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If you’ve been spinning with all the news lately, and are looking for something thoughtful, groovy and fun to spin in countenance, then Sherwyn's latest EP, Spin City, is your resolution. The Brooklyn-raised, now Nashville-based artist has perfected a sound of blended genres articulated with witty, wry lyrics that keep you simultaneously dancing and lounging vibes. We caught up with Sherwyn, covering all the bases – what's been good, how to keep it going and, of course, what been spinning:

OnesToWatch: Why are you an artist?
Why do you do what you do? 

Sherwyn: Man, all right. Why do I do what I do? First, I do this 'cause I love it. I'm a fan of honesty and creative freedom and showing who I am through the music or whatever way I can. When I'm creating, I don't have an end goal or anything like that, I'm just trying to make something that I love. I hope that my music exudes that when you listen to it… I want people to be inspired to go make music or create. I want to entertain as well, but I really like seeing when people hear my music and it makes them want to try to do the same. 

So you want the whole world to be creative? 

Maybe not the whole world, but I think anybody who has had one thought of, “Damn, I think I could try this,” I want them to try. I want when you listen to the music, you're like, “Well, it's not always perfect. I can do that, too.”
I can have some flaws and still be myself and still be happy about it, you know? 

Love that. You mentioned wanting the music to represent a little bit of what you stand for. What would you say you stand for? What do you want the audience to take from what they listen to? 

I would say I stand for creative freedom.
I stand for being unapologetically yourself, not letting any of the outside banter ever sway you. I think everybody is so unique. Everybody has something to say. Everybody has something to contribute. I just hope you do it. And for me, I stand for myself. I like what I like, and I want to show that off as much as I can. 

I kind of want to bottle up your optimism, my friend. The world needs it. Let's dive into your process a little bit. Do you come to songs the same way every time?

I'm so fortunate, I work with my twin brother on a lot of music. It's a family affair. I really love to collaborate, outside of my brother, too.
I like having people in the room. But, there's never a set way I make music. It could be somebody playing a guitar chord, or I come up with a drum loop, and something in that inspires us. And I swear, especially for the last EP in music that I've made, that's how it's been. We haven’t been coming in with references, we’ve just been having fun and stumbled upon the meat and potatoes of the song, which we then build the rest of it around. We also create a lot of free space to make mistakes. A “wrong” mistake could point us in the right direction. 

It’s funny, I always ask about artists’ worst ideas that become the best ideas, and you got there before I even could. Let's dive into Spin City, your latest project. It sounds like you're pretty open in your writing process to letting things come at you and being modular with your concepts. But when you put together a project, what is the cohesion, the throughline that you're looking for?
Is it a sonic cohesion or conceptual? 

Sonically, I know what sort of sounds I go for just from my musical identity. But for Spin City specifically,
I knew that I wanted to go in and write about what was happening at the time. I didn't want to just make party records. I wanted to write from a place of the things that happened. At the time, I started talking to the girl I love right now. There's so many stages of that talking stage and that's just what kept coming out. And the songs are cool – as I was writing, it became my journal. I just wrote the songs as I would say them in my journal and figured we would revise it after. And over time, after we were making all these songs, I realized there was a theme of “Do I know if she likes me or not? 
Am I acting cool enough?” And I began to see how all of the songs worked together. 

How do you filter through songs? How do you find the ones that fit? 


Man, brutal honesty, and that's why that's why I'm lucky to be writing with my twin brother, 'cause he's not afraid to tell me, "Yo, that was shit." I think that's also why I like to collaborate. You feel it in the room when what you’ve made is amazing. Even the B side sounds great. When we were sequencing the EP, the project just showed itself to me, and to my brother and everyone that helped. 

Awesome. When I hopped on, you were talking about Camp Flog Gnaw, which is obviously one of the more inspirational curated festivals out there for a lot of reasons, including diversity and willingness to be a little ahead of the curve. I feel you're an artist that was ahead of his time for the way that music is now becoming a bit more honest and real and musical in a way. Do you feel that as well? Do you feel like your music is now more optimized for how people are approaching music and what they're interested in?

Yeah, I mean, I feel in general that music's in a great place right now. There's a lot of people exploring and going against the grain, if you want to call it that. Genres are blending. So, yeah, I feel like my music is in a great place for everybody.
You know, what's really good about music actually getting so much more open and using different instrumentation is that it's weeding out the fat. You know if you like something quick, and I think music should be polarizing. 

If the next 12 months work out perfectly for you, what does that look like? What do you achieve? What's your audience feel like? 


Man, if it all works out I'll be seeing all the fans on the tour, shaking hands with them, hanging out. There’ll be an actual album out. 


Is that in the works, or is that just an ambition? 

I got some jams. I don't have a name yet, but I have something that I'm excited about. As far as the next year goes, though, I just want to still have a smile on my face, be enjoying creating and be on a vibe that’s elevating. I don't want to stay stagnant. 

All right, let's pivot to some more fun questions. Heaven forbid your musical talent leaves you – do you have a plan B? Is there an alternate version of you doing something else right now? 

Oh, yeah, I would either be a chef. 
Or you could just make me Action Bronson or something so I can just travel. 

Great segue to another question, because I always think what you eat and how you make it is revealing: if all the homies pull up, everyone's hungry, what do you cook up for everyone quickly?

Okay, this is an easy one.
I'm gonna make jerk chicken links for the whole squad. I could probably season them in about five minutes. And let's say I'm in the crib, I'm baking them things, and then I'm throwing the broiler on, getting them charred up. 

Oh, wow. If you could be anywhere else in the world other than where you are right now, where would you be? What would you be doing? 

Only because I haven't been there in a while, I would love to go back to London, hang with my homies, go see my dog Masterpiece and get a pint somewhere.
Yeah, I'll be kicking it. 

Last couple of questions. I need a non-music recommendation: something to do, something to read, show to watch, restaurant to try, workout, whatever it is. It's just something you'd want to put a friend on to. 

Okay. I'm gonna put you onto some food stuff right now. Let's say it's morning time, you had some drinks out last night, you're chilling, you're not crazy hungover, but you want something good. You got to come to Koreatown and go to JunTong SulLungTang. It's my favorite soup spot in LA right now. Make sure you get the number four. And if you don't want to do red meat, you get the chicken, add the extra green onions, tell them Sherwyn sent you. 


Endorsement. I love this. All right, I think you probably guessed what's happening, but I definitely want a music recommendation. Maybe someone that hasn't got enough attention or shine that you want to put on. 

Definitely listen to Bickle, he’s amazing. He's very talented. Amazing with harmonies, amazing producer…
Liim is also doing really good stuff right now. It’s been out, but also, Alton Ellis’ album, Mr Soul of Jamaica. Amazing album to just play during the day when you're cleaning up the crib or when you're driving, whatever, just make sure this sun's shining. 

Beautiful. Last part is all you. You can share advice, shoutouts, jokes…

The world can get crazy. But at least we got music, at least we got ourselves to enjoy the little gifts that all of our friends and the people we look up to put out into the world. We can use that to lift us up. Be kind to everybody. Enjoy yourself. Speak up when you want. And be great. 

I love that. Thank you so much.