“I’ve tried so many things in my life as an artist,” HOYER tells Apple Music. “I’ve gone out and defended songs I didn’t feel connected to and that didn’t give me the results people expected.” Although the Monterrey, Mexico, native formerly known as Alex Hoyer has a career stretching across nearly a decade of ups and downs, he had to find himself first before his debut could take shape. HOYER, his first full-length album, is a three-year journey that took him deep into his own identity to realise that, from his Mexican roots blended with his Venezuelan heritage and other cultural influences, all he really had to do was be honest. “I’ve learned to embrace all these worlds,” he says. “To understand who I am, why I’m making music, what kind of music I want to make, what has inspired me.” That personal crossroads led to an equally eclectic tracklist, where nods to corrido and salsa are woven together with trap and hip-hop, all anchored in the melodic subtlety of R&B—the space HOYER has learned to call home. “Today, more than anything—musically, and really in every area of my life—I try to trust my instincts,” he says. “That first moment, that first melody that comes out when I hear a beat, or that first idea I get from a progression.” Read on as HOYER tells the stories behind some of the standout moments on his debut album. “FWY” “This track carries a little bit of Justin Timberlake’s influence, especially FutureSex/LoveSounds. That album he made with Timbaland changed my life, it hit me so hard. As a kid, I loved Timbaland’s drums. And then there was Justin Timberlake—his way of singing, that falsetto, the way he entered different sections of a song, how he flowed with the melodies. It’s a project about love, and heartbreak too, on some tracks. And during that search, I realised the material had to connect to something real, something I was living through. One day, I literally said, ‘I want to write a song for my girlfriend.’ So, I did.” “MIA” “It’s kind of the same thing—it was born from the inspiration of my girlfriend. In fact, it’s the oldest song on the album. I wrote it at the very beginning of our relationship, during that first stage of flirting. When we met, something happened, but then I wasn’t sure if it would go anywhere—if it would continue or if it was just that moment.” “FIN (DEMO)” “It’s one of my favourites on the album. At one point, I felt like remaking it entirely, but then I thought, ‘No, what’s cool is how it already is.’ That’s why on the album it’s called ‘FIN (DEMO)’—because it’s literally the demo. I was talking to a producer friend about this, and we both agreed: Sometimes we need to stop working so much for the industry. You can get obsessed with details, but people don’t really know if you lowered a frequency or tweaked something technical.” “VICIO” “I wanted to do something with salsa, to bring in an element from one of my favourite bands, Guaco. I know them because of my dad—he’s from the generation when Guaco became popular. I might be listening to other things, but I always come back to Archipielago and Como Era y Como Es, which is my favourite record. It changed my life. ‘VICIO’ is very inspired by that. In the end, I wanted to include salsa elements, but recorded with electric guitar, which is very Guaco. The piano parts were recorded by an incredible Venezuelan musician, Isaac [Cairiasco]. I had already recorded a jazzy little piano line, but I asked him to throw in his own flow, and he did. I feel like I integrated it really well into the project. Even though it sounds different from the rest of the album, sonically it still provides continuity.” MUERO X TI “I was listening to a lot of dancehall. At the same time, I’ve been listening to Drake for a long while. I’d say over the past nine years, he’s been one of the artists I’ve listened to the most. He’s been in those worlds, and for me it was time to explore that space, too, and say, ‘OK, how would I do a track like that? What do I like? What would I change? How would I say it?’ We could be listening to AC/DC, then a mariachi track, then opera. I like everything that makes me feel something, and that’s my playlist: songs I keep because I love music. I never stop singing, I never stop thinking about melodies.”