“Do not forget that I am an R&B lover first” Mixtape Madness Meets Tayc

Tayc, an artist that is known for his smooth vocals and distinctive blend of R&B and Afrobeat, which he calls Afrolov’, has become one of the most prominent musicians to emerge from France in recent years. Making waves with his distinct production that acts as the perfect foundation for his soulful lyrism, Tayc has made a name for himself as a ‘lover boy’.

Undoubtedly, Tayc is the most exciting artist right now, using all his platforms and resources to push his sound and love for R&B as far as possible. In this interview, we get a peek into Tayc’s universe as he prepares to take things to the next level.

You’ve visited London before, how has it been this time round?

Everything is good, blessings, we’ve just been working. I’m travelling a lot, there is a whole tour that is coming this summer, which I’m so excited for. This time round I’ve just been working a lot and alone. But there are so many artists here that I really appreciate their music and their energy.

Congratulations on the release of your project as well, Room 96, representing the year that you were born. What was the message that you wanted to convey with this body of work?

Do not forget that I am an R&B lover first. I dropped many Afro hits and just wanted to show people that I haven’t forgotten that I am an R&B lover and where my love for music comes from. That love can be a little bit frustrating because I am always dropping Afro, even though I do try to add an R&B element into it. So, this was me reconnecting with my R&B roots.

And how difficult was that for you to navigate, because I know when you first started R&B wasn’t really too much of a big genre in France.

It was really difficult; everyone was questioning why I was and why I wanted to do R&B because there wasn’t any money in it. And now, I’m so glad that people are listening to it and taking it in more.

Was there a particular project or artist that made that love so strong?

I’m a really big Michael Jackson fan, I love Marvin Gaye, and I grew up listening to Ne-Yo, Joe, and all those artists. There are a few French ones too, Singuila is amazing, he’s a legend. There are loads of women in that genre too that I listen to.

Of course, with R&B comes the fact that you’ve been labelled as a lover boy – are you a romantic?

I’m not romantic at all, I’m sorry to disappoint you! I’m down to earth even with love, I like to love with my brain and my heart, I’m romantic in my own ways. In all the relationships I’ve had, my idea of romance is the little things.

When you started your music career, would you say that dancing had a big influence on what you are doing now?

100% that’s why I do what I do now. It started with dance, it started with a dance called ‘Krump’, I was a Krumper then I moved into a few others and landed on Afro. Even this morning we were working on a track, and I was doing a cut in a beat, and because I’m a dancer I know how to look for my melodies and I know how to dance with my voice.

In the French community and how things go viral in that community, would you say that has influenced the sound you create?

Kind of, yes. Because my music is influenced by that, when I started to be a bit more known back in 2018/19, R&B wasn’t that crazy. Now when you go on TikTok and things there are those genres everywhere and those are the genres that do well. And when I studied music, we would always have to use easy chords or commercial chords, now I can be more complex with that. And that was my goal and purpose.

People are taking in that genre more, recently you were in the studio with Odeal, who I would say is on the same journey as you took but in the UK.

Odeal is crazy, so talented. His music is insane. Working with artists like Odeal and others is for my soul and take care of my soul. I need to take care of my bank account too, but working with artists as talented as Odeal is for my soul.

And that’s when you make the best music.

You can’t lie with music, because most of the time your audience will notice, sometimes people ask me if I’m going to talk about love all the time in my music and the answer is yes. I am always surrounded by love and I would know how to talk about anything else. You have to be true to your music.

And that’s the same with your songwriting process, you speak on your life experiences but also the fictional element. How do you find that balance?

I don’t think about the balance, I just think about putting my spirit and my soul into my music. Even if I’m doing things like social media, I have to think of something magical.

Your mum came up with the ‘Yimmie’ part in your song ‘N’y pense plus’, which is the bit the song is most known for! How important is your mum and the people around you while going through your journey?

When I think about that it makes me think that the way that most helped me is how my mum didn’t want me to sing. She’s not really a music lover, and no one in my family was around or in music so I have no idea where my love for music comes from. And that keeps me down to earth, I can do a concert in front of 20,000 people and my mum will ask me to get her a glass of water straight after. I’m still her son, not Tayc, and that is so important to me.

Now she works with my label, she takes care of my money. She saw what music has done for me and now she takes care of everything.

You’ve done so well on TikTok, I would say that’s how you’ve gotten global recognition. How do you find that balance between making music you like and it doing well on social platforms?

Right now, there are no rules. When I started music, my songs wouldn’t have done well anywhere. It’s just shown me that I have to put my spirit and soul into music, you can’t make a song for TikTok, just put your soul into it.

Looking back at the start of your journey, would you have done anything differently?

No, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I had to go through this.