Exclusive Insight into Beno's Career: Discussing Music, Ambitions, and the Launch of “Dice Roll”
By. Alicia Zamora
A Conversation with Beno
In the vibrant world of music, artists often find their inspiration from deeply personal experiences and emotions. Beno, a talented artist featured in an exclusive interview with Alicia’s Studio, opens up about his journey into the realm of music creation. With a candid approach, he reflects on his early days, revealing how he initially struggled to convey his true feelings through his work. Beno's honesty sets the stage for an enlightening conversation about authenticity in artistry and the power of expression.
Beno’s music stems from a genuine desire to articulate thoughts and emotions that he found challenging to share with others. He describes the process of sitting down alone, allowing his thoughts to spill onto the page, almost cathartic in nature. This raw and unfiltered approach has become his creative lifeline, where he can tackle issues that weigh heavily on his heart. In this interview, Beno elaborates on how this practice has not only shaped his sound but has also fostered a deeper connection with his audience.
As the conversation unfolds, Beno delves into the significance of vulnerability in songwriting. He candidly shares that, despite never having undergone therapy, his music serves as an outlet akin to therapeutic discussions. The insights he shares resonate with many who experience similar struggles, emphasizing that art can be a transformative tool for healing and understanding. Through this interview, listeners will gain a deeper appreciation for Beno's artistry and the rich emotional landscapes he explores in his music.
Diving In
Alicia: We can start by introducing yourself!
Beno: Whatsup my names Beno!!
Alicia: What inspired you to pursue music, and how did that journey begin for you?
Beno: I fell into it. My dad makes music, so I was around it a lot while growing up. Just recording and doing little stuff with him and seeing him do it, but I fell into it by myself. When I was 14 or 15, I just started writing my music and producing and singing.
Alicia: What emotions do you typically experience when writing a new song?
Beno: Well, there's a spectrum from sad to happy to energetic, and it really depends on the song and what I go in with the goal. Sometimes, I don't even go in with the intent to write a song about anything in particular, and it'll just come out so, whatever it is at that moment.
Alicia: How do personal experiences influence your songwriting? Can you share a specific example?
Beno: I mean, I think that’s all I write about my personal experiences… well, not always my own experiences; sometimes, I write about people I know. And, like stories I've heard, it depends on the song. One concrete example would be my song 'Overthinking.”I went out to this coffee shop, and I saw this girl. I didn't say anything to her. Immediately after I went home, my drummer and I recorded this song. I wrote a whole song about what could have been like a direct derivative example of that.
Alicia: What has been one of your biggest challenges as an artist?
Beno: I think finding, like, music in terms of sonically speaking-like, the music, the production finding my sound in terms of producing and just supporting my vocals and like where I want to sit in like a sonic landscape of things I think that was my toughest. I feel like I was always good at songwriting and singing but not so much at being able to express a feeling through music which I feel I've gotten to know for sure
Alicia: How has your music evolved over the years, and what emotional journeys have you experienced during that process?
Beno: I think when I first started making music…I was writing music from an ingenuine place in terms of the content and what I was talking about, and I feel like the real reason I started to write music in the first place was, to say things that I couldn't tell other people. It was like, I kind of just sit down by myself and just like spew a whole bunch of shit that was bothering me that was on my chest. And I think that's how I really was able to write from a genuine place-was just speaking about things that like I would tell a therapist, per se. I have never done therapy, though, so yeah.
Alicia: Can you walk us through your songwriting or composing process? Do you start with lyrics, melody, or another element?
Beno: It's kind of different every single time, I don't try to go into it with like one specific way but I have a few different routes that I'll take so sometimes it'll start just with the lyrics or like an idea of what I want to write a song about, it could be an instance that had happened it could be just one word that inspires me I could go off of that I'll go off maybe just one guitar if I can go off a bass or if I could go off, it depends recently it's been a lot of different stuff but yeah I don't have one like uniform way on how I make music it's kind of will just come.
Alicia: Going into your most recent release, “Overthinking” what do you hope listeners take away from this single?
Beno: I don't know, I think that's just more like a digestible feel-good track. There isn't anything too deep-rooted in it. I think people received it well and a lot of people have hit me up and told me that they felt that exact way before and have had this instance happen. I think it's pretty, I wouldn't say it's like that deep or emotional in terms of but it's pretty relatable for sure, so I think if people just enjoy the music and feel good about it and knowing that other people have gone through that shit and overthinking shit all the time then I'll be happy.
Alicia: Where do you see yourself and your music career in the next few years?
Beno: How many’s a few? Three?
Alicia: Yeah we can do like three to five years.
