How Dylan Sinclair's vulnerability shaped his album, For the Boy In Me
The Juno-nominated singer opens up on The Block about creating his debut record
R&B singer-songwriter Dylan Sinclair dropped several EPs — 2020's Proverb and 2022's No Longer in the Suburbs — and nabbed two Juno nominations, all before before releasing his debut album, For the Boy In Me, in September.
The full-length project is filled with emotional, reflective love songs that spotlight Sinclair's silky vocals. But, as he tells The Block host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe, none of it could have come together without him embracing vulnerability.
"[It] let me expand on my craft," he explained.
Sinclair also discussed how poetry, writing and the future of R&B music keep him inspired.
The full interview is available above, and you can read an excerpt of the conversation below.
So I do know that poetry was an outlet for you. And you've said that you use songwriting as a form of expression and therapy. You've used it to overcome heartbreak and depression. Talk to me a little bit more about that process and of course, sharing that vulnerable [side of you] as well.
You know, when you're growing up, you're just looking at different ways to express yourself at times when you don't feel like you fit the status quo. So you figure out what that is for you. And for a long time, it was sports [for me]. And then, you know, I discovered poetry, and I found the love for it. And then all those teenage things happen all at once, and then you have an outlet and you just use that.
I get it. I get it 100 per cent. But then [it's] one thing to be writing [your feelings] down [and] getting [them] off your chest. And then there's another thing to [have] everyone listen to [them].
Yeah, that's true.
Any vulnerability or nervousness about sharing [your songs]?
I mean, I was like, "[If] you like a girl enough, you're going to write, you're going to send it to her," and then eventually you're just gonna be like, "Why not just share this with everybody?" [It] let me expand on my craft. But yeah, it definitely started with unrequited love.
Watch out, I'm going to make you fall in love with me one way or another! So we're about to get into music from the new album For the Boy In Me. But before that, tell me a little bit about the track we're about to hear called "Lemon Trees."
"Lemon Trees," yes, that's one of my favourites of this next project. It's the lead single. It was just exactly what I have tried to do in many songs. I feel like I really got it with this one. It's nostalgic, but it's fresh, it's fun. I get to really sing my ass off on that one.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.