Local Music Showcase: Babyblu

Dylan McBrayer, otherwise known by his stage name Babyblu, is a 19-year-old musician from Clearwater, Fla. He is currently a sophomore at the University of South Florida where he studies Communications.

While Babyblu consisted of two people, this past April, lead vocalist Sabrina Chantel departed the duo to pursue a career in merchandising and moved to New York City. With this huge change, McBrayer decided to pull the two EPs the duo had done together.

Although Babyblu is now a solo project, McBrayer has not wasted time in creating new music, merch and networking with other musicians. This past May, Babyblu performed at the 97x Backyard BBQ Band Search in Tampa, a competition between local bands to open up for the annual alt-rock festival in St. Petersburg.

For live shows, the eccentric indie pop artist plays the electric guitar and also has a drummer, Colton Ward, backing him while his instrumental is played in the background.

“My sound is really just a culmination of what I listen to on an everyday basis," McBrayer explains. "I think that is hard to put a label on what I’m doing right now which makes it worth while because that gives me the opportunity to create an idea for myself."

On July 15th he released “Kinda Weak” a new single that conveyed the new sound of Babyblu. At Denim Blue and Miclain Keith’s album release party on July 22, Babyblu played five new songs, which were songs that were later released off of his new EP titled Words With Love. A couple days later, he opened up for HUNNY, The Frights and GYMSHORTS in Tampa, July 28.

“It was a real surreal feeling being able to open up for HUNNY,” McBrayer said. “This is a band that I really respect and had the opportunity to see at such a young stage in their career which gives me the utmost respect for them as artists. They were really good guys and I was really happy to have the ability to hangout with them at the show.”

This past August, McBrayer continued to release songs off of Words With Love. Ultimately, the long awaited songs were released on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud on Sept. 2 and later on were played entirely for the first time along with other new songs on Sept. 16 at a release show in Tampa.

“Even though I have just become a recent fan, I think Babyblu does really love his fans and I think that his music is important,” Eliah Pierce said. “He is so creative and his music has a The 1975 vibe and I love it. The lyrics are deeper than one would think, those songs mean something to me.”

As of right now he is working on his next project that will be released in 2017.

“These songs are some of my favorite that I have written recently. This project will be a mix of synthetic and organic instruments that I record in my bedroom. All the instruments are played by myself,” McBrayer said.

Among these synthetic and organic instruments are bass and electric guitar, drums, vibraslap and other random things in his room.

“With my second EP, I am gonna show some real variation with my music that will allow me to create a real cumulative sound.”

You can follow Babyblu on Twitter and Instagram @thisisbabyblu. You can also find Babyblu on Facebook.com/thisisbabyblu