'Songland': Who is Kyle Williams, the songwriter whose song Aloe Blacc picked to feature in 'Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw'?
On Tuesday, July 2, when 'Songland' aired we saw singer Aloe Blacc along with David Leitch, the director of 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw', on the lookout for the perfect song to feature in their upcoming movie.
"I'm looking for a song that's inspirational and motivational but also the right kind of vibe for the film Hobbs and Shaw," Blacc revealed during the episode. Adding to that Leitch said, "We need something super anthemic, something with a swagger."
The four songwriters who competed for the chance to have their song featured in the movie that stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham were Afika, Kyle Williams, TVTE and Steve Fee. After listening to them sing, and getting mentored by the judges, Blacc and Leitch chose Williams' song 'Getting Started' as the winning song.
During the episode, Williams revealed that the song he wrote is about someone who has worked a lot and is not yet done. "[It's] about somebody that's worked their whole life, that's put in the blood, sweat, and tears and finally achieved something and now they are not standing down and they're just getting started," he said.
Apart from getting to know what inspired him to write the song, we got to know a little more about Williams that we had not known before. Williams hails from Oklahoma just like judges and mentors Ryan Tedder and Ester Dean. Williams was mentored by Tedder, who is a Grammy award-winning producer and lead singer of One Republic.
Williams disclosed that he used to spend most of his day thinking about music as he was growing up. "Growing up in Wilburton [Oklahoma], it was great. Very small town, dirt roads everywhere. I usually spent about 26 hours of the day thinking about music," he revealed.
Taking a look at his Instagram, we know that Williams is married and has two young daughters. He doesn't produce his music under his real name, he goes under an artiste name known as Willyecho. His song 'Welcome to the Fire' was featured as a soundtrack on 'Backdraft 2' that stars Joe Anderson, William Baldwin, and Donald Sutherland.
A post on Instagram profile also states that his songs "A Little Bit Bad" and "Warriors" were featured on Teen Moms that premiered in June. Williams is also in a band called 'We Are Messengers', and they recently won the group/duo at the K Love Fan awards for their song 'Maybe it's okay'. The most recent song that he released is titled 'Killer Inside Me.'
'Songland' airs every Tuesday night on NBC. Check your local listings for more information.