Ryan Caraveo the “Northend Sweetheart”
Timeline of Ryan Caraveo’s music career:
In 2014, Ryan Caraveo kept his head so high that he launched his music career out of his parent’s basement and into the spotlight with his first album, Swings.
In 2016, he continued to make his own way and gave the world his second album, Maybe They Were Wrong.
In 2018, he danced in the city with all the voices in his mind and released his third album, At Least I Tried.
In 2019, he wanted to finally find home with his fourth album, Butterfly Boy.
Then COVID-19 walked into the picture in 2020, and Caraveo struggled to find inspiration in a time where “We can’t write about real life experiences, because we can’t experience anything.” Fast forward to 2021, his latest album is ready to debut at the end of July: Northend Sweetheart.
Before Caraveo’s impressive discography ever existed, he credited his brother for planting the seeds of his music career during his childhood. At the time, his brother had an underground hip hop phase and wrote raps for him to say back during their so-called rap battles. Caraveo added that he basically learned how to rap by insulting his brother! Not even a decade old, he started writing at the age of 7 or 8. Sooner or later, he added rhyme forms to his skillset, recorded a ton of voice memos in his closet, and eventually transferred these skills to music.
“I’ve always been independent. So I wasn’t going to college, I’m just kind of working a job. So it was really up to me to be on top of myself to like, be focused...It’s like, you either have to think about it 24/7 and be obsessed with it, or it’s not going to work.”
Caraveo often relied on himself to bring his visions to life, having no mentor for guidance. For that reason, he’s always had it in his mind that it was essential to reinvent himself and what he’s interested in every so often to keep growing as an artist. It’s also a reason why he’s able to create album after album, and still release another one despite the state of the world.
Get a taste of “Northend Sweetheart” with his latest single “Superstar”:
Ryan Caraveo “Superstar” music video directed by Stefan Vleming
Imposter Syndrome is a heavy theme that runs throughout the song, feeling unworthy of the term “Superstar”. Towards the end of the music video, it feels like a big finale. When in reality, it’s revealed that it was just 2 people in the background toying with the lights, producing the chaotic flashing. The datamoshing also adds to the feeling of detachment Caraveo perceives. He brought awareness to the commonality within many artists out there, including himself, feeling a sense of doubt in their own accomplishments, skills, and talents. He described it as watching a movie with a world class director, while the audience is so blissful of what went into creating a scene that they are able to enjoy it as is. Meanwhile, all the director would think about is the camera set up in every scene, the actors behind the characters, what each crew member is responsible for, etc. Caraveo experiences exactly this with music. And he believes the only way to avoid imposter syndrome as an artist is to create something that not only surprises people, but surprises yourself.
“Superstar” is 1 of 4 currently released songs from the “Northend Sweetheart” album, with the rest dropping on July 30, 2021.
Once the entire album debuts, Caraveo only requests that listeners:
Put headphones on and listen to it by yourself.
Go through the album in order.
And reserve “Sapphire Skies” for a solo night drive with the windows down.
“The new album is the one I’m most proud of for sure.”
Keep up with Ryan Caraveo:
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