Check Out Syke’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Syke.

Syke, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Music and the arts have been huge staples of my life. I’d like to think I came singing out of the womb (haha). I grew up performing from being the lead in school musicals to the frontwoman of bands all the way into and after college. However, I didn’t start my solo project, SYKE, until last year (2021).

My story begins in Russia – I am a first-generation Russian-American immigrant. Growing up, I had pretty strict parents that didn’t believe that music and art were an option as a career choice. In fact, they heavily discouraged it – to the point where music was forced out of my life and my creative outlet was completely stripped from me. I felt extremely bullied and alone, which naturally led to heavy depression and anxiety. It was heartbreaking and it’s honestly hard for me to remember that part of my life now because I shut out the painful memories of being called worthless, talentless, and always being told I would amount to nothing by the people that were closest to me.

I truly lost my sense of self in that time by trying to be someone else to please others because I feared rejection. Every single day I constantly felt crazy because what was happening in my mind didn’t match the person I was portraying on the outside. It’s like living a double life and it’s scary how much we normalize this as a society.

It was later in my early/mid-20s that I rediscovered my identity through years of therapy, holistic healing, and medication which I eventually weaned off of.

The idea of SYKE came from a duet group that was initially started with my partner from the Greek mythology story of Eros and Psyche ~ for those of you who don’t know the story, please read up on it online ~ Unfortunately, we didn’t end up releasing music, therefore, I took my character Psyche and turned the name into a shorter form unisex name, SYKE.

Since Psyche was originally supposed to be a freedom and sex symbol, adapting that image to SYKE was only fitting especially with the meaning behind my music and the brand.

SYKE, for me, means more than just being a singer, musician, or an artist. It’s about fighting relentlessly every day for who you are and living in your true identity. My entire life I’ve felt I’ve had to fight for who I wanted to be and break away from people who were molding me into their standards – like creating a doll, sculpting my every feature.

So that’s why I’m here. I’m here to make music and spread awareness about women empowerment, love, kindness, generosity, and fighting for yourself. I’m here to say, it’s okay to be a little SYKO!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The journey has been less than smooth. Like building any empire, it’s a road of high highs and very low lows.

One of the biggest reasons it took me so long to truly step into the lion’s den and pursue music as a career was ultimately myself.

In my early years, I constantly made excuses such as – “my family never believed in me”, the classic “I’m not good enough to pursue music”, “I’m not a good enough singer”, “I’m not vocally trained”, “I’m not educated”, “I haven’t put in the hours” – but all those thoughts were limiting beliefs that I told myself for a long time.

When the truth was, those thoughts running through my head were actually questions I was asking myself the deeper meaning to. What I was really lacking was the proper guidance and resources to make what I really wanted to happen. Unfortunately, it took me years of self-reflection, battling my self-doubt, and changing the company I kept to figure that out.

Although I would say my main challenge was (and always will be to this day) self-doubt – as all musicians experience, developing SYKE had its ups and downs as well.

As many of you can imagine, life as an independent artist is far from a smooth walk in the park. You are literally responsible for EVERYTHING that comes with a music release. And because you are also responsible for funding, sleepless nights and working 24/7 is expected for a successful release.

I struggled with attaching myself to this persona as well. SYKE is about being free with yourself and feeling powerful, sexy, and confident with your everyday decisions, and I knew she was who I wanted to be. However, there were times that I didn’t connect to SYKE and wondered why I was even doing this. There were times I felt like a complete phony and I think this was mainly because I didn’t fully step into the persona until “Waste My Time” was officially released and I was performing.

Sometimes when you’re creating something that doesn’t exist yet, you don’t feel it’s real and that’s where I was at this early stage.

One of my biggest obstacles with releasing “Waste My Time” was time management and expectations. After finishing the song in April 2021, I was in the process of moving to Los Angeles and making the music video simultaneously. My goal was to release it by my birthday in late June, sort of a birthday gift to myself. However, I didn’t realize how much work goes into actually planning, producing, filming the video and post-production takes. Anyway, neither the release of the song nor the music video made the release deadline and the music video was eventually released one week after “Waste My Time” was live on all platforms.

