Born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Eric describes himself as a “writer at heart”. Having started with poems, he made the jump into songwriting at 19 years old with his first hit “Ocean”.
“I took on the role of producer, where I write the lyrics to my songs then bring my vision to life by recruiting musicians from around the world to bring it together”, he told Central Magazine. “All my songs are based on artists I enjoy, like Ed Sheeran, The Beatles, Bob Dylan… It starts with me writing lyrics that stay true to my life experiences and trying to find these different musicians who can fit my vision.”
A diverse discography
Eric looks for collaboration with various musicians he finds online in order to construct the songs he wants to make, having worked with a wide range of them, everywhere from Kazakhstan to South Africa.
“When I do these projects, I mostly guide the musical direction”, he elaborated on his production process. “I might decide to add a guitar riff, rewrite a verse, or change the structure to fit a certain style.”
Thanks to this diversity in the musical talent behind his output, Eric believes there’s a song in his discography for anyone. “I can be a musical chameleon, in the sense that I’m not stuck to just one genre”, he remarked. “I try to not put myself in a box musically. If you go through my discography, you’ll notice that every song has a distinct style. I feel like having that diversity gives people a chance to connect with the albums in some way.”
This approach seems to have worked well, as he’s reached the charts in 35 countries on iTunes, achieving number 1 in 10 of those. By far the most successful of these though has been the Portuguese charts, where he’s hit seven number one albums, a record for male artists and beaten only by Taylor Swift, who sits at 20.
“For some reason, my song “Curious” caught, I’d say, the most traction in Portugal”, Eric shared. “It’s a tribute to the early era of The Beatles, their style of music – a track with a 1960’s, 70’s inspired sound”. He isn’t sure why exactly that song, which he thought would be just a moderate release, blew up here, but in any case, the relationship with Portugal runs a lot deeper than just one track.
The ties run in both his family and community. His mother was born in Angola when it was still a Portuguese colony, and his father comes from a long Portuguese lineage. Those two then went on to raise him in New Bedford, a beating heart of the Portuguese diaspora. “New Bedford has a really deep history with Portugal. I feel like just living in the city, I’m surrounded by culture”, he commented. “Although I didn’t grow up in Portugal, I feel like I’m still part of the community.”
“I’ve connected a lot with people back home, and that kind of trickled over to Portugal itself”, Eric continued. “I have family in Portugal who support my projects. A lot of people from Portugal have messaged me saying they enjoy my songs.”
One of his songs, “Madeira”, is based on the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, which happens every year in New Bedford. “It’s the biggest Portuguese celebration outside of Portugal”, he explained. “The song really reflects my feelings of New Bedford being a slice of Portugal here in the United States. I wrote it nostalgically on a dark, winter New England day. Musically, it takes inspiration from James Taylor.”
Biography in lyrics
Eric’s songwriting inspires itself off moments like these that he’s experienced over the course of his 26 years of life. “Sometimes I can write a song, and it could be weeks or months before I start a new one. They all span moments in my life that I really feel like I want to capture”, he stated. “For example, my song “Garfunkel McWetjet”, is about a dream my brother shared with me one day.” One of his most popular songs, “Crystal Blue”, is another homage to Portugal, inspired by famous beaches found in the country.
To date, Eric has released four original albums and a compilation album of his best works. “I took inspiration from Ed Sheeran’s ‘Mathematics’ concept albums”, he revealed. “I had this idea of where each of the album titles would spell out my first name. So over the course of seven years, through Eccentric, Ruby, Iconic, and Classe Mundial, those four projects spell out my first name, Eric.”
His self-titled compilation album is a curated list of the ten pieces that have stood out to him and fans over the course of his music career so far. A personal highlight of his from this list is “Power”, based on a game his family plays. “It’s a game my dad discovered in the 60’s or 70’s at a hotel in New York. You won’t be able to find it on Google. To win the game, you’ve gotta find out how to figuratively give somebody the power. My dad would say, ‘if you have the power, or think you have the power, then leave this room’”, he concluded. “I decided to turn that phrase into a song. Getting to see my family’s reaction to it is something that I’m proud of.”