JVA student Dominic Sandoval is primed to be the next big thing in indie music. After writing over 250 songs in rap, hip-hop, pop, rock and country spaces, the 15-year-old singer/songwriter’s first single releases May 2nd, and his unique creative vision is sure to make a major splash going into the summer music scene. We discussed Dominic’s influences, more on his first release and what advice he would give to anybody who aspires to become a musician. Introducing the man, the myth, and the legend, please welcome Dominikis.
How did you get into music?
Growing up, I never wrote songs or really even payed attention to music, I was the sports kid haha. It actually started when my grandma passed away from Covid-19 in October of 2020 and I used music as a way to cope with my emotions/feelings and really it was a therapy for me because I feel like when I wrote music I could say whatever I wanted and say opinions too. At first, I started writing music in the genre of rap and hiphop and mostly wrote about my feelings and like what was going on in my life for a couple of months before I dove deeper into writing music about different topics. I wanted my songs to have meaning to them. I began writing music in 2022.
What advice do you have for upcoming musicians?
To be honest, I would say, music is all about creativity, fun and patience. You have to be creative with your lyrics and also the music itself because the world already has enough copies of the same lyrics and music. To me, I believe that songs have to have meaning to them but not too personal if that makes sense, I believe the lyrics also have to make sense and not be discussing 20 topics in one song haha. You have to have fun because if you’re not having fun, your mind is not thinking on the creative side. And you also have to have patience, I have lost my mind sometimes when I couldn’t finish a song or couldn’t write lyrics and looking back at it now, if I had patience maybe later on I could have made those lyrics 100% better so I also think its about patience as well and also music is a process if you choose to make it a career, it’s not just a upload a song and in one day blow up. You have to put in the work to achieve the goal and if you didn’t fail, you didn’t try.
Tell us about your first release.
So, this is very exciting for me. My first single called “Homebound” will be releasing on May 2nd. You can pre-order the song on Apple Music and Itunes beginning on April 25th and you can pre-save the song now on Spotify at this link. This single will be in the genre of pop/country. I believe this track captures the feeling of summer and brings those sunset types of vibes. It blends emotion with melody and this song marks the beginning of my story/music career as an artist. It is honest, reflective, and built for late-night drives or quiet moments when the world starts to fade out and I believe this could be a hit summer track.
What’s your process for making a song from start to finish?
I have different writing processes and styles I would say for each song that I write. Sometimes I have an emotion or feeling that I want to express and I write about that, sometimes I get three random words from people and write a song out of that, but most of the time it’s just thinking of an idea or a few couple words and start just jotting words down. A lot of times I think of the most random words and rhymes at a restaurant and put them in my phone’s notes and write a whole song later. And the process changes with the genre that I am writing, sometimes all I want the song to be about is rhyme rapping if it’s rap or hip hop or something else unique if it’s pop or rock. I am a singer/rapper and lyricist so I don’t play any instruments or produce my music. I have a producer and once I finish the songwriting part then I go into the studio and record the final product with my producer/engineer/mixer.
And what artists are you currently taking inspiration from?
This is actually a really good question. The artist that I have taken inspiration from since I first started music back in 2022 is NF and the reason is, his songs have meaning, good instrumentals, his lyrics express real emotion or statements and I feel like he is a down-to-earth artist. He is still my music inspiration to this day.
Dominic is certainly an immense underground talent to be watched this year, and we can’t wait to see how he progresses with his music career going forward. Don’t forget to presave “Homebound” here, and a big thank you to Dominic for your time!