Overall, I’m very grateful for the challenges I’ve faced being an independent artist. There is an incredible amount of learning lessons that become opportunities in the future. Sometimes you have to learn to let go of what you can’t control and just have fun being present in the process. These moments in my early stages is something I’ll never forget as an artist.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a fem pop artist – singer-songwriter, creative, and performer. I write music about women empowerment, self-expression, love, relationships, kindness, and sexuality. My work is inspired by the 80s dance, synth wave, and the disco era and artists I grew up listening to from Cher, Celine Dion, Elton John, to The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, etc.

My specialty/mission is to inspire others to be relentless when it comes to their identity and self-expression. To fight for who you are and what you truly believe in every day. Be brave and free to love who you want to love and be comfortable with your sexuality. I want my fans to look at life with open hearts and see the world in color filled with brightness and endless opportunities.

Not only am I known for my bad bitch/girl anthems, I’m also known for my bright and colorful aura and incorporating LED lights into my costumes. One of the turning points in my life was experiencing Burning Man. It is amazing to me how people build an entire city from scratch in the desert only to tear it down just for one week of harmonious community offerings and festivities. I felt extremely inspired by the environment and I wanted to incorporate that inspiration to my image and my show.

I am honestly more grateful than I am proud. I am super grateful for my drive and work ethic, and also for the people I have around. I wouldn’t have been able to release music or do any of this without the support of my partner, friends, and fans that I adore dearly.

I am proud of having experienced the journey to get to where I am today – I’ve had to overcome some of my greatest fears to be in the position I am – from letting go of the expectations my family put on me to being fully vulnerable with complete strangers while working on music.

I’ve put myself in situations that required constant discomfort and growth. Without those experiences, I don’t think I would have summed up the courage to release music.

I am proud of breaking free from societal norms and working relentlessly to step into being a full-time artist. I am proud of being fearless and overcoming obstacles such as being afraid of money or the opinions of your family and cutting out people that don’t serve your energy well.

What sets me apart from others: This question is sometimes hard for me to answer because what sets me apart from others hasn’t exactly happened yet. But I’m happy to share what’s up the pipeline.

My main focus right now is finishing my mini-album/EP that’s coming out in October 2022 along with creating my show.

Just like my inspirations before me, I want to put on an unforgettable experience for my fans when they come to my show. I believe if anyone’s going to pay for a ticket to see me, they’re going to have the best time.

My show will incorporate all the elements that have transformed me into the person I am today, from my experiences to heartbreak to initiate moments to intense love and emotions through visuals and dancing lights. To sprinkle it off, my live performance show will transition into a “mini rave DJ set” in the middle of the show then transition back to a live set.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’d love to share what’s coming up in the near future for SYKE!

At the moment, I’m gearing up to release a new song called “teethmarks” in July 2022.

The song is about a catalytic relationship that forces you to be emotional and vulnerable but knowing that both of you are not meant to be together but somehow cannot stay away from each other. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions and an intense physical relationship. So intense, it leaves a mark like literal teethmarks on your skin.

The song starts out dark, melodic, and sexy with luscious soundscapes throughout the track, then going into a climactic bridge that resolves the song.

This will be my second official release exactly one year from when “Waste My Time” was released.

Along with “teethmarks”, I’m also working on collaborations with a few deep house and bass house artists on tracks to release during summer, so prepare for a summer of SYKE!

“Teethmarks” is available on all platforms on July 8th, 2022.

Tik Tok: www.tiktok.com/thisissyke
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0eZn18Yk9SWHyfhDKc8v47?si=TAsmOsNZQw6yi0tHAcrrLw

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sykemusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamsyke/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bwuEGKEQFE

Image Credits
Jeremy Stotter