Vilda Ray: Sexy But Dorky

Vilda Ray is a female artist and producer from Los Angeles. Influenced by musicians as varied as Chaka Khan, and N.E.R.D., her style as a songwriter ranges between R&B, soul, and funk. Her songs are made to either make your body swerve or leave you teary-eyed.

"If we're just talking released music, I'm a big fan of my own song, Innocent," she says. "I think the arrangement is one of my better works for sure. And, um, the lyrics are funny. A little bit sexy, but dorky still. I think it's a good mix of stuff. So that one is probably one of my better works - not my best - but best to come yet."

Vilda was born in the US but spent her childhood between Guam and Seattle and takes her name from her grandparents, Vilda and Raymundo.

"My cousin suggested it would be a great child's name, but I thought it would be a good artist's name."

She describes her holy trinity of musicians as being David Bowie, Prince, and Janet Jackson.

"I've always been a listener. Like, since I was like in elementary and middle school, and I would always listen to like old school music in lunch hour, and listening to that stuff was really inspiring and made me like excited to try music."

Vilda Ray describes her music as colorful, funny, and emotionally provoking.

"When you listen to my stuff, you know exactly how I feel. I'm almost too transparent about it, and there's no secrets. And fun! That's like the biggest thing I'm trying to get in my music now."

How would her best friends describe her?

"They would say that I'm weird. That's what everyone says when they first meet me. But it's because I'm overly passionate about different things, so people think, oh, she's too into that. But I'm just passionate about it."

Listening to other people's music is what keeps her interested in being a musician.

"I think it's how I keep discovering new music, whether it's old or new. I keep hearing new songs and new arrangements and stuff. That makes you not want to stop because it's more inspiration. If they can do it, you can do it too. It's more of a challenge. Once you hear great music, now we got to go back in. Now we got to do something better like that, or we have to do something as inspiring as what I just heard. That's what keeps me in music."

Looking to the future, in five years, Vilda sees herself performing a lot more.

"I would love to do a large-scale tour. That would be one of my biggest dreams. And also, besides writing my own music, I would also like to see myself completely improved as well, at another level of artistry where I'm almost reaching my peak."

When asked what keeps her in Los Angeles, she replied, "Music, of course. I just want to play. The music scene is unlike any other. I would feel sad if I moved elsewhere because there aren't as many strong music scenes as there is here.“