Moments In Song №010 — Ria
With a playlist featuring songs that focus on the story behind them, creative director and model Ria talks to us about Paramore, the relationship between her creativity and music, and how her family helped shape her taste in music.
Julian: First thing I want to ask you is what was the thought process that went behind making your playlist?
Ria: Well just basically what you asked for. I tried to pick songs that have stories behind them. I went for something that was less mainstream. These are all songs I listen to most of the time. It’s on my recently played playlist and most played playlist so I was like, “Ok let me just put that stuff on there.”
I can imagine you had a lot of songs to choose from. What did you do to narrow that list down to 10, and what was the criteria for a song to make that 10?
I think I just picked songs that whenever I listen to them I feel something magical. So the first song I picked, “Them Changes,” when I first heard it I was like, “Oh my God, I love this song.” And I love Thundercat also on other projects like Kendrick Lamar’s album. I like Sampha’s album. He was kind of a little emo on it, so that was cool.
How would you describe your taste in music?
I feel like I don’t have a taste. I listen to a little bit of everything. I don’t discriminate.
You can tell that just by looking at the songs you played on your playlist. You got a little bit of everything in there. Was your taste is music always like that, or did it develop overtime?
I don’t know. That’s a good question because growing up my grandfather listened to jazz, my mom was more so the classic R&B type girl, and then my dad was into the old school 70’s and 60’s stuff but also liked conscious rap like Mos Def and Common. And then all the pop stuff came in just by watching TV like Disney channel and Nickelodeon, and growing up with those people. So I guess it was always there. But the taste for other artists that don’t fit into those categories, I guess that did develop over time.
When you first start listening to music, you kind of just listen to whatever is on the radio, whatever you see on TV, what other kids are listening to. But there comes a point in everyone’s life where they break away from that and start both listening to music on their own terms and looking up stuff that they’re really interested in and dig deeper into certain music and artists. Do you have a specific moment, artist, song, or time in life where you transitioned from just listening to whatever was on the radio, to developing your own taste?
I started looking into stuff on my own around 2004–2005 when I heard Paramore for the first time. I heard their song “Emergency.”
They were out then?
Yeah 2004 they came out with their first album, I think it was All We Know. I saw one of their music videos on Fuse. So that’s when I started going on, you remember Yahoo! Music? Where you would look up videos and stuff like that?
[Laughs] Before YouTube?
Right, so before YouTube that’s what I used to do. Go on Yahoo! and search for different artists, genres, all that type of stuff. So they’re (Paramore) one of the artists that are really important to me growing up. Then when I got a little bit older, it was Tyler, the Creator. I heard “Bastard” from his first mixtape, and I was like, “Oh, who is this? This is new.” So from then on I started looking at not just him but the whole Odd Future crew. That’s how I discovered The Internet, and started listening to Hodgy, Domo, Casey Veggies and all of those guys. So those are two places where my own taste in music really started.
What was it about both Paramore and Tyler, the Creator that really stuck with you when you first found about them?
Paramore, they were just different than any other band that was out there. A lot of people say that’s my “white phase” [Laughs.] And then Tyler, I don’t know. He just wasn’t a like a conventional rapper if that makes sense. He would just rap about anything. Know that I look back at it, that shit is kind of inappropriate. He would have never survived in 2017, like his shit is wild problematic. I mean know he’s gotten better. You can hear the growth in his music, and that’s what I like about him. And of course I discovered Frank (Ocean) through him.
What role, if any, would you say music plays in your modeling? Do you listen to a song that gets your creativity flowing? Does is inspire you? Does it motivate you?
I’m a creative director on the side, so there are times when I might hear a song that inspires an idea in my head that I have for a shoot. It might inspire my style that day, what I’m wearing, what I’m doing to my hair, how I do my make-up. It matters a lot to me in each of those areas.
Can you pick a song on your playlist and tell us the story behind it?
I guess I’ll go with “Biking” by Frank Ocean. I’m already a fan of Frank, so when I first heard the song I was like, “Oh wow this is a different side of him I’ve never heard before. I like the acoustics.” And I was also with a significant other when I heard this song. One part of the song that spoke to me was when he said, “God gave you what you can handle,” and I thought, “That is so true.” Being in your 20’s is tough. You’re still trying to figure out yourself. What you like, what you don’t want to put up with. You’re trying to figure out relationships and all this other type of stuff, and sometimes it can feel like there’s too much pressure. Sometimes, you can go through depression or anxiety trying to figure shit out. So when I heard that I was like, “You know what, God does give you what you can handle.” Not to get all spiritual and stuff like that, but it really did speak to me when he said that. Anything that I think I can’t handle, I can and I’ll get through it. It might seem like it’s shit now, but the rainbows are coming later.
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