WATCH | Meet Psyrin: The Alt-R&B Collective Reclaiming Sound, Soul, and Sisterhood - video Dailymotion

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Fresh off the release of their new EP, Psyrin opens up about their creative chemistry, finding power in vulnerability, and what it means to bring their genre-blurring sound to the ESSENCE Festival stage.

Transcript

00:00I think stepping onto the stage really represents a breaking point, like a breakthrough for us.

00:07You know, we've been a girl group for two and a half years now, and we've been working really

00:12hard. And the fact that we're able to say, y'all, we're going to be performing at the Essence

00:17Festival next to all these great Isley Brothers, Lucky Day, Money Long, like Maxwell. Oh my God,

00:26like these are people that we grew up listening to because, you know, our families, R&B is like

00:32everything for us. So we're just so grateful. Like this is really a breakthrough moment for us.

00:36What is up aunties, Estes, and nieces? Today I am talking to Siren.

00:44Oh my God, y'all are so in sync. Before we get into your upcoming festival debut and your recent EP,

00:52let's rewind a little bit. How did Siren come together and what made you all realize there

00:58was something special within this trio? Yeah. So we actually all started off as

01:04three solo artists here, and we were training at a performing arts school in Atlanta called AGR

01:10Entertainment. And we met each other through that. And our creative director, Brandon J., was doing a

01:17compilation album. And he called us and he was like, do y'all want to get on this song? Just as

01:21solo artists, but just a collab. And so we were like, yeah, why not? Like everybody can sing. Let's

01:26do it. And so to promote that song, we started doing acapella covers on Instagram and Kandi Burris

01:33happened to see it. And she was in contact with Nick Cannon, who at the time was like,

01:38do you know of any girl group? I'm trying to put like a super group together. Do you know anybody? And so

01:43she saw the video of us and she called Brandon and was like, are these girls a group? Like,

01:47do you think they will be down to do it? And so he hit us up and he was like, do y'all want to be

01:52a group? And we were like, why not? Let's do it. And now we're here today. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Love it.

01:59I just love like hearing artists' stories when it's just like, what is the word? It's like serendipity.

02:06Like everything just falls together so seamlessly and you just create this like magic. So the three

02:13of y'all are preparing to perform at the festival main stage. I have to know, how are you feeling?

02:19Let's talk about that first. Super, super, super, super excited. This is the first time that we will

02:27be performing like some songs off of our debut EP. Really interested to see, you know, how the crowd,

02:35you know, reacts to our songs. Yeah. And yeah, it's really a dream come true for all of us. I've,

02:42you know, been seeing the SS Fest, you know, throughout my life. And the fact that we're

02:47actually like performing on the main stage is really insane to me. Yeah. So we're super excited.

02:54Love it. And let me tell y'all, like, I feel like people always assume that when it comes to the main

02:59stage, it's just all the aunties, but you'd be surprised the aunties we know it. Okay. Like

03:05they know everything. Right. So I have to ask, what does stepping onto the main stage sort of represent

03:13for you all at this point in your journey as emerging R&B artists? Yeah. I think stepping onto the stage

03:20really represents a breaking point, like a, like a breakthrough for us. You know, we've been a girl

03:26group for two and a half years now, and we've been working really hard. And the fact that we're able

03:33to say, y'all, we're going to be performing at the Essence Festival next to all these great

03:38Isley Brothers, Lucky Day, Money Long, like Maxwell. Oh my God. Like these are people that we grew up

03:46listening to because you know, our families were R&B is like everything for us. So we're just so

03:52grateful. Like this is really a breakthrough moment for us. Yeah. I love it. I love it. And I think

03:58something that I would definitely encourage y'all to do, like, don't be scared to talk to these icons.

04:05Like, I know it must be a little like, oh my God, but like, don't be afraid because most of the time,

04:10like they'll probably know who you are and they'll be like, yeah, listen to your music. And I can't imagine

04:15like how crazy that must be to have like somebody that you're like listening to and you know, or

04:23you grew up with and they're like, oh yeah, like I know you. It's like, wait, what? You know me?

04:27Like, oh my God. So definitely do not hesitate to make such a moment for y'all selves backstage.

04:34I wanted to ask, how would you all describe your sound and how do you plan on translating that to

04:40the festival? That's a good question. I would say our sound is like very

04:49otherworldly, very ethereal, very like magical, you know, we snap you in and we pull you in with

04:58our voices. Yes. Yes. Very siren-like. Yes.

