Burning the Rulebook: Chris Rios's Raw Approach to Songwriting

What makes a songwriter write? What is the inspiration behind every song and every album? The writing process looks a little different for each lyricist: Some songwriters like to start by listening to the music before writing lyrics that fit, while others know the topic of their writing first before creating the music. Chris Rios, however, takes a more splatter-like approach: reformulating, adding, and subtracting from new and old lyrics to reach a completed song. He writes songs based on personal experiences and delivers them as if they're happening in the moment. He also likes to keep the desired vibe of the song in the forefront of his mind in order to prioritize what the song “needs”.

Since Rios writes lyrics using a journaling form, he doesn't see the need for people to try and understand them. This strategy lessens the pressure, his lyrics “no longer hold[ing] the weight they once did.” Rios views music as a timeline of his progression as an artist, his songs demonstrating where he is or was, but never where he will be. His music is less of a crystal ball and more of a time capsule, a moment preserved in time or the letter that was written but burned right after. Rios used this format to write his first song, No Cell Service, for rock band MoriMondo.

At the time of the song's conception, Rios had just been dumped by his girlfriend and admitted that he wasn't in the right headspace. His bandmate James, however, told him that these moments are “the best time to write,” and with that, Rios decided to take all of his thoughts and put them on paper. Rios admits to being sly in No Cell Service, the song portraying his contradictory needs to say both everything and nothing.

At its core, Rios's music grapples with human behavior and how often people contradict themselves. His lyrics fluctuate between cold observance and weary acceptance, though he admits he's "trying to get out" of that headspace and move toward a more fictional approach, with Rios wanting to write convincingly about experiences he’s never lived.

With the upcoming release of their album and a possible tour later this year, Rios and MoriMondo are shifting gears from creation to execution. Rios also teases the possibility of being a guest vocalist in the near future, a new yet exciting process he's looking forward to. Despite the changes on the horizon, Rios still plans to continue balancing his ever-growing list of paradoxes, balancing concrete plans with his signature philosophical looseness and chasing a destination but cranking the volume on whatever chaos comes next. For a songwriter who treats lyrics as transient emotions, the future seems to be about testing how far his guardrails will bend.