May Rio

interview by Jamie Hampton

May Rio, a solo-indie artist in New York, comes from a background in visual art that ended up following her intuition down a path of songwriting she once didn’t think she was capable of. 

“It was actually really scary because I just like had this idea, which has obviously been wrong,'' May Rio said, “But I had this idea that it was just too late in life to start down that path, but I just couldn’t let it go.”

Rio talked about how she started making music later in life than most of the people she knew, but after challenging herself with the task of writing a song, she couldn’t ignore the fact that being a musician felt right. 

“I got this Yamaha acoustic guitar from one of these pawnshops and I just kind of challenged myself to write a song just to see if I could. So I did it and, you know, I could barely play an A chord at that point, but I still wrote this very simple song and it just felt so good,” Rio said. “It just felt so much better than painting or anything else at this point.”

Since starting the journey to musicianship, Rio has dived headfirst into songwriting, leading to the release of her debut album, Easy Bammer, this Friday. Rio found that trying to write a little every day really helped get over her fear of writing.

“I think for a really long time I’ve had this almost a fear of writing [laughs]. And I, for a long time, I would just avoid it at all costs,” Rio said. “You know, like productive procrastination, like I would do anything else before I would sit down and write.”

Rio added, “I think the thing that’s working for me now is I try to sit down and write, and I’ll set a timer for 30 minutes a day, which that’s not so intimidating.”

Not only has Rio found a way to overcome her fear around songwriting, but she has also learned the best approach is to not set a specific creative process or inspiration around the process itself. 

“I also think it’s important if you want to write long term, to keep it fresh and sort of spontaneous,” Rio said. “For the most part I just kind of follow my ear. It's just kind of nice if you can let the song lead you. I don’t think I ever sit down with the intention of like, ‘all right this song is going to be about this, this song is going to be inspired by this.’”

This process has started to pay off for Rio as she comes into her own as a musician. She had expressed that during the process of creating her debut album, there were a couple weeks where it felt like she was “banging her head against the wall” while trying to figure a few songs out. However, songwriting seems to be coming a little more naturally now.

“I actually wrote a song like two weeks ago that I’m really excited about and it just kind of came out,” Rio said. “I just had a day where I sat down and just relaxed I guess and just let something totally new come out.”

Before venturing out as a solo artist, Rio was in the indie band, Poppies, and she has even credited her time touring with Poppies as some of the inspiration behind her debut album. Now that she is creating on her own, her intuition has helped steer her in the right direction.

“If something feels right, I’m just going to go ahead and do it,” Rio said. “And that’s been really cool and freeing. That’s the writing but also everything that surrounds putting out music as well.”

Although Rio is releasing her debut album this week, she already has her sights set on her sophomore album, which she is currently working on. Rio aims to put out something completely different, as to avoid releasing the same album over and over. 

“I think it’s important to make something for yourself and not make something that you feel like other people want to hear,” Rio said. “Because at the end of the day it’s just so much work and if you aren’t happy with what you’ve made, you know even if you’re playing cool shows and whatever, it’s just gonna feel a little bit pointless.”

Easy Bammer comes out June 25 and her upcoming shows can be found on her Bandcamp page.

Keep up with May Rio on Instagram | @mayriosembera