Elusive East London artist Dayor has remained a hotly anticipated name since his breakout back in 2019 – resonating lyricism, intoxicating melodies and honey-dipped vocals all making for a vibe-heavy output. Following a brief hiatus, 2022 was graced with drops like “Mood” and “For Sure” as well as a feature on Gabzy’s At The End Of The Night project.
British bred but Nigerian in heritage – despite growing up with the sounds of his siblings playlists which were inclusive of old school RnB hits and UK rap anthems – he still notes his culture as an influence on his music. Acclaiming the West African country for its musicality and drums, that connection reflected on releases like “Drifting Thru” alongside Melvitto.
Looking back on Dayor’s discography, his first official release was in 2019 with “Fly Shit” but like many of our musical greats, he was creating way before then and dropping demos on Soundcloud. Although initially planning to enter the scene as rapper at a time where Grime was surging, a few successful studio sessions highlighted his prowess as a singer.
Describing his style as a fusion of Progressive/Alternative Rnb, Pop & Trap. This new project gives us admirable tasters of each of those elements. He boasts a tone that is able to span across soundscapes. When talking on his identity as an artist, Dayor states “I’m just someone that’s just trying to connect with people . I’m someone that’s just trying to make music that resonates with people, that just leaves a feeling that lasts”.
Returning this year to deliver his debut EP, High Life. The pack inclusive of 4 brand new tracks. We touched base with the young talent about it all.
Give us the spiel on the EP?
“High Life is about trying to reach a different state of mind. I indulged in certain vices and chased certain feelings and have had time to sit back and reflect on it all”.
You only released the title track ahead of the EP, what was the thinking behind that?
“I was just really eager to put it out. Once the music was ready I didn’t want to make people feel like they have to earn the music by suggesting they wait until some distant date or until I’d received a certain amount of social media engagement. I know there’s value in building up people’s excitement, but considered the length of the record and how much time had passed since my last release, I felt like I owed it to people in return for the support they’ve shown”.
Prior to this, your last release was back in 2022 – would you say you had a quality over quantity approach to music?
“I don’t think I’ve limited the amount of music I’ve put out to vet for quality, I do believe in quality over quantity but that hasn’t been an issue. I think I put a lot of thought into my sound and where to focus my creative direction and that’s taken some time. I’ve had to find what kind of music resonates with me”.
You’ve dipped in and out of music over the years. How does it feel to still have people anticipating the music?
“It means a lot honestly. There’s been people who’ve supported me since day one and I want to show them that they’ve invested their energy into an artist who appreciates that. I feel like as an artist you have to be able to handle delayed gratification, and I’ve been patient too. Now that the groundwork has been laid, I can’t wait to show people what I have in store for them”.
How do you go about creating and selecting beats?
“I feel like as a musician its always best to be adaptable. I’ve grown up in music and I’ve gone through my fair share of both [being in studio & sourcing YouTube beats]. Being in the studio with people like PB and Eyes, every hi-hat, every snare, whatever they put in is intentional. So I like being in a booth with them. YouTube can be a blessing sometimes.
“Especially for early artists, it makes things accessible you just got to take time to play around and really find the gems[…] a lot of my songs in the past, I’ve started with type beats, and I’ve put vocals down, then we’ve gone in a lab and actually made a beat around the vocals”.
As someone who is big on the artistic side of your output, moving forward do you plan to release any more visuals?
“I’m trying to be heavy on visuals in the future. Even outside of music videos, I just want to make a lot of artistic visual content because when it comes to music, I’m a visual person anyway. When I’m writing songs, I’m already trying to picture, what visuals is going to go along with it. I’ve always been into film and TV too. I definitely want to do more videos and give people that kind of side of me because I feel that that’s part of me. We’ve got some stuff in the works!”.
In today’s day and age, social media and music are intertwined, and as a somewhat lowkey person, how do you navigate that?
“I don’t want people to feel that I don’t show enough about me in a way. I’m just trying to figure out how to do it, I’m not like a natural social media kind of guy. I’m just about the music. But obviously, I want to give people a window into what I do and be more personal. There’s just definitely some good things about it that have definitely changed my outlook on it”.
Let us know your dream collaborations, DOA?
“Labrinth, Drake, Kendrick and then Michael Jackson of course, even though I don’t know type of what song we’d make[…] and Kanye, we could get some Mike Dean production on it. I listened to these guys a lot growing up.”
What else can we expect next from you?
“High Life is out but there’s still more to come from the EP. Expect a lot more music next year, I have a bunch of singles I want to release and it’s some of the best music I’ve made to date”.
Check out Dayor’s EP, out now!