DILAN SKIES is an Anglo-Indian singer/songwriter and producer born and raised in North West London. His latest track, ‘Hit Replay‘, aims to build on previous singles, including ‘Make It Whistle,’ which has racked up more than 125,000 streams to date.
DILAN started writing and producing the song as a tribute to his favorite production duo, The Neptunes. However, the title morphs into something more personal as the lyrics turn to relationships previously marred by trust issues and fears of vulnerability. It’s a response to the question of what might have been—an expression of DILAN’s feelings about the relationship through the lens of a new, more emotionally mature perspective:
The Y2K club sound he started with was no longer suitable for the song, so DILAN SKIES turned to fellow artist Polar, who just released his debut album Hey, You Up, for help with the production. He pared down the track to embody a more classic RnB sound, reminiscent of that of SKIES’ childhood. SKIES was especially inspired by Craig David, whose album Born To Do It first got him interested in the genre.
DILAN tries to create music to pay homage to the sounds he had growing up that shaped him as an artist. He hopes that his stylistic nods to bygone eras make listeners feel at home, evoking nostalgia while also providing a modern twist. DILAN SKIES was first exposed to his parents’ cultural Indian music, specifically Bollywood and Punjabi, growing up in the UK in the 2000s. He then began listening to the Indian-English fusion music that was becoming popular at that time: the likes of Jay Sean, Dr Zeus, and Raghav. Seeing his two worlds collide inspired him to find his own place in music.
He writes and produces pop and R&B medleys featuring hook-laden choruses and gripping productions, drawing inspiration from his childhood favorites Craig David, Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake, among others. Aiming to spread positivity through lyrics and melodies while being as inclusive as possible, he takes inspiration from his friends and tries to tell their personal stories as best he can.
During lockdown in 2021, DILAN saw an opportunity to further develop his skills and focus on music while studying at university. After releasing a string of self-released singles and collaborating with longtime friends Elion Melody and Eric Matthys, he kicked off 2020 with the single ‘Not Over You,’ but it’s his most popular and most streamed single to date, ‘Make It Whistle,’ which has racked up over 100,000 streams to date and over 4,000 monthly listeners, all ad-free.