Rising star Cayden Dinkler has dropped his much-anticipated sophomore EP Feel Good Tapes, reports Nabil Al Mardi.
The self-written six track EP is delicately yet expansively produced as the young Bahrain-based American masterfully blends a plethora of genres and styles.
“Every song has a really different vibe and it was fun to incorporate different genres into my EP; I didn’t want to stick to a singular sound,” the 16-year-old Bahrain School student told GulfWeekly.
Cayden’s intention with his new EP is to encourage people to ‘Feel Good’ through his songs.
“Well, that was the whole point of my newest record! It’s literally in the name - whether you’re at a party, alone in your room, or driving around aimlessly with your friends - I want you to feel good about yourself when you listen to my music,” he added.
There’s an ever increasing trend of depressing songs that hyper-fixate on heavy complex topics, but Cayden is shifting to a more positive vibe.
“When I first started making music, I was heavily into depressing artists like Juice Wrld, and that reflected in my music,” he added.
“I was solely making songs about heartbreak but now I’m shifting into a more positive vibe.”
The EP opens with It’s Perfect - a catchy, wholesome, and optimistic pop number that sets the tone for the project. There’s an audible hip-hop and rhythm n’ blues (R&B) influence which is very reminiscent of Kid Laroi whom Cayden cites as his ‘number one influence’.
Despite his age, Cayden courageously explores vastly different sounds that seamlessly complement one another.
Right Side of the Bed, a cheery harmonically rich banger and Mi Amor, a guitar driven ‘Spanglish’ ballad carries on the EP’s overarching theme of youthful happiness.
The closer Cinnamon Spice incorporates heavy bass and synthy ‘hyperpop’ elements.
Love Love Love, a spunky youthful pop punk-inspired track that sounds like it was taken out of an early 2000s coming of age movie, is the stand out track.
The California native moved to Bahrain in 2010 when he was just five years old and his father got a job as a video communications teacher at Bahrain School.
“Everything I know is here, most of my memories, my best friends, family, and girlfriend are all in Bahrain,” Cayden added.
“I may be from California but Bahrain is my second home forever.”
Coming from a musical family, Cayden professes to always having had an interest in music, adding, “My dad plays the guitar and my mom is an insane pianist.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, he would spend hours locked up in his bedroom teaching himself how to make beats through YouTube tutorials.
It wasn’t long before he began to add his effusive singing and rap-talk vocals over his own beats.
Throughout 2021, Cayden released a few standalone singles as well as his debut EP Coast to Coast.
He began to gain traction by posting TikTok videos centred around his music.
The viral marketing strategy worked wonders as the independent artist has been contacted by several prominent Bahraini artists.
He has an upcoming collaboration titled Fun and Games with Abdulrahman Al Sahaf, popularly known as Wrista, and is currently producing tracks for Bahraini rapper A2K. Both are set to release by the end of this month.
Feel Good Tapes is now available on Spotify, Anghami, and Apple Music.
Follow @caydendinkler_music on Instagram and @caydendinkler_ on TikTok for details.
