Diandra Interviews Nick Vyner: Spread The Love

Nick Vyner is 100% sensitive. He describes himself as such, and it is the quality about him that is integral to his songwriting, activism, and how he loves his partners. There are some people that work their whole life to open their heart, and then there are those, like Nick, that are already opened, of which music is about keeping that heart’s door strong. In our interview, we discuss everything from his support of Black Lives Matter to using his talents for personal clarity.

Diandra: How are you?

Nick: Life is pretty good; all things considered. I am lucky to have an apartment I like living in, in an area I like living in, and it has been really inspiring to see all the protests and the collective thinking on it. Just watching how the internet has brought all this together is inspiring.

Diandra: For a writer that writes to how we need more love, you must feel like the world is finally getting on your page?

Nick: Yeah! Exactly! We are all taking time to listen to each other, and we are all becoming more intimate with each other. That is a good thing to understand each other.
Nick Vyner – Lied To Me

Diandra: How do you see your music as a balance between being sensitive and being overly sensitive?

Nick: I am writing from a personal space, and I am writing really specifically every time. If I am writing from a specific place, about a certain time and situation, I think it makes people connect with it more rapidly. There is also something really rewarding and protective and satisfying about coming from such a certain place. It is long-form self-therapy intended for audiences.

Diandra: What have you learned about love in singing to it?

Nick: I learn more about love everyday and how it impacts our lives everyday. In the past couple of years, I have started to lean in on the idea that love takes many forms and there are certain intensities. There are lows and there are peaks, and I try to lean in on the extremes: the falling in love and then the frustration with that someone. I think when you come from a specific place people will attach it to their own lives. I use my songs as a commentary on life. Most of my writing is about friendships and past relationships.

Diandra: I feel like “communication” has been absorbed by younger generations as key to relationships. I feel like older generations sang to romantic tenderness and we sing so relationship clarity.

Nick: Well, I think that is a product of our generation. I think it is that we were born with internet. It allowed us to connect with the world, and say, “Someone in New York feels the same way I feel in LA.” I think that is why we see such polarizations of thoughts. We are all talking to each other even more and seeing each other’s thoughts. So it leaves us in a really good and bad place at the same time.

Diandra: Some say the internet had brought issues, butI feel like the internet amplifies issues humanity has always had.

Nick: Exactly! It is shining light on all these issues that have a cyclical nature, but either nobody speaks about it, has a resolution, or people in power just don’t care. These are not new issues, but these are new ways to take them on, and, hopefully, it makes the world better.

Diandra: You are very supportive of black artists and constantly mentioning the impact black art has had on you. Do you feel that appreciation and respect is lacking in the industry?

Nick: Absolutely! And it is not, necessarily, with other artists. Obviously, everyone can do more, and I think a lot of people are learning and trying to do more. I think the change has to be in the industry on an upper level. There are positions where we can be doing good and the industry can do a better job of putting people of color on the board or in higher level positions. I think we have a way to go, but we are going to do better. I think it is about changing the way we do things.

It is obvious that the system we have, right now, is only working for a few. It is a large disadvantage for a huge amount of our population. There is such inequity in this country, and with the internet it is like, “Now that we can talk! Let’s change it!” I think as artists we try all the different ways to help like, donations, posting petition links, sharing. There is no excuse anymore because there are simple ways to help.
Nick Vyner – Tracing (Lyric Video)

Diandra: Do you see your music singing to how individual love trickles down from universal love?

Nick: I think it is hard for me to view it in that scope just because I am writing about very specific situations. I think that it taps into universal love and how that affects us. Me, being a young person, you get a new context with relationships in every day that passes, and you realize that we, mostly, operate in the same way. We all love and want love, and it is interesting to observe that on a personal level and how it transfers into a global level.

Diandra: Has your music taught you about what you give and need from relationships?

Nick: I like to take things to extremes and make exaggerations of scenarios, and my music has allowed me to explore how I can improve myself as a person and partner. Writing a song helps me gather my thoughts so I can have a conversation with someone and address a problem. For all the sad songs I write, it is fun to write about how happy I am and in love. I just want the audience to feel like they are in the therapist’s office with me. We are all going through the exact same stuff and it is good to talk about it.

Diandra: Is there a particular movie, about love, that makes you want to write a song for it?

Nick: Honestly, I get that feeling, all the time, when watching things. Movies are such a crossover of tone, with music, in terms of art. I watched a movie, the other day, called Daytrippers by Greg Motola. It is this little, love story that doesn’t end well, and I just thought, “Yeah! That’s It!” So I, definitely, want to make a song about that.

Diandra: What is your favorite childhood memory with music?

Nick: I was five and it was Christmas, 2005, and we opened all our Christmas presents. I am ecstatic with all that I’ve received, and my dad stood up and he was like, “I think there is another gift in the other room.” He had given me an American Idol drum kit, and I just remember running to it excitedly. I don’t always have the best memory, but that is the my first memory with music.

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