With musical recording technology becoming more accessible than ever, young musicians have found ways to produce music from their own bedrooms. This phenomenon has created the aptly named genre of “bedroom pop.” Artists like Billie Eilish, Clairo, and Cosmo Pyke have made this lo-fi sound a world-wide success. Dexter Suhn is a sophomore in Academic Choice (AC) at Berkeley High School (BHS), and is a perfect example of what is achievable in terms of creating polished music at home. His songs feature a wavy, flangered guitar, similar in style to what might be found in an Omar Apollo or Mac DeMarco song. It contains romantically themed R&B vocals that make for smooth listening, as well as rap verses also performed by Suhn. Suhn says that his biggest musical influencer is the artist Smino. More broadly, Suhn cites his dad — who is also a musician — and his friends as his biggest sources of inspiration.
Suhn has amassed tens of thousands of plays on Spotify. When asked about his growth, Suhn expressed that it’s “cool to know people are taking the time to listen [to my music].” Throughout the interview, Suhn was not distracted by the numbers or statistics on his Spotify. He noted that his online attention had not changed the way people treat him, aside from compliments from his friends.
Suhn currently has no plans to stop creating music, and said that he just wants “to put music out.” He did say that he wasn’t sure if he would be able to pursue music as a career. For now, Suhn said he wants to “focus on school so my options are free.” After all, Suhn is only a sophomore in high school and has time to figure this all out.
His latest song, “No Alarm,” was recently released on Spotify with vocals from AC junior Liam Scott. I highly recommended checking out Suhn. His music makes for smooth, enjoyable listening and I’m looking forward to hearing what he releases next.