.gay Music Monday Feature: RYLIE
This week's .gay Music Monday Feature is for the girlies and the dolls.
Because in our exclusive interview about her debut single "Hoe Sh!t," breakout artist RYLIE spilled all the tea about how this trans anthem came to life. Plus, you won't believe your eyes when you see its vid; it's guaranteed to have ya' screaming in sheer excitement!
Read more of our sassy chat with the bimbo pop star below.
What inspired you to start playing and making music?
I simply just wanted to show the girlies how it’s done. Period. I really just was kind of in a little lull with what I was doing and what was making me happy, and I thought back to you when I was a little kid. I REALLY wanted to be a Spice Girl and those sexy motocross girls on the bikes in bikinis. So I was like, Ummm, why can’t I literally just that??? So I reached out to a close friend, John Duff, who works with tons of people and also has a library of songs himself. He and I got together and co-wrote HOE SH!T, and his good friend Koil helped him produce it It really just felt like a party the whole time.
What do you like most about playing music?
Oh my God, what I love about playing music is that I don’t have to lip-synch, so I know the words. No, but actually, it’s such a different experience from all the other types of performance that I’ve been doing my whole life. I used to do theater in middle school, play the trumpet, and chorus the whole work. I like it because it allows me to really just let my walls down and pinball ideas and lyrics and beats. It’s really fun, everyone should make a song! But coming from such a small town with such limited resources for queer people and I didn’t have any outlets to really express my identity, and then dial-up came around, and it was over! My eyes were opened to so much. RIP Limewire and many of my mom's desktops. (It wasn’t the porn).
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
So as of right now, I just have my first single called HOE SH!T, and baby, you’d better believe there is more in the works. More music, more visuals, more performance. Gimme gimme more! Hoe sh!t is really just a trans anthem about taking the well, being a hoe and being proud. So many cis men and women make music about sex and all that, but I want some fucking horny music that goes with me and my body and brain. Especially as a trans person. HOE SH!T, it’s very like- my rules my playground.
Why do you think it’s important to be out and proud in the music industry?
I think it’s important to be out and proud in the music industry and every single industry. Every place should be a safe place for people of all different walks of life to do whatever the fuck they want to do and look however the fuck they want to do as long as they’re not hurting anybody. The world is such a dark, scary place right now. I just think we as a community need to keep fighting for ourselves and our younger generation like those before us. Ultimately I wanna make my mom, my chosen family, and the people who care about me proud.
As an LGBTQ+ artist, what do you want to convey with your music?
Oh, diva, you are asking the wrong girl for this!!! so….. I would say the one thing I would want to convey with my music is if you want to do something and you have the means to do it or the drive to do it. You absolutely CAN do it! This project has been in the works for so long, and so much behind the scenes has gone into it. It literally felt like I was giving birth to a little “hoe baby”. In hindsight, I guess that’s exactly how my mom Julie felt.
At the end of the day, for me, it’s all about happiness. Like many queer children, I grew up feeling lost and confused. I really didn’t see a future for what I could or should be doing because I didn’t have that exposure to anyone like me. It was very, very difficult living in South Dayton, NY. I mean, when I was born, the population was 601 people….
But with the help of my mom, as soon as I graduated high school (by the skin of my teeth), I got on a plane and established myself as a make-up artist in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, which then led me to a really great drag career, and NOW I’m entering my playboy pop star era. It’s giving very final form.
I’m so excited to share my art and music with everybody this year and just have such high hopes for our future as trans and lgbt+ artists. It’s the dawning of the dolls mama.
