Ryan DeRobertis (known by his stage names Skylar Spence and SAINT PEPSI) is an American

electronic musician Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

and singer who grew up in Farmingville, New York and attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

for two years studying music. His

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

project SAINT PEPSI began in December 2012. After the release of his ninth studio album ''Hit Vibes'' in May 2013, he would retire the SAINT PEPSI name due to legal threats from the soft-drink company

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

. He would adopt the name Skylar Spence in 2015, and release his debut record under that moniker, ''

Prom King A promenade dance or prom is a formal dance party for graduating high school students at the end of the school year. Students participating in the prom will typically vote for a ''prom king'' and ''prom queen''. Other students may be honored w ...

''. In 2019, he would return under the name SAINT PEPSI with the release of ''Mannequin Challenge'', and he currently uses that name for live performances and certain releases.

Career

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

named DeRobertis their "band to watch" in July 2013, calling his music "addicting and fun." Pitchfork praised the release of "Mr. Wonderful," the lead track off the 2014 EP ''Gin City'', which was hosted on the music blog

Gorilla vs. Bear ''Gorilla vs. Bear'' is an MP3 blog for independent music MP3s, videos, news, and reviews from all genres. It was created by Chris Cantalini in March 2005, and David Bartholow joined as a contributor in 2006. ''Gorilla vs. Bear'' regularly featur ...

. In February, Gorilla vs. Bear also hosted the premiere of the track "Baby." In June 2014, SAINT PEPSI went on tour with Painted Palms after signing to

Carpark Records Carpark Records is an independent record label based in Washington, D.C. History Carpark Records was established by Todd Hyman in 1999 in New York City. In 2005, the label relocated to Washington, D.C. Carpark has subsidiary labels. Acute Re ...

, whose roster includes artists such as

Beach House Beach House is an American indie music, indie band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is char ...

Cloud Nothings Cloud Nothings is an American indie rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, United States, founded by singer-songwriter Dylan Baldi. It currently consists of lead singer and guitarist Dylan Baldi, drummer Jayson Gerycz, and bassist Chris Brown. Beginni ...

, Toro y Moi, and

Memory Tapes Dayve Hawk (born 1981), better known by his stage name Memory Tapes, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer, and the former frontman of the Philadelphia-based band, Hail Social. Career After releasing material under the names "Mem ...

Style

DeRobertis' musical style has been described as being in the categories of

future funk Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...

vaporwave Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...

disco-pop Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describes ...

futurepop Futurepop is an electronic music genre that has been characterized as a blend of synth-pop, EBM and dance beats, based on trance and techno.Peter Matzke, Tobias Seeliger: ''Das Gothic- und Dark-Wave-Lexikon.'' Schwarzkopf und Schwarzkopf, Ber ...

, liquid disco,

slow jam A slow jam is music with rhythm and blues and soul influences. Slow jams are commonly R&B ballads or downtempo songs, and are mostly soft-sounding with heavily emotional or romantic lyrical content. The earliest known use of the term is from a ...

and gibber boogie, although he also borders between traditional music genres. He often incorporates unorthodox sounds in his music, using sources such as the soundtracks from games like ''

Mario Kart 64 is a 1996 kart racing game for the Nintendo 64 (N64). Developed and published by Nintendo, it is the second installment in the ''Mario Kart'' series after 1992's '' Super Mario Kart''. The game retains the gameplay of its predecessor: the play ...

''. He also commonly samples pop songs (ex: "Private Caller", which also appeared on the compilation album ''Portals Summer II'', sampled Canadian artist Lustt's 1983 cover of Sylvia Robinson's 1973 track "Pillow Talk"). ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'' calls his nonchalant approach to Top 40 hits "refreshing," and calls his music "restless and nostalgic and sonically curious." He is quoted as saying, "I’m drawn to tuneful melodies; complex chord structures; outlandish synths and drums; and I like to take pop

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

s and see how I can warp the songs while keeping the melodies almost entirely intact ..I want to make pop music for freaks, basically."

Discography

As The Cold Napoleons

*''Adversaries'' (November 16, 2012)

As SAINT PEPSI

Albums

*''Laser Tag Zero'' (December 27, 2012) *''Triumph International'' (January 1, 2013) *''New Generation'' (January 2, 2013) *''World Tour'' (January 3, 2013) *''Empire Building'' (January 29, 2013) *''Late Night Delight'' (split with

Luxury Elite Luxury Elite, also simply known as Lux (born August 17, 1988), is an anonymous American musician known for her significant influence in the vaporwave genre. During the 2010s, her lo-fi sound and visual style, along with her relaxed melodies, mad ...

) (February 2, 2013) *''Studio 54'' (March 7, 2013) *''Winner's Circle'' (split with ショッピングワールド hopping Worldjp ) (May 11, 2013) *''Hit Vibes'' (May 31, 2013) *''Choice Cuts'' (split with Crowns, Dinosaurus Rex and Harrison) (July 25, 2013) *''Mannequin Challenge'' (August 27, 2019) *''Cash Wednesday'' (July 31, 2023)

Extended plays

*''Local Singles'' (December 28, 2013) *''Gin City'' (February 25, 2014)

As Skylar Spence

Studio albums

*''

'' (September 18, 2015)

Singles

*''"Fiona Coyne/Fall Harder"'' (originally released as Saint Pepsi) (August 12, 2014) *"Polyvinyl 4-Track Singles Series, Vol. 2" (June 1, 2015) *"Can't You See" (July 7, 2015) *"Faithfully" (October 10, 2016) *"Carousel / Cry Wolf" (September 4, 2018)

Mixes

*''Mysteryland'' (June 15, 2016) *''Alive 2020'' (August 26, 2020)

As Amelia Airhorn

Mixtapes

* ''

The Knocks The Knocks is an American electronic music duo consisting of Ben "B-Roc" Ruttner and James "JPatt" Patterson. They have released 3 full length albums (''HISTORY, New York Narcotic, 55'') and 5 EPs (''Melody & Silence, Summer Series: 2019, TESTI ...

& Skylar Spence Present... Amelia Airhorn'' (June 19, 2017)

Singles

* "Miracle" (June 1, 2017) * "New York is Red Hot" (June 14, 2017) * "Street Performers Part. II" (June 19, 2017)

References

External links

*
Saint Pepsi on BandcampSpence's video playlist on the official Carpark Records YouTube channelVideo for ''Private Caller''
on YouTube
Audio only video for ''Private Caller''
also on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:DeRobertis, Ryan American electronic musicians Carpark Records artists Living people People from Farmingville, New York Record producers from New York (state) Vaporwave musicians Year of birth missing (living people)