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Skylyne Spotlight: Emilio Gonzalez
Emilio Gonzalez turns friendship, gentle melodies, and jazz-touched folk songwriting into songs for anyone still searching for their way forward.
Skylyne Spotlight: Emilio Gonzalez
Back in 2023, I saw Emilio Gonzalez open for Ben Abraham in Boston. After the show, we ended up talking about music school, songwriting, and what it actually takes to build a life around music. I still remember how kind he was to me.
It is very special to reconnect with an artist who has quietly shaped the way you think about songwriting and a career in music. Emilio has always had a way of making a song sound lived in, whether he is writing about uncertainty, friendship, grief, or simply trying to understand where life is taking him. His melodies are gentle, his lyrics are deeply observant, and there is always a little jazz hiding somewhere inside the folk.
Originally from Tampa, Florida, and now based in Nashville, Emilio grew up with a Puerto Rican background and began singing jazz in high school before discovering UK folk music. Since moving through Boston, Los Angeles, Nashville, Toronto, and beyond, he has continued building a community through music and collaborating with artists including Lighthearted, Laney Lebo, Emme Cannon, and Liam Bauman.
That collaborative spirit now leads into Buddies, Emilio’s upcoming EP created with different songwriters and artists. The first two singles feature Emily Sangder and Liam Bauman, opening a new chapter centered around friendship, shared writing, and the kind of musical connection that can only happen when two people sit down and make something together.
SKYLYNE: Hi Emilio, it is so nice to catch up with you! My first real impression of your songwriting was your live performance of “Look Alive” for Two Track. Who are the songwriters you look up to, and who taught you the most about how to write?
Emilio Gonzalez: I look up to artists like Lucy Rose, Andy Shauf, and Joni Mitchell. I'm constantly being inspired by lots of artists and different styles. Lately I've been falling in love with pop music, with artists like Audrey Hobert or Addison Rae. I'm sure their music will start to bleed into mine the more I write. I learned how to write from other artists, the simple ABAB format of a song was all I needed to get the idea of how to write a song. The hardest part was understanding how to pour emotion into a verse and chorus. Lucy Rose taught me a lot on how to do that.
SKYLYNE: Your newest single, “Sorry,” with Liam Bauman is such a beautiful collaboration. How did that song come together, and what was the writing process like between the two of you?
Emilio Gonzalez: Liam and I lived together at the time. We’d sit on our back porch and play whatever the guitar thought we felt. At the time we were doing a song a week, so instead of both showing up with two separate songs for that week, we both decided to write one.
SKYLYNE: Collaboration has become such an important part of your music. You and Emme Cannon created EMLYO together, and your two most recent singles have also been collaborations. What makes a musical collaboration feel right to you?
Emilio Gonzalez: Well, Emme and I now have a full record out. Thats now about a year old. EMLYO felt right to us because we were always writing together, even when we were in Boston. Once we had a good amount of songs together we decided to get recording. Any time we play together its like therapy - we always say once we finish a song, we feel a weight lifted, like we've been holding a feeling that only our music can take off our shoulders. If our music had such an effect on us, we knew it would for others.
SKYLYNE: Following that, who would be your dream collaborator?
Emilio Gonzalez: I would love to collaborate with Lucy Rose, I feel like I'm always watching her tackle life, and her style is always changing. Lately her style has shifted more to a jazz folk vibe, similar to me! I'm sure we'd make something special together.
SKYLYNE: You’ve been connected to so many places: Tampa, Boston, LA, Nashville, and Toronto. Do you feel that moving through different cities has changed your writing? Is there one place where you especially love creating music?
Emilio Gonzalez: Absolutely! I don't really have a favorite, I think each city makes me write a certain way, but i honestly love it. If I could live in a different city every year, just to see what happens to my style, I'd ride that high for as long as I can. Hope that answers the question haha
SKYLYNE: Looking across everything you’ve released, do you have a personal favorite or a song that remains especially close to you?
Emilio Gonzalez: I think there are certain songs from each record of mine that stand out to me. My first record “hazy” I still get chills thinking about “widow” a song about a mother losing her husband. It chills me out to this day because it feels like I was foreshadowing something in my life that happened after I released the song. It's as if something took over me to write that song, just to tell me what was soon to come for someone very special in my life. On my second record I love “ look alive” . It's a song I think I'll play for the rest of my life - it's very special to me and to a lot of friends of mine. I think the meaning will cary on for the rest of my life. As for my full length record “south of my heart”, my favorite song off there is definitely “purple moon”. It wasn't supposed to be on the record at first, but during a 7 am session and musicians playing the song for the first time, something special happened and we got a golden take. Listening back to it always brings me back to that moment, and the song came out better than i could ever imagine.
SKYLYNE: Thanks for sharing all of these tracks. When you begin writing, are you usually a lyric-first, melody-first, or harmony-first songwriter?
Emilio Gonzalez: More a melody first person, i think the guitar always plays how i feel before i decide to write something down.
SKYLYNE: You’ve talked before about not always knowing how to describe your genre. Do you still think about defining your sound, or have you become more comfortable allowing it to change as you do?
Emilio Gonzalez: Yes and no. I know what my genre is, but I don't think it'll be the same for the rest of my life. I want to make a pop record in time. I'd love to have a jazz record, but for now, I'll continue to ride the high as an Alternative indie folk jazz artist.
SKYLYNE: For someone discovering your music for the first time, which song would you want them to begin with, and why?
Emilio Gonzalez: That is a great question! I'd probably say “take your time” . It showcases my style and how I want people to feel. It's groovy, it's meaningful, and it showcases the arrangement and how I write. It's a simple song about taking your time with where you're at, don't hope for the future, and don't wish to go back to the past.
SKYLYNE: A fun one: you’ve mentioned that your love for old jazz and crooners partly began through Fallout 3. As a huge Fallout fan myself, I have to ask: what’s your favorite song from the soundtrack?
Emilio Gonzalez: Haha honestly anything from the ink spots, there's no sound like their's and I think they're the reason I started singing. “It's all over but the crying”?!?! Like hellooooo?!?!?!
SKYLYNE: So much of your earlier musical journey involved searching: for your sound, your genre, your direction, and eventually the right road forward. At this point in your life and career, what are you searching for next?
Emilio Gonzalez: I still think direction, it's a weird time in our lives and trying to fit my music in with what is going on in the world can be hard.
SKYLYNE: Finally, what does being an independent artist mean to you right now?
Emilio Gonzalez: Understanding myself more than anything and not being afraid to put myself out there and show all my true colors. I think that's what people want to see and I'm done hiding in my shell. I'm funny, I'm creative, I'm a positive person, and I like to get people together. I will do whatever it takes for people to look at me and get that impression right off the bat.
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