Five Questions With Flwr Chyld on His Debut Album 'Luv N Chaos' [Q&A]
Passing to crowd bouquets of flowers from New York to Los Angeles, producer, and songwriter Flwr Chyld is a gentle force on a mission to emit sonic love. With influences of funk, neo-soul, and R&B, he’s an artist so captivated by his divinely gifted passion you can’t help but groove along.
It’s easy to see that Flwr Chyld was concocted in a nutrient rich environment, fertile with music, love, and home-cooked meals. With an open heart and childlike humility, he’s just honoring what his soul begs of him, and we’re lucky enough to bear witness. His debut album LUV N CHAOS, with its lead single “Lucky Me” amassing over one million streams, serves as a journey through every checkpoint of infatuation. Featuring artists like Flozigg and Kadhja Bonet, it’s impossible not to feel something warm and deeply buried, a sunlit homecoming to who you were before your heart grew weary from strain and fluorescent lighting.
With his debut album solidifying his name, we caught up with the producer at the last stop of his 'Live From the Garden Summer Tour' to ask five questions about music, his spiritual wellness, and of course, flowers.
Ones To Watch: LUV N CHAOS is a very collaborative project. Do you ever get protective of your ideas when there are more chefs in the kitchen?
Flwr Chyld: Yes, but being in a collaborative space, you have to be open-minded. I like to lead naturally, but there are a lot of times when you have to take a step back and let someone else have something or do what’s best for the idea. Maybe I don’t need to contribute 60-70% of the work every time, maybe it’s only 5%, but I’m okay with it as long as the idea comes to life.
Your work is very vulnerable. Was it a process to be someone open hearted?
No, actually. It’s always been natural for me, since I was a child. I was six or seven years old feeling emotions I couldn’t put words to until I was older.
How are you tending to your garden right now?
It’s been tough while being on tour, not going to lie. I’ve skipped a couple therapy sessions which I don’t recommend. But therapy, meditation, prayer, making sure I’m doing what I can to take care of my mental health because if you don’t have that, you don’t have shit else at the end of the day. And also living, doing the little things like going on walks. We flew into LA last night and I woke up at seven a.m. to go for a walk and see the neighborhood.
Do you remember the first album that made music more significant for you?
There’s so many! Mama’s Gun by Erykah Badu, Words and Sounds Vol. 1 by Jill Scott, Soulstar by Musiq Soulchild, Black Radio Vol. 1 by Robert Glasper, In My Mind by Pharrell, all of Tyler the Creator’s albums, Voodoo by D’Angelo. You can tell I’m very R&B and neo-soul at heart. All of those albums made me feel like “Okay, this is going to be significant to my life forever.”
And lastly, as someone who clearly finds deep significance in flowers, which flower would you say most accurately describes your music?
Oooh, that’s a tough one. I would say a succulent. Easy to maintain, which I equate to my music being super palatable in multiple spaces.
