London Berry visits Miami. Photos submitted
By Tom Victoria
London Berry likes to tell stories whether through song, stage or video.
The artist, who sings, does theater and is a content creator, described his musical style.
“It's born from a place of escapism and a necessity to sort of flee reality and make up this crazy world and narratives,” he said. “It's more of an Alice in Wonderland kind of thing.”
London’s latest release was RATATA.
“It's a song about youth escaping you,” he said. “It's sort of messy and it's dirty, but it's nostalgic and it's coming of age in the song.”
London’s prior debut was Prince of Paris.
“There's a prince in Paris,” he said. “He happens to be my best friend, and we're secretly lovers.”
London, 20, of Columbia tries to mix upbeat tunes with melancholy ones.
“I've been really on a mission to do more upbeat, happy music,” he said. “Everything that I come out with has been sort of sad or nostalgic or surrounded by this melancholia. So I've been forcing myself to do some happy stuff. I'm not a sad person.”
London enjoys performing on stage.
“I love the stage,” he said. “I don't perform very often. I live in Colombia, so the music I put out is not very popular here. I performed this Easter, New Year's, a Christmas thing, so three, four times a year. When I'm on stage, I'm more often doing theater, plays or musical theater. So not my stuff, not very often.”
London is dressed to the nines in Cartagena, Columbia.
London may start a song with lyrics or melody first.
“It's a first-come, first-serve approach,” he said. “I could write a song right now. I could just start talking and then I'll be like, hmm, this sounds good. I'll have the keys in front of me, so I just start smashing them. I'm like, hmm, a G would sound good. So maybe just start off with a G and then maybe a D. If you feel like changing it up, maybe a D-flat minor. And then you go into it just spitting lyrics. I record myself in the process, and I'm like, I can use this, I can use this, I cannot say this. That's how it goes for me.”
Anyone dating London may end up in a song.
“I do have two songs,” he said. “John Sebastian. He's a real guy. His name is John Sebastian. And James Schultz. I guess they have to worry about those, but I don't think they know.”
London recalled the first musician to impact him as a child.
“It's gonna sound really corny, but I was about 4, and it was Demi Lovato on Camp Rock,” he said. “That was it. It was Demi Lovato on Camp Rock. She changed the trajectory of my life.”
Watching musicians on television led London to sing.
“I grew up in the era of Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and you got names like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Victorious, whatever,” he said. “It led me to believe, hey, maybe this is me. Maybe I just wanted more attention. But something about playing with attention and captivating things and expressing yourself, it spoke to me.”
London has been releasing music for well over two years.
“Since 2024, January 6, 2024,” he said. “I was 17 going on 18 at the time. I was like, what if I die and no one remembers me? So let me just do something. At least the internet will remember. At some point, it's out there, my name's out there. Let's do that. I recorded a video out of the blue and I posted it.”
London savors live performances, especially in theater.
“About performing overall, I really love to have all the eyeballs on you,” he said. “I really love to be able to sort of tap into that animalistic part of your brain, your soul, whatever that lets you let loose. Every performance is different. Everything you do, there's a little nuance between the days, and I think that's special. It's really electric, especially when the crowd's getting in the vibe and you're like, yes, get in the vibe, it's fun.”
London likes new twists to old tales.
“I love classics, and sometimes it feels like they're getting a little bit lost to the ages,” he said. “It's great to always revive them and have them come back in a different style, but keeping the same original essence sort of like Wicked did with The Wizard of Oz. It's the same universe but a different spin on the story while still respecting the original.”
London isn’t daunted by the possibility of mistakes occurring during live shows.
“It's a different kind of adrenaline rush, more like a cortisol rush, but adrenaline at the same time,” he said.
London was inspired to perform.
