“Hackneys definitely got the feel of everyone wants to do something or be creative, no one wants to be normal, so that was just in me”, the words of 22-year-old singer Dayor, straight out of Hackney, Homerton to be exact the young singer/songwriter is at the begging of his expedition to UK RnB royalty.
Dayor is a singer, Rnb specifically with hints of trap influences throughout his music. Growing up in Hackney he would find himself listening to RnB artists like SZA and Bryson Tiller, as well as trap artists such as Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug, influences you can hear through his music. In Dayors own words “If I had to describe my music, it’s just like strong melodies, alternative RnB, very grounded very UK sounding I would say”. The smooth vocals of Dayor are often mixed over beats that are far from synonymous with the RnB sound with Trap and Afro fusion influences. Dayor as an artist likes to experiment with different sounds taking influence from some of the biggest artists in the world, “Kanyes the biggest one, that’s my main guy”.
RnB isn’t the most popular sound for young boys growing up in inner city london. Dayor had friends making music around him, mostly rap, but would be influenced by his sister at home who would put him onto RnB tunes that he would then take to school to share with his then unaware friends.“When I started music I wasn’t as RnB as I am now. I had to find myself and get more confidence in my voice”
While Dayor had to find confidence in his voice those around him saw it and supported from the get go. His sister had her helping hand by putting him onto RnB music, while his brother set him up with a studio. In Dayors last year of college he was heavily listening to SZAs Ctrl album and decided that this was what he wanted to do, he performed for his brother over a type beat and after hearing his voice his brother sent him out to Kent to work with his producer friend and record a demo. Everything was moving rapidly with Dayors demo already doing its rounds by the time he had even got back from Kent, the decision to make music to the stage where music was being released happening in just under 4 months.
Dayor is 4 years into his career and has just released his debut project, a 4 track EP titled ‘High life’. Being Dayors first project and first body of music I was interested in what he wanted people to take from it “I just want people to take it in and be like its raw, he is giving us a window into how he thinks and his state of mind”. The project is somewhat an open window into the life of Dayor with the project being a reflection of himself, something that seemed very important, with the 22 year old having worked alongside so many artists in the previous year, for the project he striped back and got rid of any outside influences focusing solely on his sound and his feelings.
Dayor has ended the year with a beautifully written, performed and packaged project, which seems the perfect way for him to sign off such an impressive year, especially one that started with such a bang. The year started with ‘7 new artists Stormzy wants you to listen to in 2023’ a feature released by ID which saw the face of British black music, Stormzy, list 7 artists that he wanted people to be aware of in 2023, a list that featured Dayor. “It’s very big, it’s massive”, Stormzy reaching out and showing his support would probably be enough to excite any young artist currently coming through, but it’s not only the recognition that Dayor received. “He’s kinda always been like a figure there if i really wanna reach back”, Stormzy first reached out about Dayors second ever release ‘Stars’ in 2019 and has been a support point for Dayor ever since.
Dayor is currently in a position many upcoming artists would love, he’s just released his debut project to positive feedback, he’s working alongside a number of different artists with plans to release a number of singles to end out the year or start the new year, and has support from one of the biggest artists in the country. At only 22 Dayor finds himself in a blissful place but being so young there’s always going to be plans to be bigger, “The goal from now, it’s a no more brakes thing really, I’m gonna go on a run and give the people the music … I wanna be an artist who most people who listen to music or RnB can be like, Yo Dayor, a recognisable name”.
