BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Ignore the negativity, push the positivity as you push your way to the top.
That’s the simple message from the singer-songwriter SOTLY Shawn in his new single “Standin,” the outro track to his new EP “Day By Day.”
He said “Standin” wasn’t his original choice for the last song on the EP, but it worked our really well in that role.
“I remember it just kind of bookended the project really well because the project kind of focuses on perseverance and overcoming obstacles to still be standing,” Shawn said. “So it kind of came organically that way. That song was the last song. So I feel like it just perfectly captured it. Once I heard it and I finished, I was like, okay, this has to be the last song.”
The single and the EP capture the essence from the artist’s stage name, SOTLY Shawn. SOTLY stands for “Someone Out There Loves You.”
“That reinforces the message that I always try to push, especially when it comes to if I talk to younger people or anybody really,” Shawn said. “ That message is when you think about it, somebody out there wants you to succeed. Somebody out there cares about you, even if it's just a friend, a coworker. No matter whoever it is, somebody out there wants to see you win. So you want to just keep going for them when you can't find it, to keep going for yourself. You should always do things for yourself but sometimes you need that extra push.”
SOTLY Shawn grew up with parents who exposed him to a variety of different kinds of music.
“When I was growing up, I really didn't like music,” he said. “I didn't like it and I didn't embrace it until I was like nine years old That's when you get so many different things from your parents. They would listen to Nat King Cole, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Linkin Park. There's so many different, sounds. A good song is a good song regardless of genre. When I make music, I think about it in that kind of way and that comes straight from my parents. If it wasn't for them playing so many different things, not only would I have not discovered what I like, I wouldn't be so open and able to embrace different genres and different sounds.”
While Shawn still hears and uses those older influences, he also takes inspiration from artists like J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Jhené Aiko and Frank Ocean.
“Those are like my five core artists and musical influences,” he said. “All of them incorporate that hip hop, R&B influence on some level and to varying degrees in their artistry. That is something I just naturally lean towards.”
The “Day by Day” EP has five songs that Shawn says; “reinforces the idea of just making sure that through every obstacle, through every realization, through every setback, you're able to persevere and use them as lessons and then still stand strong.”
SOTLY Shawn said his message to his listeners is to just know Someone Out There Loves You.
“So just keep going and what I mean by keep going is I know sometimes it's hard to get out of that bed,” Shawn said. “I know sometimes it's hard to go to that job or hard to have a conversation with somebody or take failure in general. But no matter what, there's another day. Somebody out there is looking for you to win. Even if it's just me, even if I don't know you, I want everybody to win. So just someone out there loves you. Someone out that was to see you win. So just keep going.”
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