05:07All right. Perfect. So can you give us, the Essie's, a sneak peek into sort of the creative

05:15process behind your live set? Like, how has it been curating the set list to the visuals to the

05:22styling? Like, you know, how would you kind of describe that creative process?

05:27Yeah. Well, it's definitely in the works. That's something that we're like working on

05:32right now. And we're just trying to make sure that everything is on prestige. And you know,

05:38we got this new music, like Victoria said, our new EP. So this is our first time debuting it to the world.

05:45So yeah, it's in the works right now. We're getting together. And we have a really good team. And we're

05:50all definitely very like involved in the process. So like, even when it comes down to outfits, we have

05:55someone who's really dope at making our outfits. And we're just like, you know, we want this, we want

05:59that. Down to the music, the track, we're like, we want to add this, we want to add that. Even to dance

06:04moves, we're like, oh, we should do this, we should do that. So we all are very involved. We have an

06:08amazing team, but we also are individually involved in, you know, putting things together.

06:12Love it, love it. Well, I'm definitely excited to see all this come together on stage.

06:18Um, you know, as we think about your performance, right, what's the kind of experience that you want

06:24the audience to walk away with after seeing you all? I think for some, you know, of the audience

06:31are probably seeing, seeing you and meeting you for the first time. So what is like the core emotion

06:35that you want them to get from your performance?

06:38The core emotion I would say is, I would say excitement. Like I want them to be excited.

06:45Right. There's girl groups are coming back. It's three girls who can all sing, we can each

06:52hold our own. And I feel like that's very different. And I feel like it's just really

06:56good for us to be able to bring that back to everybody. So I would definitely say that.

06:59Right. Love it. Love it. Fans definitely. Yeah. So I want to talk a little bit about your debut EP

07:08in the key of us. I TKOU. Yeah. Let me know.

07:18And by the time this interview gets released, it will be out. So tell me a little bit about the EP.

07:24What was kind of like the direction that you three wanted to take with it?

07:30You know, we definitely wanted to give a different sound. We wanted to be show diversity in this

07:38project. And we wanted to have some upbeat tempos. And we also wanted to, you know, bring it back and

07:44give you like a slow vibe, something you could really like just sit down and really listen to.

07:49Yeah. But yeah, it's like the best of both worlds. Right. Right. A lot of different sounds,

07:53a lot of different. I feel like each song is like a different universe. You know what I mean?

07:58Oh, I like that. I feel like, you know, one song you could cry to. The other song you can, you know,

08:05throw a little wine to. The other song you can turn up in a club to. So, you know, we definitely want to

08:10give people like, you know, a whole soundtrack, a soundtrack of siren. You know what I mean?

08:15Yeah. I really, I really like how you put that get, put that together, like a soundtrack of siren.

08:21Like, I feel like when I listen to it, y'all gonna take me through the wringer.

08:24Oh yeah. Let's go. Let's show you right on.

08:27Okay. I'm excited. So I have to ask y'all, what's the one song that the Essie's need to memorize

08:35before your performance from the evening? I would say our, you know, our, of course,

08:43our first single, Sober, that's been out. I would say definitely memorize that. Right. Right. Right.

08:49Right. But I would also say the softest. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we pay tribute to, you know,

08:56one of our favorite girl groups ever, Escape. Yes. And we just really love that song. Like, on tour,

09:03we was listening to it, like all day before, you know, we actually decided to drop it. So

09:09we love that song and we hope you guys love it as well. And we need y'all to make sure y'all

09:14know, know those words for the festival. Okay. Cause we sing it. Let them know. Let the aunties know. Let

09:21the nieces know. Let them know. All right. So winding down to my last question. After this really big

09:29main stage moment, what do you guys have next for the rest of 2025?

09:36I would definitely say you guys can definitely expect more shows. We definitely will be performing

09:42this EP. So yeah, I would also say expect some fire visuals, expect some fire new music, like everything.

09:52Yes, yes, yes. All right. More appearances. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Love it. Well,

09:58I am so excited to see you ladies on the main stage. Thank you so much for chatting with Essence today.

10:03And you can catch Siren at Essence Festival of Culture this summer. Thank you.

10:08Bye. See y'all later.

WATCH | Meet Psyrin: The Alt-R&B Collective Reclaiming Sound, Soul, and Sisterhood

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