Like many solo artists these days, Phoebe Ryan wrote songs for other people before she ever sang her own material. So when it comes to singing on other artists’ tracks, Ryan is understandably selective. But, with a roster of collaborators ranging from The Chainsmokers to blackbear, it seems she also knows the right time to make an exception. “Every once in a while I’ll have a song sent to me that I hear and I just know I need to sing it,” Ryan says. “The last time there was a song like that was “All We Know” with The Chainsmokers. The song just hit me and I knew I loved it.”
Of her newest collaboration with Kaskade and LöKii, Ryan tells me she felt the same way. The song, “Almost Back,” was sent to Ryan during a period in her life when she was dealing with a break-up. “I was in that stage where we’d been broken up for a minute but I was still really vulnerable and this song just hit me in all the feels,” she says.
After hearing the demo, Ryan couldn’t deny the song was meant for her. Between recording the vocals for “Almost Back,” Ryan says she couldn’t hold back her emotions and was brought to tears. “It was definitely very extra but I’m an artist, so I need to feel extra sometimes,” she says with a laugh.
With the emotional track out now, Ryan is getting ready to settle into the studio and work on new music, expected to be released later this year. “I think this is going to be a really great year in terms of the material I’m putting out. I think it’ll be the best yet,” she adds.
Watch the official lyric video for “Almost Back” by Phoebe Ryan x Kaskade x LöKii below.
