An innovative and contemporary R&B/Soul duo has blessed our ears! Duo Onyx Léon, hailing from New York City, NY, is gaining heavy traction in the music world for incorporating such integral elements from old-school R&B tracks and adding a completely modernized spin to the familiar soundings. As a duo that completely complements each other's artistic abilities, Onyx Léon will mesmerize listeners with their stunning collaborative effect. Their recent album, "Pre-Game" features a variety of rhythms and flows, where listeners can expect to receive tracks that are eccentric, energetic, and yet also receive tracks that are heavily on the mellow spectrum, such as their second track off the album: "Deep Conversations".
The intrinsically delicate and cultured atmosphere that Onyx Léon is able to manifest within their track "Deep Conversations" is extremely relaxing. Onyx Léon curates a melody and tune that brings about a certain kind of reflectiveness. "Deep Conversations" stimulates tranquility in the deepest sense, and we feel absolutely at peace listening to the vocal flow of Onyx Léon. R&B/Soul music is in desperate need of the soundings of Onyx Léon, and "Deep Conversations" off of "Pre-Game" showcases that entirely. The musical stylings of Onyx Léon capture an alluring appeal and elicit strong emotions. Their vocal play is authentic and genuine, and it embodies a naturally amicable environment. Onyx Léon provides the listener with a mature and blissful ambiance, curating a story with their music. This duo is clearly here to elevate the current soundings of the R&B genre, and we're absolutely here for it!
Be sure to check out Onyx's "Deep Conversations" here and keep reading our interview below!
Welcome to BuzzMusic Onyx Léon! It's great to be able to feature "Deep Conversations" to our readers! How did the songwriting aspect of this track come together? Was it an effortless collaborative journey, or did the track require meticulous timing to ensure its proper execution?
Erick: Thank you! It’s a pleasure to be featured on BuzzMusic! Romain and I were listening to some tracks and the Deep Conversations track stood out to us. Originally, I had a concept for a song that detailed an infatuation of a made-up relationship. It started out like a poem on my phone that I’d written back in 2016. I presented the concept to Romain, and he liked it. We took what I already had and added an Onyx Léon spin to it. Romain wrote his verse and made some changes that really brought the song to life.
"Deep Conversations" is definitely a more mellow and calm track off of your album "Pre-Game", compared to the other tracks. As a duo, do you prefer to curate tracks that have a more tranquil atmosphere, or do you prefer the more high-energy tracks?
Romain: I don’t think we have a preference. We appreciate different rhythms and vibes. We approached “Deep Conversations” the same way we approached the other songs. Although “Deep Conversations” has a more mellow tone to it, I wanted to play with the tempo and the rhythmics. We never want our songs to be “boring”. For example, at the beginning of the song, it’s very slow during Erick’s verse. I wanted to make sure that, when I came in on the beat, I’d switch up the tempo. I also wanted to ensure this song was harmony-heavy [or heavier] compared to the rest of the songs on our EP.
How do the performances feel in NYC?! Can you describe your stage presence, and the overall mood captured by the crowd while you both are on stage?
Erick: We take our performances very seriously, for every performance we prefer to have had at least a month to prepare our set. Being well-rehearsed allows us to focus our energy on stage and guarantee a good performance for the crowd.
Romain: We grew up admiring some of the biggest performers of today and it translates in the flow and professionalism of our live performances. During a 30 minute set, we’ll make sure to take the audience on a journey with the setlist, as we perform up-tempos such as ‘Fade’ or ‘Won’t Stop’, as well as softer tracks and ballads like ‘Distance’. We’d include a dance break or allow a moment to interact with the crowd. The fluidity of the show is really important to us.
How would you compare your initial music, when Onyx Léon first came to fruition, to the music you both release now?
Romain: We have been working on ‘Pre-Game’ for a while but it still feels fresh and like new music to us, even though a lot of these songs were created when we started working together. Our first-ever release before that was a single called ‘Tell Me’ (2018) which has a dope 2000’s R&B vibe and could very well fit with the rest of the EP. However, we believe the music we are currently recording definitely displays a huge amount of growth. ‘Pre-Game’ is just that: an introduction, a beautiful start to what we believe will be our best work so far!
Erick: Definitely. Vocal growth is the main thing we’ve noticed in the songs we’re recording today. We see it in the way we compose and organize the songs, in the way we record these songs and stack the harmonies as well.
It was amazing being able to feature "Deep Conversations" here on BuzzMusic! We know the R&B/Soul community will eat this track up, and it's clear to us that it's a contemporary offering of R&B! What's the next direction of Onyx Léon?
Romain: Thank you guys so much! And really thank you for your questions, answering them has been such a pleasure. What’s next for us? We’re currently working hard, promoting “Pre-Game”, we really believe in this project and feel it deserves to be heard. To anyone who enjoyed “Deep Conversations”, we promise you’ll love the rest of the EP. Five songs, five bops! (Laughter). We’re planning on adding visuals to some of the songs as well! It’s all an exciting and creative process.
Erick: We’re definitely focusing on building our brand as artists and growing our social media presence. We also really want to perform more and give "Pre-Game" the exposure we feel it deserves. Thank you BuzzMusic so much for reviewing our song ‘Deep Conversations’, we guarantee the rest of the EP will not disappoint!