Davi's Perihelion: "At Least We Had Fun"

I connected with Davi Sol ahead of the release of his latest single, "The Boy You Knew" a little while back. The singer/songwriter brought a whole new sound to the Columbus music scene with his "Alone In A Crowd" album and thrived in it over the course of one summer. Though we first met at one of his Columbus shows, Davi meets me now through a zoom call as he has taken a leap of faith to display his skills on a new level while living a duel life on the beaches of Miami and the lights of Los Angeles. But it wasn't a fluke for the Indonesian native to be where he is today, it took a faithful team and self-assured talent as he details below:

S: what’s your name?

D: Davi Sol.

S: Where are you from?

D: I’m originally from Indonesia, I lived there for the first two years of my life. I grew up in New Jersey for my entire childhood and then moved to Columbus.

Captured at "Alone In A Crowd" listening party

S: What was the transition like going from New Jersey to Columbus? Was it easy?

D: Hell no it wasn’t, it was a wild culture shock for me. Coming from the fast-paced, city life of the east coast to Columbus in 2011 was crazy! The Columbus now is nothing like what it was then. It was slow compared to Jersey, the slang was different, the people were different. That was the first time I ever became conscious about how I moved; I learned to adjust. But I have to give [Columbus] its credit because it’s had so much progress since then for the art scene.

S: How old are you?

D: I'm 22 years old.

S: I know you’ve recently relocated to Miami, what was the purpose of your move and how has the transition been?

22nd birthday celebrated in L.A.

D: Ironically, I wasn’t even supposed to move to Miami *laughs*—it was supposed to be a move to LA but I had a last-minute change of plans about a month before. Everything for LA sorta fell through, but a friend of mine in Miami said “yo, just move with me here” so I did. Now I just rotate between here and LA a lot to level up the connections. I felt like after last summer’s run [in Columbus], things just got too easy for us. Columbus is a great environment that put me in rooms with great people; but I know if I stayed another season I would’ve just gone stagnant—I’m very passionate about my growth.

S: Do you ever get homesick? Or has trading the grey skies for palm trees made you feel better than before?

D: I definitely love the new environment I’m in. Though I can’t lie, I do get homesick—more so for my homies, not the city itself. *laughs* Anytime I’m home I see my people and after that I’m bored.

S: When did you first know you could sing?

D: I always used to sing in church when I was younger. I didn’t know I could sing well until 2020, I just started to tap into my singing recently.

S: What was the first song you ever made?

D: When I was 12 I made a song and a beat just playing around, the beat was literally just a kick and a snare. *laughs* I barely remember it now. I was literally rapping the worst lyrical spiritual shit over it, just terrible!

Still shot from "See Me" music video

S: Are you an independent artist or are you signed to anyone?

D: Im an independent artist, but I’m definitely trying to change that. I’ve been working hard in that aspect for sure, getting around in the places I need to be. I feel like whatever deal I was given, I’d make the most of it. I’m not the type of artist stuck in the idea of being an independent—at least not this early in my career.

S: What was the artist experience you had that made you feel as though the path of a musician was right for you?

D: This past year in Columbus while working on “Alone in a Crowd”. Honestly, when we start working on that project I had a couple of faithful trips. *laughs* If you know you know. Things just all start falling into place; I quit the job I was at, we started hosting events, and then a crazy amount of support followed it. I said “damn, we can really do this”.

S: What does the song-making process look like for you? Do you wait until you’re inspired to book some studio time or how do you go about it?

Captured in new home of Miami, FL

D: I only ever go to the studio to finish songs. I’ll usually cook up with Okosan who makes the beats with me. We’ll come up with the melody or basic skelton of the song, he makes them live in front of me, and I'll hum over the melody and stretch my voice notes out over it. Later on, I put the actual words over the beat and melody like pieces to a puzzle. And from there we make adjustments. So the beat and song-making process happen simultaneously. From there were in the studio with Jayare and he’s using the magic touch to finish it off. I barely ever have beats finished that I go into the studio and sing over, it's a real dynamic process for me.

S: The sound of your music is unlike what many people are used to—who are your inspirations when you write and record?

D: I have so many inspirations! The most notable one is Michael Jackson in his “Bad” era, that’s a big one for me. But I also love Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean, Radiohead, Kanye West, The Neptunes—they’re my favorite duo of all time. My music wouldn’t be what it is right now without the sound influences of my producer, Okosan, too. The dude listens to some off-the-wall shit!

S: Do you have any pre-recording rituals you follow? For example, *this* needs to be in the studio with me in order for things to feel right.

"Alone In A Crowd" album cover

D: I always like to have anime playing in the background on mute. I also have to yell “BITCH” in the mic really loud no matter what the mood of the song is. *laughs* Truthfully! It helps with my anxiety, gets the vibes up.

S: Last summer you released a video for your song “The Crowd” from your album “Alone In A Crowd”. Could you explain the creative process for that video and why it was the song from the album you chose to make one for?

D: Me and my people met at the Roosevelt Coffeeshop in Columbus, sat down and tried to make a storyboard, and drew the most random shit. *laughs* We were supposed to shoot it at a whole different location, didn’t work out. The featured artist on the song couldn’t make it, so it was just like shit what do we do? So it got to the point where I just posted on my story asking who wants to be a part of my shoot and got nearly 200 responses! So from then, we were selective and communicated the aesthetics we wanted to bring to life. My little brother and Fendi worked the set and boom, it happened. The lights, the smoke machine, none of that was planned it just came together, luckily.

Outtakes from "Alone In A Crowd" music video

S: There is a lot of emotion in a Davi Sol song, have you ever been in love or heartbroken? Have those feelings been poured out in any songs and if so which one(s)?

D: I'm a very method songwriter, so everything I write is usually something I’ve gone through or the process of my emotions based on an experience.

S: What is your favorite song you’ve released so far?

D: Either “See Me” or “Alone in a Crowd” from my older work. But now that I’m gearing up to drop “The Boy That You Knew” it’s become a new favorite.

S: While doing my research, I noticed your fan base is very die hard about you, even with your career just getting started. Why do you think that is?

D: I think people ride for me a lot because my main goal is to always give people something they can remember. We come from a city where there’s not a lot to do or a lot of repeatitive shit so when they come to my shows I want them to feel like they’re somewhere completely different. I’m never too concerned with numbers or who’s there. I do my best when there’s 5 people there or 100—it’s the same energy in both settings. Everyone is vibing and I love that.

S: What’s been your favorite show so far?

D: Definitely the Double Happiness show back in August.

Outtakes with engineering partner, Jayare

S: What’s coming next in the world of Davi?

D: I’m really focusing on visuals right now, I’d like to drop a video to accompany my songs every month. I just wrapped “The Boy That You Knew” video and I plan to drop it right after the song releases. I want to have an over-arching story through all my videos to tell a bigger story.

Still shots from "The Boy That You Knew" music video

S: Who or what keeps you motivated?

D: Honestly all my homies for real. Okosan, Jayare, Fendi, everyone in my immediate life. I never have to look too far, my guys do their thing all the time which makes me want to go hard, too. I got people everywhere going crazy so I just keep it going.

S: Finally, if the world was Davi’s for the month what would it look like?

D: I’d do away with the whole concept of money. Everyone would have free food, free weed, free everything. Everyone should be vibing off hella drugs and dripped out in the best clothes. *laughs* I’m honestly the biggest giver so we’d probably be dead by the end of that month. But at least we had fun.