Genre-bending Los Angeles based R&B artist, Floyd Miles shares new single “Ifemi”

Music is more than just a collection of pleasant sounds; it is a means to communicate with not just your people but to people of various demographics and a way to tell your story uncompromised. This is something R&B singer-songwriter Floyd Miles realized early in his career. Drawing inspiration from life itself, the Los Angeles based artist uses his music to speak on a variety of topics ranging from love to spirituality to the cultural impact of being a black male in America. From a young age, he was exposed to the music of Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Smokey Robinson, and he has mentioned that they and other artists of different genres helped influence his current sound.

While he always had an interest in music, his musical journey did not begin till he moved to New York. It was there, through his cousin, he met Hip-Hop producing duo Buda and Grandz, who then introduced him to Dave East. By 2016, he had featured on two tracks on Dave East’s mixtape Hate Me Now, and that helped boost his career. Although he kept working on his music and collaborating with his peers, it wasn’t till 2019 that he dropped his debut album, a 9-track project titled Save Yourself. While talking about this project, he mentioned that releasing it when he did was a huge transition for him as it coincided with his move to Los Angeles. He further stated, “I was really into meditation, and reading and learning about who I am and where I come from, or where we come from as a people. It was a lot of reflection at that time”. He also revealed that the project represented his spiritual and musical ascension. In 2020, he released a single with 3am titled OMNI. Floyd has made his willingness to explore and experiment with other musical genres a secret, and with OMNI, he had ventured into a new direction as its fast tempo makes it stand out from his previous songs.

He recently collaborated with French producer Natty Rico in his newest single Ifemi (a Yoruba word meaning “My Love”). Inspired by the smooth blend of Jazz, Funk and Soul soundscapes of Afrobeats, Floyd created a soothing but vibrant single. Although this is the first Afrobeats project under in his catalogue, he hopes to not just fully explore the genre musically, but to also find a way to merge the Black American sound with that of Africa.