Austin Riddle is a versatile artist ranging from retro pop, R&B, to jazz style music. Riddle has come into his own as a singer, songwriter, and producer. His songs ‘Rip City,’ ‘Navy,’ and “Something Good” quickly became favorites for WMCO DJs.
Calling WMCO’s studio from New Orleans, Riddle discussed his music and his pursuits in the future.
WMCO featured artist Austin Riddle
“I grew up on a lot of R&B music, lot of Brandy and Boyz II Men. Ever since I was 10 years old I’ve been obsessed with Chris Brown and Justin Bieber,” said Riddle. “I add that kind of flare to my music and kind of turned it into my own little brand.”
Riddle kept busy during quarantine producing videos on his YouTube channel, including covers of songs by Harry Styles and Justin Bieber.
“It’s kind of like my intro into building a fan base and I kind of had to learn that people are going to like what’s familiar to them,” Riddle said of his covers.
“I wanted to show their fans there is somebody who is younger and newer that is coming out that they can latch onto.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsXkWpT8F4g
Riddle has been working on recording new songs, including his new single “Personal” which is available now. “This track is unlike most of the songs that I write in the sense that the subject matter is solely about me and how I’m going to progress as a person,” said Riddle.
Riddle said how he is able to take inspiration from one of his favorite artists, Bryson Tiller, and make it into his own sound.
“He reminds me of myself in the sense that he is a kind of to himself kind of guy and he puts out this music and you can tell he loves it,” said Riddle.
Riddle’s songs range from a variety of emotions.
“What I’ll do is put little voice notes when I’m feeling those things. My voice app on my phone is full of them. I’ll just throw a little line in there and go back through the archive when I’m writing songs,” said Riddle.
Riddle likes to marry his personality into his songs. “I was playing ‘Street Fighter’ at this arcade and I heard this sound and I thought, I got to put a video game sound in my music,” Riddle said of the video game voice that can be heard in his song ‘Rip City.'”
In addition to recording music, Riddle is a student at Loyola University in New Orleans where he is studying music production. He gained inspiration from one of Loyola’s most famous alums, rapper, G-Eazy. “I like the way he carries himself and he executed everything that they teach us in the program here,” said Riddle.
Riddle’s tour plans were halted due to the pandemic. “I’m at another level that I wasn’t at, at the time, and I think I’m in a better place [now] to really plan a tour,” said Riddle.
Riddle said his new album is going to be “powerful, fast, uptempo R&B type stuff…almost dead in the center between pop and R&B.”
Listen to the complete interview with WMCO DJ John Lauterjung, produced by WMCO Music Director Devon Fortune.
Stay tuned to WMCO 90.7 for more new music from Austin Riddle. Download the free WMCO app on The App Store and Google Play.
