Nick Delahoyde Ghost Interview

How This Aussie High School DropOut Went from Making Music In His Parent's Place To Sharing A Stage With Some Of The World's Best Artists

At 15, most high school kids are more worried about studying than making a success of themselves. Not Sydney's Nick Delahoyde. Nick made the decision to quit high school at the end of year ten to pursue his goal of being a world class soccer player.

"I was accepted into a leading soccer training academy in Spain which meant leaving behind my studies, friends and family" Nick says.

Living in Spain for four years and not knowing anyone became real isolating and wasn't good for his mental health, so he turned to music to help him deal with his emotions which is when his career kicked off.

Travelling daily to and from soccer training, Nick used this time to express how he was feeling, through writing lyrics, which ultimately led him to produce his words of self-comfort into music tracks.

"I come from a family that is naturally talented in music, but I never thought about being an artist - soccer was always my passion. I sent back home my lyrics and then had my brother, Zuzu, record them and produce the tracks for me. After a while, I realised wow, I could have something here."

Mustering up some confidence, Nick started posting his tracks on his Facebook page and then started to see some traction.

"I was 16 at the time when I first started putting my songs on social media and it really got some traction. People were liking and sharing my posts and kept wanting to know how they could listen to more".

Nick got his first big break in the music industry when he was 19, turning 20, just five years ago. Nick flew to the USA to record his debut single with Lemoyne "LA" Alexander who has produced music for some of R&B's biggest artists including R Kelly and the late Aaliyah.

"Through word of mouth, I was invited to Chicago, to record my first single, "The Longest Way".

From here, Nick knew that this was a path that he wanted to follow and decided to leave soccer behind in Spain and head back to Sydney to keep recording and chase his music career.

Fast forward to today, Nick has now performed alongside the likes of Kid Ink, MAX and performed at the world's largest R&B music festival, Rolling Loud, in the USA last year, where he performed on the same stage with A-list artists including Nicki Minaj and has worked with brands including Puma, Red Bull, Hard Rock Cafe, Beats By Dre and Asos.

Nick latest track, "Ghost", is inspired by the downfalls of social media.

"Social media stripped me of all of my social skills, my confidence, my happiness and my friends. I spent so much time trying to please people that I had never met, and felt like I had to post certain photos because that's what they wanted to see, it became my drug and i was addicted to it. I was left feeling like a ghost each day, but online I had a presence, which is a scary thought."

"Ironically when you think you know what you want in life, often it's not what life wants for you" Nick says.

Interview with Nick Delahoyde

Question: How would you describe your music?

Nick Delahoyde: It's always hard to answer this question as I feel after time the music always changes and the sound evolves into another form of itself, although I do like to call it future Pop with elements of RnB and electronic sounds.


Question: Can you tell us about Ghost?

Nick Delahoyde: Ghost is the second song off my debut album "A Beautiful Mess".

This song is based on reminiscing on childhood days and the thoughts of growing older and slowly fading away. Time is so precious and I feel as I get older the days are just flying by so fast.

If there is anything in life we shouldn't take for granted in my eyes it would be time.


Question: How do you deal with the downfalls of social media?

Nick Delahoyde: Social media is such a scary place, these days if you go in public and just look around half of the population has their faces buried in their phones and missing everything that is passing by them.

I myself have had some huge issues with social media and I feel like it had stripped me of my confidence my happiness at one stage, we are caught up in valuing ourselves on likes and comments.


Question: What advice do you have for teenagers struggling with the downfalls of social media?

Nick Delahoyde: My advice would be to take a break from it… set up limits on how long you are going to let yourself spend on it per day, realise that the majority of things you see on the platforms are all fake and that we don't need to change ourselves to what we see online.

Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Nick Delahoyde: I don't think i can choose between these two. There is no better feeling than having something buried inside of you that you just need to get on paper and then into a song. The feeling of writing music feels like you have this huge weight on your shoulders being lifted off you once you let it out, it's honestly magical for me.

Then there is performing it, sharing it on stage with people that can feel how you felt when you wrote it, this feeling is more of a sense of accomplishment.

Sharing your emotions with others is a beautiful thing and then when they can relate to your music it's just an incredible feeling.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Nick Delahoyde: This is tough because we are currently in the process of releasing my debut album which has my best work to date on it. so if you don't mind ill answer this question again once everything is released and we are able to perform all of this new music haha Question: What motivates you most when writing music?

Nick Delahoyde: Usually I can't write music unless I am motivated by something, I always lean on emotions and things that make me feel certain ways and I write about those. If there is anything to ever get off my chest I write it down. I'm not the most vocal person when I have issues so i turn to music to help me get it out.


Question: Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

Nick Delahoyde: At the moment I am currently listening to artists like Eden, Jeremy Zucker, MGK, Flume and Kanye West.


Question: What or who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?
Nick Delahoyde: My inspiration has never been other artists. I have always been inspired by moments, and positive energy. I began my music journey because I felt like I had something to say and I wanted to talk to people through music.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Nick Delahoyde: Kanye West, as he is an insanely talented artist!


Question: If you could have anyone, in the world, attend a show, who would it be?

Nick Delahoyde: I would just have to say my family, having them there is all I would need; sharing that moment with the people that were with you every step of the way.


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Nick Delahoyde: Staying true to myself and not focusing on the outcome and just enjoying the journey of life. I found that I was always waiting for a day things would take off or looking forward to certain days because things were happening on those days instead of enjoying RIGHT NOW and being thankful for what i have this very moment.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Nick Delahoyde: At the moment it's very busy as we are running our label and we have a lot of new music coming out. So it's just lots of coffee lots of emails and lots of studio time (laughs).


Question: Can you share your socials?

Nick Delahoyde: @ndelahoyde/
https://www.facebook.com/nickdelahoyde
Spotify


Question: What's next, for you?

Nick Delahoyde: You can expect heaps of music and more shows! I am super excited about my debut album and can't wait to share all the music with the world


Interview by Brooke Hunter