“Theater's not really popular where I live,” he said. “It's not a popular thing. Matter of fact, and I'm still really sour about this, the local theater closed down in 2010 for renovations. It has not opened since. I'm still really sour about it. But it stems from a place, or at least it did, a place of transformation. To be able to put on a show and embody whoever you're trying to become. For example, one of them that I did that I really remember was Tony from West Side Story. He's really not who I am. He's very much of a gentleman. He has this je ne sais quoi, this classic male leading character. He's hot. He's pretty. He can sing. He can dance. Maybe this is not who I am as a 12-year-old kid that hasn't gone through puberty, but I can still try and embody that confidence and put on the suit and sing the songs. But it's fun to be Tony, even if just for a night.”
London looks out at the view with the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro towering above.
London would take his music as far as it could go.
“I’m more of the Madonna kind of style, just Coachella, Glastonbury, a couple concerts,” he said. “Broadway's too glamorous for me.”
London takes care of his voice.
“I do not drink cold water and not every day, but when I'm performing that day, hot water with honey and ginger,” he said.
London found a less common trick to help his vocal chords.
“This is gonna sound really weird,” he said. “A half a teaspoon of hot sauce, and it just opens everything up. If you get a couple tears rolling down your cheek, it's fine. You're gonna sing marvelously. You're gonna become Whitney Houston. Drink hot sauce.”
London also posts on two YouTube channels.
“In terms of content, I really try to just spam covers as much as I can,” he said. “But recently, I've started thinking that maybe it's not the best idea to do that. But the covers are scheduled till 2027, so I can't do anything about that. It's out of my hands now. I guess now I try to focus on more personal content. More like this is what happened in my life. This is what I feel in relation to labor, love, money, these abstract concepts and how I relate to them.”
London freely talks about his sexual orientation online.
“I've had to come out three times,” he said. “I'm so tired of coming out. I did one video where I was like, guys, I like both guys and girls, it's fine, it's not the end of the world, this is the 21st century. And then people were like, nah, I don't believe you, I believe you only like guys. I was like, fine, fine, I'll take it. Then I did another one where I thought it'd be fun to sort of stuff my underwear, sort of getting on the joke of sensuality and sexuality. The joke was poorly received. Then I had to come out again, and I think that was the last time I came out.”
London agreed there is an abundance of creativity in the gay community.
“I'm more creative in my own perceptions of life and gender and how one chooses to live their life,” he said.
London stays motivated to make music and content.
“That's basically been my entire YouTube journey up till this point, because really I have no boss,” he said. “It's not like someone's like, post a video today or else. There's no or else. It's my choice. This is gonna be a little bit fatalistic, but some things are just right, and sometimes you just have to put yourself in a position where things feel even righter.”
London would like to remembered as an artist.
“I would like to be remembered as a fabulously vulnerable performer,” he said.
London wants his music to resonate.
“I like to think that I'm a really good writer,” he said. “But my music, if I would have it be remembered as something, it would be as the unspoken voices of my generation.”
London puts his writing skills to good use in his day job as head of communications for a health services company.
“Sounds fancy,” he said. “It's really not, but at least I get an office, so it's fine. I love the people I work with. I feel like they're the highlight of being at the office. They're so fun. They're not because they're young, but because it's all different ages, different colors, genders.”
London is leaving his options open for a career.
“I do not want to think of the odds of me not becoming the next Madonna, the next Elvis,” he said. “I don't want to think of that. But I took the job sort of as a safety net, a little work experience in my desired field, my backup field. But I would love to be a news anchor. I just love a camera. I cannot be away from a camera. I love a camera. I'd love to be a weatherman, sort of the hot weather lady, but the male version of it. I would love to do that.”
London makes time for hobbies.
“I read a lot,” he said. “I bake a lot. I also play a lot of Minecraft, but that's another thing. We don't talk about Minecraft.”
London dispensed advice to aspiring musicians.
“Really listen to yourself on what you want,” he said. “Do not be afraid to start over. I just discarded an entire song. I've done it 1,000 times. It's fine.”
London said stage performers should not be reserved.
“Do not be afraid to really let yourself go,” he said.
London advised content creators to be authentic.
“Do not pretend to be someone else.”
London’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PrinceLondonBerry
London’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/princelondonberry/
