Ryahn is a 20 year-old, Broward County, FL-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and pop artist, who grew up listening to her parents’ Al Green, Minnie Riperton, Deniece Williams and The Delfonics records — and those records would eventually inform the up-and-coming Floridian-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s own self-described soulful music. “I call it soulful music ’cause it comes from my soul,” Ryahn says in press notes.
While in middle school, Ryahn taught herself how to play ukulele from watching YouTube videos and from there, she picked up guitar, eventually writing songs in her bedroom. Her father’s death wound up being the impetus for the young singer/songwriter to start sharing her music publicly, and in 2015, she released her debut single “Babyboy” on SoundCloud, which has amassed about 500,000 streams to date. Since then she has released three singles “Ease Your Mind,” “Studio” and her latest single, the Sango-produced “Popstar.” Centered by a subtle and understated trap beat, skittering beats, brief blasts of electric guitar, Ryanh’s self-assured and sultry cooing, a sinuous hook and breezy, tropicalia vibes, the song which reveals a superstar in the making, is about manifesting what you want and living your fantasy — right this very second.
Directed by Yavez Anthonio, the recently released video, which was shot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil further emphasizes both the song’s tropicalia vibes and the song’s theme of living out your fantasy by following the up-and-coming pop artist and her friends surrounded by the city’s gorgeous landscapes.
“Popstar” will be included on Ryahn’s soon-to-be-released debut EP Light Blue, which is slated for release next month. The EP’s title pays homage to her career’s journal so far. “I started this project when I was feeling at rock bottom and looking for a way out of the mental hole I was in. It’s about coming from your lowest point to a place of peace and clarity. Light Blue,” the Broward County-born, Los Angeles-based artist explains in press notes.
