Julian Roy Shares New Album ‘Friends first’: Hailing from Virginia, Julian Roy, a recording artist, songwriter, and producer, draws inspiration from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, and The Beatles. After being compared to the likes of Frank Ocean and Chet Faker, Julian Roy continues to push the boundaries of music with his genre-defying music.
Julian Roy is as much a seasoned traveller as he is an artist. He taught himself how to play the guitar when he moved to Thailand. He began songwriting when he moved to Nashville. He started his music career when he moved to Los Angeles.
He has travelled to over 50 countries and can speak the ‘language’ by playing music or fútbol with anyone in any country from Brazil to Japan to Morocco and Norway. He creates music to display his love and compassion, whilst exploring themes to showcase how similar we all are. He has performed in over 16 countries and has self-booked tours across the globe to connect with his fans and build his fanbase. Outside his music, Julian Roy writes songs for a variety of different label artists in LA, NYC, Colombia, and Korea.
His brother, James Sider, started a company, a music startup based in California that produced the application BandPage, an application that powered over 500,000 artists’ Facebook Pages. Artists could upload and share tracks, videos, photos, and their touring schedule on Facebook. Julian Roy had the inner tech music view while he was running BandPage. Since then it’s changed quite a bit into this streaming monster that everyone begs to be a part of. He has always been proud of being independent and pushed himself to explore avenues outside of the typical Spotify artist or streaming-focused artists.
Since working with major artists like Mike Posner and Lolo Zouai, and after garnering widespread acclaim with his debut EP, 18 lbs, Julian Roy is gearing up to unveil his highly anticipated debut album, friends first.
The debut album was recorded during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. friends first, was inspired by personal events and his travels through the island life of South East Asia and South America as well as living with musical communities in Nashville, San Francisco, and now Los Angeles. The 14-track compilation deepens his authenticity as a music artist. He is a force to be reckoned with.
friends first, echoes genres of modern R&B, indie-pop, alternative, singer-songwriter, electronica, Neo-Soul, and experimental World Beat, showcasing the foundation of his love of music and unmatched talent for fusing captivating instruments with profound lyricism. Throughout the album, Julian Roy enchants audiences worldwide as he solidifies his position as a major player in the music industry and makes a lasting impression. His demonstrations of vulnerability, effortless talents, and musical abilities place on full display his complexity and depth as an artist.
On the album, Julian Roy comments, “friends first, was recorded during and after COVID-19 in the middle of so much heartbreak and pain, during this time my father also passed away which shaped parts of the album. friends first, has nine different producers, was recorded in Mexico, USA, Colombia, and Norway (three continents), and has seven featured artists.”
ABOUT THE ALBUM
‘MKB’ is about love, joy, and respect for women and relationships. | Produced by: Bryn Biska (Karol G, Jacob Colier) | Written by Julian Roy & DAP the Contact | Written & Recorded in Brooklyn, NYC
‘Funny’ is about cute flirting relationships and situationships that come up in our dating circles. | Produced by: Cisco Adler (Wiz Khalifa, G-Eazy, Mike Posner) | Written by Julian Roy & Wes Period (Doja Cat, NCT, Huddy) | Written & Recorded in Malibu, CA
‘Hold You Up’ is about holding your loved ones up, no matter if you’re feeling down or confused always being there for the people you love. | Produced by: D Mills (Charlie Puth, Yuna, Ryan Beatty) | Written by Julian Roy & Gael (Born in Haiti now living in NYC) | Written & Recorded in Harrisonburg, VA, and NYC, NY
‘Speak My Mind’ is about when you’re feeling like you just need to speak your mind in a relationship, tired of tip-toeing around the subject of feelings, I just want to speak my mind. | Produced by: Julian Roy | Written by Julian Roy & Shalom Dubas (Nigerian American) | Written & Recorded in Brooklyn/Nigeria
‘Suttle Love’ is about a woman I loved in Nashville, she was with someone else and I had to watch from afar. | Produced by: Ben Darwish (Natasha Bedingfield, Mike Posner) | Written by Julian Roy | Recorded in Medellin, CO
‘Bend it’ is about dealing with the road bumps in life, the issues that come about, and how to overcome them, also about me and my life and the ways I’ve gotten over issues and difficulties in my life. | Produced by: Adam Friedman (Snoop Dogg, Black Eyed Peas, Tai Verdes) | Written by Julian Roy | Recorded in Venice, CA
‘Insecure’ is about that moment in a relationship where you have to ask serious questions, about the temperature of the relationship and where two people stand. If I ask you, if you’re insecure, I want the truth. | Produced by Kyle Rodriguez | Written by Julian Roy | Recorded in Copenhagen, DE
‘Bad Dreams’ is about the haunting of being cheated on, the unknown ending of relationships, and yearning for the simple happy memories of a past relationship. | Produced by Junagui Aguayo (Peruvian, May Y Ricky Drummer) | Written by Julian Roy | Recorded in Puerto Escondido, MX
‘With You’ is about the high when you’re with someone you love, everything is better with you. | Produced by: Bryn Biska (Karol G, Jacob Colier) | Written by Julian Roy, Bryn Bliska | Recorded in Brooklyn, CA & Mexico City MX
‘Friends First’ is about being friends first in a relationship and how important that can be. being friends first allows for joy, trust, silliness, and a strong ground to step on when times become hard between loved ones in the relationship. | Produced by Julian Roy | Written by Julian Roy | Recorded in Puerto Escondido, MX
‘The Hills’ is about being at the end of your road and running for the hills. It comes after an uneasy breakup, you feel like you need to runaway, but still, you look back and say, ‘I hope you take it slow’ | Produced by Tyler Stuck | Written by Julian Roy, Tydell | Recorded in Denver, CO
‘Strung Along’ is about being strung along in a relationship, unclear lines and roles, too many questions and doubts about what we are. | Produced by Eli Evnen | Written by Julian Roy | Recorded in Los Angeles, CA
‘In The Clouds’ is the dream memory of the past relationship. as if you were dreaming about your past love and your memories of them wearing your clothing and going out dancing together. It’s a beautiful simple picture leaving pure energy at the end of the album. | Produced by Simen Sez, Eli Evnen (Topaz Jones, Malik Moses) | Written by Julian Roy | Recorded in Los Angeles, CA
