An Interview with Reignn Acedera

Dami: What inspired you to start making music

Reignn: Funny story haha, I was 12 and my mom said she would pay me if I wrote a song so I wrote a song in 10 minutes while I was in the bathroom. My mom is a singer and a songwriter, and she really pushed me to make my own songs. I was a huge BTS fangirl when I was younger and when I found out they wrote and produced their own songs, that really inspired me to start making my own music!

Dami: Who would you say inspired your sound?

Reignn: I feel like that is a very hard question to ask as I feel like my sound is always changing since I love experimenting with my music. My older songs have that Asian pop sound, as I loved listening to NIKI and K-Pop artists, UMI and Keshi were a huge inspiration, and right now artists like Beabadoobee and Wisp are the biggest inspirations for me! My inspiration and sound is always changing!

Dami: How would you describe this ever changing sound of yours 

Reignn: Hm, well a lot of my upcoming songs are definitely a switch from my older songs, as it’s more acoustic and dreamy I would say, but I’m sure in the coming months it’s going to change again lol.

Dami: Any idea what it’s going to change to?

Reignn: I realized it as I was recording my upcoming EP, but I really enjoy that live band sound, with guitars and drums and all that. I have so much more fun when I’m playing with a live band and friends and I’m really excited to implement that into my upcoming songs.

Dami: How much would you say you’ve grown since your debut?

Reignn: I would like to say that I grew a lot. When I was younger, I tried becoming like other artists that inspired me at the time. I felt like I didn’t really have my own sound, and honestly I wasn’t in the right headspace and procrastinated a lot when it came to my own music. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve created a strong support group that really supports me and what I craft! I feel like I understand myself a lot more now, which really reflects in my music :)

Dami: Who would you say are your biggest inspirations?

Reignn: My mom and grandpa!!! My grandpa is a well known singer in the Philippines, Max Surban, and he’s been my biggest inspiration since day one. He started from the bottom and made his way to the top, and as his granddaughter, I look up to him a lot. My mom is also a singer and I love her ethic and her passion for music and songwriting.

Dami: What’s your creative process like?

Reignn: I aaalllwaaayyss start writing songs by making up a chord progression. A lot of my new songs I have been playing around with tunings of my guitar and it’s so much fun. Creating melodies comes really easy to me, and as I get in the groove, I start to add lyrics. The lyrics are either on the spot, or whatever I find in my notes as I’m always writing down a possible lyric line down lol. The rest comes in after, like drums and bass and all that other stuff! My current producer Ryan Filosa has been great with bringing my projects to life :)

Dami: Speaking of new songs, you’ve been teasing a new one meant to drop this month. Can you tell us more about it?

Reignn: Yes !! So this song I actually wrote back in 2020 after my first heartbreak lol. I had a lot of mixed feelings about the song, and how i should approach the production of it. Because of that the process became stagnant, and I never did anything about it until a few months ago. I was playing around on my guitar with a new tuning, and came up with a really nice yet nostalgic chord progression, and for fun I decided to throw those lyrics onto it and I fell in love! It’s just a short acoustic song but I think that it’s perfect for the lyrics.

Dami: When making music, where do you grab inspiration from?

Reignn: I like to get my inspiration from stories, whether it’s myself, or through other people and looking through comments on Instagram/TikTok ! But sometimes, I’ll look at nature and I get inspired as well to write a song. A lot of songs from my upcoming EP all incorporate some type of nature in it.

Dami: When should we expect this upcoming EP you’ve been talking about?

Reignn: Hmmmm I’m gonna shoot for summer to release the EP.

Dami: What should we expect from the EP?

Reignn: It’s definitely a more laidback, acoustic vibe. I feel like it’s a complete switch from my older songs, but I am in love with the progress we’ve made so far! It’s a very chill vibe, the kind of EP you would listen to on your drive back home lol.

Dami: What more should we expect from Reignn this year?

Reignn: You’re going to hear a lot of different stuff from me this year! I feel like this year I’ll really be honing in on my sound, and dedicating most of my free time to music. I can’t wait to put out my first EP and hopefully I’ll be able to perform live around NJ.

Dami: Should we expect any visuals this year too?

Reignn: Omg yes !!! I plan on releasing a music video after my EP with a single I’d like to drop :) for that project, I feel a lot of people will like it cause it’s upbeat and catchy, probably one of my favorites that I’m working on atm!

Dami: Are there any dream collabs you’ll love to have this year?

Reignn: Hmm as of right now, I would love to collab with Mica Yui, aidenf_7, and Ramon Pablo! They are great people and I would love to work on a project with them.