempo sad song. I wanted it to be upbeat and lively, just like Terrell was. I then thought collectively of all the people that we all have lost in our lives journeys.
They dont want us crying.
They dont want us upset and depressed.
They want us to live and celebrate.
They want us to PARTY!!
Something in that last line just jumped out at me, they want us to PARTY!! I took that idea and ran with it, crafting a super upbeat song paying tribute to my best friend and all the people we have lost along the way. Also, as a means of this being our last song ‘together’, the track features Terrell himself at the beginning and end, thus making it by far the MOST meaningful to me.
Janet Jackson has “Together Again”
Sydir has “They Want Us To Party”,
now available on all platforms as well as www.iamsydir.com
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.
What I think sets me apart from others is that I am a very “what you see is what you get” kind of person. My music represents who I am as a person. I don’t have these teams of writers who are concocting an image or story for me. Only I can tell my story and no one else can tell my story like me. Another thing that sets me apart is that I am not out here competing with anyone or trying to be “the next” version of someone else. As the saying goes, “everyone else is taken, be yourself”.
Above all else, what drives me is my desire to simply inspire people. I know it sounds cliche, but I mean that from the depths of my soul. I truly want people to feel like they CAN because I DID. Know what I mean? You ever go to a concert to see your favorite artist and you’re sitting in the front row, they come out on stage and start doing their thing and they may look at you or point you out or something and you feel that rush of energy come over you? That energy that feels like you can go conquer the world because this one person noticed you? That is the feeling I want to give to other people. Me, on a stage in front of thousands sharing my story, if just a few people walk away from that with a different outlook on life, it would mean the world to me.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Wow!! This question right here!! I could go on and on with this one but let me say this. I have this song called “Solo” and one of the lines in the hook says “Nobody’s gonna ride for you like you ride for you”, and that is the absolute truth. The lesson in that is that YOU are the ONLY one who will wholeheartedly take your dream by the horns and go after it. You will have people who say they love and support you but yet and still, they aren’t making any moves to show that. I know a few people in some pretty high places, even with that as a potential resource, I find that I still have to get out and hustle to create my own relationships with people. I’m not being ‘nepotized’ if you will. Rarely will anyone be speaking your name in ‘the room’ when you arent around. I had to unlearn the thinking that people would just do things to help me advance ‘just because’. No, thats not how it works and people are not remotely as invested in your dreams and goals as you are.
This is YOUR dream, this is what YOU want…. therefore YOU have to go get it. This is not to say that there may not be genuine people along the way that will help you, thats not what I’m saying at all, but at the end of the day, its really all on you to make it happen. The sooner you learn that, the further along you will be because you won’t be waiting for people to fulfill empty promises.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
So, I feel like I speak for many creatives outside of myself, but we are 1 degree away from crazy (laughs). Seriously, you have to be a certain amount of coo-coo to devote the amount of time, attention, energy and everything else that goes into your craft. Non-creatives dont seem to understand that our creative minds are ALWAYS going!! For instance, prior to the onset of iPhones with the built in voice recorder feature, I used to actually carry a small voice recorder and at any given moment, a song line or a melody would pop in my mind and I would stop what I was doing and sing it out into the recorder. No matter where I was, be it work, school, on a date, wherever… when inspiration would hit, I had to document it for later use.
I dont think that non-creatives understand that to create is innately who we are. It’s just as much part of us are your fingernails are. It’s not something that we can just turn off. Also, with each new idea we are more and more excited because that could potentially be our ‘breakthrough’ idea. Myself as a songwriter, sometimes I write songs and in the beginning phases I will feel like this is going to be my greatest work yet and that causes me to devote that much more attention to it. It’s the same with many other creatives, it’s almost like we are in this competition with ourselves to be greater and greater each time. Personally, I love the challenge within myself to be a better creative with each project. Thats how we grow creatively.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iamsydir.com
- Instagram: @iamsydir
- Facebook: @iamsydir
- Twitter: @iamsydir
- Youtube: @iamsydir
- Other: I can also be found on TikTok at, you guessed it…. @iamsydir :-)