WHYDEE INTERVIEW: VIPER PRESENTS:[FEATURE]
One of the UK’s most influential digital creators, 18-year-old UK viral sensation WhyDee amassed over 3.5B views across socials in the past 12 months. Get familiar…
What five words define your sound?
Energy, Authentic, Fun, Bold, Relatable.
Tell me something unique about your creative process.
I like to start with the vibe first. Sometimes I’ll just walk around, record voice notes of random ideas, but more time, I search for beats online and if I like it, I download the instrumental and write on the spot. I have always had a studio at home but now that I have moved it into my bedroom, its music whenever I catch the vibe. I always try to make sure my music reflects real-life or experiences of others close to me. Also depends on my mood—whether it’s something funny or something serious, it’s always authentic
Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?
I’d say ‘Jack In The Box’. It’s got everything—my personality, my humor, and a catchy vibe. It’s a great introduction to who I am as an artist for real.
What inspired you to make that song?
‘Jack In The Box’ was inspired by my journey as a teenager navigating school, people not believing in me during my journey to success while staying true to myself. I wanted to show as many different sides of me—the funny, light-hearted guy and the more serious WhyDee who’s mindful about people trying to take advantage of him as he rises.
What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?
One of the most vulnerable moments was writing about not wanting to get used by people who only see me for what I can give them. It’s something a lot of people experience, especially as they start to succeed. That feeling of being unsure who their real friends are or people moving snaky—that’s real, and it shows up in some of my music.
What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?
Best experience has to be performing at Reading Festival, it was mental! Just seeing the crown mos-pit to unrealised music—that’s an unmatched feeling. The worst was probably a technical issue that messed up the audio during one of the shows. It threw me off for a second, but you gotta push through and give the crowd a show regardless.
What is your favorite song to perform?
Right now, it’s definitely ‘Jack In The Box’. And ‘Fast Cars’ with my group, The Charvas.
Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?
Get Rich or Die Tryin’ by 50 Cent had a huge influence on my older brother which then affected me because he kept playing it. I wasn’t even born when the album was made but I know it very well. The way 50 combined storytelling, humour and was cool with catchy beats made me want to tell my own story in a similar way.
What’s the meaning behind your name?
WhyDee is a play on Yung Dice which is what I used to be known as when I first started making music, I was only 10 and then over the years, It developed into YD, Then WhyDee. But beyond that, it’s about asking “Why?”—why do people do what they do? Lol its different.
If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?
I think I would have always been in the creative space – engineering, editing, producing, acting and writing. Music is in my DNA. I’ve always loved being creative and working with visuals and sound.
What’s success to you?
Success to me is being able to create freely, wake-up with energy, new ideas and make an impact in this world, and stay true to myself while elevating my family and the people around me. I like making money but its not about money—it’s about being free, making my mum and family proud, having fun and doing what I love.
What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?
I haven’t changed direction, I just got ready and focused. When I started gaining real attention online, it forced me to focus more on my brand and how I present myself. It wasn’t just about content creation anymore, I wanted to put out the music that I have been working on for so long. I had music before on spotify under the name Yung Dice, but it didn’t sound good, my mum told me to practice and get ready for the life and career I wanted, so I did what I needed to do, taught myself to engineer, produce, write, mix and master then worked on my rapping everyday till it sounded ready for the biggest DSP’s in the world.
Where can people keep in touch with you?
People can find me on all platforms. I’m super active on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, so that’s where you’ll catch most of my content and updates.
Previously: LORD SKO INTERVIEW: VIPER PRESENTS
