Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Zilvinas Lapelis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Zilvinas, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?
I believe that my music can be/has been taken the wrong way by people who are just listening. Every time that I release a project, I make sure that project has a meaning and sometimes people just don’t see the vision I had when I made that project. A example is my album P&N, while a first listen of the album might lead the listener to think it’s just a bunch of random songs, I was not totally there when I made it. The whole album was from my mind, no written lyrics, just a glimpse into how I was feeling during that time period.
Zilvinas, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started rapping when I was 15 on a broken iPhone. My first song went viral almost immediately, but since then I have became a better artist and producer for my music. I think what sets me apart is my visions I have for my albums. I vision all my projects kinda like episodes of a tv-show. While they might not make sense now, they all correlate together producing this narrative and this persona I have created “Zilly$”. Zilly$ is not really just a character but an element of myself I haven’t really been able to express in a social setting besides artistically. This persona is able to be used to express my thoughts on the world, social situations, mental health, struggles, and even some events that have happened to myself in the past I haven’t been able to publicly speak about.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
There is a ton of media that has impacted my way of thinking. First off Faces (Mac Miller) is one of my favorite mixtapes. It has changed the way I look at not only production but the way I live my life outside of the Artistic Value. The way that the mixtapes goes through the theme of Life all the way to Death has changed my views on life in total. Secondly, Loveless (My Bloody Valentine) has definitely changed my taste of music. Loveless was like a gateway into the shoegaze sound a lot of bands have, and when I first heard the album it was like I was mentally connected to it. The dreamy guitars, the soft vocals, the depressing lyrics about love, it lead me into this environment where I wanted to capture this sound and give it my own twist. And finally the movie Donnie Darko is one of my favorite movies of all time. With an amazing soundtrack, its surreal themes, and its darkened atmosphere, this movie spoke to me in a way. It opened my eyes to religion and how I can use that inside of my music, but also it opened my eyes into filming my own movie. I am currently working on a short film that would have never happened without Donnie Darko.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I feel like society doesn’t pay a lot of attention to underground artists. It’s been a problem for years and years and honestly I feel like there’s no real solution to it. You always hear people saying “support your local artists” but the support we receive is very minimal. I have this theory that everyone is like an underground artist. Anyone can be one, creativity flows inside everyone in one way or another. People have different ways of expressing it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xozillyxo/profilecard/?igsh=NjIxbGtxaDJ2NTBt
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC6_477o6rAE-x62O8902drw?si=4bqVYnqaGTvNU8vi
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/44WyZBMPdm675Qsf7
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6yELS6mYCOr1h5cRgGGFdU?si=iRWufARJT460kJ7whS44Ww
Image Credits
xo_zilly_xo