Willy P’s music is an honest reflection of who he is as an artist and a person. The Cleveland-native is on a mission to spread good, hopeful energy and make a real impact through climate activism. His feel-good sound has roots in rap and indie-pop while taking inspiration from a variety of genres and sounds. Part of what makes Willy P’s music so infectiously positive is how organic it is. Every track he creates is a real snapshot in time of his life, a glimpse into Willy P’s world. We caught up with Willy over a virtual call to talk about his recent album Moon Child, his hometown of Cleveland, and his passion for environmental preservation.

How’ve you been doing? What have you been up to these days?

I’ve been good! Obviously, it’s been a tough year for everyone, like 2020 carrying over to 2021, but I’m grateful that I’m healthy, my family’s healthy, and I’m empathetic for everyone who’s having a tough time with everything going on now. Musically, I've just been doing the same stuff I've been doing for the past 3 years, honestly. I just work on the next project once I finish my last one. I've just been working on music in my apartment, working on this rollout with Sam, and yeah I’m recording new stuff every week, really just getting ready for my ninth project and trying to figure out if I'm gonna do singles and where the next videos are coming from, stuff like that.

Your most recent project, Moon Child, is a great glimpse into who you are as an artist. Can you talk a bit about how the album came to be and what it means to you?

The first song after I made “Take a Trip”, which was my 7th complete project, was called Moon child and it was the last song on the tape Moon Child. Basically how it formed into what it was, I was making song after song and eventually I had a collection of ones that I loved. I have some people who I bounce my music off and tell them what I’m thinking, and I ended up just coming up with the 13 songs. 13’s just been like a number that I've always liked, it was my number in High School and all that stuff, so I wanted to do 13 songs. And once I got 13 that I liked, I made the tracklist and just got it ready to go and started working on the next stuff. It's not like I have these songs in mind but I made these songs and then I placed them together into what i thought was an order that would almost tell a story.

How did the title come about?

Honestly let me give my friend credit ‘cuz it was his idea! I sent him my horoscope and I read my horoscope everyday- I’m a cancer- and my horoscope calls me moon child. After I was sending them, we always relate it to music obviously it can relate to everything but we just talk about it in terms of music and he was like ‘Oh you should just call your next tape moon child.’ His name is Cameron Grants, he came up with that.

Your music has an infectious uplifting quality to it. What’s your creative process like?

In terms of my creative process, I'm a writer first. I write everything, I write every single thing that I put out and I find a beat and then it really changes. I really just let it happen. It's not like there is a specific formula to it, it's just like either the melody comes to me first or I start thinking about the lyrics and I’ll have some lyrics maybe that I wanna use and then it really just develops from there. Maybe I'll write like half a song and then start recording and then write the next half. It really just changes every time, I think like the biggest thing for any artist is just to actually make the music like actually finishing a song and being like this is a final product that could be released. I make so many songs where I don't finish them so that's the biggest thing.

Who have been some influences recently for you?

For my last tape it's been Mac Miller, Dominic Fike huge influence recently, Oliver Malcolm, I listen to Felly all the time. I listen to Isaiah Rashad a lot, The Sun's Tirade is top 5 albums of all time for me, and Baby Keem.

What role has Cleveland played in shaping you as an artist and as a person?

I think Cleveland made me who I am. In terms of artists, I love Kid Cudi, all of my friends love Kid Cudi. He’s definitely an influence, my parents house is in Shaker Heights, Kid Cudi’s from Shaker Heights, MGK is from Shaker Heights, obviously I respect him as well. I don't know, just growing up in Cleveland, growing up where I grew up and having the friend group that I had and the family that I had allowed me to just have the confidence to feel like I could put out music and have it be actually who I am whether it’s talking about love or talking about the environment or just how I'm feeling. I think it's all possible because of where I came from.

You’re currently in school studying Global Environmental Sustainability and have a strong passion for environmental preservation. Can you talk a bit about your dedication to being a climate activist?

Environmentalism and environmental conservation has just always been something I've been passionate about and I am a student. I love learning, I love school- that's why I'm still going to school. It's my choice, I'm not being pushed into it. I just feel like it's fulfilling to me honestly and I love learning about the environment and it's so funny ‘cuz it's just kinda the dichotomy of everything. I'm so almost obsessed with it because of how awful it is. Like what I'm learning is scary to me and I'm like ‘oh my god I need to know more about that!’ I wanna be able to tell people about it and not be bullshitting and be like no, for real I know about this. I feel like it’s gonna help me with my music career ‘cuz once I have 100,000 followers on Instagram or whatever it is and I'm learning what I’m learning about in grad school, I'll be able to accurately post information that I'm learning about and I could be considered a reliable source. I just don't wanna fake it, I’m trying to actually know about it and actually make a change and not just be like ‘Like this post.’ Like no, here are ways that you can make changes in your life at home like these are new inventions that are cheap and affordable that will help you make a difference.

Good Love is one of my favorite tracks off Moon Child and you just dropped the visual for it a couple of weeks ago! Can you talk a bit about the video and the symbolism behind it?

The video was filmed by Will Curran (@willerville), he's in Boulder film school. He's a great filmmaker, editor, he filmed and edited it and it was my favorite song off the tape. It was the one I was getting the best feedback on or what people were remembering from the tape. I just felt like it was one to make the video for. In terms of the actual song and the meaning behind it, it's partly about my girlfriend but it's also partly about manifesting what I want and having my dreams come true. Literally just seeing what I picture in my mind when I picture my ideal life and I hope that the universe receives what I put out as that I have the right intentions and that I'm not doing it selfishly. The video really just shows what I do in my everyday life. That's the bar that I go to, it’s called Avanti. That’s my friend’s house and my friend brett’s apartment with his dog, It’s my bed, It's my apartment that it’s filmed in when I'm sitting on the bed like cross-legged and it's just real. It costs 0 dollars and literally my friend, Will, filmed this for free and I paid him 50 ‘cuz I felt bad but 50 dollars for the video, and he filmed and edited it and it's just a real organic product. Looking back once I’m what I wanna be, it'll be cool.

What’s next for Willy P in 2021?

Just to grow. I just wanna grow and I don't have monetary goals or anything. I want my following to grow, I wanna be able to reach a way bigger audience than I reach right now. I'm not pressed to blow up but whenever it happens, it'll happen. I just wanna keep growing and I want it to be right so that it could last. I don't wanna mess it up. I wanna be able to help people, I'm not trying to overindulge myself. I wanna learn from all these other people, I wanna learn from that and I mean it's not overnight success regardless of what happens- but I just want it to be organic and not fabricated in any way. That's what I want my whole career to look like.

Reflecting on Moon Child with Willy P