Steven Ryan
Photo Credit: Emily Ferris

Steven Ryan shares Extended Edition of Life, Love & Everything After (Interview)

Adult Contemporary-Pop Artist Steven Ryan To Release Extended Edition of Life, Love & Everything After

Adult contemporary-pop singer-songwriter Steven Ryan has unveiled his extended album Life, Love & Everything After via Canary Minor Music / Indie Pool and all streaming services. 

Produced by Steven Ryan, Life, Love & Everything After was released last September, including an incredible collection of 15 diverse tracks. The extended edition of the album will feature 5 additional songs that explore themes of life, love, loss, and mental health.

Steven continues to make strides to emotionally connect with as many individuals as possible through his music, as displayed in new tracks “Why Do I Do This,” “I Could See It In Your Eyes,” “Save Myself,” and “The End”. Also included on the extended album is the recently released, current radio single “With You”. 

First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?

For sure! My name is Steven Ryan I’m a singer-songwriter from Paris, Ontario. I’ve been releasing music since 2014 and my last 2 albums were self-produced, engineered, and mixed. Aside from making my own music I also have the privilege of writing for and with other artists as well as producing music for other artists as well.

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your extended album “Life, Love & Everything After”? What themes did you aim to explore with the additional tracks?

The inspiration behind the album was the 3 major concepts of Life, Love, and Loss with loss being represented by Everything After in the title because I feel like there is so much more after Life, and Love than just an ending which is why I explore not only loss but the mystery of the afterlife as well. The additional tracks were important to me as they not only furthered the stories and those concepts already explored on the album. But as I get further into my musical journey I am learning to be a little less precious with releasing music because you never know what song will reach the right person at the right time. And I would hate to have songs that mean something to me just sitting on my hard drive when there’s a possibility they may have helped someone had they been released.

“With You” is the current radio single from your extended album. Could you share the story behind this particular song and what it means to you?

“With You” is particularly special to me because I’ve written a lot of love songs. But this one is different. This song was sparked by talking with a friend who had gotten married and had a hard time finding a love song with language that wasn’t specific in some way and they felt it didn’t relate to their story or their love. I also have a lot of friends that had a difficult time finding love songs that weren’t gendered in some way. What I wanted to create was a love song that is for anyone and everyone. No one should feel like their love doesn’t fit in and everyone deserves a love song.

As someone who has shared stages with Canadian icons like The Trews and Marianas Trench, how do these experiences impact your growth as a performer and musician?

Sharing the stage with not only iconic Canadian artists but also ones you look up to in general had and continues to have a very profound impact on me as a musician and performer. Witnessing the level of musicianship, showmanship, and professionalism these artists exhibit not only pushes me to be better but also inspires me and instills in me the feeling that I’m in the right place and I’m doing what I love and was meant to do.

Mental health seems to be a recurring theme in your music, especially evident in tracks like “Save Myself” and “Why Do I Do This”. How important is it for you to address such topics through your music?

I think the subject matter of mental health is the most important topic I write about. In the context of this album, these are what I classify as “Life” songs. Throughout not only this album but my previous one as well there are a lot of songs about mental health. Whether they be about my personal struggles or the ones of those around me. Throughout my life especially when I was younger I would always feel so alone in whatever I was feeling. I was convinced no one understood or would ever fully understand what I was going through. Then I would discover songs that perfectly explained how I was feeling and it made me realize I’m not alone and someone must have felt this way and understood me because they wrote this song. In the mental health community, I got tired of hearing the phrase “reach out” because a lot of the time when someone is in a mental health crisis reaching out feels like the last possible thing they have the ability to do. I feel music is something that can reach in when someone isn’t able to reach out. Don’t get me wrong I think it is so important to reach out and talk to friends or professionals when you can. But sometimes you need that push or help first and for some people I feel like that can be songs about mental health and struggle.

With the release of the extended edition of your album, what do you hope listeners will take away from the new tracks?

What I hope people take away from this album is a sense of belonging and unity not only in their struggles but in their triumphs as well. I think we focus so much on how different we all are but when it comes to the subjects explored in this album, The struggles of Life, the joy and sometimes pain of Love, the tragedy and coexisting hope in Loss, and the Everything After we are all very much the same. And lastly, my hope is that they take away whatever it is they are looking for from this album, in Life, in Love, and Everything After.

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