Hello Kiyan! Congratulations on the album! What inspired you to create the concept album inner light. OUTER SPACE., and how did this through line first come to you?
It started during COVID lockdowns in 2020. I was working with UK hip-hop MC & producer Funky DL on an EP as a gift to my team at my previous startup, and it cracked open a limiting belief I held that I’m not creative. What followed was a flood of songs, late nights in Logic Pro, and the realization I had a story to tell.
The through line then came from my own life. A previous successful business was sunset. A divorce. Years of shedding masks I’d worn for approval. I started writing what I thought was fiction about a woman journeying through space. But then as we started making the album, I realized I was writing my own story. The protagonist’s journey outward was my journey inward, and the lived experience gave it truth.
You describe “Beautiful Distraction” as the moment the protagonist “gives into desire.” Where did that idea come from?
From watching myself and others do it… repeatedly! There’s a moment in everyone’s life where you know something isn’t good for you, but it feels too good to resist. Whether it’s because of fear, ego or another emotion. You stop seeking answers and surrender to the distraction of what feels easier. That’s not weakness… it’s human. And the album doesn’t judge that moment. It just says: this is part of the journey too.
How did you develop the characters within the song’s mythology, particularly the Enchantress and the protagonist’s inner voice?
The Enchantress isn’t actually another character. She’s meant to be a mirror. She represents the things we chase that feel like salvation but keep us from ourselves like comfort, validation, excess. Masia One brought that to life with a presence that’s magnetic and dangerous at the same time.
Rachelle Ruby’s character evolved naturally. While she may have started playing a role, I think she brought herself into it and ultimately became the protagonist. Her own journey of rediscovering herself mirrors the album’s arc. And that’s the case with all my other collaborators. I just gave them a general direction, with a theme so universal that we can all relate to, and allowed them to paint the canvas together with me.
I didn’t have to direct that. I just had to capture it.
What made Masia One the right artist to embody the role of the Enchantress?
I needed someone who could be charming and nefarious in the same breath. Masia has that duality and range. She’s worked with Pharrell and the RZA. She carries real weight and is magnetic. When she heard about the concept, she didn’t just say yes… she understood the Enchantress immediately and owned her. I remember when I heard the first rough cut, I said to myself, “that’s the freaking Enchantress!”.
Rachelle Ruby wasn’t initially pursuing music professionally. How did that conversation turn into such a central collaboration?
We were in a 1:1 meeting at a previous startup. She mentioned she used to sing when she was younger but stopped. Then I put her on the EP we did with Funky DL during COVID, and we made a few other songs together. When I decided I was going to make this album a reality, I knew she was the voice of the protagonist of the album.
There’s an authenticity and vulnerability in Rachelle’s voice that you can’t manufacture. And letting in vulnerability is the gateway to feeling and courage.
We are now co-founders at a new startup together. And I think it helps a lot because there’s a lot of psychological safety there from years of being in the trenches.
The track blends hip-hop, R&B, and late-80s synth wave. How did you approach combining those sounds? What do those genres mean to you?
I don’t tend to think too much in genres when I’m producing. I think in feelings. “Beautiful Distraction” needed to feel seductive and slightly dangerous… like a late-night encounter you know you’ll regret but can’t walk away from. The synth wave gave it that nightly neon glow. The hip-hop gave it edge. The R&B made it human.
Those genres are all part of my DNA. I grew up on A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu, Vangelis and Massive Attack in the same playlist. Blending them isn’t a strategy… it’s just how I hear music.
You’ve cited influences like J Dilla, KAYTRANADA, and Nujabes. In what ways did their styles shape this project?
J Dilla taught me that imperfection is beautiful: that a beat doesn’t have to be quantized to have soul. Nujabes showed me music can be ethereal and philosophical without being preachy. KAYTRANADA proved you can make people dance and think at the same time. All three of them are in this album’s bloodstream in different songs.
Having Substantial (Nujabes’ most frequent collaborator) deliver the album’s thesis on “The Destination” felt like carrying a lineage forward. That wasn’t accidental. It’s a full circle moment for me.
