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Out on the West Coast of the US, places like Seattle, Washington aren’t often on the map when it comes to pop stars. Ryan Caraveo is changing this and in a big way, truly blending pop and rock with the end product of his work ultimately being beautifully deep chorus’ and uber-vibey songs. With artists like Arizona Zervas surging in the Fall of 2019, the doors are open for this new wave of pop stars like Caraveo, and it’s happening quick.
Backing it up to the beginning of his career in 2014, Ryan released his first track entitled Where the Sun Sets. The song showed serious promise and that ‘way beyond its time’ characteristics as it dives into a story where the Seattle native says a girl was trying to “replace” him. She “wish that he felt like me but he doesn’t” so he tells her to “Sip that liquor till he does.” Finding himself chasing after a girl who only has eyes for someone else, Ryan heads on his way out of town and says if there is any reason for him to stay “it'd be all for her.” An insane debut from the lyricism to sound, production value, and overall substance it became clear to music listeners early that he had identified his niche. That alone being an impressive feat in of itself.
However, Ryan Caraveo’s first major breakthrough came when he released his debut project entitled At Least I Tried quite some time later in 2018. Songs such as Ghost are insane, featuring a grunge sounding hum over a nice piano and occasional 808 production. Lyrically, Ryan asks someone to “watch [him] disappear just like a ghost,” as he brings up and touches on important topics for many music listeners like anxiety or worrying about “fittin in” and not knowing what he is, “just that [he’s] different.” From a numbers perspective, the song well passed 16 million plays and was his biggest smash hit yet.
Following up his debut project just a year later in 2019 with Butterfly Boy, Caraveo’s sophomore project has some craziness to it as well. In Peanut Butter Waffles, he explains there’s “no in between, it’s either high [or] low.” Also shedding light on him getting money and fame while still battling these thoughts and his inner demons, Ryan illustrates a moment with his friend talking him into buying some “designer clothes” for the sake of retail therapy. Later on reminiscing on the impulsive decision saying they look “old”and he doesn't even like “flexing,” instead he’s thinking about how he could've bought beer or a “puppy”.
His newest single here in 2020, entitled Nutcase, released just recently back in early June and continues to show a trend of diving deeper into the emotional and (for a lack of better words) deeper artistic substance arena from his previous music discography too. He opens up on this track early and often saying if he had “one wish” he’d “bottle up home [and] drink it.” The young pop star explores many heavy-hitting topics and doesn’t shy away from expressing his true feelings, especially when it comes to balancing the life of his growing celebrity with aspects like family, mental health, and more. Admitting he doesn’t see his brother he once “had a lot in common” with. Also, that he doesn’t have as many friends as he used to because he doesn’t “check up on them.” Above all, Caraveo hopes the people he cares about are proud of him and also realizing“what this shit takes out of” him day after day, night after night of hard work by himself.
To date, Ryan Caraveo sits at just north of one million monthly listeners, but his music truly deserves much more recognition. Make sure to check him out for us @ryancaraveo on Instagram and keep up with us over at @engmtcent on all social media platforms for more articles on your favorite up and comers.