“Anytime I hear something that inspires me, I do my best to make something great out of it” – interview with Wilmo

Prepare to dive into the musical realm with alternative rock artist Wilmo. With a unique sonic signature that blends raw emotion with electrifying beats, Wilmo is set to mesmerize audiences once again with his upcoming single. We chatted with him about his music, his plans for 2024 and his creative process!

Hello Wilmo! Your music often blends various genres. What draws you to experiment with different sounds, and how does that influence your creative process?

I’m into many different genres (rock, country, metal, rap, and more) all of which have played such a big role in my development as an artist. As a creative, it’s my job to try new, different things, so anytime I hear something that inspires me, I do my best to make something great out of it. It’s a huge part of my creative process because constantly trying different melodies, tones, and styles helps me weed out what’s gonna fit and not fit in the song I’m making.

“Wilmo” is a unique name. Is there a story behind it, or is it purely an artistic choice?

My name is William, and my friends started messing with me back in like 8th grade by calling me ‘Wilma’, but then they changed it to ‘Wilmo’ and it just stuck, and everyone started calling me it. When I started making music, it made sense for me to go by that name since that’s what people called me, but little did I know it would become so iconic. Many artists have a tag at the beginning of their songs, primarily in rap, and that’s something I wanted to try. When I did that, it started being a reason people remembered me by because it was so catchy. The tag was me saying “Wilmo” melodically and holding the ‘mo’. To this day, I believe that this artistic choice is a quality that separates me from others.

We can’t wait to hear “Heartbreaker”: what are your plans for 2024 after the new single is released?

I worked hard the past 2 years to develop my sound and come up with tons of amazing songs, so my team and I have all of my releases for this year set to drop every month. We planned it so that every song would be better than the last, and the quality would consistently get better as my mixing skills do.

Has your practice technique changed over the course of the years?

Assuming you mean ‘practice’ as in practicing before recording/performing, it has changed a lot. When I first started making music, I didn’t practice much. I kinda would just get straight into whatever I was doing and it worked, but I wasn’t as effective as I am now because I’ve implemented different warm-up/practice styles, like singing while playing guitar, vocal bubbling, and recording myself to see how I’d look while performing.

Your songs would work so well in live performances. Will you perform any shows this year?

Definitely! I’m performing my first show of the year in April and my team has been in connection with some promoters in the Chicagoland area, so we’re looking to do shows every week after this first one. We did many shows in 2023 but took a break to prepare songs and releases for months to come, but we are making it a point this year to do as many shows as possible. I love performing and love the challenge that each performance comes with, it’s a freeing feeling.

As an artist, what message or feeling do you hope listeners take away from your music?

A lot of my music has themes of heartbreak and introspection, so I’d like to provide listeners a sense of comfort in dealing with their personal issues because that is what so many of my favorite artists provided me. I also look at my songs/songwriting as very immersive, so I hope I’m able to pull listeners out of reality and into this other world I’ve created through music.

Your music videos have a distinct visual style. How involved are you in the creative direction of your videos, and what do you aim to convey through them?

I’m usually involved in the creative direction with my manager and videographer. We all work well together and bounce ideas until we come up with something we all love. My music is very dramatic/emotional, so we like to have the visual match with that energy. I strive to convey all of the emotion I put into the song in the visual/performance I do on the video.

I wanted to play a little game with you if that’s alright. If you had to perform a karaoke cover of a song that’s the complete opposite of your genre, what would it be?

‘Smoke’ by Florida Georgia Line! Outside of my genre, country is my favorite genre. It’s pretty much what I would always sing when I was learning how to sing.

Wilmo, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! Would you like to add anything else to our readers?

Of course, thanks for the opportunity! And yes, I just wanna say to everyone that if you like ‘Heartbreaker’, stay tuned every month because the songs will keep getting better and better. Also, if you’re interested in my journey, don’t hesitate to reach out to me on Instagram! I make engaging with supporters a huge priority because I’m trying to build a community, so I’ll gladly take the time to connect with everyone!