Beno: I mean, next three years, I definitely want to put out I mean, in the next year, I'm going to put out a project, like an EP not, not an album, but next three years, I think I'd want to have an album out for sure. I want to sign a big deal. I'd want to go on tour, but either opening or headlining doesn't really matter to me. I just want to go around and perform for a lot of people. I have a few, I have like a few random things I want to go on Funk Flex and like go on the Freestyle, shit! I want to go do that. I think it's right now, near-future would be an EP, a little bit later down the line, one, two years, a full-length album like a studio album and a tour for sure is what I want!
Alicia: Okay, nice nice
Alicia: What lessons have you learned about yourself through the process of creating and sharing your music?
Beno: I think in terms of sharing my music, a lot of people feel the same way I do about just like solitude and being alone, and I feel like it's a great way I've learned. My biggest fear when releasing music when I was younger was like that no one's gonna like it or like feel the same way that I do and I think when once I put the shit out into the world a lot of people were like oh I felt this exact way before and I think that was really a big deal for me and kind of changed the way I went about it. I think when making music it was like I had the subconscious almost fear of like holding back what I really wanted to say and then I think once I like had passed that barrier I was just like as vulnerable as I could be and I think that really helped me too for sure.
Alicia: Out of all your released tracks, which would you say best describes you as an artist?
Beno: Damn, I don't know. I think they're all so different right now and especially where I'm at with my music right now. I have a song coming out in two weeks or so, but out of my release tracks, I want to say “Stranger to Affection” probably that one for sure. I think that one is like my most vulnerable song; lyrically it's probably one of the strongest. I also produced the whole entire thing, so it feels very me and like it feels very me that not a lot of people see most of the time. “Overthinking” is just a chill vibe but I think 'Stranger to Affection' for sure, the other ones feel like me when I was like 16 and 17, you know.
Alicia: As an artist, what would you like people to think when they hear your name?
Beno: Multi-faceted, great live shows, innovative production, great songwriting
Alicia: I actually found you on TikTok. I think it was for 'Baby Doll'—yeah, it was. Then I went on your Instagram, and I was like, maybe he only does covers or something, so I went to check you out. I saw your song “Overthinking,” and you're insanely talented.
Beno: Thank you so much!
Beno: The TikTok thing is, I'm kind of trying to phase out of the covers, but it's what gets the most views right now, and like, it drives people, so I kind of have to do it.
Alicia: No, yeah, it’s a good thing. It gets more people on your page.
Alicia: Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that you're excited about?
Beno: I mean, I have a song coming out on the 26th called 'Dice Roll', really; it's one of my favorite songs I've ever made. I'm excited for this one; it's something different like I don't know any other person that makes music that's how they should sound different I don't know any other person that makes music that how they should sound different. That one's going to be a vibe for sure. I have this other song “Nirvana” coming out in December. It's going to be cool it's more like a pop, and it's also mixed, but I base it off not Nirvana like the band but like all Buddhism like the religion so it'll be just some crazy. I use like some bells and drums and shit like crazy samples so that one should be cool and I think that's really it right now. I have a few videos coming out too like a “Dice Roll” live video and I'm going to drop a single every month right now, so we're kind of just going crazy.
Alicia: What's the best advice you can give someone who wants to become an artist?
Beno: Fuck, love it! You have to just fall in love with like, with the process, with just sitting there and like, and be original, like do what feels right, don't try to copy other people. I mean, I think take inspiration, but always make it your own, you know. But do t because you love that shit not for anything else.
Alicia: Okay, so just stay you, right?
Beno: I think if you really have a passion for it. When I realized I wanted to do music I was like 16 and I'd come home. I was already making music a little bit, but I was I'd like started making at like maybe three o'clock right after school, and then I looked at the clock and it was like nine o'clock, and I hadn't eaten anything the whole day and I was like 'yeah, fucking I love this shit; like this is what I want to do for sure.
Alicia: So far what do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Beno: Damn, so far, what's my greatest achievement?
Beno: I don't know, life connecting with people, um, I don't know, I could say like my internship and shit, or getting into college. But I don't know if that's my greatest like it's good right now. I haven't achieved anything so amazing that I'm super proud, to be honest with you. My ambition is so high, I'm not even close to where I want to be, you know. But I don't know. My greatest achievement is like finding what the fuck I love to do and like putting a lot of time into that, and like now people are recognizing me for it, and like it. But it's been a long journey. I think my greatest achievement was turning everyone from middle school and high school that was like hating on me and saying all this shit, and now they're all hitting me up and they're like, 'Yo, you're fire’. That's my greatest accomplishment... that I opened people's eyes from home, and that its my work.
Alicia: When did you start all of this, officially making music?