Three words to describe Kiyan Foroughi the artist? And the first song you’d tell someone to listen to?
Fair. Ferocious. Feeling. Those are my three “Fs”.
Listen to “Seas of Space” first. It’s the most accessible entry point. It’s bouncy, hopeful, cosmic. Then let the album take you wherever it wants to.
Your life has taken you across Paris, Dubai, Boston, New York, London, and Singapore. How have these cultural environments shaped your approach to music?
I grew up in Dubai in the 80s and 90s… before the current Dubai. My parents were part of this group of adventurers building something out of nothing in a place nobody had heard of. That made me adaptable. It forced me to bridge cultures constantly (Middle Eastern, Western, Asian).
Then Paris gave me poetry, language and appreciation for the arts. Boston gave me my university education and a first slap of reality as I was struggling to figure out what I wanted to do for my career. New York and London gave me edge and scars at work. And Singapore (where I’ve been for 10 years now) gave me the space to finally hear what I’d been carrying all those years, and fully integrate into who I am.
Every city added a layer to the palette. This album couldn’t have been made from one place. It needed all of them.
The album draws from Rumi and Carl Jung. How do those philosophical ideas translate into the storytelling?
My heritage is Iranian, and Rumi’s poetry has been a part of my life since I was young. It’s not something I studied academically. It was in the house, in the culture, in conversations with family.
Rumi is the soul of the record. “Paradise is surrounded by what we dislike; the fires of hell are surrounded by what we desire“… that tension runs through the entire project. The protagonist chases what feels good and learns that the things that look like salvation are often the trap.
My father is a big Carl Jung fan. His shadow work (the idea that you have to confront the hidden parts of yourself rather than run from them) drives the album’s climax. Track 8, “Shadow of the Enchantress,” is an 8-minute trip-hop reckoning built around that concept. You don’t defeat your shadow. You integrate it. And that integration is what sets you free.
You’ve described the album as something that can be listened to forward or in reverse. How did you structure the tracklist to make that possible?
The album ends with Darius asking: “So who were you before you forgot?” If you play it in reverse, that becomes the opening question. Suddenly you’re not building toward realization: you’re descending from clarity into illusion. Forward is ascension. Reverse is descent. Either way, the destination is the same: remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.
You balance being a tech CEO and a music producer. How do those two worlds influence each other?
More than people expect. Building a startup and building an album require the same muscle: vision, obsessive attention to detail, knowing when to push and when to let go. Both require you to trust collaborators while protecting the integrity of what you’re building.
The biggest crossover is this: at my startup Needle, we help brands find their authentic voice through AI and human creativity. This album is the same thing: finding your authentic voice. Just with different instruments.
The album features a diverse set of collaborators, from rappers to actors. What do you look for when bringing someone into a project like this?
Authenticity and emotional truth. I don’t cast based on fame. I cast based on whether someone has lived something that makes their contribution honest.
Rachelle Ruby: vulnerability you can’t manufacture. Substantial: decades of scars & conviction in every bar. Masia One: the duality of charm and nefariousness. Darius Homayoun: actor (Succession, Tehran) and childhood friend that has been through this journey. George Azzi: a singer-songwriter that carries wisdom in his voice. Jude: the grimey and grounded warning we all need beneath the hope. Taiyo Shirai: a person who inserts feelings in all of the cracks. Ivan Afandi: an ability to visualize worlds I could only hear.
Everyone on this album was chosen because they’ve lived something that makes their contribution honest.
“Seas of Space” introduced the journey, “Beautiful Distraction” marks surrender. What’s coming next?
The full album drops February 27. Ten tracks. The complete journey: from hope to collapse to reckoning to integration. The mythology of inner light. OUTER SPACE. isn’t finished. It’s just beginning.
What advice would you give to young artists looking to follow in your footsteps?
Don’t follow anyone’s footsteps. That’s the whole point of this album.
And remember: it’s not about reaching for the stars. It’s remembering you were always one in the first place.
inner light. OUTER SPACE. is out now. Kiyan Foroughi can be found in Instagram here.