This time, we get to know Roderiko Pop. His track "Pop Life Boy (Memories" is featured in the New Artist Spotlight Family of Playlists.
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𝟭. Where are you from and what is your hobby?
I am Argentine and Italian; My hobby besides creating songs is traveling; That is why my Instagram is more focused on my facet of Traveler.- I dream of being able to meet the whole world and my music is influenced by this; In my future album each song has small autobiographical parts and sounds or anecdotes of moments in different parts of the planet.- And traveling through various countries also affects my way of pronouncing words because (I jokingly say that I sing badly in all languages) it is due to my search to be unique; with personal style that I do it deliberately in many words!
𝟮. How did your get into music?
I am an Actor - I have studied at the Conservatory of Dramatic Art - in my studies I have taken classes focused on Musical Theater.- Simultaneously for the last 20 years I have been helping an iconic music legend (Nacha Guevara) creating her website and remastering her rarities; rescuing lost records in their catalog in Sony Music / Warner / INAMU.- But despite my efforts I could not convince NACHA to make a new album (now she is 80 years old) and I decided during the COVID era that I should invest all this energy in my own musical project and stop working for this artist.- I thought "if I die, something of mine has to remain in the art world"; and I can't go through this life without fulfilling my dreams.- This is why during 2020 I started creating songs in my house and on the last 20 of 2020 (December 20) I published my first SINGLE; just for my birthday I decided to release BROKEN KID (SELF LOVE) an autobiographical song against child abuse.-
𝟯. Who are your biggest influences?
NACHA was a window to many authors that I love; as BORIS VIAN; GEORGES BRASSENS; TOM LEHRER; FLANDERS AND SWANN; STEPHEN SONDHEIM or JACQUES BREL.- But my other essential part is undoubtedly BJÖRK + MADONNA + ROXETTE + SINEAD O'CONNOR + THE CURE.-
4. What are your goals in the music industry?
My goal in music is to be true to myself and stay ORIGINAL; try to sound unique and keep making music for the rest of my life without caring what others think.- I don't care about money and fame.- I think the artists who go for this goal are the ones who become generic.- I hope to achieve a sound style that makes sure that when you listen to me, you know that it is me.- If I achieve that, my goal will be complete.- Today many artists think first of commercial success in order to make money; and this makes them all sound the same; Before, all musicians had a different sound and that was fun. Today finding unique and different becomes increasingly difficult.-
5. If you could choose a location to perform at, what would it be?
HARPA in Reykjavík, Iceland or Royal Albert Hall in London, England or Cirkus Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.- It's hard for me to choose just one but I like these three because in a way these places connect with the artists that influence me.- And although it no longer exists, I would have liked being born in another era and being able to do a CAFÉ CONCERT / KABARET SHOW at the TOP OF THE GATE in New York! A bit ambitious lol
6. What is your all-time favorite song?
CONSTRUCCIÓN by NACHA GUEVARA / I don't have a single song but this one represents a musical style that I love; both in the structural game of the letter; and I also love this song because it is a total reinvention of the original by Chico Buarque. It's super sophisticated and simple at the same time.- And the lyrics are incredible poetry.- It's a song that BJÖRK could have created 50 years ago; somehow it connects me with BACHELORETTE or JOGA from the HOMOGENIC album.-
7. Most embarrassing moment?
"I'm not the same, I have no shame" I don't have embarrassing moments that come to mind; but I remember that when I was 6 years old I was very ill for 3 months without being able to go to school and when I had to go back to classes it was one of the events that tormented me the most because I felt that I was a stranger.- A stranger in my own school.- I remember that they made me enter the classroom once all the students were already seated at their desks.- It was like a triumphant return but super rare for me because in this way my appearance generated more the attention of my teammates.- I couldn't bear to be sitting in that room surrounded by students; So I got up and ran out of the classroom; then I ran through the corridors of the school; then I ran through the streets of the neighborhood; and today I wonder if I'm still running !?
8. Proudest accomplishment?
What makes me most proud is to be alive achieving my dreams, because that 6-year-old illness coincides with the moment in which I was abandoned by my parents.- At the time the doctors did not understand what I had.- They did not find anything strange or any disease; Today when I grew up I realized that what was affecting me was having discovered that from that moment on I would be a child without a family.- And that is why I am proud to have been my own creation.- If I had had a conventional family, maybe I would never have become an artist; for some strange reason the most interesting artists are those who have had traumatic childhoods.- As a child I dreamed of traveling the world.- As a child I dreamed of making records.- Against all odds; without family and without money; I was still able to overcome everything and be focused on fulfilling my dreams.- THERE IS NOTHING MORE POWERFUL THAN A DREAM! The power of the will can do everything.-
9. What is something about you that might surprise someone who knows you the best?
MADONNA took a photo of Me when she was filming EVITA in ARGENTINA.- It seems to me something super funny; I was following her throughout Buenos Aires.- And one afternoon I found myself standing under the balcony of a house where MADONNA came out with a camera and took a photograph of me.- So in some drawer of memories; when MADONNA looks at her days during the filming of the iconic musical about the life of one the most important women in Politics of the last millennium; she will be looking among the photos, the portrait of RODERIKO POP, a teenager full of dreams.-
𝟭𝟬. What is your dream collaboration?
SINEAD O'CONNOR; it would be an incredible collaboration.- First, because she is for me one of the best voices and performers in the history of music.- Second because she is the only artist in my TOP 5 that I have never been able to see live.- In 1990; Sinead was going to come to Buenos Aires and a few days before the show she canceled because she had a fight with Peter Gabriel (CELESTE CARBALLO sang in her place, who is a super singer). In 2015, the same thing happened again; I had my tickets and 2 days before the show Sinéad canceled the tour due to personal problems.- So I've been wanting to see her live all my life so why not dream bigger and make a collaboration with the best protest singer!
Stream "Pop Life Boy (Memories)" now
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