CYRE: Mystic Life, Label Battles, and Finding Her Voice | Felix Sama Podcast #13

**Felix Sama** (0:05)
It's The Felix Sama Podcast show. We are in the 305, and I'm so excited to be here because I've been dying to interview my sister from Another Mother.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:16)
That's it.

**Felix Sama** (0:17)
I want to say what's up to the one and only, the legend, CYRE.

**CYRE** (0:21)
Wow, such titles. Thank you.

**CYRE** (0:24)
It's an honor to be here with you, Sama, because you are a legend in your category.

**CYRE** (0:30)
And I wanted to say something.

**CYRE** (0:32)
People use that word a lot, legend.

**CYRE** (0:33)
Yeah.

**CYRE** (0:34)
And if you really break it down, what is a legend?

**CYRE** (0:37)
A legend is someone who has, at a particular moment in time, made a really significant presence, an impact.

**SPEAKER_8** (0:45)
And so, yeah, we are. Why not?

**SPEAKER_10** (0:48)
We need to own that.

**Felix Sama** (0:50)
We need to own that because we have definitely shaped music in a special way.

**Felix Sama** (0:55)
And if it wasn't for us, music wouldn't be what it is today.

**CYRE** (0:58)
And you know, sometimes we don't own the things that we've done.

**CYRE** (1:01)
And I'm so proud.

**CYRE** (1:05)
I started doing jazz clubs when I first started singing.

**CYRE** (1:08)
And I was doing jazz and R&B and doing those four-hour sets in this little place in New York City called Chelsea Place.

**SPEAKER_15** (1:15)
Harry Connick Jr. was just starting his career.

**CYRE** (1:18)
Wow. And in between sets, I would go upstairs and speak with him. But this is how you develop. And then all the other groups which we'll talk about and music that I did with the different people.

**SPEAKER_15** (1:30)
But yeah, you develop your legacy.

**Felix Sama** (1:33)
It's an amazing journey. And it can go both ways.

**SPEAKER_9** (1:38)
It has its peaks and valleys, right?

**CYRE** (1:40)
Absolutely.

**Felix Sama** (1:40)
Everything's not peaky-dory, you know, peachy and fun. And sometimes you go through some bad times. Yes. You know what I mean? And you just got to be real with it. You got to stay resilient and you overcome those times. But before we get into the stories, let's get into the names CYRE. What does that mean?

**CYRE** (1:58)
Where does that come from, right?

**Felix Sama** (2:00)
Is that your real name or is that your artist name?

**CYRE** (2:02)
It actually is my real name.

**CYRE** (2:04)
In fourth grade, there was a young lady in my class. She was African-American and her husband was Indian from Pakistan.

**CYRE** (2:12)
Very young, she had a baby and she named the baby's son, CYRE, Shankari.

**CYRE** (2:18)
I fell in love with that name and because Shankari means morning star, and the star, it popped out at me. I actually use it as my baptismal name. It was a little earlier because I had baptized into the church a little later on. Then I made it legal.
But what I love about that concept is that from a very young age, I did what I call an I am moment.

**CYRE** (2:43)
I established that I wanted to be.

**SPEAKER_9** (2:46)
So your parents didn't name you?

**CYRE** (2:48)
No. I was selfish.

**SPEAKER_15** (2:49)
They named you?

**CYRE** (2:51)
Laura Rodriguez, but my name officially now is Laura CD.

**SPEAKER_15** (2:55)
Rodriguez.

**Felix Sama** (2:56)
Okay. So how old were you when you decided to change your name?

**CYRE** (2:59)
I was eight years old.

**SPEAKER_18** (3:01)
I started writing poetry at eight.

**CYRE** (3:03)
I was eight.

**Felix Sama** (3:04)
So at eight years old, you were like, yo, Ma, check this out.

**Felix Sama** (3:06)
The name you gave me, I don't want it anymore.

**CYRE** (3:08)
But it's funny because she used to, you know, because your parents, you know, she used to call me.

**SPEAKER_15** (3:13)
That's wild.

**CYRE** (3:14)
She used to call me by my first name and I wouldn't answer.

**Felix Sama** (3:16)
Laura?

**CYRE** (3:17)
Yeah. So then she'd go, CYRE.

**SPEAKER_15** (3:19)
I was like, yes.

**CYRE** (3:20)
She goes, OK. OK.

**SPEAKER_9** (3:21)
I see what you're doing.

**SPEAKER_15** (3:22)
I see what you're doing.

**CYRE** (3:23)
But what I love about that is for me, because I started writing poetry, love poetry at eight years old. And for me, what that did is that I was very clear from a young age that I wanted to manifest this idea of being an artist, CYRE, a star. And for me, it wasn't the fame, it was that I wanted to shine.

**SPEAKER_9** (3:45)
The creativity and the artistic-ness of it.

**CYRE** (3:48)
Yes.

**CYRE** (3:49)
I wanted to be shiny like a star because I used to sit out on my porch.