Singer/ Songwriter Ryan Cassata is making himself well known in the music industry. For those who weren’t familiar with Ryan before reading this review, he is also an actor, filmmaker, public speaker, writer and a YouTube channel host. Ryan can often be found speaking around Universities and doing College tours where he puts on shows with Q & A panels for the listeners in attendance. (See below for my recent Interview with Ryan at my school William Paterson University).
Ryan has previously had appearances on well-known T.V. shows such as “Larry King Live”, “The Tyra Banks Show” and “CNN.” You may have even previously seen him at Warped Tour in June 2015. Ryan won a Warped Tour spot after participating in an Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands Online Competition. Besides Ryan’s live appearances, he is also an active YouTube host who keeps himself open to all of his fans and answers any questions that they might have. He doesn’t beat around the bush either, so if you want answers, you’ll get them from him. He’s down to earth, releasing great, meaningful music and he’s dedicated to his fans.
Ryan currently has several releases under his name. His latest album, “Shine” (released on March 15th 2016) consists of catchy melodies and meaningful lyrics that will definitely get you singing along and wanting more. Songs on Ryan’s latest album consist of “We’re The Cool Kids’, “Check Engine”, “Bedroom Eyes”, “Sunrise Highway”, “Don’t Count Me Out”, “Man In The Mirror”, “Shine on”, “Alcatraz”, “Hot Springs, Arkansas” and “Round Here.”
My favorites off of his album are definitely “We’re The Cool Kids” and “Shine On.”
“We’re The Cool Kids” stood out to me the most because you can tell that Ryan is dedicated to making his acceptance movement become a reality by his lyrics “Cause we’re the cool kids/ We’re starting this movement/ We’re the cool kids/ You better get used to it/ We’re changing things and we’re leading this moment/ We’re gonna prove it.”
Another powerful and emotional song off of Ryan’s album is “Shine On.” You can tell right off the bat that it has a lot of meaning to it and it may deal with the topic of suicide. In the lyrics “Final prayers, down the stairs/ Your song came on, and I was close to sleeping/ it kept me strong, it gave me the reason/ 911, dial tone/ emergency, he picked up the phone/” You can tell that it comes from the heart and a real story behind it.
I would give this album a solid B+. If you haven’t checked him out, please do and check out my interview with him here.
