Latino bedroom pop artist Adriel Rivera has unveiled his latest EP, are we there yet? We had the pleasure of chatting with the producer/songwriter about the release, how he discovered his passion for gardening, and plans for a Chicago show in 2023!
When did you start making music?
I was always around music growing up because my dad sings and used to play guitar all the time. I picked up piano probably at six years old and started producing in sixth grade. I got my hands on FL studio around the age of twelve and started making instrumentals of songs that I liked because I wanted to sing them and couldn’t find the instrumentals online. I didn’t start releasing my own music until sophomore year of high school.
Why did you title the EP, are we there yet?
I released a project last year called, i’ll see you there, and the idea was to release a song every month on the twenty-fifth starting in September 2020. The project was a culmination of the sixteen songs released in the past year. Within that time, I grew from less than 1,000 monthly listeners to around 18,000 monthly listeners, which I’m really happy about. i’ll see you there, represents this journey because I’m not exactly where I envision myself yet, and I don’t know if we’ll get there, but we’re going to keep going, and anybody that has come along with me, I’ll see you there. The title from my EP, are we there yet? is a call-back to my last project.
What was your inspiration for the cover art of the EP?
For the people that don’t know, I’ve been creating my own cover art since I started releasing music. For my project, i’ll see you there, the cover was a realistic drawing of myself along with my character that is included in all my cover artwork. From 2020 to 2021, I had the same outfit in every single cover. But, this year, I’ve been releasing a music video with every song and matching my outfit from the video with the cover art. For the four songs that were released before the EP, I’m wearing those outfits in the music videos and in the cover artwork. For the cover of, are we there yet?, I wanted to include all of those versions of me. It almost looks like a boy band.
From the EP, which song was most difficult to complete?
The song with the longest process to complete was “pawn”. I started writing that song back in December 2021, and while working on it, there was a part that I couldn’t figure out how I wanted it to sound. I knew what I wanted to do with the song, but it wasn’t coming out as expected. I picked up the song again in September 2022 and finished it. I wouldn’t necessarily say this was ‘difficult’, but it was a matter of getting the right idea down. The most complex song on the EP is “WHEN I MET YOU, DEAR” because there’s a bunch of elements going on and I tried so hard to balance it out well. I still think I could’ve done a better job, but I like how it came out. The ‘easiest’ song was “to her” because it was finished in one day. I came into my studio, started writing the guitar in the beginning of the day, recorded that, wrote the lyrics, finished recording, and it was done.
What’s the story behind the intro of “WHEN I MET YOU, DEAR”?
If you listen to my songs from late 2019 to now, they include my producer tag, which is the voice of my little brother. At the time when he recorded that, he was only five years old, and now he’s eight. My producer tag is in all the songs I’ve released and in my most popular songs, he’s there saying “Adriel Rivera!”, it’s so cute, I love it. When it comes to this project, there is the idea of still being on a journey, and still finding my way in the music industry. So, the intro started with me getting into the car with him and asking if he was ready to go. I ask him to “do the thing first”, and then he says “Adriel Rivera!”. We had that little conversation and that’s how the intro came to be. He’s older now so I thought it would be really cool to have him be part of the song, plus he loves being part of my music. Also, at the end of the song, he asks, “Adriel, are we there yet?”, referencing the EP title.
Are there any songs or lyrics from this EP that are based on your life experiences?
I do draw from relationship experience and my personal life. But with the song, “WHEN I MET YOU, DEAR”, it sounds like it’s about a person but it’s actually about music. The whole song is a love letter to my music and music in general. I used it as the opener of the EP, because it sounds like I’m talking about a specific person from the lyrics, “I didn’t know how much change I would find when I met you, dear”. There’s another where I say, “Commitments a gun, if someone has, the other runs but I’m glad you’re the longest one”. My music is my longest commitment and it’s changed my life. This is my career now, this is what I do, I got this space where I do it all… it’s made me who I am today.
What does your writing/recording process look like?
Any inspiration that I get from the music I’m listening to right now, life experiences, or anything on my mind, I’ll write into a song and that’s essentially how my process goes. It’s always the instrumentals that I start off with, but then I flip-flop between instrumentals and lyrics. Once I have a foundation of an instrumental, I’ll think of lyric ideas and throw them in there, but then go back to making more of the instrumental. I’ll take inspiration and certain elements from songs that I’m listening to and bring them into the songs that I’m working on. For example, I got inspiration for a specific synth sound in “WHEN I MET YOU, DEAR” from Verzache’s song, “All I Need”. The sound is different because I’m the one making it, but I drew inspiration from Verzache’s song because it had a really nostalgic feeling. I think bringing some of that into what I did, got across the idea that I wanted to convey with that song.
