Sylo Talks Vulnerability, Mexico City, and The Harder You Try Tour
By Brenessa Roach | January 17, 2026
Sylo, the Korean-Canadian alt-R&B artist now based in Mexico City, has been perfecting his artistry since around 2017-2018. Over the years, he’s experimented with production styles and built a distinctive artistic identity, evident in tracks like “Ginny,” his most popular song with over 15 million streams, “AIR,” and his latest release “Seraphine,” which nods back to the sound and spirit of “Ginny.”
Since debuting in 2020 with Sylo Songs, Sylo has been making waves in the Toronto R&B scene, collaborating with acts like Blair Lee and completing the Dreamt That I Was tour in 2024, in support of his album of the same name.
In 2025, he released three new singles, “Carve Me Out,” “do u like it?,” and “Seraphine”, showcasing his evolving sound and emotional depth.
Sylo’s creative process has shifted significantly over the years. He used to go in with a formula or a plan, but now it’s very free and he begins to craft without expectation, allowing sound and intuition to take over
“I don’t really know exactly what I’m going to write,” he shares. “It’s very free. In a sense, it’s more like freestyle. I’ll just sit at my studio desk, make noise, and try not to get too wrapped up in my head. Even if something starts shitty, I always kind of trust it and see where it’s going to go, and then it kind of always just leads me somewhere, because I kind of trust my taste and my voice.”
This shift happened after years of battling writer’s block, and Sylo credits The Artist’s Way with reshaping not just his relationship to music, but to creativity as a whole.
“That book completely changed my approach,” he says. “The idea of writing without judging — just letting things exist before the editor steps in — helped me rewire my brain. As artists, especially when it’s something that we’re trying to monetize and we’re trying to make a career out of, we tend to pick it apart before it really becomes something.”
Since moving to Mexico City, Sylo’s openness has extended beyond the studio. After years of identifying as a “studio rat,” and performing on Tiny Desk, he now draws inspiration from live performance and the city’s rich music culture.
“Live performance really opened my eyes,” he reflects. “Here, there’s such a strong emphasis on sharing energy in the same room — capturing something together. And the music I’ve been exposed to, like norteña, banda, cumbia, corridos — it’s all new to me, and it’s so refreshing. Their melodies and how everything flows, just has such a romantic flavour. I love their feeling of yearning. I’ve grown up with that emotion of yearning through Western R&B, and pop and whatever. But hearing it through the Spanish lens is a different feeling, but it’s rooted in that same yearn. And I love yearn.
Its truly exciting to hear Sylo’s perspective about how moving to Mexico city has influenced his music style already and we can’t wait to hear how his music might shift in sound or feeling. Looking back at “AIR” and Ginny” it feels like it is a different sound than his newer songs like “Seraphine”, but Sylo actually sees this track as a return to his roots. Referencing “Ginny,” one of his earliest and most formative releases, he describes the track as a bridge between who he was then and who he’s becoming now.
“When you reference ‘Ginny,’ I feel like ‘Seraphine’ is me going back to my roots,” he explains. “‘Ginny’ came out right before COVID, and that period really marked a journey of healing for me. Sonically, I leaned into a lot of angsty, sad-boy sounds, which you can hear it in Blanket, and even as I started growing out of it, that feeling was still there.”
That period of self-discovery naturally shaped his music and perspective. Relocation and new connections shifted his focus from self-critique to self-acceptance.
“Everything’s serendipitous in that way,” he reflects. “Moving here, and meeting new friends, and just feeling like I’m in now an era of just kind of owning being alive and being who I am today, and just kind of celebrating that, instead of trying to pick it apart and wonder what’s wrong with me. Now it’s like, what’s good? Everything’s good.”
Musically, that mindset brings him back to the alternative R&B genre that has always defined and influenced him.
“That R&B, alternative route is who I’ve always been,” he says. “Growing up on ’90s and early 2000s hip-hop and R&B, especially with an older sister who put me onto all of it — that’s my essence. Now it’s about encompassing everything: the sad parts, the angst, the yearning, but also this sexier, edgier, groovier side. I’m feeling myself, and I’m not afraid to show it.”
Emotional honesty defines Sylo’s 2025 releases. His track “do u like it?” comes from a place where grief turned into gratitude after a breakup, celebrating the depth of that love that reshaped how he understands love, commitment, and himself. Using that breakup as a point of reference, Sylo describes the songs as two sides of the same emotional coin.
“It was a very long term relationship, the longest I’ve ever been in. And it taught me so many things about myself and how I show up in a relationship and in a way where it’s not just about emotions anymore. It’s not about just relying on infatuation and romanticism. It’s sometimes waking up and choosing to love someone, and choosing to love yourself even when you can’t, even when you feel like it’s the hardest thing to do.”
