[Kris Floyd](https://www.instagram.com/krisfloyd/?hl=en) is here to become a household name in the music industry, far beyond just the Latin scene. Hailing from Puerto Rico, the singer, songwriter, rapper, and performer explodes onto the scene with his undeniably good energy, boy-next-door looks, and smooth and sultry voice. Boasting a love and passion for music since he was a child, the rising star creates from a raw, vulnerable place, speaking on real-life experiences that sets him apart from the rest.
In describing himself, Floyd states, “I like respect. I like music. I like creating art, I love that part. I was born here in Puerto Rico, I've been living here for all my life. I love what I'm doing, so hopefully a lot of people will hear some of my art and my music.”
His work behind-the-scenes does not go unnoticed, collaborating with some of the biggest Latin artists in the game from Tainy and J Balvin to Selema Gomez and DaniLeigh. Now, he steps into his own as an artist, releasing critically-acclaimed singles “Siempre Tarde” and “7/24.”
_Flaunt_ caught up with Kris via Zoom, who was enthralled to be in his home country of Puerto Rico. Read below as we discuss his roots in Puerto Rico, biggest influences, his love for music, inspiration behind his new singles, writing on Selena Gomez’ album, being part of Tainy’s label, his fashion, goals, and more!
**What does Puerto Rico mean to you?**
That’s my life, I've been here for all my life. All my friends are here, all my family is here. Everything, everyone who I grew up with, my culture. I grew up hearing reggaeton and salsa, so it’s played a great part in what I'm doing right now. Puerto Rico is 100% what I am right now. I haven’t been here for a while, like 3 months. I don’t want to leave. \[laughs\] It feels great, this is my home. I love it here.
**What was a young Kris Floyd like growing up in Puerto Rico?**
I was a little bit of a troublemaker, but then I grew up a little bit more. I focused on my music and on my art, that helped me to go to another level. Go to the next level personally and in my life, focusing on music has saved my life. Right now, I live from the music that I make, so that's great for me.
**Biggest influences coming up?**
Every artist that came before me was a big inspiration for me. I always mention Tego Calderón because I love what he did. He wasn't the first first rapper I heard, but I related a lot with what he’s talking about. Him, Wisin & Yandel, Daddy Yankee obviously, Don Omar. I began listening to English music when I was 15 years old. I started listening to Jay-Z and everyone from the English speaking market. A lot of people that came before me are an inspiration now. I hear a lot of J. Cole, Kendrick \[Lamar\], Drake obviously, Tupac. A lot of those guys played an important role in my influences right now.
**When did you realize you could do music for a living?**
When I was very little, I always thought it was for me. At the end of the day, I don't know what I was going to do with the music, but I knew that’s going to be my job. I began recording myself when I was 11 or 12 years old. Nobody knew I was doing this: recording myself, writing music. A year or 2 years passed by, then everybody knew. My family was like “you sing?”
**“7/24” has 2.2 million views on YouTube. How does that make you feel?**
Great. I don't pay a lot of attention to the numbers. The feedback I’ve received from the people when I'm here on the island is what’s important. People write to me saying “Bro, the song is fire!” I’ve heard the song here in Puerto Rico, so that for me is bigger than having 1 million, 2 million, or whatever million views.
**Who or what inspired this record?**
Mainly, it’s about a process in my life. Not too long ago, I was thinking that jobs and working, working, working was the only way to make it. But then I realized it’s the balance of it. That song came from a part of my life when I was thinking that this is the only way I'm doing this: staying 24/7, all day every day working. I was that. I'm still working every day, but I have maybe one day, 2 days in the week, where I stay with my friends or do something else. Back then, it was work, work, work, work.
**Highlight from shooting the music video?**
Just going there, because I recorded that video in Colombia and I’ve never been there. That was my first time. For me, visiting another country is beautiful, because I love to travel. I haven't been able to travel a lot, but that experience for me is great. Being there and seeing another environment is great for me, another culture.
**New single “Siempre Tarde” out now, what inspired this record?**
So that's relationship-wise. When you're with somebody then for whatever reason, I don't know why but the relationship ends. There's always something that brings you back to that person. When I was going back to her, it was already late because she was with somebody. But we’re still talking, sending those messages, playing those little games. But at the end of the day, she's with somebody. Being there late, that's the name of the song. “Siempre Tarde,” always late.
**What was your vision with that music video?**
Every single video I did in the EP begins with the same intro. We're taking some drug that makes us go into another place. We're in the same house, but we start feeling something. This is acid or LSD, but on another level. The song is to experience. In that specific video, we're in a bathtub. When we go deep in the bathtub, it turns into the open sea. We're playing around and everything.
**What is it you want fans to get from your story?**
To connect with it, connect with what I'm saying. I do it to express myself, to entertain myself, to have fun. But I love when people come and tell me they connected with the song and it helped them have a good time.
**You wrote 4 songs on the recent Selena Gomez album. How was that experience?**
Super great. It's a blessing for me, super huge. Selena’s a big artist and trusting me, says a lot about her. It says a lot because she's trusting talent, not names. That’s one of my first projects as a songwriter, they heard the song and they knew it was fire. They trusted that the songs were great, the lyrics were great. It was amazing for me, for my career. It was a great experience overall.
**Talk about being part of NEON16 led by Tainy, and how you got there as well.**
It's an amazing experience because they’re doing what I want to do, they’re celebrating and making the vision possible. They trust at least what I'm making music-wise, that's very important. A lot of Latin artists go to reggaeton and they stay in reggaeton. I like doing a lot of R&B, rap, hip-hop. I like doing acoustic songs. I like doing art in general.
They're good at trusting “okay, do what you want to do with the music and let us know what we can do for you.” I knew Tainy from Puerto Rico. I went to Miami with no money or anything. I started knowing people and one day I went to the studio of NEON, and they heard a song. They thought I was just a songwriter, but they heard a rap song I did and went crazy with that one. They made it part of an EP that they do, the rest is history. Right now, we're here.
**How was it working on a song with Tainy and DaniLeigh?**
Great. We were in the same room. We shared that moment. It wasn't “I'm going to write this, then you record this.” It was very organic because at the end of the day, I was writing for her project. We started like that, we talked a lot and chilled. We started talking about experiences and that's how the song came to life. A lot of time passed and when it was time to release the song, I stayed on the song. Grateful for that, it was very organic. I love working with her and working with Tainy. That moment was great.
**How would you describe your fashion sense?**
I love fashion. I love seeing fashion, I love going to fashion shows. I'm very sporty. I like sports clothing because I consider myself an athlete. I played a lot of basketball, baseball. I did boxing for a while, so I love sports. Maybe I can explore more fashion later in my career, but right now I'm very sporty.
**Do you have any goals?**
Yeah, being a millionaire. \[laughs\] Making a living out of my passion, music and art. I'm grateful for that, and have health overall. My family is healthy overall, my friends and everyone around me have great energy. I’ve learned to keep working.
**Anything else you want to let us know?**
Just keep listening to my songs. Wait for what I have in store, it’s gonna be awesome. I have a lot of things in my mind right now, a lot of things coming out. Thank you for your time and for talking with me.
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