Beno: I was like 15, I'm 21 now.
Alicia: Oo, okay so when was your first time releasing it?
Beno: The first time releasing music was my freshman year in high school. I released some songs, don't find that shit its not out anymore, but that was my first time releasing music. I recorded music when I was younger too, with like my dad and stuff, like kid songs, and I used to do like some voiceover acting and stuff, like that, but yeah, releasing Music, I was 15, I was in high school, it was like around November/December, I dropped a song, and then I kind of was started running with it, and there I was dropped.
Beno: I dropped maybe three or four more songs. I went to the studio a lot, and then I don't know, stopped making music for a year and a half. And then, in my junior year, I got back into it.
Alicia: Okay, nice, so it’s been a while.
Beno: I always did me, I always, I did every fucking guitar class, I played drums, I DJed when I was like eight years old, singing lessons. I kind of played everything, but yeah.
Alicia: What's the best advice you can give your younger self?
Beno: My younger self, everything's written like as long as as you really do it and stick to it and you're consistent, but everything's going to work out.I don't know I saw this video the other day, and I think I'm just going to steal it from this, but see you're like at a mountain peak right you're starting from here, and like you see this other peak across, and you're like wow that shit looks fucking amazing I want to go there but what you don't see is like all the valleys and, like, I like the dips that you have to go through, so I think when you're like in the midst of it, and you're in this valley, and you're looking up, and you can't even see the peak anymore, you're like, 'Why the fuck is this even fit?
Beno: Is this even real?' Like, I think like I see myself at this place and it was really last year when I went through it. It was like it was like it was like it was like... I couldn't even see myself getting there, there was so much work I had to do, there was... I was not comfortable where I was at sonically and like with the music that I was making. And you kind of just have to power through it and just keep going, and yeah, don't ever stop. That's what the advice that I give my younger self: don't ever stop because it's just going to work.
Alicia: If you could change one thing about the music industry or the way music is created what would it be and why?
Beno: One thing about the music industry is the way that it's created. I don't know. I feel like a lot of people are making music for clout right now, and they're not making it for the sole purpose music is for the soul I think music is for people to connect and to push it to connect and to like feel something and people are if you're making Music, I just you know think if people make music for the wrong reasons, it's never going to hit. But with social media, I think it gives it the opportunity to, so it's weir,d but the industry sucks, the industry sucks right now unless you're like the top 60 biggest artists in the world. You can't live off being an artist solely, so actually maybe that's not true, 60 is like kind of crazy.
Beno: But bring back CDs, fuck streaming, that's what I'm saying
Alicia: No, yeah, I agree with you, that's so much better.
Beno: Yeah, I don't know, and I saw it like firsthand like my dad was an artist, he was signed to Universal and was doing his thing, and this was like in the midst of everything changing from streaming or from CDs like physical to streaming and a lot of people just lost their jobs and shit, and it's just different like imagine paying you were paying I don't know four bucks for a single or like eight bucks for an album and now you're paying fifteen dollars a month for unlimited music so there's much less money in the game right now. I think it's really in touring and merch and stuff so I don't know we'll see how the industry changes because It's always changing.
Alicia: What's your dream project or collaboration that you'd love to see happen in your career?
Beno: Oh, I was thinking about this the other day. Frank Ocean would be like a dream collab. I don't know. I'd like to make a song with Justin Bieber. Can they be dead, or do they have to be alive?
Alicia: Yeah, they can be dead
Beno: I'd make a song with Jeff Buckley for sure. I want to make a song with Jim Mariquai, um, Pharrell would be crazy. Who else do I really like? Eddie Burns is dope, Max Vosberg, he's like this young producer right now, he's dope. I'll leave it there, Pharrell, Frank Ocean, Jim Mariquai, Jeff Buckley, Max Vosberg.
Alicia: Okay, that's cool. I don’t know who any of these people are, but I have a vision of who they are and what they sound like.
Alicia: What would you say has been one of your biggest challenges as an artist?
Beno: As an artist, I think just getting the music out and getting ears on it. I think like, once people listen to it, they like it, but the hardest thing has just been, like I think it's for everyone right now like it's just so oversaturated, so it's really pushing out the music and having people hear it, yeah that's definitely.
Alicia: Yeah, I feel like that's like the common thing that a lot of the artists I've interviewed say, just kind of getting an audience, especially right now, like how you were saying views and streams are kind of everything so it's kind of hard because if they don't see that they're getting streams it kind of like makes them not want to release music anymore, so that makes a lot of sense.
Beno: No, yeah !
Alicia: Ending the interview off, is there any message you want to say to your listeners?
Beno: I love you, that's it!!