Where did you come up with the idea to incorporate Spanish in your lyrics?
I’m Latino. I don’t speak Spanish fluently, I try my best to get better at it, and this year, I’ve been practicing more and more. My grandparents only speak Spanish and I want to have a good relationship with them, not that I don’t, but I would like to talk to them a lot more. It comes out in my music too because I write about things that are on my mind and I’ve been listening to Spanish music recently too, a lot of Spanish indie. It inspires me to challenge myself and put it into my lyrics. I’m proud of my culture, proud of being Hispanic, proud of being Latino, so I want to put Spanish into my music. I would love to be able to write a whole album in Spanish, but that’s going to take some time, I want to be fluent in Spanish first.
What are some of your other hobbies besides music?
I love gardening. I have a whole garden outside of my studio behind my house. It’s wintertime right now so it’s all dead, which sucks. But I have a whole story behind why I started gardening. When I was growing up, I grew up a Jehovah’s Witness, so I didn’t celebrate any holidays. I’m not religious, my family isn’t religious anymore but when I was little, I didn’t celebrate any. Everybody carved pumpkins around Halloween, but I didn’t until I was around eight years old. My parents weren’t super strict about it, so I started carving pumpkins and I loved it. I think it stems from the fact that I never celebrated anything growing up. So, carving pumpkins was cool. When I was in eighth grade, I got super into sculpting pumpkins for a brief period and since Halloween was over and all the pumpkins outside were ruined because of the weather, there weren’t any in stores that I could buy to continue sculpting. So, I decided to grow my own pumpkins so I could have my own stash for sculpting. That year, I tried growing a pumpkin and it didn’t work out and the plant died, but I still wanted to grow a pumpkin. Finally on the third year of trying, I got my own pumpkins, like three or four of them, and I was so happy. At that point, I didn’t even care about sculpting anymore, I just wanted to grow a pumpkin. And that is what sparked my love for gardening. Now, I grow more than pumpkins and it’s funny how I got to that point. I’ve grown cucumber, radishes, potatoes, and a lot of other stuff.
If you were stranded on an island by yourself and could only have one thing, what would it be?
I think a guitar because it’s an instrument, it’s acoustic so it’s portable and easy to bring. I make music all the time and so having a guitar would be the easiest way to continue making music because if I had a microphone, what am I going to do? I can’t plug it into anything. If I brought a MIDI keyboard, it’s just a keyboard and there’s no input. Even if I brought a keyboard, I would still need to plug that in. If I’m stranded on an island, where am I going to find an outlet? You know what I’m saying? So, I’d bring an acoustic guitar, make some songs, and probably die because I have no food.
Do you have any upcoming shows?
I haven’t done any shows yet, but I’d love to. I have plans to do shows in 2023, no specific dates because I still need to get a band together, but that’s coming along. I have performed in front of people before; I got asked by a classmate of mine back in high school to perform at a teen center. I did, but it was a ‘mid’ experience. It was a teen center, and it was game night, so they were all playing games, and I was just there as background music. This was when I was seventeen years old. But that was the closest I’ve been to performing a show. I’ve done family events, like my cousin had a graduation party and asked me to sing a few songs, which I did. I’ll also sing songs while I’m at home with my dad and little brother around. My friend Pres, who’s been my buddy since high school, helps me with everything and we made a pact this year that we’ll perform at Schubas, and we’ll be the headline show. That’s the goal. When Pres wants to do something, he’s going to do it, so it’s pretty certain we’re going to do a show.
What do you hope that people get from listening to your EP?
I hope that when people listen to my EP, they feel understood in a way, because there are a lot of songs that talk about relationships and through my experience, everybody goes through some sort of heartbreak. I hope that people find some comfort from listening to the music, as well as inspired. As an independent artist, I do everything myself. I don’t have a label backing me up and with the whole idea of the project being, are we there yet?, this journey isn’t mine alone. It’s shared with all my fans, friends, and family that are along this journey with me. I’m hoping for the first song on the EP, where I’m talking about my love for music and how it’s changed my life, that anybody who relates to that feeling of pursuing a passion or career, gets some sort of validation that it’s possible and you can do it. Not that I’m the best example, but I have made a good amount of progress that I hope inspires other people to feel like they can do something similar.
Adriel Rivera’s latest EP, are we there yet? is streaming now on all platforms.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/136zvqW4jnDAaw5m5fUg73
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/adriel-rivera/1292038331
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/AdrielRiveraMusic/
Merch: https://adrielriveramerch.com/products/are-we-there-yet-embroidered-crewneck-sweatshirt