That realization extended beyond romance, becoming a broader philosophy for Sylo, one centred on discipline, self-respect, and gratitude. Rather than framing the breakup as purely painful, Sylo celebrates it since it was such a complex and beautiful stream of emotions that held both sadness and joy at the same time.
“When that breakup happened, it was such a beautiful stream of emotions, because it was sadness, but also coupled with joy and gratitude that it happened.” he reflects. “That’s sad to think about, but also it’s really beautiful. This life is an experience. This is the main event. This is the main movie. You are the star of your own movie, and learning to celebrate that makes everything so beautiful, and it’s not such a sad thing anymore.”
For Sylo, even grief carries meaning, serving as a reminder of having felt something deeply and honestly. It’s that perspective he hopes listeners take away from this new chapter: permission to sit with their emotions without trying to label them as good or bad.
“Even grieving is beautiful,” he says. “The more vulnerable you allow yourself to be — even more than you think you can handle — the more rewarding it becomes. That’s art in itself.”
That vulnerability, he adds, isn’t just relief for the artist , it’s connective. By leaning fully into the emotional truth of his experiences, Sylo invites listeners to see themselves reflected back, reminding them that being human is the point.
Some songs take on a life of their own resonating with fans far beyond what an artist ever expects. We mentioned that “AIR” was one of our favourite songs as a fan and Sylo noted that he never expected “AIR” to be received even better than what he expected.
“AIR” was written during a period of creative and emotional release, the track marked a turning point in how he approached both music and self-expression. Rather than fighting through writer’s block, “AIR” emerged from a shift in perspective, recognizing that the struggle wasn’t the absence of ideas, but the pressure he placed on himself to constantly produce.
“‘AIR’ was a huge epiphany for me,” Sylo explains. “I realized writer’s block wasn’t actually the problem, it was my relationship to it. I was always being hard on myself, feeling like everything had to be intense and productive. That song was me letting go, saying: do we always need to be on top of everything, or can we sometimes just exist and just be okay with that?”
The song came together quickly, written and recorded over two days in a Los Angeles hotel room and stands out as one of the few tracks in his discography that felt genuinely therapeutic from start to finish. Released without expectation, “AIR” instead found its audience organically, connecting with listeners in ways Sylo never anticipated.
“I had no expectations when I put it out, but I knew there was something special about it,” he says. “What means the most to me is that people have their own relationship with it now. It’s their song — they have their own story attached to it, and that’s something I’m really grateful for.”
Those moments of connection, whether through messages from fans across the world or hearing how the song fits into someone else’s life, continue to ground him, especially during the often-isolating process of creation. Moving forward, Sylo hopes to lean into that openness even more, bringing listeners along through demos, behind-the-scenes moments, and unfinished ideas, rather than waiting for perfection.
Sylo is set to go on his headline tour The Harder You Try. This 12 city tour is hitting more cities than his last tour, which means his music is conituing to reach new audiences. As this happens, he’s experiencing the thrill of connecting with listeners in cities he never imagined visiting.
Looking ahead, Sylo is set to embark on his headline The Harder You Try tour, a 12-city run that reaches more cities than his last. He’s relishing the opportunity to connect with new audiences.
“It’s a surreal feeling to know that my music is preceding me in places that I never even dreamed of visiting. And you always forget that, like there are just people out there in different cities and different towns and living lives that you can’t even imagine and it makes me glad that I get to have the privilege to be able to experience something that connects us.”
This tour comes after a long period of personal growth for Sylo. Reflecting on 2025—a year of transitions, including a breakup and relocating to a new country—Sylo describes finding a new sense of consistency in his work and life.
“2025 was a huge year of transition with coming off the breakup and then moving to a new country and rediscovering myself in a foreign place where I still hardly can’t figure out the language because the Spanish is really hard. I feel so ready to have this consistency that I’ve always been looking for, because I’m not really fighting myself anymore. I now find myself in a place where it’s just doing it for the sake of doing it. It’s just aspiration.”
Looking ahead for 2026, he’s trying to balance ambition with patience, giving himself the space to create at his own pace while still engaging with his audience.
“ I’m giving myself this time and space to breathe and to give everything that I’ve experienced that respect, to really just soak it in and just take my time with it. So I guess for 2026, while I’m on tour, and after I come back, I’m just going to be writing every day and making more TikToks, more rituals, more content, and just having fun. I’ve got food on the table, clothes on my back, a roof over my head—what more is there? We don’t always need to be in survival mode. We can just appreciate that we have the luxury to just do this.”
You can watch the full interview here:
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