Lp - URIVALDO LOPES

    How did it start with music?

    How it all started. One very lonely childhood ago, haha. No, I don't know. It was always a love. It was more of a thing that I liked to do. Like any kid, I liked to sing. Like any kid, it was fun. But I think, not like every kid, my people would tell me “wow, your voice is really good”. My mom even said it to me one time, and she was a really good singer to me. I knew she sang when she was young. She asked me one time and I was in the car, I was singing really low to myself, and she said "is that you?" kind of like, surprised. And I said, "Yeah." And then it just encouraged me to sing. And I started singing in school and just kept singing. But again, not that I was going to do it for a living. And then my mom passed away when I was a teenager, and I started to think "I want to do something that's fun that I love." And I started singing in bands and I just said fuck it, I want to try it. I didn't know where to go, what to do, how to do it. And I just kept...doing it. It's the hardest thing I've ever done and I do it for my life now. I feel like it's nice because I feel like I accomplished something that I knew was really hard to do. 

    We know that you wrote music for big artists like Rihanna, Cher, Celine Dion and more. How does it feel to be a songwriter & a singer at the same time?

    I think that songwriting comes first. I would call myself a songwriter, or that's what I want. I know that's one of the biggest things for me because I feel like I knew I could sing decently. I mean, arguably, I could sing, but writing songs was just something I felt like I had no idea how to do. And I just was so overwhelmed with the proposition of writing a song. I was so shocked that you could just do that without “knowing how to”. 

    When did you realize you wanted to be a musician?

    Somewhere in the whole melee of trying to get somewhere, I think I realized it. It kind of was a burden for a long time. There's just this time when your dreams of your youth are kind of on the the sacrificial altar, and to go farther within and to say, "no, I really want this," is kind of taking it to another level where people are like, "yeah, you’re gonna really go for this?" Somewhere in my mid-twenties I was like, all right, fuck it. 

    What was your first tattoo?

    So my first tattoo is a little red star that I have on my hip. 

    How do you choose your music? 

    Oh, I don't know. I don't really like to choose it. I just do whatever comes out, you know? So I feel like I just try to do what feels good. 

    What inspires you the most?

    I think romantic love, but it kind of all feeds into it. Just love in general, you know. 

    You always tell the reality in your songs, how amazing and powerful when you touch people's hearts?

    I mean, it's everything. That's what I'm always trying to do. I'm always trying to get right to the heart of the matter as fast as I can. Make someone feel a simple and complicated thought, at all times. 

    Lost on you is still an iconic song, tell us more about it

    Lost on you is an interesting journey. It really taught me what I knew all along which is that people that are in charge in the music business have as little or no idea as you do. They're just in the whole fucking craziness themselves. But as soon as the people start listening to something, they're the ones that are going to tell you how much they knew it was a hit. So that song taught me to believe in myself and that you never know. I was dropped after I played that song for somebody at Warner Brothers. And it's just kind of hilarious because people are like, "Duh! That's a great song." Like, anyone would know that, but no, they don't know it until the people speak. It just reminded me of the subjectivity of art.  

    How is Churches different from your previous albums?

    I don't know if it's so much different. I don't consider it different, I just consider it movement. I have a few songs sort of ready. I'm very excited to always work on new material. And so I hope that it's going to be another addition to my body of work in a great way. 

    What do you want people to remember from your music?

    Just some soul, some heart, some comfort. Something that affects them emotionally. 

     

    Interview by Sleiman Dayaa